Great Escape Publishing

Posted June 4th, 2009 by Bonnie Caton & filed under Travel Writing.

Dear Reader,

Jen Stevens here again. I’m filling in as your guest editor while Lori is in Paris.

Today’s Featured Publication, TravelLady.com, is an ideal place to send your travel articles if you’ve never been published. It doesn’t pay for articles, but the benefit of getting published there is twofold:

1. You’ll build up your portfolio, gaining bylines on a site that gets great exposure.

2. The editors offer assignment letters to writers who have been published there five times or more (assignment letters can be your ticket to all-expenses-paid press trips).

If you follow the guidelines, you’ll see that it’s not a difficult place to get published. Scroll down for more details…

— Jen

Jennifer Stevens
Guest Editor

P.S. Being a travel writer definitely has its perks — free trips being just one of them. Last year, I took my entire family on an all-expenses-paid trip to Omaha to research a story for an in-flight magazine. Freelance writer Steenie Harvey (the freebie queen) regularly enjoys perks like free meals, spa treatments, and luxury hotel rooms with complimentary bottles of champagne when she’s working on a story. Neither of us is doing anything you can’t do. You just have to follow a few easy steps.

We’ll map it all out for you at our next Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop.

PAVING YOUR WAY TO FREE PRESS TRIPS
By Bonnie Caton in Portland, Oregon

TravelLady.com is an online travel magazine for everyone — not just ladies. It offers a searchable database of over 10,000 travel articles. The most recent stories fill up the first page, and the rest are categorized by special interest (film, fishing, beaches, beauty, inns, luxury…) and destinations, including… oh, just about anywhere you can travel.

The stories here are incredibly varied, and don’t seem to follow any particular theme, though they’re generally light, chatty, and useful. Most also include a paragraph or two of further information and links at the end.

Whatever you like to write about, if your articles are at all travel-related, you can probably get them published here. TravelLady.com doesn’t pay for articles, but the exposure is very good. And there’s another special bonus to writing for this site…

If you get at least five articles published here, you’ll be eligible for an assignment letter from the editors — a powerful tool you can use to get free press trips. (Find out more about getting free press trips from reader Dawn-Marie Hanrahan, here)

To help you get started, we asked TravelLady editor, Madelyn Miller, what kinds of articles she likes best.

Here’s what she said: “Send first person stories. We are most interested in stories from warm destinations, particularly Mexico. We want evergreen stories — do not submit stories on a hotel package or performance that ends in two weeks.”

Madelyn also mentioned her pet peeve: when writers don’t read the Writer’s Guidelines and don’t follow directions. You’ll see when you read through the Guidelines (here: http://www.travellady.com/guidelines/guidelines.htm ) that they are numerous… and very specific. So make sure to pay close attention.

** TIP: TravelLady only accepts articles that include photographs, so if you’re not sure what to write about, you might start by looking through your best travel photos. Or, if you’re starting from scratch, don’t forget to bring your camera along as you research your story.

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]