Whatever your interest, there’s a market for your travel content. Photo by Steven Worster
There are many types of travel articles and ways to present travel content, from narrative longreads to 280-character tweets.
Here’s a rundown of types of travel articles and sections you’ll find in travel magazines.
The Front of the Book
Start with the front-of-the-book, the first third of a magazine that’s made up of shorter articles, factoids and vignettes. Think of the Front of the Book, or “FOB”, as the appetizers of a magazine, which whet your appetite for the main courses of the feature articles.
All magazines have a Front of the Book section, usually with a specific name (or names – the FOB can be split into subsections), and containing a number of regular sections that feature content in most issues.
For example, National Geographic Traveler contains two FOB sections – “Best of the World” and “Smart Traveler.” The former contains 250-word photo features on seasonal travel content, such as Summer solstice at Stonehenge and the Baseball Hall of Fame..
“Smart Traveler” is more of a grab-bag of travel content with regular sub-sections like “Traveling with Kids,” “Checking In” or “Adventure 101.”
The front-of-the-book is a great place for new writers to break into a magazine, since editors are more willing to take a chance on an unknown contributor for these shorter sections than they are for longer features and columns.
But the FOB is not just for new writers. In fact, many writers want to work in the FOB because they can turn a lot more content quickly, and land bylines in a wide range of publications.
It makes sense considering the per-word pay is by and large the same for the FOB as other sections. Instead of writing one 2,000 word feature for one publication and earning $2,000, some prefer to write five 400-word articles for five different magazines, each paying $400.
Do note that while the Front of the Book contains shorter content sections, this doesn’t mean these gigs are “easier.” If anything, the limited word counts of FOB sections require you to write tighter, more steamlined copy than in feature-length articles. You ‘ll want to make sure all 200 of those words count.
Narrative Features
Magazines generally have 3-4 main features each issue, often including the cover story. Think of features as the “main courses” of a travel publication.
Narrative features are the classic example of “travel writing” – longer stories about specific experiences in certain destinations.
Narratives vary in length but can be expected to clock in around 2,000 – 3,000 words, depending on the publication. Their longer lengths allow writers to delve deeper into the background of a place or activity.
They take specific angles that resonate with readers. Check these examples from the September 2014 Travel & Leisure. “Essential Paris” offers valuable insider tips for an evergreen destination; “Boomtown Nashville” implies that now is the time to explore the “next Austin.”
Seasonality is often a key part of a feature story. Editors want their articles to be timely and relevant in relation to the publication month, so think about seasonal time pegs when brainstorming travel feature ideas.
Features can be bunched in themes for certain issues, too. For example, the July 2014 issue of Conde Nast Traveler, dubbed “The America Issue”, had four main features:
- “North Country” – A profile of the author’s favorite corner of Maine, a summer destination
- “Flight Patterns” – Photo feature of summer activities (sailing, golf) shot from the skies above
- “Queen of the Hill” – Newsy piece about the restoration of a Rhode Island grand dame hotel
- “Once Upon a Time in America” – A classic family road trip adventure through the American West
Note these features not only tie into summer travel, they also underscore the magazine’s commitment to aspirational and luxury travel.
Market opportunities for feature writing are somewhat more limited simply due to their higher profile and reduced number of content slots per issue. Many times editors assign these pieces to travel writers they’ve first worked with on shorter pieces — another reason to pitch to the Front of the Book.
A new writer with a well-established beat and related clips from different publications stands a solid chance of landing an article – or starting a dialog with an editor that may lead to other paying gigs.
Roundups
Whereas narrative features provide a traditional beginning, middle and end to the story, roundups are basically bulleted lists, with a main paragraph that introduces the topic, followed by examples:
- “Twelve Best California Beaches”
- “Low Season Paris”
- “A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour”
- “25 Roadside Attractions”
- “52 Awesome Things for Kids in NYC”
Roundups follow the introductory paragraph or two with a group of individual content blocks, each written independently of each other, yet connected to the theme of the intro. These often use subheads, eg “Best Beach for Beginning Surfers” or “Best Tide Pools”
With roundups, don’t worry about trying to squeeze all the “wh” information – who, what, when, where, why, how – into each bulleted content block. Instead, focus on the best specific details:
For example, a roundup like “The SoCal Bucket List: 25 Don’t Miss Sites”
- “Built by celebrity architect Frank Gehry, Walt Disney Concert Hall anchors the downtown LA arts district” (who)
- Griffith Park views have changed in the 60 years since James Dean filmed “Rebel Without A Cause” (what)
- “January is prime season for watching whales as they migrate south to Mexico” (when)
- “The last remaining drive-in movie theater in Southern California is appropriately on Route 66” (where)
- “Explore the museum now, before it closes for a year-long renovation” (why)
- “Surf’s up? Here are five great ways to hit the waves in Malibu” (how)
Your overall roundup should have a mix of bullets that when totaled up, cover off all the “WH” elements.
Road Trips & Walking Tours
People love to hit the road and wander new neighborhoods, so travel publications often serve up steady portions of neighborhood and road trip pieces, as features or in the front of the book.
Some magazines have dedicated Road Trip columns in print or online, often with seasonal time angles. Road trip pieces can take readers on an itinerary, covering swaths of ground, often with a theme, like “Cajun Country Road Trip” or “Washington Wine Country Wanderings”.
Road trips make great content for travel sites. Travel and Leisure’s Weekend Getaways section covers regional outings across America
Many regional magazines have local road trip content, such as Via Magazine on the West Coast or Arizona Highways.
Regional titles in in four-season markets often have seasonal travel issues, like Chicago Magazine’s summer travel issue.
Whereas road trip pieces cover broad ground, walking tour articles allow you focus on a much tighter scale. Exploring a new district on foot is a core travel experience, and walking tour articles let you provide a curated way to experience a place, while encouraging readers to go further on their own.
Walking tours can explore neighborhoods in detail, with a theme (“Mission Murals,” “Summer of Love, Then and Now”) or by focusing on what’s hot, now.
Road trips and walking tours both work well in narrative or roundup formats. Backpacker Magazine takes a clever spin with its Go Local coverage of hiking routes, including turn-by-turn trail directions.
Weekender & “XX Hours In”
If road trips are about leaving the city for the open highways, weekenders are pieces dedicated to spending a couple of days in a specific place.
A great example of this is The New York Times’ 36 Hours In section, which uses a creative time frame – Friday Happy Hour through mid-day Sunday – to provide suggestions for navigating an area in a weekend.
Sunset has a similar column called “A Perfect Day” in which they focus in on selected highlights in places like Reno and Ashland, OR.
Weekenders are often roundups, and usually include information on food and drink, shopping, nightlife, arts and lodging. Look to use them to develop your beat expertise in writing about topics like restaurants or fashion.
Some travel titles have dedicated Front of the Book sections for these subjects. A weekender clip focused on shopping the Meatpacking District or Austin gastropubs can open doors in lifestyle or food magazines.
Travel News
You can write about travel news, or use travel news as a hook to broader a news feature story.
For example an incident like an earthquake in Napa can be the lead to news features about what to do if faced with a natural disaster while traveling, or how the area has rebounded a year later.
An exchange rate variation or sudden drop in the price of oil could prompt ideas about traveling to countries during a window of affordability, or taking a long-delayed road trip..
Travel magazines often have Front of the Book news feature sections about topics like art, dining and hotels, too. Take newsy angles about recent openings and developments, and leverage news trends in informational, how-to travel pieces.
“How to” & Informational
Practical, how-to informational articles provide value to readers, and appeal to travel editors who can get peppered by pitches about “where” to go.
By helping readers solve travel problems, you’ll earn their loyalty and generate social shares.
How-to titles like “First-time Europe Bikers’ Guide,” “RV Travel 101” and “Renting a Bungalow in Paradise” have real practical applications for travel readers, and SEO-friendly titling formats.
Look at the Front of the Book of targeted travel magazines and see which sections offer you a chance to pitch ideas not just about where to go, but how to help readers have the experience.