What we've learned since starting this newsletter
Five years on, here's what we know now
In the five years since we’ve been publishing this newsletter, we’ve learned a lot. Not just about our industry and its inner workings, but also about our colleagues and even ourselves. Here are a few of the things we’ve learned that might help you on your travel writing way…
We would love for you to help us out with next month’s newsletter, where we’ll be diving back into the financials of guidebooks and why we both think they’re a great part of any travel writing portfolio.
While we have data from our own experiences, we’d love to hear from you about how much guidebook writing pays in 2025. Fancy helping us out? Head to our survey to fill in the amount you were paid for your last guidebook commission. All submissions are anonymous, and we’ll make the data freely accessible to everyone.
Everybody worries about pitching
It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, the one thing all travel writers will likely agree on is that pitching sucks. It’s stressful, it’s exhausting, and it’s often baffling when you get a no without explanation when you felt your story was perfect for that publication. We are all just out here wondering whether our pitches are 10x worse than the next person, which is why we put together this Pitch Pack. It has 18 pitches in it from prolific freelancers, every single one of which got a yes from the editor. If, like us, you are desperate to peer into the inboxes of editors to see what others are pitching successfully, that’s the resource for you.
Most travel writers are moonlighting
There are travel writers who teach privately or in educational institutions part-time, there are those with copywriting clients and branding gigs that pay big bucks alongside their travel media work, and some who run podcasts and other forms of media that keep their bank balance ticking upwards and away from the red. Almost every travel writer we know moonlights as something or someone else so they can make their travel writing work, and there’s absolutely no shame in that.
In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s the most intelligent way to work. Finding well-paying gigs that can offset the lower rates in travel writing means you’ll be able to take on fewer of the low-paid pieces you don’t really want to do, and focus on the travel writing that really interests you. It also means you can probably work fewer hours overall, and finding that work-life balance is important. Especially for anyone with caring or parenting responsibilities.
Of course, the dream would be to have passive income that can supplement your travel media work. We’ve written an entire series about this here:
The majority of us have imposter syndrome
Landing commissions has been tough recently, and it’s impossible not to take it personally, particularly when a quick scroll of LinkedIn or BlueSky shows the success every other travel writer is experiencing right now. Even though we know social media is a heavily curated compilation of everyone’s best moments — there are very few of us comfortable posting about when things don’t go right, after all — feeling like you’re failing while others are revelling in their achievements can be a hard thing to shake off.
As Lottie laid bare in this newsletter, even the oldest hands in our industry have to grapple with their imposter demons. But, if you don’t want to find yourself crippled with self-doubt, face up to them you must. Becoming a mentor and realising how much you do know, re-reading and reflecting on the brilliant pieces you’ve written during your career, and just pinging out those pitches — results be damned — can get you out of your funk. And, if that doesn’t work, set up a get-together with a friend or fellow travel writer for a pep talk to remind you how deserving you are of your place in this industry.
The travel media is largely a lovely place to be
When I (Lottie) started out in the industry, a couple of travel writers took me under their wings and showed me the ropes at networking events. I was a newbie junior editor at a guidebook publisher and was about to be handed the role of commissioning, but I had no writer contacts to give work to. Their help set me up for success in my job and later as a freelancer, and I’ve now got long-standing friends in this industry.
While I’ve had a few run-ins with some spicy characters in travel media over the last 13 years (I got heckled by a very grumpy older man while doing a talk for a travel writing organisation), I have found that this industry is one of the friendliest and most relaxed overall. My friends in music, fashion and other forms of journalism don’t quite have the same networks and solidarity that we do. I only hope that this newsletter adds to the loveliness that pervades, for the most part, throughout the travel media.
But it can also be a bit lonely sometimes
When we deliver our origin story (and yes, we do position ourselves as superheroes on a mission to change the travel media for the better, obviously), we always mention that this newsletter’s genesis was in a period of generation-changing turbulence. We were all grappling with an uncertain future; Lottie and I — and, after we launched, it became clear that many, many others — felt desperately alone.
While we rode out the pandemic, this newsletter helped to foster a sense of community through our collective fears about whether our industry could ever recover. Since then, we’ve been forced to face up to the threat the climate emergency poses to the travel world and whether AI robots will soon come for our jobs. But, along the way, many of you have told us how our weekly newsletters have helped you feel like you’re not having to confront these challenges all on your own.
Last year, we both joined Meera Dattani, founder of Travel Writing Webinars, and a couple of specialists in this free webinar to discuss our own battles with mental health and how we can manage the stresses and anxieties of working alone. It’s definitely worth a watch if you’re feeling down or just want some solid tips for managing the highs and lows life throws at us.
The most successful writers are those who can pitch, not those best at writing
We’ve interviewed countless writers over the past five years, and we’ve noticed a common theme. To succeed in our industry, you don’t need to be the world’s best writer; instead, you need to be consistent and, most importantly, polish your pitching skills. There’s no magic to pitching, and the concept of a perfect pitch is pure fallacy. What we’ve learned, however, from our most successful peers is that a well-crafted pitch that hits the big three — Why this? Why now? Why me? — is the key to landing commissions, again and again and again.
Think your pitching needs a bit of polishing? We’ve got a slew of resources in our online shop. Take a peek at 18 commissioned pitches from some of the best in the business with our Pitch Pack or receive expert feedback on three of your pitches through our Pitch Clinic. Meera also ran a webinar on this topic a few years back that’s still relevant today.
Want more travel writing tips to get your teeth into? Check out Meera Dattani’s webinar series on travel writing here — new webinars are coming in June, too, so keep an eye out here for announcements. Our online course has tonnes of tips on this topic; head to our shop here.