The Only Thing Worse Than Pitching a Travel Article and Never Hearing Back
I recently talked about how some of the incredibly talented writers in our At-Home Pitchapalooza Program are having trouble coming up with ideas for feature pitches, because they’re afraid of writing feature articles.
And I totally understand this.
But today, I want to let you in on a little secret.
There is something much, much worse than pitching an idea to a magazine and not hearing back.
Are You Afraid to Pitch Feature-length Travel Articles?
A very curious thing has happened in our At-Home Pitchapalooza Program.
Even though, at the outset, a lot of folks said they are primarily interested in writing features or writing more features, there is a lot of reticence to nail down the ideas and magazines to pitch those features to.
How to Close the Deal with Your Phone Calls and Proposals
In the last three weeks of webinars on travel content marketing writing, we’re looked at:
- How to Earn Big with Travel Content Marketing Writing – We talk about the different opportunities for travel content marketing writing–from blog posts to content strategy to choosing and editing photos for Instagram–what kind of pay you can expect (and the low-paying types of work you should always avoid), and where to start looking for these opportunities.
- How to Locate the People Who Need Your Travel Content Marketing Writing – We continue looking at where the big money in travel writing is hiding this week in part two of our series on travel content marketing writing: how to identify the people you can approach for this type of work, whether companies or tourism boards.
- How to Craft a Travel Content Marketing Pitch that Gets Attention – In the third portion of our coverage on travel content marketing writing, I break down the steps of putting together your own pitch to send cold to companies and tourism boards you think would benefit from your services, including powerful statistics on content marketing ROI to include and just how much information to give away to keep your prospect interested without setting them up to go execute your plan without you.
The Complete Compendium of Conferences for Travel Writers
I remember when I first made the investment to attend my first travel writing conference (and also my first small business/freelance conference–another milestone and a *very* different type of experience and ROI!).
Your first conference, when you don’t know anyone, is a blur and a rush and a throwback to junior high school if you head to a huge event.
How to Locate the People Who Need Your Travel Content Marketing Writing
Last week, we looking at how very many opportunities there are for travel content marketing writing. Truly.
There are so many different types of travel content marketing writing you can pursue, and there’s space in the market for you to specialize in any one of them and build a sustainable six-figure income with just a handful of steady clients:
- Email newsletters
- Blog posts
- Social media posts
- Case studies
- White papers
- Sales copy
- Product descriptions
- Sales sheets
- Event books
- Custom magazines
- Brochures
- and more
But the more pressing issue is where to find those clients, and, more importantly, how to make sure you’re don’t spend a ton of time researching a prospective client only to find they could never afford you.
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Is That a Magazine Idea Cheat Sheet in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
One of my favorite ways to ensure that every trip:
- results in assignments,
- results in assignments that I want to write, or, best of all
- results in assignments that I want to write that are achieved with minimal pitching effort
…is my pocket idea cheat sheet.
How to Earn Big with Travel Content Marketing
Aside from breaking into $1/word magazines (though those are honestly so much work they’re often not worth the time!) and setting up relationships with editors so they pitch me article ideas to write for them instead of visa versa, one of the most important ways I grew my income as a new travel writer was by setting up my own travel content marketing clients.
Have a Question About the Travel Magazine Database?
Some of our newsletter subscribers, webinar attendees, and blog readers have had some great questions about the Travel Magazine Database and how to sign up that I thought other folks would have, so I wanted to share them with you.
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This Week’s Webinar: Tour the Travel Magazine Database Live
When I first started travel writing full-time, I spent a couple years doing the usual things:
- writing tons of travel articles for $20 a pop for large websites
(please don’t do that! here’s why) - pouring my heart into pitching epic travel stories to websites like GONOMAD (check out these much better sites to substitute for five major low-paying markets like these)
- writing “full-time” for a site that had me doing tons of articles a week in an area I was really interested in (Italy), but didn’t pay enough to live in a first-world country
At some point, I said enough, and threw myself into pitching print magazines. It wasn’t hard at all to get assignments (which is why I counsel you all to pitch first and skip the low-paid writing part!), but I still remember very distinctly when I got my first $2,000 assignment. A dollar a word for the text and $1,000 for the photos.
Announcing Dream of Travel Writing’s 12 Days of Christmas
When traveling for work or leisure, I’ve often found one of the most beautiful and revelatory parts of new cultures centers around their religions. Italy’s transcendent cathedral architecture and Renaissance paintings. Bali’s towering stone temples and daily flower-filled offerings lining the streets. India’s multi-day, technicolor wedding festivities.