Doesn’t the thought of getting paid to travel the world sound better than sitting in the typical office nightmare of cluttered office cubicles, endless conference calls and unnecessary meetings? The problem is that breaking into the industry can be a bit tough if you are new to writing travel related articles. By following these helpful travel writing tips you will have a better chance for that hopeful day when you finally get your work published in travel guides, magazine publications and online travel magazines.
Flickr.com (Photo taken by Rev TimMedia)
1. Travel and Write
Simple, right? The more you travel throughout the world, the more knowledge and interesting life experiences you will have to share with others. You don’t need to visit exotic locations such as the lush Amazon Rainforest or Great Pyramid of Giza to be a travel writer. When I went heli-skiing in British Columbia, I wrote a simple and helpful article on “10 Important Heli-Skiing Vacation Planning Tips” after realizing that there were no great sources of information for interested travelers. I highly recommend that you buy a small travel notebook to jot down meaningful experiences or descriptions that you might otherwise forget when you actually start an article. The well-known brand Moleskine
2. Start Your Own Personal Travel Blog
Having your own personal blog offers the opportunity to have interested readers stumble across the information you put on the Internet. Don’t be afraid of starting your own blog if you do not have the technical ability to write code. There are many well-known websites such as Blogger.com that offer free and easy to customize blog templates. I personally recommend that you buy your own domain (e.g., www.tourfolio.com) as this appears a bit more professional than using a free hosting service (e.g., www.tourfolio.freehosting.com).
3. Guest Post On Well Known Travel Magazines
If publishers don’t see your personal work accepted by other media outlets, why should they accept your work? This can be tough as it basically goes down the “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” path. You don’t need a job at a well established online travel blog or travel magazine to have your work published. There are many opportunities to submit your articles to these media outlets by either e-mailing editors or by submitting articles. The good news is that some travel media outlets, like Matador Travel, will offer small amounts of cash but more importantly they will provide a hyperlink to your personal travel blog. This hyperlink is beyond important as it will help generate traffic to your blog allowing more readers to see your travel writing. If you navigate to Tourfolio’s About Page, you will notice that we link articles produced by our authors on other travel magazines or websites.
4. Embrace Social Media
Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. These popular social media websites allow you to reach and communicate with a larger audience. Use these technologies by uploading well-edited travel videos that provide viewers with important information or by sending Twitter ‘tweets’ on interesting travel stories to your followers. The more you become involved in the ‘travel writing’ conversation through social media, the better you will have positioned yourself for more people to learn about your travel writing.
4. Improve Your Creative Writing
This is something everyone, including myself, can benefit from. Research a few local or online colleges that offer creative writing classes to help strengthen your ability to help describe your travel experience. There are other less expensive options if going back to college just isn’t up your alley. The online writing program MatadorU helps to train aspiring travel writers by offering guidance from seasoned Matador travel writers.
5. Network
Network, Network, Network. This is the basic mantra that we’ve heard for years when it comes to finding a job in the real world. Your network of people within the travel industry, whether it be fellow bloggers, friends from your travels or publication editors can help open doors full of opportunity. So remember to keep in contact with your connections within social media but also strive to build a network of people you are able to meet in person. If you have the availability, time and money, you should also attend travel related trade shows and conferences to meet other travel writers and publication editors.
6. Dare to be Different
Create a unique voice in your personal travel writings. What makes you different from all the other travel writers? What do you have to offer that they don’t? This is a pretty basic tip but invent your own writing style to convey your message to the audience.
7. Luck
A little bit of luck never hurts. Becoming a travel writer does not happen overnight even if you follow these tips. You never know when an editor of a well-known travel publication will reach out to you after they stumbled across articles about your time living with the partially nomadic Himba tribe in Africa for a few months or your writings on historic ruins in a nearby national park.
Now I want to open it up to you, the readers…What other tips have helped you work towards becoming a beginner or professional travel writer?
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14. October 2009 at 10:42 am
Great tips. Good point about creating a “unique voice” because some writers try to copy another writer’s style. It’s good to find your own voice and style. Writers could try out many voices and styles before they find the one that really works for them. It’s a great way to “flex” your writing muscles and show how flexible you are as a writer.
5. November 2009 at 5:55 pm
These are excellent tips. I would also add additional emphasis on writing about the non-obvious also. There are usually plenty of guides with general information so if you can find a smaller niche to write about that includes something you experienced while visiting a particular city then you are stepping out of the box and providing something unique to the visitor.
And my most important tip is to “Be Yourself”. Think about what interested you when you went some where and what you learned that the tour books did not cover.
15. November 2009 at 7:58 pm
These are great tips, and I took mental notes.
I would also like to add that I think it’s important to diversify and develop the talents you have to offer. Photos work hand in hand in sharing the beauty of a destination or an experience. Learning to take a photo (or video) that captures the breathtaking beauty can certainly boost one’s travel “writing” career.
15. November 2009 at 8:15 pm
@Miss Journey – I completely agree with your point about diversifying your talents. Recently I picked up a digital photography book to pick up a few tips for my photo-taking.
28. December 2009 at 11:59 pm
Reading travel-writers-exchange.com helps.
31. December 2009 at 12:52 pm
I’ll backup Stephen and say twex can definitely help. But reading as many travel blogs as possible in general will help too. The more engaged you are in the travel blogging community, the more likely you are to be invited to group posts, blog carnivals, etc. That and you’ll have a better understanding about what’s going on in the travel industry. Ie The Green Movement, Budget Travel, and so on.