How to Sell Travel Articles: Step One

If you love to go where the locals go when you travel… if you’re up for sampling new foods and meeting new friends abroad… and if you take pride in discovering the best hidden-gem restaurants, shops, and neighborhoods…

… then you’ve got what it takes to be a travel writer. You could get paid to take trips, just for writing about the things you already love to do.

Before I got my first travel article published, travel writers seemed like a special, elite club that I would never belong to. I didn’t have a degree in journalism, or ANY experience getting published.

But then I went to the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop, where International Living editor Jennifer Stevens set me straight.

Getting paid to recount your travels is actually quite easy. You just have to know where to start.

I did it. And saw my first article published just a few months after attending the workshop (before I was an employee here).

So today, Lori asked me to break it down for you. Four easy steps — one per day — to help you get there quickly and easily (so you can start enjoying all of the perks that travel writers get, like free massages, complimentary meals,

and sometimes even entire vacations on someone else’s dime).

It all starts with…

STEP 1: Pick a publication.

— Pick something that fits you. Ask yourself: What kinds of travel stories do I like to read? Which magazines and websites draw me in? Start by choosing a publication that fits your style, and would therefore be more likely to publish
something from you.

— Start locally. If you aim for National Geographic, you probably won’t get published on your first try. Look for local travel publications near your hometown, or weekly newspapers with a travel section. When I started I was living in Portland, Oregon, so I picked the publication Oregon.com.

— Start small. You can get paid for a travel article the first time you get published, but don’t turn down a publication just because the pay is small (or because it doesn’t pay). When you’re first starting out, your goal is to get published so that you can show that published article to other editors and get published again… and again… and start collecting real checks.

Spend some time researching a good publication to start with tonight. Tomorrow I’ll send you Step 2. Stay tuned…

[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.]