All Posts Tagged: pitching
Never Write the Story First (In Case You Didn’t Know)
When I go to conferences and talk to people who would like to publish travel articles, online or in print, one of the most frequent questions I get is:
But I should write the article before I pitch, right?
Or something like that. Some variation on the crazy, horrifying spread of misinformation out there that makes people think they should work many hours for peanuts to be published on some random travel website.
The Incredibly Simple Secret to Successful Pitches
Successful pitches are the single biggest way to completely up your publishing track record.
But the sad thing is, it’s also the biggest area in which most aspiring, struggling, and even working writers with flourishing businesses flounder.
How to Take Notes Like a Pro: In the Words of Three Award-Winning Travel Writers
At the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference a few years ago, the group had the pleasure of listening to the Tim Cahill, founding editor of Outside magazine interview, Susan Casey, with whom he had worked for years, on the occasion of the publication of her new book Voices in the Ocean.
Never Say “I Just Couldn’t Get Anyone to Publish My Story” Again
It breaks my heart when I see writers go on a trip, come home, spend months waiting to hear about one story idea pitch to one magazine (and waiting for far too long to follow up with that editor) and then say with a sigh:
“I went on this great trip, saw this festival that only happens once every seven years, and got great photos. I know it’s a great story, but I just can’t get anyone to publish it.
Can You Send a New Version of the Same Pitch to the Same Editor?
We often get questions from readers and coaching program members that we think would apply to a lot of you and so with permission–agony-aunt-style–we’ll share some of these with you on our blog from time to time. On to the tricky travel writing questions!
Editors Have Needs. Please Fill Them.
Let’s turn your usual visions of editors around. Rather than envisioning an editor:
- seeing an email come in from someone they don’t know and either ignoring or deleting it;
- finding something fundamentally wrong with your subject line and deleting your email without reading it;
- opening your email, checking if you have any clips from national magazines and deleting it when they find none;
- reading your email, liking the idea, and then sending it off to one of his or her writers to work on
When Was the Last Time You Met a Travel Magazine Editor?
I’ve previously attended the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference and I’m always delighted to see the seats full of writers, who already have a flourishing business with travel writing as their full-time occupation or are on their way there.
But even more than hearing their stories of taking the leap, quitting their previous professions, and making travel writing work for them, I loved seeing them interact with editors.
It is so easy to have an “us vs. them” mentality about editors as a freelance writer.
Join Us for Free Travel Writing Lessons on Pitching Articles and Writing for Trade Magazines
In the two years since we began running regular one-hour travel writing classes, we’ve covered more than 80 topics, including:
- how to land free trips
- how to get paid really, really well for your writing
- how to get on magazine editors’ good sides
- how to navigate every step of the process to land travel content marketing work, including phone calls and proposals
- how to keep your hourly rate down so your bank account goes up
- how to get work done on the road
- how to write, step-by-step, 15 different types of travel articles
- how to land guidebook and other traditional publishing deals
You can grab access to all of our past webinars (and a ton of other resources you can’t find anywhere else) with a subscription to our Dream Buffet or grab them one-by-one when you need them in our On-Demand Webinar Library for a set with the video, audio, transcript, and slides.
But we also air a free replay of one of our travel writing classes each and every weekday.
Join Us for Free Travel Writing Lessons on Photography and Writing Guidebooks
In the two years since we began running regular one-hour travel writing classes, we’ve covered more than 80 topics, including:
- how to land free trips
- how to get paid really, really well for your writing
- how to get on magazine editors’ good sides
- how to navigate every step of the process to land travel content marketing work, including phone calls and proposals
- how to keep your hourly rate down so your bank account goes up
- how to get work done on the road
- how to write, step-by-step, 15 different types of travel articles
- how to land guidebook and other traditional publishing deals
You can grab access to all of our past webinars (and a ton of other resources you can’t find anywhere else) with a subscription to our Dream Buffet or grab them one-by-one when you need them in our On-Demand Webinar Library for a set with the video, audio, transcript, and slides.
But we also air a free replay of one of our travel writing classes each and every weekday.
Join Us for Free Travel Writing Lessons on Writing for Trade Magazines, Photography, and Following Up
In the two years since we began running regular one-hour travel writing classes, we’ve covered more than 80 topics, including:
- how to land free trips
- how to get paid really, really well for your writing
- how to get on magazine editors’ good sides
- how to navigate every step of the process to land travel content marketing work, including phone calls and proposals
- how to keep your hourly rate down so your bank account goes up
- how to get work done on the road
- how to write, step-by-step, 15 different types of travel articles
- how to land guidebook and other traditional publishing deals
You can grab access to all of our past webinars (and a ton of other resources you can’t find anywhere else) with a subscription to our Dream Buffet or grab them one-by-one when you need them in our On-Demand Webinar Library for a set with the video, audio, transcript, and slides.
But we also air a free replay of one of our travel writing classes each and every weekday.