Jet-setting around the world (and getting paid for it), the life of a travel writer is a glamorous one. Trying to get into this coveted and competitive career isn’t easy, prompting many to ask: How do I break into the biz? I regularly get e-mails from readers asking for advice. While I do my best to share what I know, it’s nice to get a second opinion.
Meet David Farley, a New York-based writer who teaches travel writing at New York University. He has been widely published and is the author of the soon-to-be-released travel book, An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town, available next spring.
Farley shares his expertise on how you can break into the travel writing biz:
Take a travel writing course offered by schools in your area.
Read books about the writing craft. Travel Writing by Don George and published by Lonely Planet is a great place to start.
Read articles written by celebrated travel writers. The best travel writing captures a sense of place. Tap into your five senses to bring the place alive, adding depth and vividness to your descriptions. Add quotes and historical/political context to situate the destination.
It’s important that your article has an “angle,” a unique take on the place. Editors want something that hasn’t been done before. Up-and-coming neighbourhoods, trends and unique destinations always make for a good angle.
The duty of a travel writer is to go one step beyond the realm of an average tourist. Like a reporter, you must talk to people, arrange interviews and get relevant quotes.
Most travel editors don’t want to read proposals, they want to see the finished article, already written and polished. Find out the e-mail address of a newspaper’s travel editor and send it on. If that editor wants the piece, they’ll buy it from you and you’ll have your first big clip.
Pitch your work to local papers, magazines, news-letters and travel websites. Try to get published anywhere and everywhere.
Travel writers don’t make much money. On assignment, it’s nice hotels; at home, it’s bare cupboards and Ramen noodles. Few people can make a living solely from it. Either stick to your day job and write on the side, or become a full-time writer that focuses on travel, but also writes about other passions.
Drive is most important to becoming a successful travel writer. Get into the mindset that nothing is going to stop you from getting what you want. The most successful students I’ve taught weren’t the most talented, but rather the most determined.
Good luck and safe travels.
– Julia Dimon is co-host of Word Travels, airing on OLN, and editor of www.thetraveljunkie.ca.
