All Posts Tagged: Getting started
Now Open On-Demand, Whenever You Need It: Our Revolutionary At-Home IdeaFest Program
When I first started helping travel writers finally reach their goals and dramatically grow their income, I saw, straight away, that the single, simple, easy answer to how to get from where each writer was to where they wanted to be was simple: pitch.
So I worked up live and online programs, workshops, and webinars to combat this great “evil,” the fear of pitching.
But, of the course of that work with writers, I found that while they were telling me their pitches were the problem, the responses they were getting from editors were telling them (and me!) that their ideas were really the problem.
That’s why, based on our live IdeaFest retreat, our new four-week program is designed to provide a serious and lasting foundation to turn you into an idea machine, turning up dozens of article ideas every day. And I’ve already seen the transformation happening daily with the writers beta-testing the program this past month, who regularly share exclamations like:
“The tips were really useful! I managed to double my article ideas for the magazines I identified!”
“Done! Love this exercise. Makes it visually accessible to see all the ideas for one place, along with the magazines and the sections to pitch.”
“This was a super useful exercise!”
“This actually helped me discover sections of magazines I might not have looked at otherwise.”
“As I started this exercise I really didn’t like it too much, but did finally break past a little barrier and thought of some good stuff!”
“Woo-hoo! I managed to find ideas around all nine articles types from the one concept. “
“This was fun! Each trip has so many aspects to share!”
“This was a really great exercise for me, and it helped me realize that even small things from an experience can lead to an entire article.”
Is February–or March!–the New January? (And What We’re Doing to Make Sure You Rock It)
Is it just now your new year?
On a recent coaching call, someone explained to me that as they were slammed with deadlines both before and after the holiday, had many family commitments during the school break, and subsequently had to take a trip involving many time zones-worth of jet lag for a family health emergency, she only finally felt, at the end of January, that she was finally in a place to really start the new year.
The Dream Buffet is Served!
If one-on-one coaching is not for you where you are right now because:
- you’re still in a full-time job in a different industry and don’t have a solid timeline for making the jump into freelance travel writing;
- you’re still getting your bearings in terms of what you want to do with travel writing (brand storytelling! meaty features! blog posts for destinations! well-paid trend pieces about your latest stop in a year-long nomadic journey after quitting your job! so many choices!);
- you would love to have the one-on-one attention by financially can’t swing that investment right now; or
- you’re working on your travel writing alongside several other interests, such as yoga teaching training, cooking for retreats in exotic locations, WWOOFing, or a developed blog that is a serious time commitment;
but you want a constant source of answers to your travel writing questions, whether an in-depth lesson from our webinars, an instant script or tactic for dealing with a tricky editor or client situation, or a quick answer to the perennial question “where should a pitch this story?”, we bring you the Dream Buffet.
Our Last Holiday Special Offer…An Opportunity to Be the First to Access Our Newest Way to View All Our Resources: Webinars, the Travel Magazine Database, and Our Q&A Library for Coaching Students
Today’s holiday trivia: While king’s cake or Gateau des Rois has becoming associated with North and South American Mardi Gras festivities, it was originally consumed on Twelfth Night, the last day of the 12 days of Christmas. Each cake, or pudding in the case of Britain, had a bean or charm baked in. Whoever found it–assuming they didn’t choke on it–was said to be blessed with good luck for the year ahead.
We’ve let you know for months this was coming, and now it’s finally here!
If your circumstances–time-wise, financial, or just not being ready quite yet to pull the trigger and dive headlong into travel writing–make it so that our coaching programs aren’t the best option for you right now, but you follow our webinars and new magazines in the Travel Magazine Database, we’ve got something that might be just what you need for where you are right now.
Had Your Eye on One of Our Retreats? They’re Now on Sale in Our Holiday Specials!
Please note: this offer is quantity limited.
Today’s holiday trivia: Today’s holiday trivia: Every January in Benin, preparations begin for the celebration on the 10th of the Fête du Vodoun. Ouidah, a small village and former slave port, is the center of the largest celebration, which brings priests and revelries from all corners of the world, particularly France and other former colonies. The festival is not for the feint of heart—the throats of sacrificial animals are ripped out by priests with their teeth and some attendees in a frenzy cut themselves with knives and pour local gin on the wounds—but Zangbeto masquerades, live music, emotional dance performances, and free-flowing local gin are accessible to visitors.
We promised it was on its way, and here it finally is!
If there’s an event you’ve already go your eye on, scroll down and grab it before it fills up. We’ve also got two brand new events available for registration through this deal that haven’t yet opened to the public, the first chance to register for our fall TravelContentCon.
If You’ve Been Waiting to Make the Leap into Travel Writing, The Job Market is Clear: Now is the Time
When I started to put down the list of travel writing jobs this week, I was absolutely shocked.
While everyone has been getting back into the swing of things during rentrée (the charming French term for reintegrating after a vacation), companies all of the world and in all portions of the travel industry have been starting in on their plans for 2018, and they require hiring a lot of travel writers.
Don’t believe me?
This week, we found 46 new travel writing jobs between Monday, January 1, and Monday, January 8, 2018. (Most weeks we have between five and 15.)
We typically only share our list of travel writing jobs, while we pull together from all corners of the internet, out network, and various whispers, with out newsletter. But we were so impressed by the overwhelming leap in the listings this week that we wanted to share it more widely.
Read More
Test Drive A Personalized Selection of Magazine Breakdowns from the Travel Magazine Database Today for Just $5
Today’s holiday trivia: On January 8, Bulgarians celebrate the feast of Babinden. A female-focused affair, the event dates back to pre-Christian times and honors children, mothers, grandmothers, and childbirth as all babies born in the previous year are anointed with honey and butter, and young mothers bring the favorite traditional Bulgarian cream-filled pastry, banitsa, along with new clothes to their midwives.
I recently received an elated email from our of our readers and past retreat attendees about an upcoming assignment.
It’s her first $1 per word piece, and it’s for a national publication that is a household name even outside of the U.S.
In the past months since she joined us for our Pitchapalooza retreat, I’ve seen an enormous change in her confidence as she’s lined up recurring gig after recurring gig, allowing her to cut out her non-freelance writing work and have the time and space to move into pitching magazines.
But this was an enormous achievement to have just six months into buckling down on her freelance travel writing career coming from a completely different line of work without clips to speak of.
For Today’s Holiday Special, We’ve Put Together a Package of One-of-One Support to Completely Transform You as a Travel Writer in an Incredible One-Time Special
Today’s holiday trivia: It seems like we’ve totally missed the mark on Christmas by running our 12-day special a week late this year, but today is actually the official Christmas Day in more thank 15 countries, including Greece, Egypt, Russia, Ethiopia, Greece, and Bulgaria. These countries follow the Ancient Roman Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. Russian Christmas is marked with a 12-course dinner centered on fish in honor of the 12 apostles, while Greeks use a sprig of basil rather than the European and American fir tree.
People often ask me which of our retreats is my favorite.
They’re all so different–from the people to the programs–that I say it’s like the favorite child dilemma.
But since our first week-long Freelance Travel Writing Bootcamp, I have to say, there is a certain child that I favor. Having the opportunity to spend a week together digging in and making deep progress throughout the week felt special on its own, but the last 24 hours of the retreat were what sealed it for me.
Pick Up Your Print Copy of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map for Just $13–With Shipping!
Today’s holiday trivia: While Christmas is typically associated with December 25, Orthodox eastern denominations celebrate the holiday in January. But Armenians take it to an entirely different level. Today begins Nakhatsenendyan Toner , a three-day-long Christmas Eve celebration that includes climbing on the roof of your home to sing Christmas carols.
We’re admittedly stretching the ten number a bit here and counting the introduction and the (very full!) appendix as chapters, but today we want to give you the opportunity to get The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map at cost to us–including shipping!
It costs us a bit more than $5 each to get each book printed, a dollar or so per book for shipping from the printer, then another $6 to send it to you by trackable mail.
So, today, if you don’t already have a copy of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map, you can grab your copy for just $13.
Registration for IdeaFest and Pitchapalooza is Now Open! Which Will Fix What Ails Your Pitches?
As you are all hard at work on your own annual reviews, we are here as well, planning out the next year.
Spring is coming sooner than you’d think, so it’s time for us to open up registration for our two spring retreats, IdeaFest from Friday, March 16, to Sunday, March 18, and Pitchapalooza from Friday, April 13, to Sunday, April 15.
If your pitches are getting nowhere, these events will majorly move the dial on your success rate.