Jan 12
24
A Conversation with Michael Luongo
Michael Luongo’s award-winning travel writing earned him the 2011 LGBT Journalist of the Year for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the 2010-2011 Grand Prize in Travel Journalism Award Winner for NATJA. His work, which he characterizes as largely focused on travel, culture, and human rights, is always out of the ordinary (not to mention both humorous and profound at the same time). Check out Michael’s website (and read about his book projects) here!
How did you “break in to travel writing”? What have been the keys to your success?
Success is relative, as if you measure it financially, it has never been that successful. However, I have been in many great publications, and have been able to do, in my mind, much of the work I wanted to do. I got my start in terms of breaking into travel writing, academically. My Masters was Urban Planning, with a concentration in tourism at Rutgers University. I started publishing academically, initially on gay tourism, and that started my publishing career. From there, I did work for commercial gay publications, with a two month trip through South America, paid on my own dime, pitching to publications, really my start in 2000, looking at the continent, and in particular gay travel there, when fewer writers did. Each thing you do, while maybe not doing well financially, is experience for other things. So one clip and one tough travel experience leads to others. I don’t suppose in 2000 I would have imagined eventually doing travel books for Frommers, articles for the New York Times or National Geographic Traveler, Bloomberg and other publications, but that was the eventual pathway.
Where do you see your career as a travel writer being three years from now? How will your income mix change and what are you doing to adapt to the changing media landscape?
What I would like to do more of are novels, screenplays, and plays, based on my travels. I have to find more time to do these longer, larger projects, than what an article is. I have a published novel, The Voyeur, but it’s not about travel. The more I see things, the more I want to put into words things that could never be part of an article, in particular, I have been working on some longer projects from the war zones I have visited. It’s a matter of finding the time to do it. I think income streams must be more m
ixed, as really, it is harder and harder to make a living doing this – part of it is that so many places want things free. I also see myself going back for a PhD eventually, and I have thought to examine redevelopment of tourism during and after conflicts.
Knowing what you do now, if you were starting from scratch today to become established as a travel writer, what steps would you take to ensure success?
I have a phrase I call polite persistence, being in touch with editors, never taking no at face value, making a no a not now but maybe later, keeping doors open. I might want to work harder at a part time job to make more money to have in the bank. I do highly recommend writers have a “day job” they can come back to, if possible, but one which is low stress. I would also say be aware of opportunities, be resourceful. Find ways to combine writing with other work.
What advice would you give to someone near and dear to you who wanted to become a travel writer—assuming they had zero credits to their name. (Besides “Don’t do it”?)
I think I talk a bit about this above, but being resourceful, being flexible, being able to keep a day job which is something that is not too time consuming or stressful, but one you can come back to. I think taking this back, any job can be stressful, but one you don’t bring home with you. So a regular schedule in retail or other work that you can do within blocks of time, temping, leaving you with a clear mind for writing or travel, something where you don’t oversee people or projects. But you must always write, always submit, always look for opportunities, always network, always talk with other writers. Easy in New York where I live, but university towns, online, things like that. And you don’t have to travel to be a travel writer. You can write about where you live too. I will add it is very tough financially, and very tough in terms of relationships with your partner and your family.
You teach travel writing workshops at New York University. I’d love to hear your perspective on how teaching has helped your writing career, both professionally and aesthetically.
I think there is a certain prestige to being a university professor, though prestige is one thing. We don’t even get free gym benefits at New York University as adjuncts. But we can use the library. I will say it has been great teaching students – I LOVE teaching, really love it, helping students get into what I call the “Zone” where they get into their creative highs, where they can recall everything, every sound, smell, sight, taste of a trip. It also is great to hear how others describe the same things you do. A lot of my students take my class, called the Global Traveler, and have been to Buenos Aires and take it knowing I have lived there for my Frommers Buenos Aires guidebook but each experience is different. Most of my students are also women, and this perspective on travel can be very different from a man’s.
Much of your work deals with tourism in conflict zones such as Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, including Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. When I heard you speak at the NATJA conference in October, you mentioned that these are places you have long recommended travelers visit. Could you speak a little bit about why you feel this is an important area to visit, and what do you say when people tell you it’s just far too dangerous?
A lot of what I write about changed after September 11th. I was like, travel should be about connecting cultures, not being afraid of other cultures, and that on both ends – we are ambassadors of our own country. While there is no excuse for terrorism, I think we have to be aware of the background, or blowback in CIA speak of what 9-11 was, a reaction to our own imperialist policies, where we create a 9-11 every day within some countries. In any case, I think most places called danger zones are still accessible, whether Kabul, parts of Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East. The West Bank is full of beauty, but people are often afraid to venture because of the wall. I also have always found the worst places are the best places in terms of how welcoming people are. Haiti I remember being amazed how much people wanted to help me whenever I was lost. There is also the real economic importance to travel and how much conflict impacts economies. We see within the Middle East, the vagaries of this, and how warnings impact jobs and lives in real ways. In terms of danger, I should also think we can look at statistics within the United States about how dangerous it is – more people die from gun shots in the United States than any other developed country. Danger is relative and about perception sometimes. At the same time, any visit to a conflict zone must be done with a level of caution and awareness. But if you’re not curious, what kind of travel journalist are you?
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Michael Luongo is an award winning freelance journalist and photographer based in New York and living part time in Argentina. He is one of the few travel writers frequently gossiped about in the New York Post’s Page 6. His work is focused on Latin America and the Middle East, and he has been to all seven continents and over 80 countries. His specialties include conflict zone travel, business travel, gay travel and other travel topics, and he also writes frequently on human rights issues. His writing and/or photography have appeared in the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Out Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, Gay City News, The Forward, The Irish Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Town & Country Travel, and many other publications. He was the 2011 LGBT Journalist of the Year for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the 2010-2011 Grand Prize in Travel Journalism Award Winner for the North American Travel Journalists Association, among other awards from various media organizations. Michael is an adjunct professor at New York University, teaching travel writing, and a frequent guest lecturer and slide show presenter. Michael Luongo’s websites are www.michaelluongo.com and www.misterbuenosaires.com.
Interview conducted in January, 2012 by Kristin Mock.
Jan 12
17
An Interview with Kevin Wierzbicki
Kevin Wierzbicki is the kind of travel writer who has successfully merged his two passions, travel and music, into a career. Kevin, who specializes in travel stories with a music angle, has published over 200 articles in many diverse publications such as USA Today, Desert Living Magazine, and The Arizona Republic. Check out his website and a list of clips here!
Let’s talk a little bit about your interest in combining music and travel. You’ve written about everything from international music festivals, to the best places to find jazz music, to Elvis-themed honeymoon destinations. Do you think that having a specific niche like you do has helped you place more articles?
Yes, definitely. I don’t know that specializing in a particular area is necessary but the music angle has really worked for me. There are all kinds of niches within the travel writing genre, unlimited really. I think the two most popular are food and wine but people specialize in everything from golf to history to haunted houses. I had about a five year span where in addition to music related pieces I also specialized in luxury hotel properties that featured modern architecture and for the past couple of years I’ve specialized in writing about the Riviera Maya area of Mexico. If you like rock collecting or antique hunting or searching for the perfect martini then these topics can be incorporated into travel pieces just like I do with music. If you write about things that you think are fun, things that bring you joy, then that feeling will transfer to your readers, and that’s what it’s all about.
How did you “break in to travel writing”? What have been the keys to your success?
My background is in various aspects of the music business. Music (listening to, unfortunately not performing!) has always been a major passion for me and I worked for many years in various music-related jobs. I started as a small town DJ in Delta, Colorado then subsequently worked as a buyer for a major record and tape distributor, as a street promoter for concerts, as the do-everything guy at a live music nightclub. At one point I even dabbled with my own record label, releasing music from a few Arizona-based acts. There came a time when I was between pursuits and I got the wild idea to see if I could put all this esoteric music-related knowledge rattling around in my head to some kind of good use and I approached a couple of small town newspapers about writing a humble 
little column concerning music news. I won’t go fully into how that snowballed; suffice it to say I wrote my first piece about fourteen years ago and in 2011 I’ve published around 200 music-related articles.
About ten years back I wrote my first travel piece without realizing it. I was on assignment for Campus Circle, a big Los Angeles pop culture weekly paper geared to college kids, covering the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. I flew there from my home in Phoenix and spent four or five days attending the festival and otherwise nosing around Austin then came home and wrote about my experience. It was a few months after that piece got published that the light bulb went on over my head about this thing called “travel writing.” So I took my credentials as a music writer and just started putting myself out there in travel writing circles. I started going to the networking conferences like Travel Media Showcase and Travel South Showcase; my first one was an event the Bay Area Travel Writers organization put on in Oakland in conjunction with SATW and PRSA.
Where do you see your career as a travel writer being three years from now? How will your income mix change and what are you doing to adapt to the changing media landscape?
Well, I wish I had a crystal ball so I would know! I would be quite happy in three years to be doing the same amount of travel as I do now, which at about 60-75 days a year is kind of low compared to some of the real road dogs out there. I really don’t desire to go more than that; I don’t write on the road so I need time in the home office and I also have family responsibilities. What I really need to work on is the reselling of my articles; I’m very inspired by folks who sell a piece a dozen times or more and I’m working on getting right up there with them. This is really where I see the income mix improving for me in the next few years. I already have an open mind as to the media landscape; I don’t have blinders on that limits my work to just print, or just Internet, or whatever and I’m willing to make the necessary adjustments as things change. I take all that one opportunity at a time and try to avoid self-imposed negativity. I’ve never written a travel book but I won’t tell myself that I can’t do it. Obviously I hope that three years from now, whatever medium I’m publishing in and however often, that I’ll be a better writer and have more people enjoying my work.
Knowing what you do now, if you were starting from scratch today to become established as a freelance travel writer, what steps would you take to ensure success? In your opinion, is it still feasible for a freelance travel writer to expect to make a primary income selling his or her articles?
I’d pretty much follow what I laid out in my preceding answers since it worked. I started with nothing and now here I am! I’d work it harder from the beginning though; in my early years I wasn’t sure anything substantial was going to happen and that maybe caused me to be a bit timid about broaching some opportunities. I’m a perfect example of how you don’t have to have a formal education in journalism to be successful at travel writing, but if I could hop in a time machine and go back to my 20s I might consider J-school. Boy, there’s a travel story, huh? As to the income, it’s like any other goal, if you believe you can achieve it then you can. Travel writing is by no means a get rich quick scheme, though, at least not monetarily. Once you get into the realm of taking press trips all over the world, paid for by someone else, you have an amazing opportunity for personal enrichment that you can’t put a price tag on. The Catch-22 is that you have to be able to sell articles in order to get the press trips. I think every travel freelancer finds a happy medium of monetary income and the intangible wealth that’s accrued through the act of traveling. I don’t want to come across as a Pollyanna in these tough economic times but there’s no reason why a good writer who works hard shouldn’t be able to make some good dough.
In your opinion, what makes a solid piece of travel writing? What suggestions could you offer to writers still trying to “get their feet wet?”
The best travel writing makes you desire something; a trip to the place that’s being written about or maybe an experience elsewhere that’s similar to the one you’re reading about. Even armchair travelers who have no intention of getting on an airplane are made desirous by a well-written piece; they’ve been entertained and would like to read more of the same. I write in a lot of different styles and some pieces are just meant to be brief descriptions of a destination’s highlights but when I have the leeway to do a more in depth feature what I am aiming for is that the reader will read the whole article and then go “wow, I want to go there” or at least “Uncle Bob would love this place!” Writers who are just starting out don’t need to worry about going on exotic trips to find a story—that’s great if they can do but there’s plenty to write about in their own backyards. No matter where you live there are other folks who want to know about that place. Then there are lots of outlets, websites in particular, that will publish these pieces so the beginner can start building their credentials. Most of these places don’t pay but they have value as tools to move forward. Type “travel writers wanted” into a search engine and you’ll find plenty of opportunities to sort through. Then it’s always a good idea to obtain and read each outlet’s writer’s guidelines, often available on line; these will tell you things like how many words a piece can be, if the outlet wants photos or not, if they pay or not and if so when you can expect payment. Again it’s a matter of arming yourself with the right tools. Then go for it and keep going for it!
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Kevin Wierzbicki spent two years in Malawi when he was a pre-teen and that experience instilled in him, early in life, the value of travel. It took a few decades for him to be again in a position where he could seek out people, places and things that are different from what he was used to and then to find a few folks who actually wanted to read about these adventures. He is absolutely thrilled to get on the airplane (or train, or…) and it doesn’t matter whether he’s headed for Malaysia or Milwaukee; he knows he’s going to have fun and feels blessed to get to relive those moments every time he writes an article. Check out his full profile here at travelwriters.com.
Interview conducted in January, 2012 by Travel Writing 2.0 author Tim Leffel and Kristin Mock.
Posted in Travel Writing 2.0 book travel writers writer interviews by .
Jan 12
11
Book Marketing in the Digital Age
The last post on here was about publishing without a publisher, which in most cases is what I would recommend for anyone who has a decent following and is putting out a non-fiction book. But then what? Whether it’s the old way or the new way, the marketing is still mostly or fully on your shoulders.
There’s a fascinating story on Forbes right now called The Tim Ferriss Effect. It’s long, but go read the whole thing if you have a book out or will put one out later because it shows just how far we’ve come in terms of what really matters now. The synopsis is that this author’s appearances on major media outlets—including CNN and the New York Times—barely moved the needle, but appearing with a guest post on the blog of Timothy Ferriss made his book, The Education of Millionaires, an instant bestseller on Amazon.
(Side note: I also did a guest post on that blog once and also saw a huge spike in sales. The post has gotten more than 200 comments and that month set a record for book sales. Was that a case of “writing for free”? Only if you have a warped definition of “free.”)
Here’s the big takeaway: go where your fans are, and go to the people those fans trust. Go to bloggers who have a strong, dedicated following. To be more specific to the travel world, if your book is about traveler’s rights, you’d want to connect with Christopher Elliott. If your book is about Italy, it would make a whole lot of sense to connect with Jessica Spiegel of WhyGoItaly. If it’s about racking up mileage so you can fly for free, you’d want to get featured on Frugal Travel Guy (Andrew Ingersoll) or View from the Wing (Gary Leff). These are all popular blogs with real fans, but are run by a single human being. So don’t put together some 100-outlet media list and start spamming away. Instead you want to start a dialog with the handful of people who really matter for your subject area. Of course if you have a connection with someone popular whose blog post subjects are all over the map, like Mr. Ferriss, then by all means work that angle as well.
Karma applies though: don’t be an aggressive jerk and do what you can to make their life easier if they agree to give you the forum. A non-spammy guest post custom geared to their readers, formatted in HTML already, will go a long way. Also do your part to promote them and your post once it’s out. And naturally you’ll be sending them an autographed copy of your book with a personal note if they will at least take a look at what you’ve written.
This whole process is much easier if you really know the right people instead of just having them on some virtual friend list from social media. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to go to conferences based on your subject matter, whatever that may be. Once you’re moving in the right circles, it’s easier to tap those circles for mutual benefit. Again, go read that whole Forbes article and bookmark it read again later when you launch. It’s incredibly useful.
An Insider Guide to Publishing
And now, a commercial message. I have an affiliate account with Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity and head of the Travel Hacking Cartel subscription program that guarantees you four free flights from mileage banking tactics. He’s just launched a new package that will tell you everything you need to know about getting a book published through the agent/agency route—and then some. It’s going to cost you more than a book because this is mostly insider information from a successful literary agent and has options for video and audio interviews that pile on more. I haven’t read this yet so I can’t endorse it based on my experience, but if you’re looking to publish a book through the traditional route and make a big splash, this looks like something that would save you months—maybe years—of wasted effort doing the wrong things. How much is that worth?
Get the full scoop here: How to Write, Sell, & Publish Your Book
Posted in bloggers book publishing new media by .
Here’s the kind of success story most people will tell you can’t happen.
“I launched my self-published book in the first week of September this year. In just over two months, I’ve landed some big publishing deals and a movie deal.”
Yes, that self-published travel/love story from Torre DeRoche, now to be known as Love With a Chance of Drowning, will be sold around the globe and be made into a film.
The one downside is that she has to wait until 2013 for everything to see the light of day (publishing houses move verrryy slowwwwwly). But the fat checks will make the year go by quickly.
New Market, Old System
What most authors don’t seem to realize when they are trying so hard to get an agent or get signed by a big publisher is this: those people don’t matter so much now for a launch. Borders is bankrupt. Indie bookstores are about as common now as record stores. Barnes & Noble is not pouring so much money into marketing the Nook because it’s a cool gadget; it’s their only chance to survive.
Books printed on paper still sell. They’ll continue to sell in sizable numbers for a very long time. But it’s a declining market that’s becoming less physical every quarter. So it’s a market where the distribution infrastructure of old matters less and less. Thus the big advances like Ms. DeRoche got: there’s a lot of desperation in publishing right now, so if they sniff a bestseller, everyone piles on and bids up the price. They badly need the big hits because that’s the only place they’re still needed. Just like the music biz.
What would have happened if she hadn’t taken the initiative and moved forward on her own?
“I spent the first half of 2011 either crafting queries letters to agents, or pounding my head against cold, hard surfaces as the rejections piled up. One agent told me that, while he loved my writing, it was probably going to be a long, uncertain road to landing a publishing deal. Apparently, memoirs don’t sell well to publishers unless your name is Hilton, Kennedy, or Fey.
Then, around mid-year, I decided to change course. Unwilling to be defeated, I followed the direction of my internal compass, which was pointing towards SELF-PUBLISH.”
After the book came out, then people started to notice. She couldn’t get an agent before, now she had one negotiating big international deals.
Amazon has 60% of the U.S. book market.
Yes, you read that right and no, there’s no asterisk. 60 percent! Six of every ten books sold goes through Amazon. That leaves 40% selling everywhere else you may or may not need a fancy New York publisher for. But a fair number of the digital 40% are sold via B&N, Apple, individual authors, and print-on-demand publishers who also sell PDF versions. In other words, also places you don’t need a fancy New York publisher for.
So why do you need permission from them?
There are three valid answers for that: 1) You need the prestige. You want to be taken seriously as a writer and you need to be on a well-known imprint. 2) You have no following and need them to create one for you. (That only works though if they think your book will be a smash. Otherwise you’ll do all the marketing anyway.) 3) Your book is a good candidate for foreign rights and/or movie rights.
Otherwise, unless you’re working on something with a lot of graphics or a book that needs to be in an odd shape, you’re not getting much out of that 90% (or more) you’re handing over to the publisher if you ever earn back your meager advance. If most copies will sell for e-readers, you’re really getting robbed.
So unless you’ve got an honest-to-goodness bestseller in you, the kind every book club around the country will start reading, just do it yourself. Go make it happen instead of waiting for permission.
Posted in book publishing new media by .
Dec 11
20
Year-end Round-up and Reminders
The last week of the year is almost here, so it’s a time to take a breath and reflect. When life is moving at a 100 miles an hour—some of that of our own doing with always-on technology—it’s important to step back and look at the big picture.
So first, here’s what is becoming clearer to me each month in terms of what the future holds for travel writers:
1) Newspapers have a dim future, for magazines it’s a slow decline, but books are in better shape than ever thanks to e-readers and tablets. If you have or can build a following, you can sell books without needing a publisher—and keep more than the traditional 10-15% pittance authors used to earn.
2) For writers without a staff position, it’s less and less about landing gigs and more about creating that following. (Nobody reads bylines in print pubs, but they know whose blog or book they’re reading.) Some will win big in this scenario, others will lose big. The best of the best experienced writers will still hang on and keep doing the big stories for the big publications. Everyone from the second tier on down will struggle if they’re mainly doing print work for others. For newbies, “breaking into travel writing” is a tough slog if going the traditional route.
3) While it’s clear that readers are moving from print to digital, with advertisers following them, it’s not so clear how individuals make money in this scenario if they’re just pens for hire. Pay at online pubs is probably not going to rise a whole lot as there are just too many sites/blogs competing for a more fragmented ad dollar. It’s the solopreneurs or small companies with a dedicated readership that are the best positioned in this scenario.
Top posts of the year
Wondering which posts got the most clicks? Here’s what came out on top during the past two months:
Michael Yessis of World Hum
The Cold Hard Truth on Blogging Income
Bob Sehlinger of Menasha Ridge Press
Laurie Gough
Durant Imboden of EuropeForVisitors.com
Four Stages of a Successful Blog
Victor Ozols of Blackbook.com
Lan Sluder
Grace Fujimoto of Avalon Publishing
Anja Mutic
Are You on the List?
It’s good to subscribe via the RSS stream at the top. But each month I send out a newsletter with more advice than you’ll get from this blog, along with occasional insider trip or markets info I’m passing on. If you’re serious about succeeding as a travel writer in the digital age, sign up for the newsletter here.
