55 minutes of video
55 minutes of audio
14 slides
20 pages of transcript
Join us as we begin this new series with the elusive “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.
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I’m sure you’ve seen or heard it in the news regularly.
Newspapers are dead.
Especially newspaper travel sections, right?
I can count on one hand the number of dedicated, just travel, newspaper editors remaining in the U.S.
Newspapers have taken numerous content turns, from Jeff Besos of Amazon acquiring the Washington Post and bringing his unique business sense to it to the Tribune corporation, known for the Chicago Tribune, which has pioneered a new business model very heavy on centralized content that is syndicated out and, at times, written entirely by machines. Besides Besos, celebrities like Ashton Kutcher are even buying newspapers.
Among all this entrepreneurship, which should seem exciting, critics cry that journalism and quality writing are taking a back seat.
And meaty, atmospheric pieces most of all.
The “postcard,” a type of short article that is very light on service information but heavy with atmosphere, sense of place, and good old-fashioned great reading, is one of those old dinosaurs that many think is extinct.
However, this type of article is having a fascinating nine lives moment.
While there are, definitely, still newspapers commissioning pieces (and they also pay much better than you’d expect–something else we’ll cover in today’s call), there are actually surprising places popping up to for postcard pieces both on and offline, in the editorial and content marketing spheres.
And, the beauty of mastering this type of piece is that it teaches you to distill down to the most important thing that represents a whole place–a skill that will definitely help you with all your other pieces.
Join us as we begin this new series with the elusive “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.