TravelingInTheUSA.com: Featured Publication

Dear Reader,

This week’s Featured Publication, TravelingInTheUSA.com, pays for articles from both published and unpublished writers. It’s an ideal place to send your quirky hometown stories.

Writing about your hometown gives you an edge. After all, you can finger the “insider” spots a visiting writer passing through won’t necessarily find. Editors like the credibility that a local brings to a story, so that works to your advantage.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about a few other ways you can woo editors, with ideas (local or otherwise) that feed into the mindset of travelers today.

In the meantime, scroll down for details about today’s Featured Publication…

— Jen

Jennifer Stevens
Guest Editor

P.S. One of my three little boys just wandered into my office to show me a picture he drew. It reminded me, as I’m reminded often, of how lucky I am to “work” from home. My schedule is my own. I can take the kids out on a hike — the kind of family outing lots of folks arrange in the summer — but then I can scribble three paragraphs about it and get paid for them. I don’t even have to travel to add notches to my travel-writer belt. And when I do hit the road, I can make my vacations “business trips” and cash in on those, too. I’ve gotten paid to take the family to Montreal, Honduras, Omaha, and beyond…

If you’re interested in getting paid to enjoy the fun stuff there is to do near you… and ready to turn your vacations into paid-for trips — then check out what the Great Escape Publishing has to offer here.  You’ll learn all about the easiest, fastest way to get started… where to find the publications eager for your stories… how to write less and earn more… the real-world secrets behind landing perks like free theater tickets, complimentary meals, even paid-for vacations… and more.

WHY VISIT THIS PLACE?
By Janette Jones in Cambridge, Maryland

Why should I go? That’s the basic question travel writers answer, and at TravelingInTheUSA.com they do it in a very personal way. Stories published here include the writers’ personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences as they recount their travels within the United States.

Creator Jerrold VanNocker started this site (and others) as a means to learn web design. Over the years, with the help of his wife Allison, he’s grown it into an approachable place for newbie and professional travel writers to get published.  What this site lacks in visual sophistication, it more than makes up for with its welcoming attitude toward never-published writers and its personal interest in readers’ travel experiences. And it pays well, too.

The site seeks stories from professional writers, aspiring travel writers, and people just wanting to share their travel experiences. Articles about local, lesser-known (or virtually unknown) but interesting places are mixed in with mainstream destinations — a plus for writers starting small and local.

To write for TravelingInTheUSA.com, think about the quirky bars, hidden cafes, and popular activities that make your hometown special. For example, the featured article on the website right now is titled “Nothin’ Finah,” and begins, “Anything you want to know about Portland, Maine can be found at five in the morning at Becky’s Diner.”

Just think — your own community probably has the equivalent of a Becky’s Diner that you could write about for this site.  When you do, here are three things the editors look for in travel articles: uniqueness, personal experience, and photographs. (Articles without photos are less likely to be published.)

The editors, “seek only original articles and original photographs for publication… [The] travel article must communicate that you have personally been to the destination and are writing from a personal perspective.”

That should be easy enough, especially if you’re writing about your hometown. Plus — and here’s a great opportunity for continuing bylines and checks — Jerrold and Allison are willing to, “entertain suggestions for regular travel columns from writers that wish to commit to writing several articles on a specific theme.”

To submit an article to TravelingInTheUSA.com, first read through the writer’s guidelines, here: http://www.travelingintheusa.com/travel/writers.htm

Then simply paste your story into the body of an email and send it to: profwriters@travelingintheusa.com. Mention whether or not you have photos, but don’t attach them until they ask.  If you’ve been published before, be sure to submit a listing of previously published work. Payment for “professional writers” is $200 to $350 for a feature article with photographs.

If you haven’t yet been published, TravelingInTheUSA.com pays aspiring travel writers $50 for travel articles published on the site.

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]