You love traveling. And you love to write. You feel the most at home when you can share your thoughts about the world with others. Now, you want to make it a full-time job, and live out your dream as a travel writer. That is not an easy thing, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.
You want to use your writing to make a difference in other people’s lives, but also in yours. Luckily, we have answers to some of your concerns. If you want to know what it takes to be a renowned paid travel writer, then keep reading. You’re bound to learn a thing or two.
Find Your Niche
The truth of the matter is – there are a lot of travel writers. Social media gave way to sharing ideas and expanding on different ways of reporting about the world. Most travel writers go out of their way to share their experience with their readers in the most genuine, original way possible.
And that’s your starting point – find your audience. If you’re still unsure, figure out what kind of travel writer you want to be. Spend some time researching the most beloved writers and learn from them. Discover what makes their readers be captivated by them.
Get Personal
The first step is discovering what kind of content you want to make: whether it’s telling stories about the cultures you’re visiting, the architecture, or street life, etc. The second step is taking that content and giving it your personal twist. You can present a country through interviews with locals, or have the focus of each trip be on the street food, or on the everyday fashion, and so on.
Take your personal interest and blend it with the travel writing. Having your own stamp on it makes the writing more appealing to readers. It automatically stands out.
Use Social Networks
Writers in general wouldn’t have as much exposure today, if it wasn’t for social media. Everyone and their grandmother has a Facebook or an Instagram page. The best way to get the word out about your blog is to fully incorporate social media. Post photos, announcements of the next country you’re visiting, teaser videos and snippets of your next travelogue.
Having an active social network as an up-and-coming writer will open doors for collaborations with popular brands and other writers. It helps you get noticed by publishers, travel editorials, and online magazines.
Become a Brand Ambassador
Nowadays, brands from various industries are looking for social media bloggers to promote their products. They receive free merchandise to test out, but can also work up to a brand deal with them. Even though you’re a writer, not an influencer, it’s a great opportunity to expand your audience.
Whether it’s backpacking equipment, travelling kits, writing tools, apps… brand deals are a great way to earn additional money while still operating in your niche.
Manage Your Finances
Once you start looking into brand deals, possible collaborations, writing paid posts for travel journals and the rest, you’ll need a safety net. Working as a writer is an insecure, bumpy ride in the beginning. Your best bet is to have an accountant who can help you plan out how much money you’ll need to arrange the kind of life you want.
Having someone who can help you calculate travel and life expenses for this endeavour, and advise you on contracts and new jobs is vital. And once the money starts coming in, you’ll be grateful to have made a solid financial plan.
Collaborate and Engage
As our last point, we’ll discuss two things: collaborating and engaging.
- Collaborating with other writers, you can introduce yourself to other audiences. Travel with another writer or photographer to create interesting joint texts on new countries (at the same time keeping your travel expenses low). At the same time, you’re networking with like-minded people, most of whom can probably introduce you to industry professionals and new job opportunities.
- Engaging in your (travel) writers’ community can be a big push towards earning some real money from it. Start by enrolling in a local writer’s guild, if there is one. Do smaller jobs, like writing up a tourist guide for your city, or a brochure on best places in town. Also engaging with vendors and smaller hotels can give you much needed hands-on experience.
In the End
The one big takeaway from this is to start focusing on yourself as an original creator. With so many travel bloggers out there, your best weapons are originality, creativity, and joining forces with brands and other writers. Starting this journey alone is tough, but it should not stay that way.
Meeting other creators and getting help from them will boost you up in no time. All it takes is a lot of patience, research, and well thought out decisions.
