All Posts Tagged: Freelance Psychology
Can You Make a Living from Travel Writing? Interview from Writers College
A travel writing teacher from The Writers College, a writing school that offers programs in the U.K., Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as online, recently interviewed my on what it takes to make it as professional travel writer.
How Long Does it Take You to Write a Pitch? But How Fast Do You Type?
How long does it take you to write a pitch letter?
An article?
A blog post?
An email?
I bet that number has very little correlation to the number of words you can actually produce.
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.
Annual Freelance Travel Writing Review Part 1: Getting Real About Facts and Figures
Before we can do the very important and difficult work of planning the steps you need to take to reach your big, beautiful, well-paid travel writing goals next year, we need to know where you are now and how you got there.
The Average Day in the Life of a Travel Writer
During a lovely interview for the Great Escape Publishing podcast (I’ll share it with you as soon as it’s out), the host asked me one of the most difficult questions for travel writers:
What is your average day like?
To Niche or Not to Niche: What’s the Best Way to Freelance Travel Writing Success?
A lot of the prevailing advice to the soon-to-be-self-employed is to pick a niche and brand yourself heavily in that area. Proponents say,
“Who’s going to hire a freelance travel writer with no experience besides her own personal travels? You have to do something and be known for something so incredibly specific that when people really need exactly that skill, they come to you.”
But what new freelance travel writers respond with, very validly, is:
“Okay, but who is going to hire me for that incredible specific thing right now? I need enough clients to earn an income now, not just later when I become famous for my super specific niche.”
How Long Does it Take Magazine Editors to Respond to Travel Article Pitches?
One of my favorite quotes of all time from a magazine editor came from Peter Fish, at the time editor-at-large for Sunset magazine, a major newsstand publication in the Western U.S.
At the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference in 2015, someone asked a panel of editors how long it takes them to respond to a pitch.
25 Ways to Move Your Travel Writing Career Forward Today—In 15 Minutes or Less
A few years ago, I came across the idea of microactions: things you can do in incredible short amounts of time (they focus on seven minutes) to move your career forward, whether in terms of networking, getting organized, increasing revenue, or clearing your head to be more productive when you dive back into work.
Don’t Freak Out! (When Emailing Travel Magazine Editors)
In a private Facebook writing group I’m part of, one of the writers got a huge outpouring of support from the rest of the group after a small melt down.
She wrote an article that was, for her, a big deal. She sent it off to the editor. Early. And then she realized there were a couple typos in it.