Yep, that's a grim picture. Especially the way that rates and PR budgets are on the wane, for all sorts of reasons. That's pretty much why I decided to stop trying to become an industry travel writer (I'm not sure I was ever really one, although not for want of semi-cluelessly trying) - it was that and the burnout and cynicism that came from realising that destination marketing really didn't fill me with any joy at all, even when I got paid for it...
But now I'm back writing again and have got back all my naive optimism, I have to wonder: why does this grim state of affairs have to define travel journalism going forward? Can't we just start saying that this, the Old Way, was largely bullshit for many painfully practical reasons, and perhaps it's time to start carving out new models based on what's working pretty well online for some writers these days?
The first one being: platforms like the one we're both writing on. Substack's not the only one, but it's proving an impressive testing-ground for all sorts of genre/niche writing. What about travel writing? Where are the recklessly heartfelt efforts to turn narrative travel journalism into something that readers pay for on a monthly basis, using every experimental variation of all the things that existing high-turnover newsletter writers are doing on Substack and elsewhere? I can't help feeling there must be a way to cobble something workable together that's clearly and unambiguously "narrative travel writing". (I feel this, because there are already a few rare examples of it happening, like https://www.brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.com/ ,which is a travel blog of travel writing!)
I'm sure it's going to be bloody hard work for someone to get going from scratch - and I say this as someone who's just fought through that 60%/£20k barrier with his own newsletter (which took me 2.5 years and more than a little luck). But if, I dunno, Colin Thubron or Nan Shepherd or Dervla Murphy or Sofka Zinovieff or Bill Bryson were writing paid newsletters, I'd be throwing money at 'em. As Tim said in his Future Of Travel Writing piece, a great relabelling seems to be underway, absorbing great gloms of travel-like writing into their own categories - take Katherine May, also on Substack, writing in a way that fits beautifully alongside other folk commonly labelled "travel writer", say, Pico Iyer, while getting described in the press as "wonder writing" or "pandemic writing" or some new term. And there's CraigMod writing about his walks across Japan, but it's not quite "travel writing", it's "hey, CraigMod is writing about walking in Japan"...
That's one model. I bet there are many others waiting to be discovered. And if that's the case, why should we put up with a reheating version of the old model? Isn't all this the flag waving madly for narrative travel writers - especially those with voices traditionally under-represented in the industry, the same way N.K. Jemisin shook up science fiction via Patreon - to get in there and start launching new books-but-not-books-but-also-kinda-books in a crowdyfundy, audience-powered sort of way, with PR coming second?
(I think I'd really love to see the future of travel writing go fiercely, reactively indy for a while, getting paid primarily by readers and never ever feeling like it has to take an unappealing-looking gig just for the money. Could travel writing in general at least *try* that, to see what happens?)
A final point: never comment on someone's newsletter after having two espressos in a row. See: all of the above.
Thanks, Mike. I'm in total agree with everything you say. The "golden age" of travel writing was never that gold -- or it was, but only for a very few, people writing a certain kind of thing for a certain audience, etc. etc.
I'm also a novelist and a screenwriter, and the chaos and disruption is happening in those traditional industries too. I see our current era as "the best of times and the worst of times," but I gotta say: I've been making a living from writing for 35 years, and right now DOES seem like the best time of all, if only because other options finally exist. Thanks to Substack I have a stable income for the first time in those 35 years, and when it comes specifically to *travel* writing, I feel the *least* amount of pressure to bow down before the PR gods (because we're subscriber-supported).
But yeah, you definitely have to hustle your ass off. I know, when have we writers ever *not* had to hustle our asses off. But it still feels more "possible" to me now than ever before. But that might also be age and experience speaking.
I think the biggest issue for so many people, as Mike points out, is the struggle to get to the point where your reader-funded publication actually earns anything. I definitely agree that there are many more opportunities to do this than ever before, but the doggedness required to get to that point is something that can feel beyond possible when you're stressed by deadlines and poorly-paid commissions and just sapped of your creative energy.
I do believe putting in a few hours each week can lead to something brilliant but I think so many are just so fed up with the hustle. Hopefully more people have it in them to try, though. The industry desperately needs to change.
I hear you. I do think it's much, much easier to make a living now in niches. I think general interest is a much tougher sell. But authenticity and voice count for a lot too -- there are now 150 Rick Steves (or 1500?), not just one.
Honestly, I think the traditional industry is essentially gone for good. Much of that is bad, but there are also real advantages to the new status quo. I don't mean to sound zen, because I'm not. But I've mostly completely given up on traditional publishing -- in books and screenplays too, not just journalism -- and that's made me much happier, much less frustrated. I don't think it's because the traditional gatekeepers are "bad" people -- not at all, truly. But I do think incentives are such that it's almost impossible for them to succeed doing what worked 20 or 40 years ago. And whatever they do now, they're just one small piece in a bigger social media puzzle.
Wow, eye-opening and often depressing stuff. (Including about readers not caring about the climate emergency...)
First, thanks to Mr. Sowden for mentioning us. Second, not surprisingly, I agree with a lot of what Mike has to say about what might work.
We came to travel writing in a round about way, writing an opd-fashioned blog when we started nomading six years ago. After realizing we had no desire to chase SEO and/or do sponsored trips -- which simply wouldn't fit with our lifestyle -- we discovered Substack and haven't looked back.
While we haven't gotten rich by any mean, we've been doing all right. And it's been gratifying to find that readers are interested in the kind of travel writing we do -- a mix of narrative story-telling, along with some practical advice and sort-of guides to destinations we have lived.
I also think Mike is right about the new kinds of travel writing emerging -- or is it more old types migrating to new platforms and/or changing a bit.
One of my favorites is https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/ by Chris Arnade. No, Chris isn't writing about Bali or the Ten Best Things to See in Albania, but given where he ranks on Substack's travel leaderboard, clearly people are interested in what he has to say.
The low rates of pay and constant rejection rings very true.
But the power travel PRs have in the UK is off the scale. Perhaps if you write for top tier publications it’s different?
I always want to find my own stories but I accept press trips because it’s the only way I can afford to go. My best stories are ones I’ve mostly funded myself but this means I literally lose money on every story.
I love slow travel, but press trips are incredibly short leaving no time to explore your own angle. And no PRs/ travel companies fund train travel rather than flights.
Brilliant work, ladies. It puts some data behind what we all know/suspect already. Personally, I am out of this business after I complete my current update of my own Basque Country guidebook. There are lots of animals drinking from a shrinking waterhole and many are going to go thirsty. I might become a postman.
You've done really great work here, kudos.
Yep, that's a grim picture. Especially the way that rates and PR budgets are on the wane, for all sorts of reasons. That's pretty much why I decided to stop trying to become an industry travel writer (I'm not sure I was ever really one, although not for want of semi-cluelessly trying) - it was that and the burnout and cynicism that came from realising that destination marketing really didn't fill me with any joy at all, even when I got paid for it...
But now I'm back writing again and have got back all my naive optimism, I have to wonder: why does this grim state of affairs have to define travel journalism going forward? Can't we just start saying that this, the Old Way, was largely bullshit for many painfully practical reasons, and perhaps it's time to start carving out new models based on what's working pretty well online for some writers these days?
The first one being: platforms like the one we're both writing on. Substack's not the only one, but it's proving an impressive testing-ground for all sorts of genre/niche writing. What about travel writing? Where are the recklessly heartfelt efforts to turn narrative travel journalism into something that readers pay for on a monthly basis, using every experimental variation of all the things that existing high-turnover newsletter writers are doing on Substack and elsewhere? I can't help feeling there must be a way to cobble something workable together that's clearly and unambiguously "narrative travel writing". (I feel this, because there are already a few rare examples of it happening, like https://www.brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.com/ ,which is a travel blog of travel writing!)
I'm sure it's going to be bloody hard work for someone to get going from scratch - and I say this as someone who's just fought through that 60%/£20k barrier with his own newsletter (which took me 2.5 years and more than a little luck). But if, I dunno, Colin Thubron or Nan Shepherd or Dervla Murphy or Sofka Zinovieff or Bill Bryson were writing paid newsletters, I'd be throwing money at 'em. As Tim said in his Future Of Travel Writing piece, a great relabelling seems to be underway, absorbing great gloms of travel-like writing into their own categories - take Katherine May, also on Substack, writing in a way that fits beautifully alongside other folk commonly labelled "travel writer", say, Pico Iyer, while getting described in the press as "wonder writing" or "pandemic writing" or some new term. And there's CraigMod writing about his walks across Japan, but it's not quite "travel writing", it's "hey, CraigMod is writing about walking in Japan"...
That's one model. I bet there are many others waiting to be discovered. And if that's the case, why should we put up with a reheating version of the old model? Isn't all this the flag waving madly for narrative travel writers - especially those with voices traditionally under-represented in the industry, the same way N.K. Jemisin shook up science fiction via Patreon - to get in there and start launching new books-but-not-books-but-also-kinda-books in a crowdyfundy, audience-powered sort of way, with PR coming second?
(I think I'd really love to see the future of travel writing go fiercely, reactively indy for a while, getting paid primarily by readers and never ever feeling like it has to take an unappealing-looking gig just for the money. Could travel writing in general at least *try* that, to see what happens?)
A final point: never comment on someone's newsletter after having two espressos in a row. See: all of the above.
Thanks, Mike. I'm in total agree with everything you say. The "golden age" of travel writing was never that gold -- or it was, but only for a very few, people writing a certain kind of thing for a certain audience, etc. etc.
I'm also a novelist and a screenwriter, and the chaos and disruption is happening in those traditional industries too. I see our current era as "the best of times and the worst of times," but I gotta say: I've been making a living from writing for 35 years, and right now DOES seem like the best time of all, if only because other options finally exist. Thanks to Substack I have a stable income for the first time in those 35 years, and when it comes specifically to *travel* writing, I feel the *least* amount of pressure to bow down before the PR gods (because we're subscriber-supported).
But yeah, you definitely have to hustle your ass off. I know, when have we writers ever *not* had to hustle our asses off. But it still feels more "possible" to me now than ever before. But that might also be age and experience speaking.
I think the biggest issue for so many people, as Mike points out, is the struggle to get to the point where your reader-funded publication actually earns anything. I definitely agree that there are many more opportunities to do this than ever before, but the doggedness required to get to that point is something that can feel beyond possible when you're stressed by deadlines and poorly-paid commissions and just sapped of your creative energy.
I do believe putting in a few hours each week can lead to something brilliant but I think so many are just so fed up with the hustle. Hopefully more people have it in them to try, though. The industry desperately needs to change.
I hear you. I do think it's much, much easier to make a living now in niches. I think general interest is a much tougher sell. But authenticity and voice count for a lot too -- there are now 150 Rick Steves (or 1500?), not just one.
Honestly, I think the traditional industry is essentially gone for good. Much of that is bad, but there are also real advantages to the new status quo. I don't mean to sound zen, because I'm not. But I've mostly completely given up on traditional publishing -- in books and screenplays too, not just journalism -- and that's made me much happier, much less frustrated. I don't think it's because the traditional gatekeepers are "bad" people -- not at all, truly. But I do think incentives are such that it's almost impossible for them to succeed doing what worked 20 or 40 years ago. And whatever they do now, they're just one small piece in a bigger social media puzzle.
Wow, eye-opening and often depressing stuff. (Including about readers not caring about the climate emergency...)
First, thanks to Mr. Sowden for mentioning us. Second, not surprisingly, I agree with a lot of what Mike has to say about what might work.
We came to travel writing in a round about way, writing an opd-fashioned blog when we started nomading six years ago. After realizing we had no desire to chase SEO and/or do sponsored trips -- which simply wouldn't fit with our lifestyle -- we discovered Substack and haven't looked back.
While we haven't gotten rich by any mean, we've been doing all right. And it's been gratifying to find that readers are interested in the kind of travel writing we do -- a mix of narrative story-telling, along with some practical advice and sort-of guides to destinations we have lived.
I also think Mike is right about the new kinds of travel writing emerging -- or is it more old types migrating to new platforms and/or changing a bit.
One of my favorites is https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/ by Chris Arnade. No, Chris isn't writing about Bali or the Ten Best Things to See in Albania, but given where he ranks on Substack's travel leaderboard, clearly people are interested in what he has to say.
And that gives me hope for the future.
The low rates of pay and constant rejection rings very true.
But the power travel PRs have in the UK is off the scale. Perhaps if you write for top tier publications it’s different?
I always want to find my own stories but I accept press trips because it’s the only way I can afford to go. My best stories are ones I’ve mostly funded myself but this means I literally lose money on every story.
I love slow travel, but press trips are incredibly short leaving no time to explore your own angle. And no PRs/ travel companies fund train travel rather than flights.
Brilliant work, ladies. It puts some data behind what we all know/suspect already. Personally, I am out of this business after I complete my current update of my own Basque Country guidebook. There are lots of animals drinking from a shrinking waterhole and many are going to go thirsty. I might become a postman.
I guess we're probably a long way from drones delivering all the post so you should be safe for now!