Researching the wide world of publishing, I dreamt of what my future may hold.
There travel writers all over the world, using a variety of different publishing outlets including; blogs, books, magazines and travel guides.
Last week, I said that blogs were the most accessible avenue to publish your work, but with numerous blogs online by thousands of amateur writers, your blog may never develop a following strong enough to lead to publishing opportunities. I researched websites, which have already built a dedicated readership and publish amateur work, gaining you more kudos.
‘The Glimpse Correspondents Programme’ (http://glimpse.org) is designed for writers and photographers living outside their own country; it allows them to explore and create thought-provoking and informing stories. My favourite travel writer, Rolf Potts, published his first story of monetary value on the web. He sold a story to news-site Salon.com (http://www.salon.com/) selling a further five stories before negotiating a regular column. Potts claims this was the ‘turning point in his career’; his writing was finally noticed and began to receive critical acclaim. After this success, other opportunities began to develop and a struggling writer became a success story.
Potts now works freelance for one of the most popular travel magazines on the planet – The National Geographic Traveller – a publication I aspire to write for. The National Geographic doesn’t offer an internship programme or accept submissions; they only employ those with expansive knowledge and experience.
The Guardian Newspaper holds an annual travel writing competition for its readers and this could be a good place to start. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/sep/23/readers-travel-writing-competition-2011)
In the beginning, Potts had a number of failed attempts to sell his work, yet he continued to hone his craft and eventually realised his ambitions. In the knock-back world of ‘media writing’ you need a strong will and determination to succeed.
Did I tell you about glimpse? They also have a more established sister website: matador network!
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