All Posts Tagged: pitching
Join Us This Week for Free Travel Writing Lessons on Increasing Your Pitch Success Rate and Generating Sure-Fire Saleable Ideas
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.
How to Pitch Five Magazines Looking for Chef Profiles
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.
OnTrak
“Chef Spotlight” is a 200-to-250-word profile of a Pacific Northwest chef who is contributing to culinary developments around the region. It’s written in third person, and offers a deeper, more personal look into a well-known restaurant around Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, and beyond. The writing style is detailed and fast-paced. Each article also offers a background of how the chef came to prominence, and why he or she chose to open a certain restaurant in a given city. A recent “Chef Spotlight” examined the daily operations of David Sapp, the chef at Portland’s Park Kitchen, who teaches cooking classes at Sur La Table, while sourcing everything at his restaurant from local farms, wineries and distilleries. Another article profiled Canadian chef and entrepreneur Erik Heck, who founded Vancouver’s Flying Pig eateries, and serves only sustainable seafood on-site. Text is accompanied by one image, and no sidebars.
How Exactly to Move from Trip Memories and Notes to Completed Travel Article Pitches
To be honest, I’m a bit scared to do this series.
For our next round of live travel writing classes, we will offer a (probably shocking to many of you) window on how pitching takes place for an established writer in the most minimal time with the least possible fuss as we walk from initial trip notes all the way to polished pitches leaving my inbox right before your eyes.
To make sure you can see and ask questions about my decision-making at every phase, I will walk through each step of the process completely live with no prep work outside of our calls (or cheating, as I would call it!) to pretty things up or do more digging into an idea.
Become an Author with Our New Webinar Series on Non-Fiction Book Deals
I don’t talk so much about this side of my writing, but in the summer of 2015, I took some time off from my freelance writing work to give myself a DIY MFA in book publishing, from the craft side to the ins and outs of working with a traditional publishing house.
Over the last couple years, while I’ve been working with all of you on Dream of Travel Writing, I’ve kept my ear to the ground in those circles and continued that education, but something else very interesting has happened in the intervening years.
I’ve seen many folks I know go from book proposal to published book (and often follow-up books!).
It’s simply amazing how fast and easy it is to become a traditionally published author today. That is, if you go about it the right way.
Five Magazines Looking for City Profiles (Edition VI)
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.
Cambria Style
“Explore” covers a different city in each issue, usually located in the U.S. Articles are about 500 words long and round up suggestions for things to do and see including shops, attractions, bars, and hotels. There are about 12 suggestions per article and products are often included such as a suitcase to use or beauty product to pack. There is a short third-person description for each with the website, address, phone number, and price included. Cities recently covered include Sonoma County, San Diego, and Denver.
Five Magazines Looking for Celebrity Interviews (Edition II)
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.
Conde Nast Traveller (India)
“Informer” is a Q&A of a well-known person. There are about eight questions which relate to their career, travel, and favorite places in India. The article is usually 800 words long. Examples of recent interviewees include William Dalrymle, writer and historian; Siddhartha Mukherjee, oncologist and writer; and Shashi Tharoor, author, former UN-official, and politician.
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Five Magazines Looking for Activity Profiles
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.
Sunset
“The View” highlights a particular attraction in a destination. There’s a 150-word description giving more information such as the history, the entry price and the website. This is followed by a 200-word sidebar which gives more information on things to do in the surrounding area. An example from a recent issue includes “Botanical Beverly Hills,” which covers the Virginia Robinson Gardens. After the description of the gardens there is a sidebar called “90210’s Natural Side” which outlines a bar, a park, a tea room, and a garden tour with prices and websites for each.
Five Magazines Looking for Hotel Profiles
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.
Gentleman’s Journal
“Travel” is a 750-word article which covers a luxury hotel somewhere in the world. In a third-person conversational tone, the writer describes the history, location, amenities, décor, and food available. A recent example includes “The White Thrill” which describes the luxury ski hotel, Hotel Tannenhof in St Anton, Austria including how the area became popular and how the hotel appeals to affluent skiers.
Five Magazines Looking for Business Profiles
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.
Delta Sky
“Pop Biz” is a 1,000-word, third-person article about breakthroughs in business featuring companies and professionals who are making advances in their industry by innovating and thinking differently than the majority in their industry. In a recent issue the article was titled “The Branding of You” and was written about how retailers are moving into markets like fashionable office supplies to help customers build their personal brands.
Five Magazines Looking for Weekend Trip Itineraries
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.
How to Spend It
“From Desk Till Dawn” takes the form of a weekend itinerary to destinations worldwide focusing on adventure travel and extreme sports. There is a 200-word introduction which covers the destination and the activities the writer will do there. This is then followed by a 1,500-word recount of the writer’s trip from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. The article is divided into timeslots in which the writer describes, in a first-person narrative style, the adventure activities they did in the destination. There is often a sidebar at the end of the piece called “Fast Facts.” This includes information on the flight and tour company, with the prices, phone numbers, and websites included. Examples from a recent issue include “Kayaking and Hiking in Newfoundland,” in which the writer recounts his trip exploring remote Newfoundland, Canada, searching for whales and ice bergs, “Cliff Climbing and Kayaking in St Lucia,” which covers the writer’s weekend kayaking, trekking, and cliff jumping in St Lucia, and “Ultra Running on Reunion Island,” which covers the 165km mountain crossing race on Reunion Island.