|
Travel Writing (cont.)
<< back to Travel Writing, page
1
Magazines and Newspapers
Most dedicated magazines and newspapers will
have their own travel writing staff. In the instances where they
will accept freelance submissions it is generally under the umbrella
of ‘full licence’ reproduction. This means that the
newspaper or magazine has full and exclusive rights to the article
that you write meaning that you cannot submit the same article,
or variations thereof, to other publications. This in itself is
not a bad thing, particularly as it means you have generally ‘made
a sale’. The key to such submissions however is to have
a track record that you can demonstrate. Known travel writers
will have a better chance of submitting articles than those who
cannot demonstrate a body of previous work. If you are a novice
then try to bring an angle to the article that hasn’t been
demonstrated previously and try to write about destinations, events,
or situations that haven’t been covered before (or at least
covered extensively). |
|
Newspapers in particular can
be a good option for submitting work to as they generally have
a high rotation rate of articles, and generally like to have different
contributors to vary the flavour of writing. Magazines tend to
come out less often, have dedicated writing or editorial staff,
and are more tightly themed in their style of writing.
Websites
There is no doubt that the Internet is providing a new frontier
in terms of the ability to research, book and pay for travel. New
travel sites spring up daily, and although the dotcom boom of the
late 90’s is a thing of the past, travel websites continue
to be big business. Operators of some of the more successful websites
easily bring in thousands of dollars daily, and providing content
to make their sites more ‘sticky’ is a full-time occupation.
More and more sites use the services of freelance writers to swell
their content and keep their visitors happy. It’s a bittersweet
arrangement as the pay for web articles is not great. What contributors
get in return is exposure and a portfolio of work that they can
demonstrate to other would-be employers. More often than not, travel-writing
freelancers are able to submit their work to a number of sites and
receive a fee from each. In instances where sole copyright is demanded
from the website, suitable compensation should be requested from
the writer.
By far, submission to websites of your work is the easiest way to
get ‘published’. Be careful of what you, as the writer,
get in return though. On the one hand you will get an audience for
your work, and the website will get good material to promote. On
the other hand you don’t want to be giving your work away
for someone else to profit from. Some websites offer a return of
the page advertising, while others just simply pay you for the amount
of words in the article. Be comfortable that you are happy with
the remuneration that you receive for the publication of your work.
In instances where you do not take any money for your work, be sure
that there is a sufficient audience to suggest that alternative
options may present themselves in the future, and make sure that
you are well credited for the work at the beginning or end of the
article.
One thing you may want to consider is to put your own website together.
Domain registration and hosting amount to just a few dollars a month,
and from there it’s all up to your marketing skills. Whether
you get 10 visitors a month or 10,000, the cost is normally the
same, and there are viable methods of monetising your site as well.
Advertisements and affiliate programs can help generate some income,
or at least pay for the hosting costs, and you’ll be free
to write and post as many articles as you wish. One thing to bear
in mind before you embark on such an activity though is that putting
up a website and attracting visitors is a skill in it’s own
right. You may wish to employ someone else to carry out the technical
aspects while you concentrate on the content side of things. This
option can go very well with the self-publishing route as you’ll
be able to offer your books or articles for sale on your own website.
The biggest hurdle you’ll face as a budding travel writer
is to compile a body of work that you can use to point to when looking
for work. Think of the whole process as that of a snowball. Start
off small, gather momentum, and get bigger and bigger and bigger…
Any articles that you can publish through whatever media will be
of benefit to you in the long run, so write for free at the start
if you must, give your work away and become a whore to the industry.
Obviously the easiest routes in are through websites – there
are no shortage of sites that will gladly take your work and publish
it. Beyond that there are many free travel publications that are
targeted toward specific demographics in certain countries (think
TNT magazine for example in London). These publications are always
looking for contributors. While they do not offer much in the way
of monetary remuneration, they do give you a showcase for your work
in actual print. From there you can target newspapers and magazines
that focus on the areas you want to write about. When dealing with
newspaper and magazines, don’t take rejection personally.
Keep writing and keep submitting articles. If at first you don’t
get accepted, try different angles and different writing styles.
Once you have a foot in the door life as a travel writer becomes
decidedly easier.
Sandy Buchannan |
|
Home
