How in the World to Become a Travel Writer?
Roger Norum from Leeds University School of English is teaming up with the Arctic Encounters Project to offer a workshop in the practicalities of travel writing …
Travelling the world and getting paid for it? Being flown around and fêted VIP-style left, right and centre? Making a living doing two things most people consider to be luxuries – travelling and writing? Surely, this kind of life is all but a pipe dream, right?
Well … not entirely. The life of a travel writer is one that many people aspire to but few people end up pursuing – due largely to a lack of knowledge about the industry and being in the dark as to how to actually break into it. Many people think that jobs like this are either one-in-a-million or reserved for tried-and-true journalists or people with loads of connections. In reality, travel writing is a career for which you only really need two things: curiosity and determination. Curiosity you need because the best writing comes from people who want to jump headfirst into learning about places and people around the world. Determination because the road to success is paved with rejection emails.
Learn to persevere, however, and the world is your oyster.
But what are the steps for getting from Point A (your home) to Point B (Rio, Bali or Alaska)? First, you need to be able to write a good pitch letter to a magazine or newspaper. This is short and simple email that communicates that a) you can write (and spell); and b) you have an idea of what constitutes a good story. Then, you need to know how to get in contact with Public Relations representatives, who will liaise with various tourist boards, tour operators, hotels and airlines in order to help you set up your trip and get it paid for. Finally, you’ll need to know how to turn the experiences of your trip into a 1,200-word feature article – not exactly rocket science but still a skill that can be learned.
Travel articles are not what-i-did-on-my-summer-vacation diary entries; they are carefully crafted stories that, through engaging prose and well-constructed narrative, communicate the essence of being in and experiencing a place.
All perhaps easier said than done, but doable nonetheless.
To this end, the University of Leeds School of English and its Arctic Encounters project is organising a one-day workshop in early June for members of the public interested in becoming travel writers. The hands-on event teaches the business and craft of travel writing by bringing together several leading editors and writers to teach the nuts and bolts of the industry and share their secrets. On-hand will be the Features Editor of Lonely Planet Magazine, the Publishing Director of Bradt Guides and a group of freelance writers, travel journalists and photographers – among them Arctic explorer-adventurer-turned-writer Kari Herbert.
The information-packed day will include masterclasses, lectures and roundtables that will cover a range of useful topics aimed at teaching people how to break into travel writing. Sessions will include talks on how to pitch travel articles to magazines, newspapers and travel blogs; how to pen narrative out of your travel experiences; how to effectively liaise with PRs and tourist boards; and how to negotiate the rapidly changing landscape of media and journalism today, while learning how to use social media work to build your ‘brand’. The day will offer a solid primer on how the travel writing industry works, and will offer step-by-step processes for how to start getting published (and, yes, earning money) as a travel writer.
More information about the event and schedule is available at arcticencounters.net. The workshop fee of £80 (£50 concession for students) includes all lectures, course materials and refreshments. Registration and booking is available online – a limited number of spaces are currently available. For any specific questions about what is covered in the workshop, please email Roger Norum at r.norum@leeds.ac.uk.