Stevenson. You might remember Roy's name from our reports last July:
He's the guy who landed over 200 bylines in a single year, after
attending one of our live travel-writing events.
I asked Roy to give you a report on what's selling online these days.
Take a look at his report below...
-- Lori
Lori Allen
Director, AWAI Travel Division
P.S. In addition to announcing our next big photography event
tomorrow, I'm also going to tell everyone about our big travel writing
event coming up in July next year.
Our big photography event in New Orleans includes a session or two on
travel writing, as well as the option to add an extra day of travel
writing sessions to your schedule. And our big travel writing event
in July does the same thing with photography. These add-on sessions
have very limited seats, though. So, if you're interested in learning
both skills at one event, you'd better act fast -- and also lock in
our deep deep discount price available only through the end of the
month.
You'll find more details about our New Orleans photography event,
here: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/phw/neworleans
And details about our travel writing event in Denver this coming July,
here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver
Don't forget to scroll down for Roy's report...
*************************
November 14, 2008
The Right Way to Travel
What's Working Series, Day 2 - Online Travel Magazines
*************************
WHAT'S HOT ON TRAVEL WEBSITES THESE DAYS
By Roy Stevenson
When you're just getting started as a travel writer, an ideal place to
submit your articles is online. It's relatively easy to get published
on travel websites because many of them are screaming out for content.
If you can mold your travel stories to the style of the sites where
you'd like to be published, you're more likely to succeed. Here are a
few hot trends in online travel magazines today, along with some
approachable publications that follow these trends...
TODAY'S TRAVEL WEBSITE HOT TOPICS:
** Adventure Travel
Though adventure travel stories have been around for years, they're
still snapped up by editors all the time. That said, the idea of
adventure travel is morphing...
Sites are looking for more than the standard descriptions of
whitewater rafting trips, where getting bounced around on class five
rapids and soaked by jets of icy water is the worst that could happen.
The new breed of adrenaline rush junkies seeks over-the-top, harrowing
near-miss, flirt-with-death action that will make them the office hero
on Monday. Examples of these sought-after stories include vacations
where you fly vertically over Moscow in a Mig-29 jet fighter at Mach
one, take Formula One racing car lessons, and climb high mountains
above your technical expertise.
Websites that eagerly accept adventure pieces include:
www.great-adventures.com
www.21stcenturyadventures.com
www.realtraveladventures.com
www.bootsnall.com
www.bushducks.com
** Solo Travel Websites
The solo traveling trend is getting stronger every day. Solo travelers
go where they want, when they want, and see what they want without
having to worry about a partner's preferences. They eat where and when
they like (or not at all). They stay in cheap hostels or expensive
hotels whenever the urge hits.
If you have a solo travel experience, these websites would like to
hear from you. Connecting... Solo Travel Network is one such site, at
www.cstn.org Check out their website and writer's guidelines.
** Women's Groups
Today, more and more women are traveling in pairs or small groups, for
weekends or longer, on bachelorette trips, cruises, boutique shopping
weekends in London or Rome, art courses in Carmel, art museums in
Paris, or baiting amorous Frenchmen.
Many women's travel websites have sprung up and are getting a lot of
hits. They're seeking articles with a feminine perspective, although
you don't have to be female to write the stories. One in particular
seemed happy enough with my Paris Catacombs article, which still
resides on their website.
Here are a few women's travel sites to try:
www.travelgirlinc.com
www.travellady.com
www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/women/bestwomenwebsites.shtml
** Personal Experiences
Stories about poignant and moving experiences have been around on the
Internet for years, but they're becoming more mainstream now.
These experiences range the gambit from visits to WWII cemeteries...
to funeral ceremonies in other cultures... to simple, brief encounters
between people of different cultures that affected the writer
profoundly. These little meetings of the cultures are extremely
powerful when well-written.
Many mainstream travel websites will gladly take these stories. Check
the writer's guidelines for such preferences before submitting. Some
websites that are worth trying with this sort of story are
www.goworldtravel.com and www.escapeartist.com.
** Specialty Tours
Travel tours have been around since the Romans conquered the rest of
the known world two millennia ago and ventured out into it like
curious tourists today. These days, I'm seeing more and more articles
about specialty tours appearing on the Internet and in specialty
magazines.
It's not uncommon to see a busload of military historians doing a
week-long tour of the landing beaches, battlefields, military
cemeteries, and war museums along the Normandy coastline... groups of
avid art historians and artists on barnstorming tours of Europe's art
museums... whale-watching tours... wine tasting tours... sacred sites
tours... eco-adventures, etc.
This luggage sales website has a listing of 50 lesser-known travel
websites, some of which accept specialty tour stories:
www.luggageonline.com/50-travel-sites.cfm
** Food and Restaurant Reviews
Travel websites dedicated to the gourmet cook and gourmand eater have
sprung up all over the web. AWAI has featured one or two of these
recently. Culinary and gourmet tours of a country or region, often
including cooking lessons and wine tasting, are in demand right now.
Here's one food site that's looking for contributions:
www.chefswithoutfrontiers.com/contact.html
** Senior Travel Websites
The mature traveler is now on board with travel websites, and those
sites are looking for submissions that appeal to this market. Here's a
list from Transitions Abroad with some leads:
www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/senior/KeyWebSites.shtml
** Budget Travel Websites
If you've traveled on the cheap, budget travel websites will often pay
you for your money-saving tips.
Here are a few frugal travel websites to surf:
www.budgettravel.com
www.insideoutmag.com
www.travelwise.com
** Luxury Travel
Despite the global economic crisis, there are still plenty of people
with enough money to travel in luxury and live like royals. Some
websites cater to this population, and they are more likely to pay for
submissions than their budget counterparts.
Try these sites.
www.vezeo.com
www.finetravel.com
These are some of the most popular topics I've observed among online
publications. For more leads on websites to pitch with your ideas, try
Google. It's amazing what you'll come up with when you do a Google
search with the words, "food travel websites," or "adventure
websites."
[About the Author: Roy Stevenson is a freelance writer based in
Seattle, Washington. In the last 13 months, he's had 210 articles
accepted for publication -- many of which are online. He writes on
military history and vehicles, history, travel and culture,
communications, running, fitness and health, sports and film festival
reviews.
To meet Roy, visit: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver .]
*******************************
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