How to be a Travel Writer

by Don George

  Travel sections range from four to 24 pages; see below for details of various papers’ travel ‘special section’ schedules.

  Special sections

  Most travel sections feature half a dozen to a dozen ‘special’ or ‘theme’ sections a year, presenting an exceptional opportunity for freelancers.

  In the UK, special sections often concentrate on a particular part of the world – more often than not it’s somewhere in Europe – and are produced in conjunction with the local tourist board. Typical special sections in the USA include Cruising, Mexico, Hawaii, Family Travel, Europe and the Caribbean. In Australia, the sections focus on regional and seasonal fare such as snow- or other activity-based holidays, mid-winter breaks and European, Asian and domestic destinations.

  The themed sections are planned a year in advance, in conjunction with the papers’ advertising sales staff – if the sales team knows that a specific section will be devoted to Hawaii, for example, they will have extra leverage to try to persuade a Hawaiian hotel owner to buy an ad in that section. The editorial content in these sections is not directly linked to the specific advertisers (that is, if a particular resort purchases an ad, this does not oblige the editor to publish a story about it), but the editor is obliged to put together a package of stories around that section’s theme.

  This is where your opportunity comes in. If you know that a particular newspaper will be publishing a special section on a particular date, you’ll also know that the travel editor will be sourcing content specific to that destination or theme. In the UK, you would contact the travel desk two to three months before publication with a proposal for a couple of articles; in the USA, you would send in two or three of your best relevant stories three months before the section’s publication date.

  Themed sections offer particularly good opportunities to publish niche, off-the-beaten-track or reflective essay pieces – an article on studying the hula, for example, or hiking a remote but rewarding trail.

  Pitching to newspapers

  Travel editors are very busy people. In addition to traveling and writing (they often provide a weekly column and/or a few big stories each month), they also commission, edit and select the content for the weekly travel section; attend weekly editorial meetings; deal with advertising departments; process paperwork; read manuscripts; liaise with art and photography departments; and much more. The result of this hectic schedule is that although travel editors might like to deal in a humane way with freelance writers, they don’t always have the time. The hard truth is that they are not going to call you up and offer advice on how to improve your submission. Basically, if you submit a story to them, they’ll read what you’ve written and if it is a good fit, they’ll take it; otherwise, they’ll reject it. Do not expect more than that.

  It can be tricky to know how to go about contacting a travel editor with an unsolicited submission or a proposal, as each has their preferred way of being contacted. Some like to be emailed but might dislike attachments clogging up their inbox, so want the text to be in the body of the email. Very few travel editors want to be contacted by telephone, unless you have built up a relationship with them (and whatever you do, don’t call on press day – usually Wednesday, Thursday or Friday – as you’ll definitely get short shrift).

  Read the contributor guidelines to see if there is a preferred method for submissions. If this information isn’t available in the guidelines, make a phone call to find out. Once you’re known to the travel editor or travel desk, you’ll most likely be asked to submit your proposals and articles by email.

  In the UK there are three main ways of pitching a story or a proposal to a newspaper, while for the vast majority of US newspaper travel editors, there is only one way: write it and send it in as an unsolicited submission. The only newspaper travel section in the USA that welcomes query letters rather than complete submissions is the New York Times.

  Writer’s tip: The editorial calendar

  Travel editors should include a calendar of special sections in their contributor guidelines; if not, ask the editor to send you a copy. It’s a good idea to request special-section calendars from all the newspapers you’re interested in and take full advantage of the expanded editorial possibilities they offer.

  Unsolicited submission

  This is when you send a completed article to a travel editor or travel desk out of the blue, on the off chance that they’ll publish it. You have little idea whether your story is of interest, whether it fits with future publishing schedules, or if a similar article is due to be run this week or is in the pipeline. For all these reasons, this method offers the least likelihood of publication.

  For you, it is also the least financially astute because you’ve incurred all your costs up front with absolutely no idea if you’ll be able to sell what you have written. In addition, you can send that article to only one newspaper at a time, unless you make it absolutely clear that you are offering it to more than one, and let the other(s) know once it has been accepted; this kind of multiple submission is usually only advisable for a time-sensitive story. Complicating matters further is the fact that travel editors often sit on submissions for months before you learn that it will never be used, or you open up the paper one day and discover that it has been published. On the other hand, there is always the extremely slight chance that your unsolicited article is just what the editor needs to fill an unexpected gap in the travel pages next weekend.

  When you submit your story to a newspaper, enclose a cover letter pithily describing what the story is about and any special experience or expertise you may have that makes you better qualified to write this piece than any other writer (eg, ‘The enclosed article about where to find and buy the best Japanese pottery synthesizes what I learned in the past five years living in Kyoto…’). If you have other writing credits, you should mention those in your cover letter as well. Some travel editors in the USA still prefer to receive submissions by post rather than email; others refuse to accept anything other than emailed submissions. Check the contributors’ guidelines.

  How long should you wait to hear about your submission? If you haven’t heard back within three months, send a follow-up postcard or email checking to make sure that the editor received your piece and inquiring about its status. Some publications specify in their contributor guidelines how long you might need to wait to find out if it has been accepted; don’t expect to ever hear anything back if your piece has been rejected.

  On spec

  To avoid many of the unknowns in the first scenario, you could submit your article ‘on spec’. To do this, you need to contact the travel editor or travel desk before you travel (or at least before you write) with some story ideas. If the editor likes one of your angles, and can see where it might fit in their paper, they’ll ask to see the article when it’s finished, but with no obligation. If they like the finished article, they’ll publish it. This is a good deal for you and a good deal for them. You know that the editor is interested in publishing your article, assuming your writing is up to scratch. They know that they’ll get a story, and if it isn’t what they want they won’t have to pay you for it. Many freelance travel writers work this way until they’ve built up a relationship with a travel editor. Of course, after you’ve written a few articles on this basis, you become more of a known quantity and the travel editor will have enough faith in your abilities to give you a paid commission.

  In the USA, the phrase ‘on spec’ does not carry the same weight as it does in the UK. If a US travel editor says, ‘I’ll be happy to consider your story on spec’, it does not necessarily mean that they think your story has a good chance of being published. It means: ‘If you send it to me, I’ll read it, no strings attached.’ Also, note that policies and practices regarding press trips and freebies in the USA are extremely different from those in the UK; see pages 98–100.

  Commission

  This is the goal of every travel writer: you come up with an idea that the travel editor
likes enough to guarantee that they will publish your story and pay you for it. A paid commission also means that you will have little trouble arranging free facilities such as flights, rental cars and hotels, because the paper’s travel desk will usually give you a letter outlining the arrangement. Sometimes, particularly if you have proved your reliability, the desk will contact you and ask you to write a specific piece, though this tends to happen only with the most regular contributors.

  How newspapers are produced

  The US production process

  If an editor in the USA decides to use your story, you will most likely receive a phone call notifying you one or two weeks before the piece is scheduled to appear. The editor will tell you when your story is going to be published and how much you’ll be paid. Depending on the subject, the editor may also ask if you have any photographs to go with the piece (for which you will be paid an extra fee). Do not expect a lengthy style discussion. Newspaper travel editors do not have the luxury of time or staff to go over minute editing changes; in the case of some especially overworked editors, you’ll be lucky if you get the opportunity to go over editing changes at all. If editors want to make substantial alterations to your story or have serious questions about the content, they’ll tell you.

  Many newspapers require freelancers to sign a contract, so you should be notified – and you should sign a contract – before a paper publishes your piece. But not all papers require contracts, and at many of those that do, signing a contract once a year is sufficient, meaning that you may not be notified about your second or third published piece. Still, most editors make a great effort to notify writers before their pieces are printed. In the worst case, you will find out when you’re paid. (Such ‘worst cases’ are rare; many newspapers now require writers to send in an invoice before they are paid, so at the very least, the editor or someone from the paper’s staff will contact you to request an invoice.)

  In general, weekend travel sections are edited on Monday and Tuesday and ‘put to bed’ by Wednesday or Thursday. Editing will be sharp, quick and usually minimal; fact-checking of only the most potentially troublesome facts – such as phone numbers and prices – will be performed. This is an important detail to note: travel editors in the USA rely absolutely on writers to get their facts straight. And if a writer’s false ‘facts’ bring on a deluge of complaining phone calls and emails on Monday morning, you can be sure the editor won’t be keen to use that writer’s work again.

  The UK production process

  In the UK, the production process followed by most newspapers resembles a sausage factory. As soon as one issue has been sent to bed, production work begins on the next. But many of the ingredients for this sausage will have been chosen months ahead.

  Most newspapers have an editorial schedule that can sometimes extend a year or more in advance. There will be certain topics coming up that the editors know they will want to cover – anniversaries, major events, holiday periods, etc – and these pegs are the building blocks around which each issue’s contents are structured. In March, for example, a newspaper may include a city guide to Dublin for St Patrick’s Day, plus a look ahead to Easter breaks in Britain. In addition to these ‘time-sensitive’ stories, most publications will also carry a range of articles that complement them: a long-haul beach holiday, for example, or an overland expedition in Africa. Space can always be made for late-breaking stories, however. If a dengue fever epidemic threatens travelers to Thailand, or an airline fares war creates incredible bargains for city breaks, many editors will want to replace a planned story with a fresh article. This is one reason why you may not be told that your piece is definitely being used; weary travel editors try to manage expectations, and a good way to avoid having to call a freelance contributor to say their story has been postponed is by never having made any promises in the first place.

  Most of an issue’s ‘raw’ copy will not be read in detail until the previous issue has been finished. Press day, when electronic images of all the pages are transmitted to the print site, is Thursday for travel sections published in national newspapers on a Saturday. For the Sunday travel sections, it can be anything from Thursday to Saturday, depending on how the newspaper prints its different components. Typically, the travel editor will start to look at the stories for the following weekend on Friday morning. They will probably begin with the longer and more prominent articles: the lead story; the comprehensive round-up (for example, a guide to the best Greek islands or beach destinations for young families); the city-break page. Even at this relatively late stage (as it will seem if you submitted your story months ago), you may be contacted for clarifications, embellishments or even a rewrite. If the editorial team cannot contact you, it is possible that your story will be replaced by someone else’s – this is why it is essential to provide contact details (ideally your mobile phone number and an email address that you check regularly). If you plan to be away on a long trip, say so – and call the editor a few days before you leave to remind them that they have a limited window if they need any changes, so perhaps they should look at the story ahead of time.

  Some editors merely tidy things up a little; others will restructure a story to their liking. But often they will have to cut back a story to fit the available space, and rarely will you get a chance to review their edit – this is a good reason to make sure you don’t overwrite.

  Most national newspapers have staff (or interns) who check telephone numbers and websites – and possibly hotel rates, admission prices and hours. Every writer is allowed a little leeway in getting the odd figure wrong, but if a check turns up more than a few errors your reputation could be jeopardized.

  Once the editorial staff is confident that the story is in good shape, it is passed to the designers and sub-editors. They are professionals who are concerned with getting the story to look good and to match the house style. They will lay out the page, ‘flow in’ the story (usually a simple copy-and-paste job), apply the house fonts and add the furniture: the headline, standfirst (sub-heading), captions etc.

  When their work is done, a proof copy of the page is printed out. The travel editor, features editor and editor will usually look at it, though only the travel editor is likely to study it in detail. Last-minute changes are made, the issue is transmitted, and the whole circus begins again.

  Writing for magazines

  Travel magazines 101

  Magazines with a market for travel stories fall into four basic categories.

  Specialist travel magazines in the UK include Wanderlust, Condé Nast Traveller and Sunday Times Travel; in the USA Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, Condé Nast Traveler and Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine; and in Australia Travel + Leisure Australia, Get Lost and Vacations & Travel Magazine. Lonely Planet Traveller magazine is published in countries including the UK, the USA, India, Argentina and China.

  Trade magazines include the UK and US versions of Travel Weekly, Australia’s Travel Week and the UK’s Travel Trade Gazette.

  The majority of corporate magazines aimed at consumers of travel are in-flight magazines such as British Airways’ High Life, United Airlines’ Hemispheres, Delta’s Sky, American Airlines’ American Way and Qantas’ Spirit of Australia. Leading hotel chains also publish lavishly produced magazines for their customers, as do most train operators, ferry companies and car-rental companies. A number of cruise lines – including Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival – also publish magazines for their on-board and ‘preferred’ clientele.

  Lifestyle magazines may not have travel as their sole focus, but their content includes a travel element. Examples in the UK include TNT Magazine, Harpers & Queen and even Dogs Monthly. In the USA this spectrum includes highbrow publications such as the Atlantic and Harper’s; men’s/adventure magazines such as Outside, National Geographic Adventure and Men’s Journal; bridal and women’s magazines such as Modern Bride or Elle; and subject-focused publications such as Preservati
on, Gourmet, Smithsonian and Organic Style. Australian lifestyle magazines with travel content include Inside Out, Vogue Entertaining and Travel and Australian Gourmet Traveller. There’s also the internationalist Monocle (with its summer travel-specific offshoot, The Escapist).

  The editorial requirements of these publications will differ sharply, and your approach should, as always, be clearly targeted. Specialist travel magazines provide the most promising opportunities, because of their robust appetites for travel stories. Trade magazines are much less useful, unless you have an inside knowledge of the workings of the industry; they would be far more interested in a story on new developments in Cuban resorts, for example, than in pursuing the trail of Che Guevara. Corporate airline magazines provide more encouraging opportunities, particularly for features on the destinations they serve – whether Asian beaches for an international airline, American festivals for a domestic US carrier or British cities located along a main railway line. Numerically, lifestyle and niche magazines take up the most space on the shelves, but they can be tricky to sell to – often their modest travel needs are looked after by a small team of regular freelancers or in-house contributors. However, the range of these publications does offer some alluring possibilities for freelancers, especially in the USA; as always, the better you know the publication, the better your chances of pitching the perfect article.