A Quick Guide to Freelance Writing for Travel Magazines
Freelance writing offers hundreds of opportunities for writers looking to make a professional living working their own hours, from home or from anywhere else in the world. This makes freelancing an excellent choice for world travelers with a gift for bringing far off places to life with words. Here are some tips to getting started in the lucrative career writing for travel magazines:
Build a Profile and Portfolio
The first step to a successful career in freelance writing in any niche is to create a strong profile and portfolio. Research some of your competitors’ sites to get a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. You want to present your personality but come across as someone who won’t take his or her career seriously. Once your profile and portfolio are built make sure you take every opportunity to include a link to your site in every correspondence.
Include Samples of Travel Pieces
If you plan on working within a specific niche then make sure to include pieces within that niche. So for travel magazines you want to include journal entries, short stories and any articles you’ve written when travelling the world. If you didn’t write anything soon after your journeys then it might be a little difficult to recall everything, but it’s certainly worth the effort to create this pieces if it means more jobs.
Make Contacts in the Field
Freelancing requires a lot of networking and making contacts across the industry. If you know anyone who has done this type of work, then don’t hesitate to ask them a few questions about where to start. Your contacts might be able to set you up with a small trial job or perhaps give you leads for other projects they may hear about.
Submit to Several Publications
Though you may want to ultimately have full time job working with a single client, it’s good to start by submitting your work to several publications. Just be sure you don’t send the same piece to multiple publications at once, because this is a sign of unprofessionalism and could get you in trouble if two magazines want to publish the same piece.
Stay Active in the Industry
Once you have your foot in the door, it’s absolutely important to stay active with a regular amount of current pieces. Don’t take a break for too long of stretch because this may come off as though you are leaving the field. Set a routine and be sure to keep to your schedule. Even a little time off can set you back from several opportunities.
