BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey there travel writers,

As this is the "Travel Writing" forum, here are just some general questions to you all, of which the answers may help us all out with leads:

1. What publications are you pitching to (other than BnA)?

2. Have you got any acceptances? Rejections? Non-replies?

3. If you were accepted, how is it working with their editorial staff?


For me, the answers are as follows:

1. As I am in the early stages of travel writing, I am still trying to build a name for myself with magazines and newspaper travel sections: blue, New York Post, Lonely Planet, Attache', (Bergen) Record, Star Ledger, Modern Nomad, Travelers' Tales, Maxim, FHM, Jest, Outside

2. Accepted once by the New York Post, which got published. A submission to an open call from Travelers' Tales got published on their on-line "Flying Carpet". Rejected by LP and Outside, but nicely. The rest have been silent, which sucks. Rejections are always better than nothing.

3. New York Post sent me an acceptance e-mail, with a target print date two months from then. They were silent until that date, despite my follow-ups. But sure enough, the day it was to be printed, it was. I got paid a month later.

Travelers' Tales was also silent. In fact, I didn't even know I had been published by them until someone mentioned it to me months after it happened.

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Anyone out there involved with the UK-based "Global Adventure" magazine? That magazine rocks, even though I pay $10 (US) for an import version in New York. I'd LOVE to break into that magazine...

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

[This message was edited by eeyartee on 13 June 2003 at 11:58.]

I travel, and I write, but I'm not a travel writer, but it sounds fun. do you make any money? is it hard?

Money, yes, but it's peanuts (at least in this early stage of the game for me.) Periodicals usually pay $0.25-$1.25 per word. You start small by doing factoids in the beginning sections, and you get lengthier things published as you work your way up the ladder. The more publications you have under your belt, the easier it is to get more and lengthier work. For me, right now, it's still sort of a struggle, but I continue to hang on.

Travel writing, I'm told, is probably one of the hardest types of writing to break into since there are so many people wanting to do it. But, as a successful freelance writer once told me, "the law of averages says that you will succeed."

This is true, if you think about it; the average person probably gives up after some time (after all the constant rejections), but the few who stick with it get somewhere.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

For anyone looking for a travel writing lead, there's a list complied of all the major publications you can pitch to here:

http://www.worldhum.com

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

I have a section on WrittenRoad.com called "Market Leads." It's a place where I list submission calls, editorial info for writers, and sometimes travel writing related jobs when I come across them.

http://www.writtenroad.com/archives/cat_market_leads.shtml

As far as just starting out and who gets back to you or not...ask for and read a publication's submission guidelines thoroughly. For Travelers' Tales, they have a "Caveat" that says they will not get back to you because they are currently understaffed. I think the same goes for others as well. The bigger the publications that you submit to, in my experience, the sooner their correspondence will come. Rejection-wise anyway. I got nice rejections from the New York Times and The Washington Post a few years back. They came in two weeks.

If you don't have that many clips and you're trying to break into print, here are a couple of tips: NEWSPAPER travel sections frequently look for "Weekender" pieces. These are getaway destinations that can be traveled to easily from the city the paper is reporting from. Submitting these to an editor that doesn't know you will increase your chances of getting in. Like always, do your homework on the publication first. What places have they already covered this year? Make sure your pitch is different.

For MAGAZINES, the easiest place to break into is their "Departments" section. Check out the Table of Contents in any magazine and it'll be easy to figure out what this section is. It's where they do short newsy items. Often they are called Departments. Get a few of these into the editor so that he or she can get to know your name. It's kind of like paying your dues. Then, when you query a larger feature you can have in your cover letter that you've already written for them.

Jen Leo
Written Road: www.jenleo.com/blog

I'm very new to this world of writing for money and submitting queries and I keep reading the word 'clips'. Logically, it seems to me that these are sample 'clips' of your previously published writing which give the magazine/publisher/newspaper you're submitting to, examples of your work and previous experience.

But, what I haven't been able to figure out, is what form clips come in. Are they literally cut out of magazines/newspapers? Photocopied? Typed? How are they organized with your query letter?

I've searched for this information a time or two but haven't been able to come up with much, it seems to be one of those industry terms that is taken for granted that everyone will know.

Any help would be appreciated

PS: Jen, it's great that someone with your experience would offer to help others out and share your knowledge of the industry. I learned more in your last post than I've learned from months of reading writer's websites and various magazines. Thanks so much!

_____________________
Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from [the gods].

Markus,

I understand your frustration; it took me FOREVER to figure out what "clips" were.

Traditionally, and still accepted today, "clips" are samples of your previously published work, no matter how small. "Letters to the editor" even count. Even stories on BootsnAll, which is how I started working my way up the writing credibility ladder.

A clip is the masthead of a publication, including the date, with your published work. These can be cut and pasted (with scissors and glue, not the computer jargon way) on to a single sheet, and photocopied for sending out. If you have on-line clips, a mere hard copy print out should suffice.

Writing samples on the web are common these days, and easily accessible to editors. My clip site is the URL in my signature below, if you care to take a look.

Be careful with your clip site if you decide to do one on-line. I've kept mine straightforward with no real bells and whistles, so it won't be confused with a long drawn out travelogue, which editors will probably be intimdated to get into since they are so busy. One thing about editors, they get hundreds of queries a day, and it's absolutely pertinent that you grab their attention early and stick to the point.

Hope this helps.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

Thanks for clearing that up for me, now I have no more excuses for not sending out those query letters

_____________________
Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from [the gods].

Markus,

It's great to hear someone else out there is following the "rules" of breaking into travel writing, with the queries and the pitches. I know a lot of wannabe travel writers who are so convinced that they are so "good" that they don't need to go through the whole name building process, and it's just refreshing to find another person who actually is taking travel writing seriously.

Good luck on your queries! Let us know what happens.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

Ha! I am definitely not convinced I'm too good for anything... I'm my own worst critic and I'm very very harsh.

_____________________
Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from [the gods].