One Market for Travel (and other) Articles

Today, Peggy from lightgreenstairs.com posted a comment to my “So You Want to be a Travel Writer” article. The information she provided can be helpful if you want to contribute a travel piece to the online magazine TheSmartSet.com.

TheSmartSet is an independent magazine supported by Drexel University. It covers “culture and ideas, arts and science, global and national affairs — everything from literature to shopping, medicine to sports, philosophy to food,” according to the website.

TheSmartSet.com says it’s always looking for “excellent, original, and previously unpublished personal essays, critical essays, reporting, memoir, travel writing, stories, photo essays, and even video projects.”

As usual, before you submit a query be sure to read several issues of the publication to become familiar with its focus and style. And do remember to read and follow the guidelines.

Many thanks to Peggy for her contribution to our market list information.

So You Want to Be a Travel Writer?

Seems like half of the people I meet want to be travel writers. The other half want to write the story of their lives — they seem to believe their lives have been so fascinating that publishers will want to offer them big advances and snap up their story.

From what I’ve read (I’ve never been a travel writer nor have I written my autobiography), unless those people have done something fascinating recently (crash-landed a fully-loaded airliner on the Hudson River, for instance, or survived a shark attack and inspired the world), most publishers would take a pass on their life story, I think.

As for travel writing, although it’s not very easy to break in, it can be done. Just last week I happened upon a post by Cecily Layzell on Suite101.com on “How to Break into Travel Writing.”

Her post featured tips from a travel industry veteran, Steve Korver. Along with newspaper and magazine articles and travel guides, Korver’s portfolio includes travel articles in the New York Times, the Guardian, The Globe & Mail, Time Out and Fodor’s. Korver doesn’t discuss how easy (or how hard) it is to break into travel writing, but he does provide his top tips, as well as great inspiration about how he roams the globe to produce travel articles.

Cecily Layzell has also done some travel writing, traveling extensively through Europe and Africa and regularly contributing to Suite101’s Mediterranean and Moroccan food sections.

If you’re really serious about wanting to write travel articles, you might want to check out Cecily Layzell’s article. You can also find a number of other travel writing links at the Suite101.com site, including travel writing for blogs and web sites, resources for writing travel articles and books, and how to get a job writing for travel guides.

Plus, if you do a Google search, about 16,200,000 hits for “getting started in travel writing” will turn up.

© 2009 Laverne Daley

Please leave a comment.

travel writer,
articles,
publications,
how to break into travel writing.

Want to Sell to In-Flight Publications This Year?

In case you’re hoping to sell to one of the in-flight magazines, there’s a helpful article in the January 2009 issue of The Writer.

Ty Treadwell, who wrote the piece, “Writing for Airline Magazines,” has sold more than 100 articles to magazines, newspapers and Web sites, including many travel markets.

His specific advice for anyone aiming at in-flights is right on target: study the market, follow the rules, consider contributing front-of-the-book pieces for an easy way to break in, and know what not to do.

It’s especially important for freelancers to know how the publications differ and how you can use that information to your advantage. He says:

… just because most in-flights contain a similar mix of travel, business and general-interest features doesn’t mean they all present the material in the same fashion.”

Along with tips about topics that in-flights are now covering, he also provides a sampling of guidelines for some of the magazine.

If you’re serious about selling to in-flight publications, this article will be a must-read for you.

© 2009 Laverne Daley

Please leave a comment.

in-flight publications,
articles,
magazines,
writing,
writer.