Archives: Programs

Freelance Fundamentals: Marketing Collection

236 minutes of video
236 minutes of audio
82 slides
74 pages of transcript

*****

Freelance Business Systems: Sell Smart

Of all of the different areas of business and business systems we discuss as part of this series, the topic that probably has the most written, researched, and optimized about it is sales. And yet it’s also the part that most writers more or less want nothing to do with (money, yes; selling, no), particularly the “icky”-sounding word “sales.”

As we enter the three-legged stool of sales, marketing, and public relations, we explore the differences between the three often co-located and conflated areas, so that you can make sure not to skimp on anything that will propel your business forward by accident.

We explore why and how salespeople in companies are compensated so that you can get a handle on how this is truly one of your most fundamental jobs within your business, and we break down what lies at the heart of sales (because it’s really, really not what you think) that makes great salespeople in all industries grow their companies.

We will cover:
– Today’s sales talk is going to be different than our usual sales discussions
– What a sales team really does
– The nitty gritty of creating your own pipeline (graphically and numerically)
– Simple, succinct things to focus your sales time on now

Freelance Business Systems: You Plus Market Equals Money

Particularly with the advent of social media (marketing) and blogging (content marketing), or, really, the internet in general, there is a lot of “work” you can do these days that may feel like you are marketing your business that doesn’t seem to get a lot of traction no matter how much you put into it.

In this webinar, we start by pulling back significantly from the tactically to really exploring what marketing means conceptually and how it should work to pull you away from the feeling of an endless “should-do” list for your marketing and get grounded in what you should really focus on, why, and how to adjust it over time.

We will cover:
– What is the big marketing picture?
– What you have forgotten is a key part of the marketing puzzle
– The core functions of marketing departments… and how that applies to you
– A simple marketing action plan to get started with

Freelance Business Systems: Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

As we tease out the difference between sales, marketing, and PR, it’s time to turn our gaze to the public relations side–not the PRs we interact with trying to get information for a story or a spot on a press trip, but the external relations we must pursue for our own freelance businesses.

I often speak with travel writers who are going to networking events or even conferences without knowing exactly why, in terms of what they hope to get out of it. Ditto with spending time on LinkedIn or Facebook groups. There may be a sense that some business development (new gigs) may come as a result, but the general underpinning of getting one’s name out there (promotion) is always at heart.

This installment in our freelance business systems will break down the core goals and strategies of public relations professionals so that you can make confident, grounded, informed decisions about what will really get your name in front of the right people and spend your time where it will make a difference.

We will cover:
– What is PR really?
– How does PR work for companies (because it’s really not that simple)
– The marketing-sales-PR split revisited
– Case studies on specific PR actions you can take to promote your writing

Bonus

Introduction to Business Systems for Freelance Travel Writers

In this call, the beginning of our new series on organizing your business like you’re actually running one, rather than the “figure it out as you go” approach so many freelancers use, we introduce two frameworks for conceptualizing yourself as a business owner and the various roles that you take on before we go into each “business department” individually in the series.

We will cover:
– What are we doing in this weird series?
– Two models to looking at the managing of one’s own business
– The departments we will explore and why

Freelance Fundamentals: Managing Collection

336 minutes of video
336 minutes of audio
102 slides
111 pages of transcript

*****

Freelance Business Systems: You, The Resource, Supported as a Human

Even though I have been self-employed for ten years now, I have to tell you, there are things about the HR operations of large, established companies that I not only miss—pick-me-up happy hours and excursions, holiday parties, ergonomic chair and table options, and someone tasked with thinking about the healthiness of the menu options on offer, to name a few.

In part, because I have worked for big organizations myself in the past, and in part because so many people in my circle of friends through my big-brand-employed husband, I’ve always had an eye on incorporating the most crucial and supportive HR practices in my own organization of one throughout my days as a freelance writer.

In this webinar, we talk about why HR people do what they do and how to apply it to a freelance setting to make sure that the most important resource in your freelance business—you—always has the support it needs to do its best work.

We will cover:
– What human resources is exactly and what are all the different things the human resources do?
– What different things that HR people do and how does that translate for us as freelancers?

Freelance Business Systems: Just Make it Legal

“Legal departments” are things that we tend to associate with big corporate entities that have in-house council and annoying folks who insist on seeing every tweet before it goes out (even though that defeats the entire purpose of Twitter!). But the legal considerations for your business cannot be ignored, and I’m not just talking about what kind of business you are or are not legally registered as.

There are countless situations that come up from freelance writers, from parsing rights to photos with a CVB or business that hosted you or knowing that the magazine you’ve sold a story to has also purchased the rights to any royalties if your story becomes a movie or book, and making decisions upfront and establishing standard practices for your business will help you know what to do when any of these situations arise and take them in stride.

Please note in appropriate legal fashion: I am not a legal professional, and the recommendations in these webinars are based on journalistic research, personal experience, and experiences of your peers. We absolutely recommend you consult an individual with the appropriate licensing or accreditation for your physical business location on all legal matters.

We will cover:
– The most important functions of a legal department… and how to consider them in your business
– Breaking down the big three legal roles
– Deep dive into contract language to watch out for
– Food for thought: Some on-going issues for freelancers to stay on top of

Freelance Business Systems: Your Technical Support Squad

As one-man or one-woman bands, freelancers suffer from two things that really affect you in the tech department: being the only one doing all the things, and having to be very judicious about where we spend our most precious resource, time.

When it comes to keeping your business operating as best it can in the tech department, that tends to mean that you’re either using sub-par equipment and resources in one area or another, or, if you just love the stuff, you spend way too much time fiddling with the latest apps and systems in a way that is more hobby than actually supporting your business.

In this webinar, we’ll walk through specific areas of your business that the right tech can help excel in ways you didn’t realize were possible, what you need to know about keeping yourself and your client’s data appropriately secure at home and on the road (don’t be scared if you’re not doing this now—we’ll cover it!), and how, most importantly, to implement systems to make sure that tech issues never slow your business down.

We will cover:
– Why IT might just be the most misunderstood business area
– What an IT department really does
– Focal points for getting your IT up to snuff
– Food for thought: Some on-going issues for freelancers to stay on top of

Freelance Business Systems: The Fun Stuff on Your List (Research & Development) R&D

Depending on your pre-travel-writing background, the term “research and development” may make you think of many things (I always think of pharma companies somehow), but I bet you would never think of it as something that relates to your travel writing. In this webinar, we look at how this crucial area of your business is (a) something you’re no doubt already doing, (b) how doing it in a non-systematic way is the source of many problems you run into as a freelancer, and (c) what we can learn from highly functioning R&D departments to make this area of your business something that thrives and brings you closer to your most important goals each quarter and year.

We will cover:
– What do I mean when I talk about “research and development” for travel writers?
– What does R&D generally mean in corporate content?
– The “divisions” of R&D for travel writers as food for thought on what to do… and what not to do
– Next steps for getting clarity on where you’re investing this portion of your time

Freelance Business Systems: Getting Your Business GED on with Governance, Executive Functions, and (Strategic) Direction

Tying up our whole series on freelance business systems, we head to the top of the business totem pole with your role as the executive of your freelance firm. In this webinar, we will first examine the most fundamental roles of the traditional executive–and these may be the most surprising of everything you learn in this series. We’ll then look at how the owner or named partner in other types of one- or very-few-man/woman bands (lawyers, architects, interior designers, etc.) work to manage their practice as a combination doer and owner-manager and what we can learn from the growth of those businesses.

We will cover:
– GED vs MBA
– Breaking down governance, executive functions, and strategic direction
– Three landmark frameworks of executive function, strategic direction, and management
– Tying it all together

Bonus

Introduction to Business Systems for Freelance Travel Writers

In this call, the beginning of our new series on organizing your business like you’re actually running one, rather than the “figure it out as you go” approach so many freelancers use, we introduce two frameworks for conceptualizing yourself as a business owner and the various roles that you take on before we go into each “business department” individually in the series.

We will cover:
– What are we doing in this weird series?
– Two models to looking at the managing of one’s own business
– The departments we will explore and why

Live Idea-to-Pitch Collection

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382 minutes of video
382 minutes of audio
72 slides
110 pages of transcript

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #1: Turning Trip Notes into a Pitchable Idea List

In this new series, we offer a window on how pitching takes place for an established writer in the most minimal time with the least possible fuss as we walk from initial trip notes all the way to polished pitches leaving my inbox right before your eyes. To make sure you can see and ask questions about my decision-making at every phase, I walk through each step of the process completely live with no prep work outside of our calls (or cheating, as I would call it!) to pretty things up or do more digging into an idea.

To kick off the series, we begin with the notes from my travels in the Czech Republic over the summer, transforming my ideas from that time, which are no longer fresh in my mind, into potential article ideas and article types. You’ll learn how to develop a sense for what is and is not a pitchable idea from the types of information you’re deluged with on a trip, and I’ll also note what types of articles could develop from each idea as we go along.

We will cover:
– The premisses + ground rules of this experiment
– How to follow along at home
– Refresher of the types of magazine articles we’ll be scanning for

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #2: Matching Raw Ideas to Real Magazine Sections

Continuing in our landmark series walking, entirely live, through every stage in the process of putting together a number of pitches in just a few hours, we dive into the dreaded matching phase. I know that for many of you, this part of the process—finding a good “home” for your article ideas—can be the most trying part of the question, often lasting for weeks and sometimes months. In this webinar, you’ll see me take my entire list of pitch ideas from the previous week and make as many good matches as I can in an hour.

We will cover:
– What we are doing and how to follow along at home
– How do I know where to start looking for matches
– Recapping ALL the ideas to make the best use of our time
– Sprint searching ALL of the magazines that might work

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #3: Identifying Glove-Fit Ideas

In the last webinar in this series, which shows live every stage in the process of putting together a number of pitches in just a few hours, I compiled a list of article ideas matched to specific magazines and sections within those magazines. As we went through, I included things that were pretty sure-fire fits along with ones that I needed to check on further to make sure that the idea would really fly for the given section (which we will verify in this webinar by looking at past examples of articles in that section) and the magazine in general (which we will check against the demographics and general voice of the publication).

In this webinar, the hour goes from wide (where we’ve been in the past several hours of this series) to narrow as we slim from the ideas that we like to the ideas that actually have a shot with the magazines in question.

We will cover:
– What we’re doing and how to follow along at home
– What a glove-fit looks like
– Where we are with our ideas now
– Attacking the matches

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #4: Ruthlessly Auditing Idea Fit

In this webinar, we narrow the ideas we’ve been working on even further so that we’re only moving forward with the ones that absolutely, as far as we can tell not being inside the magazine, have a chance of success as we finesse both the fit and the quality of the idea, focusing on looking for that “why” that really makes the idea pop when the editor reads our pitch.

We will cover:
– What we’re doing and how to follow along at home
– Where we are with our ideas now
– What fit checks we’ve done and what’s left
– Attacking the matches

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #5: Creating the Bones of the Pitch

In this webinar, the real writing begins! But staring at a blank page is a way to shock any creative mind into panic, so we begin instead by putting together the easier building blocks of the pitch in an almost placeholder-like style with minimal stress and research just to get our quick thoughts on the page. Learning this trick to getting the basis of a pitch out quickly alone, can easily save you an hour per pitch.

We will cover:
– The purpose of this series starts to come into shape
– What are the bones of the pitch?
– Why we start with the easier bits: P2s and 3s
– What ideas are we going to work up pitches for?
– Attacking the pitches

Live Idea-to-Pitch Walkthrough #6: Filling in the Blanks & Hitting Send

Even though it seems like we’re at the end of the line, this is actually the hardest part of the pitching process and where I see many of you getting completely stuck. It’s too easy to be fully flush with the facts and fit of an idea, step away from it for a bit, then come back and have doubts because you’re not up-to-date on all of the details of the situation, and then decide that you really shouldn’t send the pitch after all.

In this webinar, we walk through live examples so you can see when enough is enough, when to cut and run, and how, exactly, to get pitches out of your inbox and into the playing field quickly and with minimal fuss.

We will cover:
– Quick recap: What are the bones of the pitch?
– Where did we leave off?
– Attacking the pitches!

Writing for Content Marketing Clients Collection

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227 minutes of video
227 minutes of audio
52 slides
70 pages of transcript

How to Sell Blogging to Travel Companies and Tourism Boards

In this webinar, we’re going to follow up on our call with the director of communications from Visit Tucson on exactly what statistics, industry terms, and buttons to push you need to know to get yourself in the door with, fielding assignments from, and signing recurring contracts with tourism boards and travel companies.

We will cover:
– Why blogging now
– Where does the money come from and how do you get it
– Where to begin proposing content and setting up your sales pitch

Best Practices When Writing on the Web for Travel Companies

In this webinar, we’re moving past the landing-the-gig stage and into the what-to-do-once-you’ve-got-the-client phase.

Even if you’ve had your own blog for years, tune in to learn the best practices in blogging technique and style when writing for companies and tourism boards, which are trying to provide information quick to readers who may have never visited their site before and may never come back again once they’ve gotten what they needed.

It’s a different audience from a personal blog that readers tune into because they love your personality, and we’ll handle how to navigate the transition.

We will cover:
– What does the difference between your blog nad a company blog boil down to
– The 5 rules for keeping your blogs in the zone when blogging for others
– Structure, style, and knowing the rules so you can break them

Ghost(writ)ing on the Web as a Travel Writer

In this webinar, we’re wrapping up our series on specific ways to move into travel content marketing–just in time to hit the ground running this fall as travel companies and tourism boards plan their 2018 marketing.

So many small travel businesses, whether tour companies or concierge travel bookers, are built around the judgment and expertise of the owner. A blog showcasing those unique advantages is a no-brainer for these companies to build trust with prospective customers, but the owner rarely has the time–or the writing chops.

We’ll unpack the process of creating ghostwritten content for your travel blogging clients.

We will cover:
– Why ghostwriting and what is the pay
– 9 specific opportunities for travel business ghostwriting to get you started
– How to break in and work with clients as a ghost travel writer

BONUS VIDEO

Tourism Boards and Company Blogs vs. Personal Blogs and How to Make the Jump

We’ve got a series of webinars on how to land specific types of travel content marketing gigs coming up, and in this webinar on Tourism Board and Company Blogs vs. Personal Blogs and How to Make the Jump, I’m bringing in the director of communications from Visit Tucson, Dan Gibson.

Dan himself was formerly a journalist before making the jump into the tourism board side, so he has a unique perspective on what you need to know to transition into this type of writing.

In this webinar, I’ll go through examples of the content travel companies and tourism boards are looking for before Dan comes in to talk about his own transition and how freelancers can work with tourism boards like his.

Article Nuts and Bolts: Front-of-Book Articles Collection

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301 minutes of video
301 minutes of audio
86 slides
105 pages of transcript

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a News Brief

In this webinar, we’ll walk through a part of the writing process–structuring your articles–that should come before your fingers hit the keyboard and before you even begin researching your piece to show you how to quit second-guessing yourself and save tremendous time on your articles.

We will cover:
– What does writing tight really means?
– The classic inverted pyramid
– What do news briefs really look like in the travel context, since we’re not taking run-of-the-mill newspapers here
– In depth look at specific examples of news briefs from “the wild”

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a Front-of-Book Round-Up

In the second in our new series walking through the construction of different types of articles, we hone in on the easy-to-write (and pitch!) staple of magazines everywhere: the front-of-book round-up.

We will cover:
– What do we mean when we say round-up
– Types of articles that exist as round-ups in a front-of-book setting
– The typical FOB round-up structure
– In depth look at specific examples of FOB round-ups from the wild
– How to pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a Trend Piece

In the third webinar in our new series walking through the construction of different types of articles, we take an in-depth look at that elusive to brainstorm staple of magazines everywhere: the trend piece.

We will cover:
– We’re not talking about fashion here: what is a trend in terms of travel publishing
– The line between trending and trend
– How trend pieces are constructed + five examples

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a Business Profile

In the fourth webinar in our new series walking through the construction of different types of articles, we take an in-depth look at what should be the bread and butter of your freelance travel writing toolkit: the business profile.

We’ll cover:
– What does a business profile mean in the travel writing context
– What business profiles revolve around – and why most pitches for them fall flat
– How business pieces are constructed + examples in different lengths
– How to pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: How to Put Together a “Postcard”

Its trivial name suggests many things, and a well-written postcard creates all of those sense memories and more. “Postcards,” which offer an atmospheric moment in a place, are dying art, but an excellent one for those in travel writing for the writing aspect.

We will cover:
– What is a postcard really in the writing context?
– The typical structure of this section and how to create one yourself.
– Real examples of different postcards out in the world.
– How to pitch these pieces.

Article Nuts and Bolts: Long-Form Articles Collection

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233 minutes of video
233 minutes of audio
56 slides
82 pages of transcript

Article Nuts and Bolts: How to Put Together a Basket of Kittens Feature

In this series walking through the construction of different types of articles, we hone in on the easy-to-write (and pitch!) staple of magazines everywhere: the front-of-book round-up.

In this webinar, we dive into a type of round-up feature in which you take a deep dive on a handful of interestingly related topics.

We’ll cover:
– Where does this basket of kittens concept come from anyway?
– How do you create the perfect basket?
– What type of magazines use basket-of-kittens features?
– How to pitch these pieces?

Article Nuts and Bolts: How to Put Together a Guide Feature

The second type of round-up feature, the guide piece separates a large amount of information on a destination or topic into mini round-ups.

We’ll cover:
– How are these type of round-up features different than baskets of kittens and narrative features?
– How does the FOB version blossom into a feature?
– What does this look like in practice?
– How to pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: How to Put Together a Quest Piece

The bread-and-butter of travel features, the quest piece, is one of the easiest features to pitch, get readers interested in, and research.

We’ll cover:
– Why is the quest such an important type of feature?
– How must we structure our quest journey and article?
– Real-world examples
– How to pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: How to Put Together a Diary Piece

A staple of websites and newspapers (yes!) these pieces are easy to do badly, so learn how to do them easily as they’re a quick type of article.

We’ll cover:
– What do I really mean when I say diary piece?
– How do these articles work in the real world (as opposed to in private settings)
– Real-world examples
– How to pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: People Focused Pieces Collection

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238 minutes of video
238 minutes of audio
73 slides
83 pages of transcript

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a Profile Piece

Profiles of individuals and businesses are the most common types of articles today.

In this webinar, we unpack the ins and outs of this type of article, which is among the most difficult to master, yet the most rewarding to write.

We will cover:
– Why should we focus time and attention on writing profiles?
– Who can we profile?
– Breaking down one (because they’re long!) inspiring profile piece.
– pitching FAQ

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together an Interview Piece

In this webinar, we will be diving into interview pieces which can be some of the easiest to write (and the most bang for your time) because of their rigid formatting.

We will cover:
– The most important criterion of (most) profiles that you can’t ignore in your pitch.
– Interviews have “kinds.” Know them. Maximize them!
– What does this look like as a full article?
– Pitching FAQ

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together a Celebrity Favorites Piece

In this webinar, we will be taking a look into celebrity favorite pieces. These often overlooked pieces are a huge hit with editors–they never get enough pitches for these sections!

We’ll cover:
– What is up with these pieces? They are so odd!
– Who can you really feature here?
– Real examples from Delta Sky and AFAR
– How to Pitch these pieces

Article Nuts and Bolts: Putting Together an As-Told-To Feature

In this webinar, we take a look at As-Told-To Features with examples from markets that you’d love to add to your clip file.

A staple of major magazines, these pieces offer a surprising way to tell the stories of fascinating sources you meet in your travels.

We will cover:
– Why we’ve saved these pieces last
– How these pieces are fundamentally different than anything else you will write
– Breaking down real-world examples
– Pitching FAQ

Non-Fiction Book Proposal Collection

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212 minutes of video
212 minutes of audio
68 slides
71 pages of transcript

What Is and What Is Not a Salable Non-Fiction Book Today: Finding Your Place in the Marketplace

You shouldn’t take one step down the research rabbit hole with a book project until you understand how it fits into the marketplace. Editors and agents love to ask “where would this go in Barnes and Noble,” and their favorite authors are the ones that understand the book industry.

In this webinar, we explore what is selling today (along with some peeks at what is not and why) and explore the age-old question of to self-publish or not to self-publish, but I introduce you to a powerful tool that can help you quickly and easily find both what your book should focus on (because the decision really isn’t up to you) and how to get an agent!

We will cover:
– Why you should be brewing a book idea if you aren’t already
– The secret is to go small (in topic) not big (and it’s easier!)
– What is selling in non-fiction today and how to fit in
– How to see live + up-to-date what is being bought and sold every day

Know Your Non-Fiction Book’s Market to Make Its Business Case

In this webinar, I introduce the non-fiction book proposal and its main sections and then zero in on one of the two you need to spend your most time and research prowess on: the target market.

This is where your book will literally live and die. It doesn’t matter to an agent how interesting they think your topic is if he doesn’t think they can sell it to an editor, and it doesn’t matter to an editor how much she loves your writing if her publisher doesn’t think he can make his money back and more on the book.

We will cover:
– The sections of the non-fiction book proposal
– Why the market (or lack there of) is the test step for your entire idea
– What does and doesn’t work when establishing your book’s market
– The concentric circles approach to proving your book’s marketability

You Are Your Non-Fiction Book’s Best Marketer: How to Make it Work

In the previous webinar, we looked at one of the two most important sections of your non-fiction book proposal, and in this webinar, we dive into the second: the marketing plan.

No matter what connections you do or don’t have now, you can still make a killer marketing plan that is believable to a publisher and perfectly positions your book in the market. It all comes down to the triad of research, creativity, and a willingness to put yourself out there for your book.

We will cover:
– Your market (2nd webinar in this series) and competitive research (1st webinar in this series) are the linchpins of building your marketing plan
– Reviewing the sections of the non-fiction book proposal
– How to appear exactly where your book readers already are
– How to create news around you/your book/topic and turn it into even more coverage

The Parts of Your Book Proposal About You and Your Book

There are several parts of the non-fiction book proposal—the author bio, overview, chapter summary, and sample chapters—that can easily feel like the parts you should spend the majority of your time on, but they can easily become enormous time sucks!

In this webinar, we look at how to efficiently power through the rest of your book proposal to get it polished and down without drowning in decision paralysis so your proposal can leave your laptop and do what it’s supposed to do: get agents interested in your project so you can get the feedback you need to make changes based on the knowledge of people who live and breathe books (a.k.a. book professionals and not you!).

We will cover:
– While these “vital” sections are really the least important/last of your worries
– Reviewing the sections of the non-fiction book proposal
– Crafting your author bio
– Putting together your chapter summaries
– Selecting your sample chapters

Make the Most of Sponsored Trips Collection

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219 minutes of video
219 minutes of audio
50 slides
69 pages of transcript

What to Expect on Press Trips

Summer is prime travel time for leisure travelers, but increasingly press trips, travel industry conferences, and individual sponsored excursions are taking place during these peak travel months, so we’re going to look at the pre-, during, and post- aspects of press trips so you can get the most of any sponsored travel you have coming up this summer or are planning down the line.

We will cover:
– Recapping the different types of press trips and how expectations differ
– Pre-trip “process” and setting expectations
– What you will encounter on your actual tour days with real press trip itineraries
– Following Up

How to Prepare for Your Press Trips

In this webinar, we look more about the story side of pre-trip preparation, including how to break your trip into stories, what is safe to pitch based on a limited itinerary or destination you’re not familiar with, and how to handle the catch-22 of pitching when you haven’t yet been accepted on a trip.

We will cover:
– Your burning questions on pitching press trips
– Pre-research your itinerary and breaking up your trip for focus areas
– Matching your research to specific sections to make sure you get the *right* research on the ground

How to Get the Most (On the Ground) Out of Your Press Trips

In past webinars, especially those on breaking your trips into pitches, we often discuss the different major types of articles that you should be looking out for when you’re on the road.

But you often ask me for examples of these types of articles, how to pitch them, and how to write them. This week, we’re going to do an overview to start your creative juices flowing.

We will cover:
– Best practices for on-the-ground research
– Troubleshooting some real-life sucky situations
– Walking through *your* itineraries for opportunities

Write For Trade Magazines Collection

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201 minutes of video
201 minutes of audio
56 slides
64 pages of transcript

Writing for Travel Trade Magazines 101

These magazines work quite different than custom and consumer titles in many ways, notably editors pitch you ideas rather than the other way around, making your hourly rate go way up. Some trade editors will even provide you with interview sources!

Trade magazines are the single best way to establish a clear pipeline of assignments and also maximize your hourly rate when writing for magazines, and we look at how, why, and how to get started writing for them in this week’s webinar.

We will cover:
– Why travel trade magazines might be that key thing missing from your income mix
– What it is like to write for travel trades and the unexpected benefits
– What kinds of travel trade magazines are out there and how to approach them

How To Write A Letter Of Introduction – The Pitch Equivalent for Trade Magazines 

Unlike consumer and custom magazines, trade magazine editors are approached by something called an LOI or letter or introduction, which has more in common with a cover letter on a job application than a magazine pitch.

We look at when to use a letter of introduction, how to craft your own boilerplate one for each vertical within the travel trade world that you’re looking to pitch, and how to avoid information overload.

We will cover:
– How to “profile” the magazines you’re looking to pitch to find out how to present yourself
– The components of an LOI
– Workshopping examples from you on how to adapt your experiences to trade magazines and LOI

How To Become Part of Editor’s Stable

To have a stable source of recurring revenue–the best way to build a sustainable, worry-free, forward-looking freelance travel writing career–writing for magazines, you need to stop writing for a magazine just once and focus on long-term relationships.

We look at how to build those relationships with editors with copious quotes right from the sources that I’ve drawn from editor panels at recent events with major newsstand titles represented.

We’ll cover:
– what the stable is and why you want to be a part of it
– the best ways to become part of the stable
– when you SHOULD NOT become part of a stable