I'm often asked if travel writing is a lucrative market for
freelance writers. Let's face it - the idea of getting paid to
sit on the beach, sip on drinks with umbrellas in them, and work
on your tan appeals to us all.
I don't know how lucrative travel writing is but it sure is fun!
I haven't written a lot of travel pieces and I usually don't set
out with that particular market in mind. For the most part, the
pieces I've sold have been the result of something I stumbled
upon that piqued my interest while doing something else.
For example, a few summers ago I was driving home from Atlanta
when I passed a billboard with the word "SPA" emblazoned on it.
It was advertising Chateau Elan, a winery inn and health spa a
few miles up the road. I'd passed Chateau Elan at least a dozen
times before and each time was struck by how unusual it was to
see a French chateau amongst the red clay and kudzu of Georgia.
The difference this time was that I had just finished working on
another piece for Spa Magazine. "Wow," I thought, "I bet they'd
be interested in knowing about Chateau Elan." I wrote a query
entitled Southern Ho'spa'tality." They liked it and I had not
only an $800 assignment, but a 3-day vacation for my family as
well.
I didn't have any real travel article clips to send, but did I
mention that to Spa Magazine? No way! But, I believed I could do
the article, so I wrote a convincing query letter and got the
assignment. The magazine loved the article and it definitely
earned me points with my wife and daughter.
Travel writing is really not any different than other types of
magazine writing. The basics are the same. Keep your eyes open
for interesting story ideas, develop a unique slant or
perspective, write a well-crafted query letter, do your
research, and write a tightly-constructed and narrowly-focused
piece. And before you know it, you'll be sitting on that beach,
earning while you burn.
The ideas in this article are from, FROM SPARK TO FLAME - a
proven, systematic process for fanning your ideas into
money-making magazine ideas that make a difference.
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