With airplane fares cheaper than ever in history, most of the population can travel. So if you contact a travel magazine to sell them a story about the place you are visiting without a specific angle they will most probably reply: “No, thank you” (or not at all). They get hundreds of general queries like this — they want something original.
You need to think out of the box. Be daring. Suggest something unexpected.
Let’s take my most recent trip to Canada, for example. A simple article on how beautiful and lively Montreal is in the spring won’t interest anyone… but “3 days in an aboriginal community north of Montreal” might ring an editor’s bell… and sell your travel story.
In October, I left for a two-month trip in Canada and managed to sell 10 pages to a magazine.
It paid my flights and my accommodation. The editor was so looking forward to my story about the aboriginal community that he paid for my expenses to go there, even though I had already explained that I would pay for it myself.
I had an incredible time in the Atikamekw Community, the indigenous inhabitants of a valley in Quebec. I fished in the middle of the lake, canoed, slept in a tipi, and listened to old legends while lying next to the fire. An amazing trip financed only by writing and daring to be original! You can do the same… and you should.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can fund your travels and make an extra income with photography, travel writing, blogging, and more in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Profit From Your Photos: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]