Jennifer Stevens is the author of The Ultimate Travel Writer's Program and architect of Great Escape Publishing’s annual Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop. The Executive Editor of International Living, Jen has gallivanted through 27 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia, writing about the best locales for overseas travel, retirement, and investment. She has decades of experience in both writing and publishing travel articles.
In past incarnations, she lived in Paris and wrote market research reports for the Foreign Commercial Service - and she spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer on a spit of sand between Madagascar and Mozambique. She makes her home in the Colorado Rockies where, with her husband, she corrals three boys, a cat, and a dog (the toads, mercifully, finally met their end).
By Jennifer Stevens in Colorado Springs, CO It’s easier than you probably imagine to successfully break into travel writing. You don’t need natural literary flair, an English degree, or years of writing experience. Successful travel writers come from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds—the folks I’ve taught started out as accountants, teachers, […]
No doubt you’ve noticed it. It’s hard to avoid this “go where the mainstream isn’t” trend in travel coverage—and you shouldn’t try. In fact, if you’re looking for a smart way to cast an article for an editor today, think about following the untourist trend. In popular destinations like Venice, Italy, for instance, over-tourism is […]
Publications are like puzzles, built of specific pieces which come together in a particular way to create a cohesive whole. Every week or month—or whatever the frequency of the publishing schedule is—the editorial team sits down and starts to put their “puzzle” together. They know they’ll need a piece with a certain shape to fit […]
Editors are interested in sourcing the best possible stories for their readers. They’re much more concerned with getting a story that excites them, and which they feel will engage their readers, than they are with the level of experience the writer has under his or her belt. If your story is on-target and constructed soundly, […]
Editors, when it comes right down to it, are looking for one most critical thing from any article a freelancer submits: They want an idea they know their readers will latch onto. If you can deliver that, you’ll sell your articles. The challenge, of course, is to do so. But there are a few easy, […]
It’s fun to take a trip. On the road, you write down lots of details about what you see and do. You meet and talk with people and get great insights and quotes. You do a good job of being an attentive, inquisitive, observant reporter. You enjoy the process. Like I said, it’s fun. Invigorating, […]
Skipping Machu Picchu to find potatoes in Peru… the rudest cities in America… and a mountain-biking excursion with a pro basketball star… Those are just three of the not-so-everyday stories I’ve read in the last few days. They have nothing in common with each other, but they all share one attribute: Each takes an unexpected […]
When new writers sit down to tap out a story, many turn to “the question” as a way to begin telling it. For example: • Have you ever wanted to ski in the summer? • Need a break from the sun and sand while visiting South Florida? • With seven hours before our flight, tequila […]
Editors like to write headlines. Or, well, “like” might be overstating the matter. Editors write headlines. Editors write headlines… writers do not. That is what conventional wisdom tells us. And, indeed, the vast majority of the time, whatever headline you might put on your story when you submit it to an editor is not the […]
Want to know how to write a travel article that will sell? Skip the lengthy narratives, go practical, and follow these three tips…
