All Posts Tagged: Getting started
Announcing Two New Workshops Saturday, December 9 — Including a Live Online Workshop You Can Join from Anywhere in the World!
Many of you have asked me about or working with me on your writer’s websites, and I know this is a big sticking point for many of you!
We do have a “recipe” for getting your personal writing website (a.k.a. you freelance writer homepage, which should be different than your blog, if you have one) done in one hour, but for those of you that have varied interests, offerings, or travel backgrounds, or have been doing this for a while and simply have a lot to showcase, I know the task seems much more overwhelming.
So we’re going to offer a live, one-off, online workshop (integrating the participation, getting things done, and one-on-one critiques we offer in all of our live events) to make sure your website is ready for the new year: Plan, Perfect, Polish, Publish: Get Your Writer’s Website Done Now.
Which Travel Writing Retreat is For You?
We recently announced the dates of (and exclusive $150 discounts through Sept 15 on) our winter and spring 2018 travel writing retreats in the Catskills:
- TravelContentCon: Friday, January 12 – Sunday, January 14
- Freelance Travel Writing Bootcamp: Sunday, February 4 – Saturday, February 10
- IdeaFest: Friday, March 16 – Sunday, March 18
- Pitchapalooza: Friday, April 13 – Sunday, April 15
But how do you know which event is for you?
Check out our step-by-step workflow to figure out which event best fits your needs right now in your travel writing career: Read More
Missed Out on Our Past Webinars? They’re Coming Back on Demand (with Full Transcripts!)
We heard you. A lot of you want access to our past webinar content.
And, even more importantly, you want to know exactly what I said, maybe even just read it rather than listen to the webinar.
Or, you’d like the audio version only so you can listen while you’re on a run or in the car. Or maybe just a downloadable version of the video webinar so you can watch it offline on a long flight.
The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map: “Must Read Book to Propel Your Travel Writing Career”
We’ve been very fortunate to have some lovely reviews of The Six-Figure Travel Writing Road Map come in recently!
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.
8 Questions to Ask Before You Sit Down to Write Any Travel Article Pitch
This November, we’ve been kicking our live events into high gear with a new series of weekly webinars, travel writer focus groups around the world, a half-day workshop in London, and a weekend-long Pitchapalooza in our writing retreat center in New York.
In our live events, we use propriety worksheets to teach travel writers to walk through the same steps of generating, refining, and matching ideas that we do together in our workshops one their own at home.
One of the most powerful things that we do is teach people to think like an editor and get out of their own heads and their attachment to ideas and really begin to see the fit both with a specific magazine and it’s audience and with a print publication as opposed to a blog.
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.”
What You Need to Know About Freelance Travel Writing Contracts
If you’ve already been in this game for a while, feel free to skip this post. I am not a lawyer (though that was my original career plan back in the day!), just a concerned citizen, so if you are already commanding the rates you deserve and negotiating for contract terms that work in your favor, jump ahead.
The Only Thing that Matters in Travel Writing Is Your Hourly Rate
At one point in my career when I was in desperate need of work, a writer and writing coach that I greatly admire made a case for writing for trade magazines that completely changed my career:
I’ve earned anywhere from $.10 per word writing for trade magazines at the beginning of my career up to $2.50 per word penning articles for national consumer magazines like Health. What’s important, though, isn’t the per-word rate—it’s your hourly rate, and I usually earn $250 per hour at this kind of work even at magazines that pay just $.50/word.