The Simple Core of Most of Your Travel Writing Problems
Travel writing is a tricky profession.
I mean that very literally.
It’s not that it’s difficult to succeed at (contrary to popular belief–it’s dead simple to make a good living at if you follow the right steps). The problem is that it’s very easy to be tricked about the profession part of the equation.
In addition to working through our annual review series with all of our readers, I’m currently working with a new batch of coaching program members, and the beginning of that process inevitably begins the same way: intensely dissecting how they spend their “work” time.
Want to Make 2018 Your Best Year of Freelance Travel Writing Yet?
I’ve been so delighted to hear by email and in the chat rooms of our webinars from many of you how our annual review webinars are making you see where and how you can improve your business in the year ahead.
If you haven’t yet joined the series, here’s what we’ve covered so far:
- What is Standing Between You and Your Travel Writing Goals: As the beginning of our series on working through a comprehensive inventory of your business, where it’s going wrong, and a clear tactical plan that fits with your life to move you through the next year, we devoted a full hour to discussing the most common issues that keep travel writers spinning their weeks and how we will chart a course through them in the coming weeks.
- How to Clearly Catalogue the Work and Opportunities You Have Now to See When Your Need to Go: We dove head first into an honest look at exactly what each of you has in your income, relationship, and opportunity inventory as we continue our series on annual reviews as a travel writer. We not only walked through exactly what data on your business to collect for your review, but also how to draw conclusions from it as to what you need to do differently or more of in the year ahead. *BONUS* This work will also give you a huge leg up on your taxes, in addition to positioning you to be just the helper your favorite editors need this time of year.
Free Daily Travel Writing Webinars for December
In honor of our first anniversary, we’ve launched an exciting new feature: You can now stream all of our past webinars–one each day–for free.
These webinars are only available at the times listed, live, but you can catch the replay in video, audio, and transcript form, along with the webinar slides, at any time in our on-demand webinar library.
Check out the full schedule of December’s webinars and register for your favorites below.
Please, Please Don’t Send Emails Like This to Companies You Want to Blog For
Yes, this is THE time to pitch companies in the travel industry to help with their marketing in advance of the summer high season.
And, yes, cold pitching absolutely does work, when done right.
But not like this:
Are Your Freelance Writing Goals Far Too Low?
We’ve looked a lot on our blog in the past week about what can happen when you don’t tune into exactly what is going on with your business.
But I know general freelance advice can seem so abstract.
That’s why I like to put specific numbers on things.
When I start working with new one-on-one coaching clients, the first thing they do is complete a detailed form about their income goals, satisfaction and income level with current clients, and how they are spending their time and one what.
And I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend around the number two.
Announcing Two New Workshops Saturday, December 9 — Including a Live Online Workshop You Can Join from Anywhere in the World!
Many of you have asked me about or working with me on your writer’s websites, and I know this is a big sticking point for many of you!
We do have a “recipe” for getting your personal writing website (a.k.a. you freelance writer homepage, which should be different than your blog, if you have one) done in one hour, but for those of you that have varied interests, offerings, or travel backgrounds, or have been doing this for a while and simply have a lot to showcase, I know the task seems much more overwhelming.
So we’re going to offer a live, one-off, online workshop (integrating the participation, getting things done, and one-on-one critiques we offer in all of our live events) to make sure your website is ready for the new year: Plan, Perfect, Polish, Publish: Get Your Writer’s Website Done Now.
What Does Your Personal Mountain in the Path of Your Travel Writing Dreams Look Like?
If you’ve attended any of our events or webinars, you know that I don’t sugar coat things.
When people first start asking me to coaching them so they could achieve the same level of success with their travel writing income and choice of clients as I had, I embarked on a journey of inquiry that lasted for years and led to the 400 pages of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Map.
Aside from learning tips and tricks for excelling both as a freelancer and as a trace writer from the best of each world, one of the main things I did was have a lot of conversations with folks just like you.
Should I Set Up a Care Package for You? Last Chance to Join Our Anniversary Celebrations
Today is the last day (you can read more about why exactly that is in our FAQ below) to grab our landmark workshop on the state of freelance travel writing for magazines and how to master the pitching process.
If it’s not for you, no worries! Have a great weekend!
For those of you who think, as one writer recently wrote me, this could be exactly what you need to take your travel writing career to the next stage, we’ve compiled some answers to some questions we’ve been receive about the workshop itself and the opportunity to grab the replay and associated goodies sent to your house.
These are some of the concepts we dove into deeply during the event:
- the exact mechanics of how, when, and what to say to follow up on your pitches
- why editors are never stealing your idea—and what to do if you think they are
- exactly which portion of the magazine industry has the best rates right now for the writing you want to be doing
- how **exactly** with multiple workshopped examples to put together a pitch in five minutes
- and much more about the state of the magazine industry today and how to excel in it
Is There a Way for You to Get Paid to Write the Exact Same Things You Write on Your Blog?
When you hear the term essay, similar to the even more antiquated concept of a “composition,” you likely think back to your school days more quickly than your bank account.
Especially if the phrase used is “personal essay,” which fills an alarming number of people with dread.
The thing is, many of you are incredibly acquainted, both as readers and as writers, with the personal essays, just under a different name: blog posts.
FAQ About the Anniversary Special for Saving $90 on the Travel Magazine Database — EXPIRING TODAY
I just got off two coaching calls in a row with writers who have been writing for low- or non-paying outlets comfortably with good relationships with their editors but are intimidated to make the jump into paying markets.
Here’s the thing.
If you have been writing for an editor who doesn’t give you edits or in some way teach you about the industry and move your career forward, no matter how low or high the pay for those assignments are, or how quickly you can get the work done, or how easy the work is because you write it off the top of your head, you’re losing money in two ways:
- you’re missing out on mentoring, which is, like “exposure,” one of the things you should be getting in a bargain for lower rates (a.k.a. anything less than $1 per work—and I even mean online)
- you’re solidifying bad habits that are keeping you from getting future work from better markets, because these editors are examining your work with a fine tooth comb