How to become a travel writer (and get paid)
If you want to get started as a travel writer, this is how I developed my portfolio and landed writing gigs with some of the biggest travel publications in the world.
I never studied writing.
I ended up as a travel writer almost accidentally, from a happy coincidence of travelling a lot and having a friend who wanted me to write about it for a website she managed.
Since my first fumbling forays into the world of travel writing, I have been published by National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Lonely Planet, and many other travel publications.
I’m by no means an expert, but if you want to break into the industry, I am more than happy to share my experiences as someone who did it with no connections, no experience, and no real clue about how the industry works.
This is everything I know about how to become a travel writer.
But first things first: If you want to be a travel writer, know what you’re getting into
The chances of getting sent off to luxury destinations on all expenses paid trips, with a generous commission with a fancy publication, is next to zero.
Abysmal rates are part of the game.
Even with years of experience, it can take hours of pitching to land a story with a good publication. Then you need to actually go on the trip, and don’t expect to have expenses paid. Once you’ve travelled, you might spend another day or two writing the story.
If you’re lucky, you might get paid around 0.50 cents a word. Break that down to an hourly rate and you’re probably making… next to nothing.
The reality of travel writing is that you’re never going to make a great wage writing for publications alone.
Even if you get a staff job, you can expect the pay to be pretty bad.
How to get started as a travel writer
There is more than one way to start a career as a travel writer, but this is how I did it.
Start pitching
Getting your first break can take some time.
It can help to start off by pitching lesser visited destinations. It’s a fine line, though — while this can make you stand out, editors also have less interest in or budget for commissioning features that don’t appeal to the mass market.
There’s a reason most travel articles are about countries like Spain, France, and Italy. These stories sell, so that’s what gets published, even when over touristing is an ever growing problem in those places.
Travel media is all about making money. It’s rarely about publishing truly unique or inspiring stories.
Start a travel blog
If you’re brand new to travel writing, a blog can be the easiest place to start. By publishing your own content, you can show editors you can write clean, engaging copy.
It helps if you have a unique point of view that can help you get seen in search results.
It takes a lot of time to maintain a blog, so it will probably fall by the wayside as you pick up more work, but the time you put in upfront is a good investment. Your blog can stay online for years and help build your presence.
It’s especially great if, like me, you hate social media. In a course on how to be a travel writer, I saw one of the ‘top tips’ was to build a following on the social media channel of your choice.
For the sake of my mental health I prefer not to do that.
I show up in search instead.
Travel writing jobs
When we talk about travel writing, there are many forms that can take. Here are a few of the ways I have worked as a travel writer in my career:
I worked as an in-house content writer for a campevan rental company
I have worked as a freelance travel writer, pitching online and print publications around the world
I have updated a travel guide book from a major brand
I worked as a content manager for the tourism board of a country.
As you can see, if you want to write about travel, there are different ways of doing it.
Working as a content writer and manager, I didn’t go on press trips per se, but I did get a lot of free travel on famils.
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