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Travel Writing
So you want to travel, and want to get paid
for telling other people about it? Sandy Buchannan
shares some tips and suggestions for getting paid as a travel writer…
The thought of being paid to write about your travel experiences
has to be one of the most satisfying career concepts that I could
possibly think of. Imagine travelling the world, meeting new people,
seeing new places, living new experiences every day, and all the
while being paid to put your experiences into print. Well, there
are people who do just that every day, and there are many, many
more opportunities for more people to join them. You’ve
just got to know the ‘how and where’ of it all. |
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Travel is big business. Everybody wants to do it, and if they can’t
do it they want to read about it. Magazines, books, newspaper articles
and websites are all loaded with travel articles of one description
or another – and riding the back of these articles are advertisements
for hotels, package holidays and the like. Everybody and every place
wants your money, and what better way to tempt you than to regale
you with stories of far-off places and exotic journeys. Riding high
on these commercial waves are freelance travel writers and they
come in all shapes and sizes. Long-gone are the days when writing
about travel experiences was the exclusive domain of a privileged
few. The burgeoning travel book/magazine industry, as well as the
Internet, has meant that more and more people have the chance to
see the world, put pen to paper, and make a few dollars along the
way. Only a few dollars mind you. You will be hard pressed to make
a substantial living out of it, but that’s not to say it can’t
be done.
So, you think you can put a sentence together, and you love to travel,
but then what? Well, before you start submitting your journals to
editors across the globe, it’s a good idea to think about
the style and genre of writing that you wish to focus on.
The market for travel writing has probably never been greater in
terms of size and diversity. Along with that diversity comes the
opportunity to target niche areas of interest that have so far been
largely ignored. While it is true to say that the market has grown,
so too have the number of travel writers supplying that market.
Yet another guide to the carnival in Rio probably isn’t going
to burn a hole on a potential editor’s desk. Neither will
another backpacking guide to Mongolia. By far the biggest hurdle
you will face to becoming a bone-fide travel writer is to identify
and develop a niche that you can target and exploit in a way that
compliments your writing style. Actually, you may want to start
off by writing about your own backyard. While it may just be your
own neighbourhood, it’s also a possible destination for someone
else. What better material can you find than something in your own
backyard?
Spend a great deal of time thinking about your writing style. When
you’re travelling in an area or situation that you feel you’d
like to write about, try to determine an angle of writing that would
be different from the mainstream. In fact, have the style and the
angle that you want to write in decided long before you get to your
destination – you’ll be able to think in that mode from
the moment you arrive or set out on your journey. Irrespective if
your destination has been covered a thousand times before or not,
try to bring a unique perspective to your article that you feel
would be of interest to your potential readers and set you apart
from other writers. Be as ‘niche’ as you can. Are you
a woman? An elderly man? A young person? Drill down to the most
specific things that you can bring to the article as possible. Remember
that first and foremost you’ll need to sell your idea to an
editor who has probably seen a thousand similar submissions. Find
an angle to make yours stand out and distance yourself from the
rest. If you have a specific magazine or newspaper in mind try to
find out beforehand the specifics that the editor has outlined for
submissions. You can normally contact the publication in mind and
request the preferred layout for submissions directly from them.
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