Tim Leffel's Cheapest Destinations

So You Want to Be a Travel Writer?

Like most people who have managed to get a regular stream of things published, I get a lot of people asking me, “How do I become a travel writer?” Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that in nine times out of ten, the questioner is hoping for some magic answer that will allow them to suddenly have a glamorous dream job. Forget the cubicle, forget the commute, and forget saving for months or years for my travels. I’ll be a travel writer!

Unfortunately, people have that same brilliant dream about starring in a blockbuster movie, writing the next bestseller, or getting drafted by the NBA. Here’s an article that has my take on the subject.

For those who have done at least a little homework before asking this question, I’m always glad to provide advice. The problem is, there’s nothing novel or new about my advice. It’s the same stuff anyone else will tell you in the countless books and articles on the subject. (And these are far cheaper than some weekend workshop in Paris or Hawaii, where you’ll learn the same things.) Start small, send lots of queries, get good at writing short pieces to break in, find good ideas, be a perceptive traveler, then go onward and upward as you have some success. Read a lot, work hard, learn to deal with rejection, meet deadlines, and think creatively. Turning off the TV doesn’t hurt either.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a great WorldHum interview with Don George, the author of Travel Writing, published by Lonely Planet.

For most of us who do this, the writing is the easy part–assuming we can get enough chances to travel, in between what we do to make a buck. It’s the marketing that really creates all the work. To read some inspirational and interesting words from folks who have mostly gotten beyond that point, check out A Sense of Place, compiled by Michael Shapiro. It contains interviews with most of the most respected living travel writers out there. (Nearly all of them talk about how fortunate they feel to be able to write for a living–they still don’t take it for granted.)

I was folding down pages in this book when I found a particularly profound quote, and found I’d folded down dozens of them by the time I was done. Most of the quotes are about traveling with a soul, with very open eyes, and with a minimum of baggage of all kinds. But some are about the business of travel writing, including this one from the man we frugal travelers all owe a debt to: Arthur Frommer. Here’s his take on the current state of travel publishing.

It’s become a big business and is operated on such cost-conscious principles by publishers trying to get the most for the least that there are very few people who can earn their living writing about travel.

This doesn’t mean it can’t be done of course. But if you’re going at travel writing with the goal of paying the mortgage or covering all your travels for years on end, there are certainly far easier ways to make a buck. Do it because you get giddy landing in a new place. Do it because you can’t wait to throw your pack on the floor of the guesthouse and go walking around without a map. Do it because you can’t wait to tell everyone what that odd character selling coconuts by the waterfall had to say about the next town over. Do it because you’re curious about the “why” of a place–its people, its culture, its customs, its food, and its perceptions about the world.

Want to know more? Here are some good travel writing blogs:
Vagablogging
Written Road
Travel Writers