Tag Archives: travel writing

Travel Writer Interview & More Travel Tips

2152923603_7d7f42e390Travel-Writer Interview

Over on the travel blog, Runaway Jane, there was a guest post recently published by travel writer Mark Hodson. It’s an excellent read for anyone interested in travel writing. Mark started travel writing full-time in the mid-1990s and has seen the industry change a lot since beginning. In the article, he provides many great insights on why the industry has gone through so much change. At the end of the article he also explains why it’s so easy to become a travel writer today and also why it’s even easy to get those coveted free press trips.

You can read the entire article here – http://www.runawayjane.com/who-would-want-to-be-a-travel-writer/

Travel tips, travel tips, travel tips!

Finally, as someone who’s always on the look out for more travel tips, there was a great post over on the Travel section of Reddit.com. The topic was, “What is the single greatest piece of travel advice you have received or can give?” There were 166 comments. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“You’ll end up with either a good time or a good story” – Rodnet

“Pack half as much as you think you need and be ready to spend twice as much as you think you’ll need.” – Unicynicist

“Remember that you are in the air and flying, remember that not too long ago that was impossible, be happy you’re not spending three months in a covered wagon getting to where you’re going.” – XLII

“Carry a tool that you can use as a can opener, a fork, a knife, and a wine opener. You save a lot of money going to a market for food.” – Parle

Check out all of the tips here: http://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/fzk1o/what_is_the_single_greatest_piece_of_travel/?sort=confidence

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Book Giveaway: There’s No Toilet Paper On The Road Less Traveled

Travel Writingby Catherine L. Tully

It’s time for another book giveaway! This time it’s a travel book that I really liked–

How to enter? It’s easy! Just comment below on the one place you would love to write about for a travel publication. Go ahead–dream big! (Be sure and leave me an e-mail addy so I can let you know if you won.)

Where would I like to go and pen some prose for a big publication? Australia or New Zealand would be tops on my list, but I wouldn’t turn down an all-expense paid trip to Ireland either…

What about you?

Freelancer Freebies–No Longer Free?

freelance travel writingby Joe Wallace

I’ve done a lot of travel writing in one form or another–from half-hour long television scripts for the Korea Destinations series aired by the American Forces Network to quick little blog posts about road tripping across the USA, I’ve taken every kind of transportation imaginable.

Part of the trick to being a successful traveler, never mind being a good travel writer, is to take full advantage of every discount and price cut you can. You learn to pounce on frequent flyer miles, AAA, any and everything you can find.

But the times are definitely changing. Just ask the author of this ABC News post about fuel surcharges for supposedly free air travel purchased with frequent flyer miles. British Airways apparently tacked on a whopping $500 surcharge to an otherwise “free” flight.

It’s bad enough that flyers must pay to check baggage, eat overpriced food, and endure intrusive security pat-downs. Now this? In America it’s more isolated according to the ABC story, but it’s definitely an industry trend worth keeping an eye on.

The purpose of this post isn’t to rant about how unfair that particular surcharge is. Instead, I’d like to draw attention to the nickel-and-dime practices as a whole to raise some awareness about how much it’s costing you to do things directly related to the freelance life.

Continue reading Freelancer Freebies–No Longer Free?

More Ways to Become A Paid Travel Writer

cool outdoor shotI’ve often said the best way to become a paid travel writer is to find jobs that pay first and to write second.

Over on The Lost Girls website, they’ve put together a pretty great list of sites that are pay for your travel writing articles. This is a great place to start pitching.

You can find the list here: http://www.lostgirlsworld.com/2011/01/travel-freelancing/

Make sure to check the comments for even more sites that are willing to pay for travel writing.

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Varying Word Count — The Key To Reselling Articles

coffee shop writing noodleOne of the keys to being a successful travel writer (i.e. one that actually gets paid) is being able to sell the same article more than once. I’ve often wondered how this is done in practice. I mean, how many places really have the same requirements that enable you to do this?

I recently stumbled across a Devin Galaudet post in which he explains that the key to solving this problem is rewriting the same article in varying word counts. You take your 1000-word article and then make 600 and 800 word articles as well.

Devin adds some important advice on the process:

…writing the same story does not mean writing 1000-word article and then deleting random paragraphs to change the word count. It means revising the story so it becomes a well-told 600-, 800-, or 1000-word story. While this may take more time in the beginning, the action creates templates for future stories and helps speed up future editing processes.

You can read the full article over at Technorati: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/step-three-to-travel-writing-varying/

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Travel Writing Communities Round-Up

beach_crowd

A great way to get involved and motivated with travel writing is to network. There are numerous online choices to find networks of travel writers.

Nearly every travel writer now has a Twitter account and it’s easy to follow and then start conversations with them.

If you’re looking for a friendly and easier to approach community, today I’ll highlight a few around the web where you can get involved and start talking about travel writing.

Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) – TBEX is a free community with over 4,000 members. Its members are primarily travel bloggers. Discussions range from help setting up a WordPress blog to advice on monetizing your blog. TBEX also puts on an annual conference, held this year in Vancouver.

Travel Writers.com BBS – A reasonably active forum of aspiring and existing travel writers discussing all things relating to the topic.

International Society for Travel Writing – Membership with the ISTW brings you a monthly newsletter as well a subscription to “Studies in Travel Writing”. The ISTW also puts on occasional conferences. Annual dues are $90.

SATW – The Society of American Travel Writers boasts over 1300 members and has been around since 1956. In order to join however you must earn a significant amount of money through your writing. More details on being able to join can be found here: http://bit.ly/fsKdSL. There is a $250 application fee and annual dues are $130.