Win a Travel Writing Award: AWAI Reader Gets Published, Wins Travel Writing Award

Dear Reader,

Bonnie here. Lori is out today, so I’m filling in.

I just got back from our Travel Writing and Photography Expedition in Ecuador. At the end of every workshop, I always ask attendees what they felt was the most important thing they learned. And this time — just like every other time — at least two said, “that I really can do this.”

And it’s true. They can. And so can you. It’s a matter of not just saying you’ll do it, but of taking action. Once you have, you’ll see how it really is possible to join the growing ranks of readers who are turning their travels into articles and photos, taking press trips, and seeing their by-lines in magazines, newspapers, and online.

We get proof every week when an AWAI reader gets published and sends in new success stories.  This week, I received one from reader Ellen H., who wrote in to say that she’s recently had multiple travel articles published — and even won an award.

Here’s what she wrote:

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Dear Right Way to Travel/Travel Post Monthly team,

I wanted to thank you for the tips and guidance you offer to new travel writers like me.

I stumbled across your website about a year ago while searching for an exit from newspaper journalism after 15 years. While I knew I could string a sentence together, I was amazed to find how different travel writing was from news, especially when you have been “programmed” to write and even see the world a certain way.

My husband (a newspaper photojournalist for 27 years) and I recently left our day jobs to take the “now or never” plunge into the unknown. We have already enjoyed taking our young son, also a budding photographer (published at age seven), on a two-week working holiday to the NSW Central West of Australia.

Since subscribing to the Right Way to Travel e-letter and being guided by your useful tips, our work has been published twice in Travel Post Monthly and the e-mag Literary Traveler, which was profiled by you. We have also been published in Australian Traveller magazine here in Oz, and the editor is very keen to use more of our work.

One of my articles, Ballooning in the Aussie Outback, even won an award in the RovingEye Expose Your World Competition travel story category, and beat travel writers from around Australia and even international entries.

Thanks again. We look forward to more newsletters packed with interesting and useful information.

Best regards,

Ellen H.

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Ellen and her husband combine forces to get published — bundling her stories with his photos to create the kinds article/photo packages editors love.

We always encourage readers to do that. But where do you start? We get that question all the time. Readers say, “I’ve got the photos. I just don’t know how to turn them into a story.”

Well tomorrow we’re going to give you the answer.

I’ve asked freelancer Jen Stevens to walk you through the process and show you how to find the stories your photos are longing to tell.

Jen talked about this in-depth last month in Denver at our Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop. And she went on to offer the step-by-step secrets for selling article/photo packages to editors, too. If you couldn’t make it, you can still hear Jen’s presentations and follow along with her PowerPoint slides in the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop-At-Home package.

— Bonnie

Bonnie Caton
Staff Writer, Great Escape Publishing

P.S. We’ve collected so many success stories where an AWAI reader gets published over the past few months, that we figured it was high time to honor them by posting them on our Wall of Fame.

If you have a success story to share, we’d love to hear from you. Send your good news to me at bonnie@thetravelwriterslife.com

If you’re not yet published, consider coming to a Great Escape Publishing workshop. Our workshop grads always come away motivated and confident… and they find success fast. The next workshop coming up is all about selling your photos online. That can be a great way to supplement your income. And it’s something you can do from anyplace in the world.

[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.]