But I think that what concerns most of us travel writers is that the markets for our work are shrinking and editors are getting inundated with pitches from non-professionals which makes it harder for them to take notice of ours, especially if we are trying a new publication. I had a reply from an editor recently (first time for me to pitch to her) who said: “Thank God, a proper journo. I’m inundated with wannabes.”

I represented the guild at the Travellers Tales Festival recently and gave tutorials to members of the public along with other guild members. We gave honest advice to people: don’t give up your day job just yet, the industry is changing, many people find it hard to make a living solely from travel writing etc

What was particularly interesting was that I met people there who were ‘hobbyist’ travel writers but who had been commissioned by publications that I’d never received a reply from. And why? Because they’d met and pitched to the editors on one of Jon Lorie’s courses! So that’s what the rest of us are up against.

And now, as I appear to be losing this argument, it’s possibly time to move on…

The thing with travel writing courses however is that they actually tell the students that they’re going to be professionals at the end of the course.

But what annoys me the most is the “bubble” they create by linking beginning writers to each other. The students visit each other’s blogs and comment on the posts, so it looks like everyone in the writing program gained a lot of popularity.

When it comes to actually selling something, which is often necessary after a while for getting some income, the bubble cracks. It’s like a market with no customers.

I run travel photography workshops which cover photographic techniques but don’t cover anything about the business of travel photography, but I also run a course on the business of travel photography. I think educating people on how business works is a really great idea. Half of the mess our profession seems to be in can certainly be attributed to a lack of knowledge of going rates, rights and responsibilities in our industry.

Not that it’s the fault of newcomers – how are they to know? But it’s a lot easier to be exploited if you don’t know what industry standards are. I think it’s almost the responsibility of established professionals to help newcomers make their way without harming the profession. I’d much rather compete on the playing field of skill than that of who will sell their work for the cheapest and give away the most rights.

Not everybody who wants to be a travel writer can write well enough to get published, that’s a given. But for those who can I think the more help they get to remain profitable, keep hold of their rights and learn the ins and outs of the trade the better we’ll all be.

You may note, however, that my first post was brutally honest about the prospects, and that at no point have I ever sold it as a way of making a living.

Take a look at one of the papers which now doesn’t commission freelancers anymore (or rarely) – the Times (UK) is a good example. They now often publish travel ‘writing’ by their other correspondents who’ve been on holiday – and, to me, they stick out a mile. Business journalists simply can’t write travel. Neither can sports journos. Nor leader-writers. Nor lobby hacks. It’s not about the writer, or the destination – it’s about the writing.

Some of it is so bad it’s cringeworthy. The Independent’s Saturday magazine recently ran a travel special issue, which mingled stuff from proper travel writers (Simon Calder, Janet Street-Porter) with travel-style dispatches from their regular correspondents. I’m actually saving this section in case I ever get to run one of these travel-writing courses myself – it’s a great showcase to highlight the glaring differences between good and bad.

The piece by the magazine’s editor, about his family holiday in the Algarve, begins: “So there we were, shades on, hair bleached by the sun, kicking back with a few cold ones in the beachfront bar. swapping gnarly surfer tales with the gnarly surfer dudes, as the waves crashed against the sand below and a vast blood-orange sun began its spectacular slow-dive into the wild Atlantic.” Real classy.

Or a well-known, very prominent columnist on political and social affairs: “I was in Vancouver twice last year. Both times it rained.”

Travel writing CAN be taught. It IS a specific skill set. Same as political journalism, or financial journalism, or arts journalism – there are traps that the unschooled can fall into, even if they happen to be talented writers, and there are techniques and approaches which turn turgid travel writing into good travel writing.

I have never taken any courses in writing. Looking at my stuff from ten years ago, perhaps I should have done.

@ian. The hobbyist aspect is one thing I hadn’t considered – and you’re right, a few people trying to improve their writing technique doesn’t hurt anyone. This said, a lot of courses do seem to sell themselves in the “Make your living whilst travelling the world” vein. They’re the ones I have a problem with – and there are many.

@Touchy Keith. Again, you have some valid points – everyone does have different motivations (although I’d be hard pushed to find the motivation to go on more than one – if it’s that good, why do you need to go to another?).

For the record, I was ‘having a go’ at what I would regard to be the majority of travel writing course providers, not the attendees. My opinion remains the same, despite recommendations of course providers – no-one needs to go on a travel writing course to learn how to be a good/ successful travel writer. They just need to be able to write.

You also seem to attribute an opinion to me that is the diametric opposite of the one I actually hold. I’ve no objection to hobbyists and people who don’t do travel writing full time – in fact, a lot of very good writing comes from these people. I’m sure many editors agree that some of their best contributors are people who do a little dabbling on the side of their normal job.

It should be noted, however, that there’s a massive difference between a lawyer who is happy to be a lawyer and turns out the odd travel article for enjoyment, and an unhappy (insert job here) who wants to be a travel writer and can’t get enough time to be able to quit their job and do so.

And I’d far rather see a cull of the writers (both staff and hotels) who are only interested in gushing in return for free five star hotels than the hobbyists who write a cracking piece after they come back from holiday. Seeing newspapers and magazines full of dreadful, sycophantic rubbish is what really angers me – when it’s good, I don’t care who has done it or what they do with the rest of their time.

As for the personal jibes, I see no need to dignify them with a lengthy response. Suffice to say I’ll never pretend to be the greatest thing to ever grace my profession, but I’m proud enough to say that I’m happy with most of my work, and I make a good living from it.