Dream of Travel Writing’s 12 Days of Christmas – First Edition Archive

As we frequently discuss in our weekly webinars, there are so many deeper problems involved in magazine article pitch letter than simple editorial tweaks. (We just overhauled many listeners ideas live last week!) Often the idea needs to be expanded to a round-up, better matched to a specific section of a magazine, or completely revisited and revamped into something that a magazine editor would be more likely to buy.

I love to see your pitch letters because they show me so much more than the idea at hand: I get to see the larger brush stroke tweaks that we can do in your thinking that will make *all* of your query letters more effective.

That’s what I want to offer a set of nine query letter critiques to you for our 12 Days of Christmas. It’s like a low-key form of coaching in which we get to work out larger issues in your writing while also perfecting the ideas you have right now.

When we do offer query letter critiques, they run $25 each for a one-time critique. Multiple back-and-forths on the same query are only available for monthly coaching clients, so this is an opportunity that you won’t see at any price in the future. (Unless we bring back the 12 Days of Christmas next year ;))

For you guys this season, I’m offering them at $95 for a pack of nine critiques.

This deal has ended. Thank you!

The fine print:

• each query is eligible for two rounds of edits; more edits on the same pitch count as a new pitch letter out of your nine
• pitch critiques need to be used in the calendar year (2017)
• expected turn around time is 3 days, but if you need something on a rush, let me know
• if I’m on vacation or a trip without regular email access, I’ll alert you as soon as your pitch comes in, so you can decide whether or not you want to save it for later or wait a few additional days
• no more than two pitches per writer can be in the review queue at a time
• all pitch critiques should be submitted as a response to your purchase receipt

Today I’m excited to offer you something you won’t see us ever offering generally. But due to the deep discount and time involved, it will only be available for the first few people who grab it.

Typically, if you’d like to get one-on-one coaching time to get focused, specific guidance on:

• what type of work you personally should be going after
• exactly which companies and publications to pitch by email or live at conferences
• what pervasive issues are keeping your article ideas from getting responses and writing gig pitches from landing the job
• money-saving travel information like what points to use to book your epic round-the-world nomadic adventure
• and more…

You can do one of three things:

1. Join our one-on-one coaching program for two one-hour or four half-hour calls and unlimited email support for $500 a month (when spots are available)
2. Add a small-group, in-person workshop at our Catskills retreat center for $450 (when available)
3. Get a start-up session when purchasing The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map for a one-on-one call and personal pitching road map for $250

This fall, when we were doing our planning retreat for Dream of Travel Writing’s 2017 programs, I offered our email subscribers free “tune-up calls,” a 15-minute chat preceded by some questions over email, to quickly address major issues in each writer’s freelance career.

I was very happy to get a little quick boost to people who had questions, but as I notice with all one-on-one coaching, often the biggest fears, road blocks, and questions that need to be answered don’t come out until the end of the call…if not after.

So today I want to offer you guys something similar, but designed to get more sustainable advice, goal-setting, and results in that same 15-minute call timeframe. This is something special that you won’t see us ever offering publicly. And it will only be available for the first few people who grab it due to the time involved.

Here’s what we’ll do:

• every month (or maximum month and a half if you want to space them more evenly throughout the year) in 2017, we’ll have our tune-up call, except it will be for 30 minutes rather than 15
• before the tune-up call each month, you’ll update me on where things stand with a variety of aspects of your freelance business in a questionnaire we’re putting together to make sure that I can prepare all of my best advice for you in advance of our time together so you can get the most out of our time together
• every week in between calls, we’ll check in over email to make sure you are still on track to meet your goals and troubleshoot roadblocks you’re hitting along the way

So you get a monthly call with email check-ins in between and a guided process to examine where you are in your work and get it to where you want it to be before we talk each month.

If I charged for this at the same rate I do for our normal coaching program, these tune-up calls would cost $1,000. But since there is not unlimited email support and query critiques over email (though we can certainly do as many as you’d like on our call), that wouldn’t make sense.

But preparing for these calls to make sure I’ve got the writing travel writing teaching and advice for each student does take a lot of time for me, and we will be checking in on email fairly regularly, so I’m setting up this package of eight coaching calls at $495.

If that’s a fit for where you are with your budget and business, I’m really excited to work with you, but I know that’s a stretch for a lot of folks, so don’t worry, we’ve got lots more non-coaching offers at much lower prices coming in the next few days.

As always, this comes with our money-back guarantee. If you pitch based on our coaching work together regularly and don’t get any responses from editors in three months, you get your money back.

If you have more questions about how this will work, please reach out to me today at any time at questions@dreamoftravelwriting.com, and, if there is still availability, I’ll sort you out.I look forward to working with some of you on this in the new year!

This deal has ended. Thank you!

Since The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map came out this May, we haven’t realized officially released any other books through Dream of Travel Writing. But due to the feedback we’ve gotten about that book, our blog content, and our free webinars about what sort of content you need to take your travel writing to the next level, we’re been working on more e-books for you for 2017.

For our 12 Days of Christmas, we’re inviting you to be the first to get your hands on this new content.

Today, we’re got a bundle of 7 e-books for you that you can’t buy yet through any other means:

• The Ultimate Guide to Pitching (and Landing) Travel Magazine Assignments: A 180-page master class on pitching covering everything from the mindset you need to land assignments, the most common pitching roadblocks and how to avoid them, and how to structure your pitches to make sure you get responses.
• 77 Ways to Jumpstart Your Travel Writing Business, Get More Clients, and Get Ahead of the Competition: More cheat sheet or menu than narrative text, this mega list of actions you can take to better your travel writing business is perfect for helping you figure out what to do next, whether you have five minutes or five hours to devote to building your business.
• The Writer’s Guide to Sticky Client Situations: Seven chapters detailing the most common awkward situations that you may find yourself in as a freelance writer–from clients that don’t pay to clients that expect way more work that you agreed on, to clients that guilt you into doing things because you’re “friends”–and how to handle each.
• 1500 Magazines that Are Looking For Your Travel Articles Right Now: We’ve updated the magazine listing from The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map with some fantastic travel-focused titles we’ve discovered working on the Travel Magazine Database (including many that aren’t in there year), for this magazine compendium.
• Creating the Time and Clarity to Create Your Best Freelance Business: Whether you’re new to freelancer travel writing, finally leaving your job to do it full-time, or simply looking to rededicate yourself to new means to achieving your travel writing goals, this guide to taking care of yourself as a freelance writer will create the foundation you need.
• Everything You Need to Know to Start Traveling for Free (with Points and Miles): The travel writers’ guide to setting up an automatic system for building points and miles so you can take the trips you’ve dream of writing about without scrounging for free travel from tourism boards.
• How to Travel for Free, Get Wined and Dined, and Tour Places You’d Never Find on Your Own with Press Trips: For those times when you do want support from a destination or PR company, whether for translation, hard-to-set-up experiences, or just that particularly luxurious experience, this manual tells you what you really need to know to land these coveted trips.

You can grab all seven today for just $5 each.

Delivery: Tomorrow everyone who has purchased today’s deal will get an email with the links to download each book embedded into the email (they begin direct downloads from your inbox or browser). Each book is in PDF format. If you have any issues with the download, we’ll give you a password-protected Dropbox link.

Since these books aren’t out yet, some are full-color and some are more simple black-and-white layouts, but they’re all packed with their final content; there’s just different levels of window dressing.

This offer has ended. Thank you!

The Travel Magazine Database offers hundreds of travel magazine breakdowns detailing:

• which sections are open to freelancers
• the length of each section
• examples of what has been covered previously in each section
• the magazine’s target readership traits
• the percentage of travel-related content in each issue
• where to read full issues online
• editors’ email addresses
• pay rates to the best of our knowledge

…for less than you’d pay to just go out and buy these magazines–forget about the time you save having their freelance opportunities already analyzed for you.

There’s a new magazine in the database every day, along with hundreds that have already been broken down.You’ll see details on what magazines are looking for like this section in Delta’s Sky magazine:

“1 City 5 Ways” showcases a city in five different ways to appeal to five different tastes and preferences in a second-person, 700-word long article. A recent article featured Boston and broke the city down into the categories of those who identify as a foodie, historian, sports fan, adventurer, or modernist. Within each category, the writer suggests where to stay, where to eat, and what to do during the morning, afternoon, and evening. Other cities that have been featured include Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Nashville, and Anchorage.

In 2017, we’re adding even more entries and will soon have two entries a day, so we had to raise our prices to $20/month (still less than a dollar per new magazine entry!) to cover the cost of paying our writers at respectable living rates (no $20 factory-farm posts here), and December 31, 2016, was the last day to lock in the old rates for life.

But it was a holiday, and I hope a lot of you were relaxing with family or having amazing adventures abroad!

So if you missed it, here’s your last opportunity for $10/month database access: Today grab six months of database access for $59.

Watch the full demo here is you have questions about how the site works:

This offer has ended. Thank you!

For the last couple months, our weekly travel writing webinars on Thursday have had a huge impact on many of you:

I had broken into freelance writing about 4 years before I was introduced to Gabi. I wrote a small magazine column and contributed a web piece here and there, but despite traveling to 20 countries and living abroad for 3 years, I struggled with organizing my ideas and pitching publications to keep a steady supply of new work. Simply put, I’ve learned more in the few months that I’ve been a member of the Dream of Travel Writing Database and listening in on Gabi’s seminars than I have in 4 years of working in the industry.

Gabi is a wealth of knowledge and I feel fortunate to have been influenced by her expertise. Ideas come to me more easily now and I’m gradually tackling my biggest challenge – keeping my pitch prep time to a minimum. All of this has been accomplished by applying the tips that Gabi shares. I consider discovering her one of the best things to happen to my writing this year.

– Lori Rice, freelance food and travel writer and photographer

They’re designed for you to tune in each Thursday or register through GoToWebinar to get the video automatically after the lesson each week, but I know many of you have joined our email list more recently and missed some lessons, or simply would prefer to have the ability to follow along offline at your leisure.

So I’ve downloaded all the recordings and matched them up with the slides from each module in both PDF (for each reading) and PPT (for when you want to cut and paste and alter the text for yourself) formats and set them up on Dropbox.

Here’s what we’ve covered so far:

• How to Increase Your Pitch Success Rate by Analyzing Magazines: The process of pitching regularly will drastically improve your income and portfolio, and editors respond best to pitches that demonstrate a knowledge of their publication. The best way to demonstrate that knowledge is by only pitching specific sections of magazines.
• How to Craft the Perfect Travel Article Pitch: You can take workshop after workshop on how to write the perfect travel article, but if your pitches aren’t landing assignments, it’s all for naught. We walk step-by-step through what you need to know to write the perfect pitch–and everything that you should leave out.
• How to Break Your Trips into the Maximum Number of Article Pitches: Does one trip equate to just one story? Certainly no if you’re looking to make a living as a travel writer. In fact, it’s much more normal for full-time writers deriving their entire income from travel writing to place 10-12 articles from one trip–right when they first return. Learn how to be one of them.
• How to Hone Your Travel Article Ideas to Perfectly Fit Each Magazine: We had listeners send in article ideas they’re working on in all stages of development, from pre-trip concepts to post-trip everything-but-the-kitchen-sink lists to full-fledged pitches. On the webinar, we discuss the ideas live with their creators and massage them all to fit better into magazines.
• How to Generate Sure-Fire Saleable Article Ideas: Instead of generating article ideas and then trying to find a magazine that will take your idea, I find starting your brainstorming with the sections magazines include yields a much higher success rate. Using the Travel Magazine Database, we cover techniques that you can also use with any magazine you have a copy of that ensure that your pitches hit the mark and you get responses from editors.

Download them all to watch at your leisure and review with your own copy of the slides for $19.

Delivery method: I’ve got the Dropbox file all set up; once I receive your receipt (it comes to me automatically when you pay; no need to forward it), I’ll email you the link and password.

This offer has ended. Thank you!

Today’s special is for all of you who are just starting out.For if you don’t have clips (or not any that you’re proud of), you don’t have a blog you’ve worked on for some time, and you haven’t changed your LinkedIn profile to proudly proclaim yourself a travel writer.

But in two months, we are going to change all of that. In four steps.

Step One – Day One
You complete a comprehensive questionnaire that guides you through the groundwork and soul searching you need to do to set yourself up for success as a travel writer:

• why you are looking to become a travel writer
• when you’d like to hit a certain income goal or go full-time
• the complete time resources at your disposal to pursue this endeavor in the two months we’ll be working together
• the direction you’d like to take your freelance travel writing in terms of type of writing as well as topical or geographic focus
• and a detailed overview of your previous publishing and writing experience so I know all the skills you have to bring editors and clients and can help match you with the right ones.

After I’ve reviewed this information, I put together a work plan for you for getting yourself set up quickly and correctly the first month along with resources to help you overcome any fears or knowledge gaps you have, then we have our first call to get to know each other, discuss the plan, and get clarity on anything other questions and roadblocks you have.

Step Two – First Month
Following the plan we’ve laid out, you get fresh versions of your websites and social media profiles online and we got back and forth over email to review them.

Step Three – Transitioning from First Month to Second Month
Once we’ve finalized your online presence and initial travel writing footing, we attack…I mean…we pitch blitz.

Our second call with be a highly focused pitch brainstorming and trouble shooting session designed to set you up with 20-25 solid pitch ideas to work on in the month ahead. We’ll go back and forth on email during the rest of the month to whip your pitches into shape and ensure you’re at the point where you can create stellar pitches on your own once our work is done.

Step Four – End of Second Month and Our Start-Up Sessions
In our third and final call, we talk through any major, recurring issues that popped up in your month of pitching and make sure you feel prepared to continue pitching on your own going forward. Then we make a plan for how to pre-pitch your upcoming trips and pitch on-going writing work to hit your complete income goals.

The commitment from you:

• an hour or two several days a week (though it doesn’t have to be every day) to do focused work on your questionnaire, website copy, and other tasks
• resolution to do the soul-searching to dig up what’s really holding you back and who you really want to be in this new career so we can create a sustainable foundation in our time together
• a promise both to yourself and to me that you will remain resilient and flexible throughout this process as we reshape your preconceptions about what is and isn’t needed in this career
• determination to give 100% to the work you’ll do during our time together

We can schedule these two months for when it makes sense in your schedule; it doesn’t need to be January-February or February-March, but the important thing is that you carve out time to dedicate yourself to really diving into this work, or I can guarantee you that you won’t get long-term results.

This package includes:

• 3 half-hour phone calls
• unlimited questions by email (I just noticed that my own business coach charges nearly $200/month for one email a day!)
• unlimited query critiques
• 2 portfolio site reviews
• 1 review of social media profiles

But I’m pricing it like our usual ramp up package ($250) for folks who purchase The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map, even though this Four-Step Start Set includes more coaching time and unlimited email questions and query critiques (usually only available with our $500/month one-on-one coaching), because I want this to be the year that you get your freelance travel writing dreams off the ground.

Once you’ve signed up, look at your calendar and reply to your receipt letting me know what two month stretch you’d like to choose for your start-up system.

This offer has ended. Thank you!

A brand-new way to ramp up your travel writing with accountability and individualized information, but for folks that are not sure financially, time-wise, or commitment-wise, that they’re ready for one-on-one coaching: the Monthly Boost.

It’s like Birch Box for your travel writing. You never know quite what you’re going to get, but we guarantee that you’ll love it!

Each month, in a quick questionnaire, you’ll let us know where you’re at:

• trips coming up that you need to pitch
• issues you’re struggling with in your writing, pitching, or idea generation
• burning questions that are holding you back from travel writing

Then we’ll put together a personalized bundle for your current travel writing needs including:

• breakdowns from the Travel Magazine Database (at least five per month, but if you’re going on a big trip and need more, we’ll throw in some extra)
• one new e-book on an aspect of travel writing on topics like setting up free trips, pitching, managing your time, and putting together stellar articles
• a custom resource sheet of links to blog posts, online videos, and other instruction that will help you overcome what ever is holding you back this month

When we open this up to the public later this year, the bundle will cost more than triple the price I’m giving you today, but to help you make this the year you finally do something about your travel writing goals, today, you can sign up for just $10 a month for the first three months.

If you’d like to continue your Monthly Boosts after that, we’ll give you a discount code for 50% off the public rate as our thanks for being an early adopter!

Monthly Boost delivery for this offer starts February 1, 2017, and you’ll receive your questionnaire to help us set up your next boost on January 15, 2017. Please complete it within a week of receipt.

This offer has ended. Thank you!

As we’ve mentioned in other daily specials, because we are committed to doing everything possible on our end to ensure you have sustainable success with your freelance writing, we avoid doing one-and-done coaching appointments, because you need an accountability mechanism to follow through on what you’ve discussed.

But we know that many of you are still figuring this out, and that life happens, and that you simply find yourself sometimes wondering how you got where you are at that moment and needing to hit the reset button quickly.

So, we’re taking the one-hour coaching appointments that we do as an add-on to our weekend workshops, and opening them up even to people who haven’t attended an event.

To make sure there’s a level of accountability, however, you get two!

Use one now to set your goals for the year and one at the end of the year to review them. Or one before a conference you’d like to drum up a lot of work at and one after to figure out how to follow up with the leads you found. Or use one to help plan your first big trip involving pitching free stays and tours and then again afterward to make sure you get the best assignments possible out of the research you did on the ground.

The fine print:

• email in response to your purchase receipt when you want to use your calls and we’ll set one up as soon as we can, travel- and work schedules permitting; people who have registered for on-going coaching plans do have priority
• there is no email support between coaching appointments or set-up questionnaire beforehand, so it’s up to you to come prepared with what you would like to discuss and share important background information during our call
• calls must be used in 2017, but can be used at anytime during that period

This offer has ended. Thank you!

This is both the last deal in our 12 Days of Christmas, and a big first.

Since we starting setting up our 3,400-square-foot writing retreat in the Catskills with gardens, writing spaces for all temperaments, and a rich library of magazines and travel literature, we’ve only head private events, like my own creative entrepreneur and travel writing retreats.

But the plan was always to open it up to writers, bloggers, filmmakers, and other creative people as a place to come and get a huge project done in an energizing, focused setting.

We’re not publicly opening the residency program up until the New York Times Travel Show at the end of the month, but as the cherry on top of our holiday offerings, I wanted to give you a chance to be one of the first to grab a spot and check a big writing project off your list.

In addition to opening up spots early for you, we’re also including all of your meals and snacks for the week (prepared in advance by us to your preferences using local, brain-boosting ingredients, ready to be heated up by you when you’re ready for a refueling break) at the regular weekly price ($155) for a private room with private writing desk and full access for the week to the entire facility, which includes also includes a sauna and a pub for relaxing in the evening.

You’re welcome to grab more than one week (up to three) with meals included at this pricing today if you’re interested.

FAQ:

What dates are available?
Begin Sunday and End on Saturday. Possible dates this spring, subject to availability and confirmation:

• Sunday, March 5 – Saturday, March 11
• Sunday, March 12 – Saturday, March 18
• Sunday, March 19 – Saturday, March 25
• Sunday, March 26 – Saturday, April 1
• Sunday, April 23 – Saturday, April 29
• Sunday, April 30 – Saturday, May 6
• Sunday, May 14 – Saturday, May 20
• Sunday, June 4 – Saturday, June 10
• Sunday, June 11 – Saturday, June 17

If you would like to use a date in a later month that’s not listed here, let us know. We have weeks available for summer and fall as well.

How do I confirm a date?
Respond to your receipt email with your three, in order, and we’ll work it out together with you next week. We’ll allocate first choice options in order of booking receipt.

What is the food like?
I have a food background (my first blog was around 30-minute dinner parties and featured recipes from all over the world) and have often catered events in the 100-200s over the years. Expect everything to be healthy, primarily gluten- and dairy-free with vegetables from our own mini-farm or other farms right in our village. We have a detailed food preference form to capture your choices, and will confirm the menu with you in advance to allow you to request changes as necessary.

Can I arrive Monday?
We can only check-in in person on the weekend, so we’ll leave you a key and detailed instructions if you can’t arrive until Monday. You will still need to check out on Saturday for the next folks unless you are staying for multiple weeks.

How many other people will be there?
It might just be you! There will never be more than four residents in any given week. Some weeks I will be there working on the farm or setting up for events and the next round of guests.

How do I get there?
There is a bus directly from Port Authority near Times Square in Manhattan (connected by train to JFK airport) to our village of Ellenville if you do not have private transport.

The 12 Days of Christmas have ended. Thank you so much for joining us!