There’s something special about getting those first three published articles. With three bylines, you are officially on your way to becoming a travel writer. It’s a milestone worth celebrating because:
• You gain confidence.
• It gives you momentum.
• It helps you establish a successful routine.
• You continue to expand your education in the world of travel writing.
• You create relationships that will help as you move forward.
Confidence
What better way to boost your confidence than to have editors tell you, “Yes, your stories are the kind of high quality writing that I want in my publication.” You have real editors making the decision to choose your article over dozens of other articles submitted. You’ve put your work out there and had professional eyes give their mark of approval, and you’ve earned their trust.
Momentum
Once you get those first three articles published, you have primed the pump. Nothing begets success like success. It’s like a football team on a winning streak. You believe in yourself, and you know that if you keep giving it the same effort, you will keep getting the same results.
You can’t argue with the laws of physics. As Isaac Newton taught us: an object in motion will remain in motion.
In other words, maintain your persistent efforts, and your writing career will thrive.
Routine
To get those first three articles, you have to establish some sort of routine that works for you. Find some time to do your research, visit the subjects of your articles, organize your notes, research publications, and write queries that will catch the attention of editors.
Like most writers, you will continuously tweak your routine, finding out what works best for you. It doesn’t matter what your routine looks like, as long as you have one and it gets the results you want.
Education
While working on those first three articles, you’ll learn how to come up with great story ideas. You’ll learn about different publications you can pitch to. You’ll write and rewrite many drafts as you learn what makes a good story. This is in-the-trenches education… and real-world experiences often stick with you better than anything you can learn from a book or course.
You will continue to learn, but these first areas of knowledge make for a solid foundation.
Relationships
During the time it takes to get your first three articles published, you’ve worked on building relationships with others that will prove useful as you move forward.
First of all, the editors who give you your first bylines may be rich resources for future work. Also important are other editors who have read your queries but for whatever reasons did not publish this time.
You may have also established relationships with tourist bureaus, hotel operators, restaurant owners, and other writers. Nurture each relationship you make along the way—the network you build is one of your most valuable resources, personally and professionally.
Where to publish
So how do you get to this milestone of your first three articles? Where do you find editors willing to publish new writers?
In my case, the first article I had published, with Travel Post Monthly, came about from contacts I made when attending GEP’s Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop.
My second was with Dave’s Travel Corner, a site I stumbled upon in my research.
My third article was with MilesGeek, a wonderful publication I learned about from other writers I met at the GEP workshop. In fact, I have continued the relationship with this fine publication and have over a dozen articles published here in the last year or so.
Good luck as you work to get those magical first three articles published. Once you have the confidence, momentum, routine, education, and relationships established, there is no stopping you!
[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, Five Fun Ways To Get Paid To Travel: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]