Frequently Asked Questions
How to Break into Food Writing Workshop
June 21, 2008 – Denver, CO

Let me start by telling you what we DON’T mean. We DON’T mean writing cookbooks.

We DO mean writing about food and dining as an integral part of your travel stories. And we DO mean coming up with article ideas that have a very strong food, cooking, entertaining, or dining focus. Articles you might sell to a travel publication… or you might sell to a food or lifestyle publication instead.

Food is a really hot trend right now. Editors -- travel editors, lifestyle editors, food editors -- they’re all looking to buy stories that have a strong food or dining theme. We’re going to show you how to define those articles well… and where and how to sell them. So you can easily and quickly start to turn your interest in eating into a paycheck and your dining adventures into tax-deductible excursions.

Absolutely! You should come. We’d love to meet you in person. You don’t need any prior experience to qualify. We’ll show you all the tricks of the trade and “cut to the chase” to show you the fastest, easiest way to use your newfound skills to sell more articles, faster.

These are two very different workshops. Different content. Different length. Different price point. You’ll have to think about what you’d like to do.

If you’re really interested in straight travel writing, then come to San Francisco for our intensive 3-day workshop. Details here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sanfrancisco/

If you’ve got a real passion for food, and you know you’d really like to write more about food, then this 1-day Denver program might suit you better. Details here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/denverfood/

Yes, Jen Stevens is spearheading this workshop and working closely with Kyle Wagner. Today Kyle is the Travel Editor at the Denver Post. But for 15 years she was a food writer and editor.

Having worked in this niche for so long, Kyle not only knows exactly what food editors are after... but maybe even more importantly -- she will tell you what they DON'T want. And that can be invaluable information for anyone getting started in this niche.

Yes. Kyle is working on a book that'll be a companion guide to this event. It's not finished yet but it'll include a listing of markets where you can get started, story ideas, and her tried-and-true formulas for writing about food.

It's going to be a great resource. And we’ll be selling it as we do our other reports. But for the folks who join us in Denver in June, it’s free.

Yes, we will record this event. Naturally, listening to recordings isn’t the same as being there in person. You don’t benefit from the same “energy” or the personalized attention. But we do understand that while you may have an interest in this topic you may not be able to arrange your schedule so you can come. We will have recordings available for sale after the workshop. And we’ll give all the attendees free access to them.

There’s often overlap between food writing and travel writing.

After all, eating is an intimate part of traveling. I mean, what's the first thing that you do when you land someplace? You figure out where to grab dinner.

It's seldom these days that you see an article about a destination that doesn't include at least a handful of recommendations about where to eat.

When you write that portion of your articles well, you give yourself a real leg up.

Writing about where and what to eat isn't hard. Not when you know the insider's secrets, anyway. And often the tricky part is just squeezing the right stuff in without changing your whole story around or making it feel disjointed.

In Denver, we’ll show you everything you need to know to turn your interest in eating into an expertise you can get paid for, get your foot in the door at "foodie" publications, sell food-focused articles to mainstream magazines, and transform your ordinary travels into dining expeditions where you get paid to eat well... and sometimes even eat for free.

Yes, that includes restaurants.You’ll learn what to notice about a place, how to order, what you should think about when you’re eating so you know what to say about the food.

You’ll learn how to “prep” before you go to dine someplace and the questions you should ask when you’re there and after.

You’ll rarely read a travel article that doesn’t have some food- or dining-related focus. After all, people have to eat when they’re on the road. And so editors expect you to include recommendations. But you can’t just say, “the food is good.”

So what do you say? What do editors expect you to say? Particularly if you only have two or three sentences to play with, how do you use them most effectively? It isn’t hard once you know the “formulas.” And we’ll hand them right over.

PLUS, you’ll learn how to give your travel articles themselves a “food focus.” That’s more important today than ever because food is such a hot trend right now.

We’ll show you how to come up with -- and pitch to editors -- articles that capitalize on that trend. And that’ll have publication doors swinging wide open for you.

We will NOT have a formal photography session where we get our own cameras out and practice taking pictures of food.

 But we will benefit from Kyle’s expertise in the photo department. She’ll talk about what makes for good “food photography,” what she as a travel editor looks for in photos to illustrate a food-focused article, and the mistakes she sees most people make… and how you can avoid them.