How to Pitch Five Magazines Looking for Consumer Travel Tips
Welcome to the Friday Freebie Five, a new weekly feature on Dream of Travel Writing’s Six Figure Travel Writer blog.
Each week, we comb our Travel Magazine Database to bring you five magazine sections open to freelancers around a theme–front-of-book trend pieces, long-form first-person features, short narrative postcards–to inspire your pitches.
Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia
“Upgrade” is a collection of service articles aiming to improve the experience of traveling or educate the reader on a topic. There are about six articles in this section which are written by different contributors. They can be written in second or third person and are about 250 words long. Quotes are sometimes included from an expert on the topic. Examples include a piece on voluntourism vacations had short write-ups of 19 different companies offering this type of trip, an article about ecotourism including 20 short reviews of different green hotels and resorts, apps and gadgets, and a piece about making friends while traveling included blurbs about particularly friendly countries, apps for meeting people and activities conducive to striking up new friendships.
Condé Nast Traveler
“Intel” is a guide to traveling better, revolving around a certain topic such as last minute destinations, flowers in hotels, wellness travel, and leaving the airport during long layovers. The guide includes a core section with tips such as “An Expert Opinion on Where to Recharge This Season,” written by the company Red Savannah’s wellness expert who spent three months visiting top fitness and health retreats. The piece was supplemented by a sidebar sharing “Good News,” “Bad News,” and “Unbelievable News,” related to the topic.
National Geographic Traveller (UK)
“7 Ways To” takes the form of a round up giving seven tips to the reader around a certain travel topic. In about 400 words, articles are written in a conversational second-person style. There is often a 20-word sidebar which gives an extra tip or more interesting information about the topic. Recent examples include “7 Ways to Fly by Private Jet for Less,” “7 Ways to Travel as a Vegan,” and “7 Ways to Travel Safer as a Female.”
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
“The Knowledge” is “inside-track travel intelligence – from the experts.” Articles range from 500-1,000 words with topics such as determining if you should go on a structured or self-guided tour, how to make the most of air miles, and basic rules for camping. “Filter” is a 1,500-2,000-word article section with top picks such as best places to stay (with information on food, tips, price, etc.), the best of a particular type of excursion (six best holiday bike rides, for example), and the top things to do/see/stay in a city.
SilverKris
“Eco-Watch” is a 200-to-250-word roundup of different ways that travelers can help out their global environment. Written in third person, the article takes a socially-conscious look at tourism, providing readers with a number of ideas on how they can contribute to the world along their travels. Past articles have covered how to be a responsible wildlife tourist, what travelers can do to support local communities, where individuals can volunteer on World Oceans Day, and why it’s important to visit destinations that support sustainable efforts. Each roundup is broken up into four or five 50-word blurbs, with each one profiling diverse international areas. Text is typically accompanied my multiple images and no sidebars.
You can find complete how-to pitching information for each magazine listed, including email addresses for all editors, in our Travel Magazine Database by clicking on the magazine’s name and logging in with your account.
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