All Posts in Category: Running Your Writing Business
Should Trends Be Your New Best Friends?
Ever heard of a time peg?
I try not to use the word too often, because it masks much more important issues at stake in people’s pitches, but, at its core, it means pegging or affixing the topic if your article to something timely.
There’s lots of options for this “something timely” that get thrown around when discussing pitches, from openings of new things to renovations of old things to major anniversaries of even older things.
I cannot tell you how many pitches I saw either related to country of Canada’s 150th anniversary of statehood or the American National Park system’s 100th anniversary of its founding.
After These Seven Webinars, You’ll Never Worry About How to Pay for Your Trips Again
Today’s holiday trivia: An important British holiday tradition has been the day when a lord’s subjects would come wassailing. Today, we think of wassailing as singing carols and spreading good cheer, particularly when doing so door to door, but this tradition initially was intended to replace begging and offer peasants a specific opportunity to receive food and drink—especially figgy puddings—from the wealthy. The food-gifting aspect continues today, often in unusual forms, such as the London’s Drury Lane Theatre’s tradition since 1795 of proving cake and punch for the resident theater company each January 6.
If you are new to travel writing, there is no doubt one thing that seems the golden goal for marking your successful entry into this work: scoring a spot on a free trip for travel writers.
I’ve seen this as a goal for many folks who joining us for our 5-week annual review and 2018 planning process this winter.
And if this is one of your goals this year, I’ve got great news for you:
Setting up free trips as a travel writer is dead simple.
Why December Should Be the Busy Time of Year for Your (New) Freelance Travel Writing Business
Paying dues.
Such an obnoxious term.
As an adult, with years of experience at something, anything, it feels icky to have to start at the bottom of the totem pole in a new profession.
But, I’m not here to tell you that’s what you need to do when you are ramping up or transitioning into a new freelance travel writing business.
Not exactly.
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.
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.
Can Five Minutes a Day Really Increase Your Assignment Rate Four Fold?
Wanted to make sure you heard a few quick things about today’s call:
Our webinar will take place today at a very different time than usual as I need to catch a flight to a get down to a writing conference in Nashville before our weeklong boot camp starts on Sunday.
(I’m so excited to see some of you there! We have been working so hard on the outings, set up, and menus for this week to welcome writers coming from as far as Argentina to take their career to an entirely new level! If you’re interest in joining us for next spring’s bootcamp, you can take 25% off now in our summer’s last hurrah sale!)
Our topic for today may literally be the most important thing that we will every cover in a webinar.
The Best Pay for Travel Blogging is Literally Hiding
Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
We’ve been talking in the past few weeks about how the best-paid travel writing gigs are typically not advertised, but you can find them or create them for yourself with some very easy online research.
But my absolute favorite–in terms of the type of writing as well as the pay–type of blogging for travel businesses is hiding in a completely different way. It’s not just that it’s not advertised. You
It’s not just that it’s not advertised. You shouldn’t even be able to tell that freelancers are writing these blog posts at all.
How Do You Respond When Travel Companies Ask You to Blink First in Negotiations?
Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash
Welcome to a new feature here at Dream of Travel Writing–the Monday Mailbag! We often get questions from readers, folks in our accountability group, or coaching program members that we think would apply to a lot of you.
Now, with permission, agony-aunt-style, we’ll be sharing a new one with you each Monday. If you have a question you’d like to see included, please send it to us at questions [at] dreamoftravelwriting.com and make sure to include a line saying we have permission to reprint your question.
On to the tricky travel writing questions!
When Things Start to Go Sour With a Long-Time Editor Relationship, When Should You Cut the Cord?
Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash
Welcome to the Dream of Travel Writing–the Monday Mailbag! We often get questions from readers, folks in our accountability group, or coaching program members that we think would apply to a lot of you.
Now, with permission, agony-aunt-style, we’ll be sharing a new one with you each Monday. If you have a question you’d like to see included, please send it to us at questions [at] dreamoftravelwriting.com and make sure to include a line saying we have permission to reprint your question.
On to the tricky travel writing questions!
The Key to Recurring Income Writing for Magazines: The Editors Stable
As part of a series of questions on our coaching program, I received this inquiry over email earlier this week that I know affects many of you:
“How quickly can people make a regular income in the freelance travel writing world? I’d really like to quit my part-time job so that I can dive into travel writing full time .”