Travel Writing
Dear hotel receptionists, Imagine someone comes into your hotel. They say they’re a journalist, and would like to see a room as they’re writing a city guide and need to recommend places to say. What do you think they’re asking for? Is it (A) to see a room? Or (B) to pointlessly swap business cards [...]
Continue reading about An open letter to hotel receptionists
One question that I regularly get asked is: “How do I travel around the world and get paid for it?” Well, the obvious answer is: “Start a travel blog!” It’s an idea that’s so simple, it’s a wonder so few other people are doing it. Just buy a domain name, install WordPress and start writing [...]
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I like a good guide book. I like something I can read on the plane, on the bus or wandering around the streets without having to worry about it being stolen, damaged, forced to shut down during take-off or the cause of horrendous roaming fees. But not all guide books are the same. A lot [...]
Much ado about Naples On Wednesday morning, I was putting together an article about York. I’d just written that Laterooms.com is a decent place to look for deals on B&Bs when Rotterdam-based travel writer Shaney Hudson said something rather interesting on Twitter. Shaney had spotted a sizable chunk of her article on Naples quoted in [...]
Continue reading about A dubious approach to website content
The following is a vague approximation of what I said when I was asked to speak at Travel Blog Camp 2010, to a room full of bloggers, journalists, editors, PRs and travel company owners. At least I think it’s what I said – what actually came out of my mouth may have been a stream-of [...]
Continue reading about What blogging and tweeting has done for me
What follows is, roughly, what I said in my presentation at Travel Blog Camp in London earlier this week. Other aspects of the speech – ‘What blogging and tweeting has done for me’ and ‘What journalists, bloggers and marketers can learn from each other’ can be found on separate pages. Monetising Grumpy Traveller I’ve tried [...]
What follows is, roughly, what I said in my presentation at Travel Blog Camp 2010 in London earlier this week. Other aspects of the speech – ‘What blogging and tweeting has done for me’ and ‘Models for monetising blogs’ can be found on separate pages. Outdated labels I’m a firm believer in the need to [...]
Continue reading about What journalists, bloggers and marketers can learn from each other
Travel in newspapers and magazines Despite theoretically making a living by writing for them, I rarely read travel magazines and newspaper travel sections. With the odd noble exception, I find that they just don’t interest me. And there are two possible explanations for this – 1) I’m weird and they just don’t speak to me [...]
Continue reading about What is wrong with travel writing – in microcosm
That sound you just heard was me hefting my considerable weight onto an already creaking bandwagon. But following on from Ewen Bell‘s magnificent video explanation of how to become a travel writer, I thought I’d give a few marketing tips in a visual format as well… I feel that I ought to, at this point, [...]
Ten tips for getting yourself noticed: PART ONE In recent times, I have come across a number of really interesting projects – be they unusual tours, genuinely excellent B&Bs or quirky experiences. And there seem to be some common themes with them. Firstly, they’re small, independent operations run by one or two people without [...]