How to be a Travel Writer
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Spirit of Australia
www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/spirit-of-australia/global/en
Qantas’ in-flight magazine is published monthly.
TNT Magazine Australia
www.tntdownunder.com
A free, fortnightly publication for independent travelers and backpackers.
Travel + Leisure Australia
www.travelandleisure.com
Monthly travel glossy, covering the globe.
Vacations & Travel Magazine
www.vacationsandtravelmag.com
Quarterly, publishing well-researched luxury, experiential and inspirational travel features.
Newspapers
The Advertiser
www.adelaidenow.com.au
The daily of South Australia’s capital city carries a travel section on Saturdays and its Sunday counterpart, the Sunday Mail, carries the Escape lift-out; shares content across News Limited newspapers in other cities (see www.escape.com.au).
The Age
www.theage.com.au
Melbourne’s former broadsheet (now tabloid format) carries a travel section on Saturday, which shares content with Fairfax papers in other cities (see www.traveller.com.au).
The Australian
www.theaustralian.com.au
Saturday’s Weekend Australian includes a travel and lifestyle lift-out.
The Canberra Times
www.canberratimes.com.au
The capital’s newspaper includes a Sunday travel section which shares content with Fairfax papers in other cities (see www.traveller.com.au).
The Courier Mail
www.couriermail.com.au
The Sunday Mail features the Escape travel lift-out, which shares content across News Limited newspapers in other cities (see www.escape.com.au).
The Daily Telegraph
www.dailytelegraph.com.au
This Sydney newspaper includes a travel section every Tuesday and the Escape lift-out in its Sunday edition; shares content across News Limited newspapers in other cities (see www.escape.com.au).
Herald Sun
www.heraldsun.com.au
Melbourne’s tabloid includes a travel feature section on Friday and the Escape lift-out on Sunday; shares content across News Limited newspapers in other cities (see www.escape.com.au).
The Sydney Morning Herald
www.smh.com.au
Sydney’s major newspaper carries a travel section on Saturdays, which shares content with Fairfax papers in other cities (see www.traveller.com.au). Its Sunday counterpart, the Herald Sun, also carries travel features.
The West Australian
au.news.yahoo.com/thewest
Travel features appear in Saturday’s weekend edition.
Writers’ groups & associations
Australian Society of Authors (ASA)
www.asauthors.org
Promotes and protects the professional interests of Australian writers. Members receive the association’s journal, Australian Author, as well as regular newsletters.
Australian Society of Travel Writers
www.astw.org.au
The ASTW is dedicated to promoting ethical and honest travel, and the unbiased reporting of it, and organizes regular networking events for its members.
Copyright Agency
www.copyright.com.au
This not-for-profit copyright-collecting society seeks to secure fair payment for authors and publishers; membership is free.
Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW)
www.writers.asn.au
A non-profit membership-based group dedicated to supporting, promoting and advocating the needs and interests of Australian writers.
Sydney PEN
www.pen.org.au
The local chapter of PEN International, which promotes literature and literacy and works to oppose restraints on freedom of expression.
Varuna – The Writers’ House
www.varuna.com.au
Residential fellowships are offered annually to writers in all genres and of all levels of experience.
Writers’ centers
Australian Capital Territory
www.actwriters.org.au
New South Wales
www.nswwc.org.au
Northern Territory
www.ntwriters.com.au
Queensland
www.qwc.asn.au
South Australia
www.sawriters.on.net
Tasmania
www.taswriters.org
Victoria
www.writersvictoria.org.au
Western Australia
www.writingwa.org
The various writers’ centers provide support for Australian writers, including local advice and the use of resource libraries and facilities; many also offer writing and other related courses.
Writing courses
The Good Universities Guide (www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au) is an online guide to courses at every university and training college in Australia, searchable by subject.
Centre for Adult Education
www.cae.edu.au
Offers short entry-level courses and professional-development courses in travel writing, professional and creative writing, editing and lots more.
Open Learning Institute of TAFE
www.oli.tafe.net
The short, vocationally oriented correspondence courses include freelance journalism levels I and II.
Open Universities Australia
www.open.edu.au
Australia’s distance-learning university offers a range of writing, editing, publishing and journalism courses.
Aussie travel literature classics
These 10 travel literature titles reveal quite different responses to Australia and its culture, penned by both locals and visitors:
Down Under by Bill Bryson
In the Land of Oz by Howard Jacobson
One for the Road by Tony Horwitz
Sean & David’s Long Drive by Sean Condon
A Secret Country by John Pilger
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Thirty Days in Sydney by Peter Carey
Tracks by Robyn Davidson
Sydney by Jan Morris
The Winners’ Enclosure by Annie Caulfield
University of Sydney
www.cce.usyd.edu.au
The Centre for Continuing Education offers a range of creative writing courses, including a travel writing course.
Sample paperwork
In this section we’ve gathered contributor guidelines from three eminent publications, to give you a good sense of the kinds of information such guidelines provide. If you’re after specific guidelines for a publication you want to target, try Googling the publication’s name along with ‘freelance guidelines’, ‘writer guidelines’ or ‘contributor guidelines’, and you’ll often find their information available online.
In addition to these guidelines, we also reproduce sample model and property release forms for photographers. Get those journals and cameras ready – and good luck!
Los Angeles Times travel section
Dear Travel Writer:
Welcome to the cornerstone of what we do.
What follows on this page is the most important information contained in these several pages. The Los Angeles Times values honesty, fairness and truth. We understand the difficulties of the profession, but we also know that our reputation – and yours – rests on ensuring that our readers receive the best information possible.
These guidelines are from our own code of ethics, constructed over many months and with much care.
The Los Angeles Times ethics guidelines for freelance writers
The work of freelance journalists appears in our paper and on our website alongside staff-produced photos, articles and graphics. Freelancers must therefore approach their work without conflicts and must adhere to the same standards of professionalism that The Times requires of its own staff. It is the responsibility of assigning editors to inquire about a freelance
r’s potential conflicts of interest before making an assignment.
Conflict-of-interest provisions may apply differently to contributors to the Op-Ed pages. They are expected to bring institutional and personal perspectives to their work. They are not expected to avoid conflicts, but they are expected to disclose them.
More information about our expectations follows. If you have any questions, please call me or e-mail me.
Thank you again for your interest in and work for the Los Angeles Times.
Sincerely,
Catharine M. Hamm
Travel editor
Guidelines for submitting manuscripts to the LA Times Travel Section:
With the increasing power of the internet, it is a small world after all. We are awash in information: guidebooks, web blogs, chat rooms, travel websites, maps etc.
The Travel section is looking for bold, original travel features that tell a great story and are strong character-driven or first-person narratives – the more experiential the better. Stories should be sophisticated, compelling, complete and written with flair. They should evoke a strong sense of place (sounds, colors, smells, tastes), time (when did you go?), expertise and personal perspective, and they should be written with a very precise story angle in mind. We are not looking for everything you need to know about Shanghai; we are looking for the city from the vantage of its architecture or its fine arts. Find a salient angle in your story, be selective with your descriptions and historical facts and spin a tale that tells us your unique experience. We want stories that will make readers get out of their chairs and go – or at least enjoy the ride from their armchairs. We also want destination stories that reflect travel trends, stories that put us out ahead of the curve. Destinations will vary according to our needs, but stories should have a compelling reason to be told, an ‘of the moment’ quality that make them relevant rather than just an ‘I went to Italy and did this, then I did this.’
In these stories, we require an equal emphasis – in length and in scope – on the Guidebooks sidebar that accompanies each destination feature. This nuts and bolts information is as important to readers as the ride you take them on. Be creative and be detailed about attractions, hotels, restaurants etc.
Above all, be honest. Not every trip goes well. We know that not all hotels are great and that meals are sometimes lousy. We know that tour guides aren’t equally well-versed and that weather can be bad. And, more important, our readers know it too because they are travelers. So if something unpleasant happens, that’s part of the story, although this isn’t supposed to be carpfest either.
Freelancers must approach their work and travel arrangements without conf licts and must adhere to the same standards of professionalism that The Times requires of its staff. The Travel section will not consider pieces written about trips that have been subsidized in any way (even if part of a trip was not comped). We may ask for receipts.
Completed stories are considered on speculation only. Stories must be based on trips taken within the previous two years. To be considered, the story may not have run elsewhere or be pending publication elsewhere.
National Geographic Traveler
Writers guidelines
Thank you for your interest in contributing to National Geographic Traveler, which is published eight times a year by the National Geographic Society. Traveler’s publishing goals are to find the new, to showcase fresh travel opportunities, to be an advocate for travelers. Traveler’s tag line is ‘Where the Journey Begins,’ and accordingly, a Traveler story must capture a place’s essence in a way that inspires readers to follow in the writer’s footsteps – and equip them to do so with useful destination information.
What types of stories does Traveler publish?
Each issue of the magazine contains five or more features, roughly balanced between US and foreign subjects. Generally, we are interested in places accessible to most travelers, not just the intrepid or wealthy. The types of destinations we cover vary widely, from mainstream to adventure travel.
Traveler features are usually narrow in scope; we do not cover whole states or countries. Subjects of particular interest to us are national and state parks, historic places, cities, little-known or undiscovered places, train trips, cruises, and driving trips. Service information is generally given separately at the end of each feature in a section that includes how to get to the destination, things to see and do there, and where to obtain more information. The writer is expected to send along as much service information as possible with the manuscript to help us prepare this section.
We also publish several regular service-oriented departments, with the emphasis on meaty, practical information. Subjects include photography, food, lodgings, ecotourism, adventurous learning experiences, and short getaways. Essays offering reflections on the travel experience round out the department mix.
What kinds of proposals is Traveler looking for?
We accept freelance queries for most of our departments. Ideas for features are generated both by the Traveler staff and by freelance contributors. We do assign features to writers we have not used but only to those whose published clips demonstrate the highest level of writing skill. We don’t accept phone queries from writers, and we discourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts for feature articles. We don’t accept proposals about trips that are subsidized in any way.
How should an idea be proposed?
If we have to sell readers to consume our magazine, then writers must sell us with more than just notions and place-names, so please do not send us any unfocused wish lists of multiple queries. Restrict each submission to one or two well-developed proposals that have been crafted especially for us. A carefully considered proposal combines support for doing a particular destination with some premise or hook. A good query has a headline that suggests what the story is, a deck that amplifies on that, a strong lead, and not much more than a page that clearly sets out the premise and approach of the piece. The query should represent the writer’s style and should answer these questions about the story: Why now, and why in Traveler?
Check the Traveler index to make sure we have not recently run a piece on the topic you are proposing. Prospective contributors doing preliminary research for a story must avoid giving the impression that they are representing the National Geographic Society or Traveler. They may use the name of the magazine only if they have a definite assignment. When Traveler gives an assignment, the terms are clearly stated in a written contract.
How long are Traveler feature stories and departments?
Most Traveler features range from 1500 to 2500 words, depending on the subject. Traveler departments generally run from 750 to 1500 words.
Compensation varies depending on the type of feature or department but is competitive with other national magazines. Payment is made upon acceptance. We buy all rights to manuscripts, although copyright is returned to the author 90 days after publication.
What does Traveler look for in writing style?
There are no limitations on style, as long as the writing is lively and interesting, although a sense of discovery should be at the heart of every Traveler story. We want our writers to project a curious and knowing voice that captures the experience of travel – the places and personalities, the insights and idiosyncrasies. Writers who work for us must see destinations with fresh eyes and real insight. We place a premium on surprise and good storytelling – the compelling anecdote, the colorful character, the lively quote, the telling detail. And we prefer that our readers be allowed to experience a destination directly through the words and actions of people the writer encounters, not just through the writer’s narrative.
Beyond being strongly evocative of place, our articles attempt to speak to the soul of traveling. Every traveler, no matter how seasoned, wonders what awaits at a new destination. This goes beyond weather and accommodations and language and scenics and museums. There’s a certain frisson of expectation: How foreign is this destination? What new ex
perience will I have? This is travel as texture – the feel of a place, its essential differentness, its look, its flavor. We seek that texture in every story we publish.
Wanderlust
Writer guidelines
With only eight issues a year, the opportunities for getting work published in Wanderlust are very limited. The vast majority of our articles are commissioned specifically for the magazine, and written by experienced journalists, guidebook authors or travel experts.
Please read our guidelines carefully and note that we do not accept enquiries or proposals by telephone. Here are answers to some of the commonest queries we receive:
Should I send a manuscript or a proposal?
Please do not send us manuscripts – we simply do not have the time to read them.
If you have already completed the trip(s) you wish to write about, please contact us by email or letter with:
• A one-paragraph proposal outlining the story
• The proposed first paragraph of your story
• Brief details of how you undertook your journey, including any tour operators used
• If you have pictures, please include up to five low-resolution images to give a flavour of your trip (if emailing, your whole message should not be larger than 2MB)
• Any relevant experience you have, with links to / cuttings from previously published stories if possible