It’s a great time to be a travel writer!
Hey Travel Writers!
Welcome to Launch Your Travel Writing Career!
Our mission is to help travel writers grow their skills, discover new markets and increase their earning potential.
Opportunity abounds for proactive travel writers, with many publications eager for travel content, and an ever-evolving marketplace that rewards hustle and hard work.
Content creators today have far more control over their markets, and marketability:
- Print & digital publications around the world are looking for travel content
- Travel writing fits so many parallel markets: Food, fitness, technology, politics, arts & culture, the outdoors — all these genres have travel content needs
- New distribution channels give writers direct access to their end consumers, while social media provides the tools needed to promote products directly to customers online
- Global travel demand is booming!
Travel writers can quickly establish their subject matter expertise, build their personal brands and set themselves up for ongoing success.
That’s the goal of this site – to help travel writers, experienced or aspiring, maximize their opportunities in today’s global travel content marketplace.
And now a quick word from your site founder.
Hey everyone! I’m Jay Cooke, a travel writer / content strategist / digital marketer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I’ve been in the travel writing field for nearly 20 years, with stints working for some of the biggest brands in travel media.
- At Lonely Planet I managed the U.S. East guidebook list and ran content marketing campaigns
- For Travelzoo I published daily travel deals to 13 million subscribers in 12 markets
- At Via Magazine I wrote and edited travel stories from around the western U.S.
- As a freelancer I’ve contributed content and commentary to National Geographic Traveler, Business Traveller and more
Soon after college I caught the travel bug and started working my way around the world. I broke into travel writing while teaching abroad in South Korea, and joined the travel media full-time after moving to California.
Along the way I came to realize how many people have a passion for travel and travel writing. I started coaching travel writing for Mediabistro in the 2000s, and have worked with hundreds on writers and students since.
The industry has changed a LOT since I when I first started.
It’s a very different travel media landscape from when the ball dropped over Sydney Harbor and signaled a new millennium.
But here’s the thing:
Now is a great time to launch — or expand — your travel writing career.
- The power has shifted from traditional media outlets. Independent publishers and media creatives have more control over their careers now
- The Internet has created a global marketplace where *anyone* can hang their shingle and sell their wares
- As traditional travel content markets (like newspapers) fade out, others (such as eBooks) take their place
- Brand travel magazines and guidebooks have been retrenching and increasingly moving their content to online channels, opening up new opportunities for writers
- Mobile and video will only grow in prominence for travel content providers in the coming years.
- Social media has altered the publicity landscape, and provides writers invaluable tools needed for self-promotion
And now more than ever, travel writers can expand their opportunities by focusing their efforts on Building the Brand of You.
I created this site to share tips and tricks I’ve learned in 20 years in travel publishing, and provide travel writers, new and experienced, with tools, resources and encouragement to take their travel writing careers to the next level.
With hustle, hard work, creativity and a can-do spirit, you can achieve any of your goals.
A happy disposition and a willingness to help others out will take you a long way in your growing your travel writing career.