Smithsonian, BBC, NPR – Laura Kiniry on Freelancing for Elite Publications

Laura Kiniry is an award-winning freelance journalist specializing in travel, food, culture, and the outdoors. She has gotten bylines in some of the most prestigious and well-respected publications a travel writer could dream of appearing in. We caught up to talk about the secrets of travel writing success, the pitching process, and making the numbers work.

What did you study as you were going through the education system and what led you to your path of becoming a freelance travel writer?

I had always enjoyed creative writing and kept a daily journal for years, but after high school I took the long route through college. Though I wanted to major in creative writing, all the classes were at night and I waited tables in the evenings, so instead I went with a general liberal studies degree, with a focus on urban planning.

After graduating I embarked on a (mostly) solo six-month backpacking through New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand. Afterwards, I decided to combine my two passions—writing and travel—into a career. From there it was a very long (but truly worthwhile!) haul.

When did you start to feel like you “made it,” either with a specific byline or a financial achievement?

For me, there were various “made it” moments along the way: getting the contract to write Moon Handbooks New Jersey on my home state, after being turned down multiple times previously due to lack of experience.

Scoring my first feature, and then a cover story, both for American Way magazine, and receiving a Lowell Thomas Travel Award honorable mention with the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) for a piece about pupusas in San Francisco. I hadn’t even known I was nominated!

Like a lot of freelancers, you cover a wide variety of topics, but give us an example (or two) of a feature story you’re really proud of.

Last summer I visited Ghana and was taken by how many kayayei (female head porters) were working throughout the streets of Accra. I looked into their stories and the harsh realities of their lives struck a chord with me.

Tracking down women to interview for the piece required a lot of footwork, but was so worth it. It’s not a long article, though for me it’s a really important one. I also wrote a Gastro Obscura piece about the refugee and immigrant food scene in Boise, Idaho, and another for Smithsonian about ways US supper clubs are using foods to cross-cultural divides that I’m quite proud of.

We know it can be tough to make the numbers work as a freelancer these days, yet you live in one of the most expensive cities one can choose in the USA. What are the advantages of being there that offset that?

There’s a great travel writing community here in the San Francisco Bay Area, with lots of networking events. When I first started out around 2006, there were also a lot of outlets operating out of the area such as VIA, Sunset, Sierra, the SF Chronicle travel section, making it a wonderful media hub.

Living just a bus/BART ride from the airport, on the coast, and in a major US city, is really convenient travel-wise as well. I’ll often just disembark BART in the Mission neighborhood and roll my luggage the rest of the way to my apartment in the Haight.

You have a great track record of contributing to high-profile magazines that are familiar to most people. What do you consider your strengths that have enabled that to happen?

I am so persistent! I try not to ever take things personally and find that there’s no such thing as rejection, just a door to something else. I’ve always felt it’s about having lots of irons in the fire and building relationships over time.

What advice would you give to someone just breaking into this field in the 2020s, post-pandemic?

Years ago I came upon a self-help book called Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, and think its title is great advice for anyone starting out in the industry. Don’t worry about stumbling or pitching the big-name publications. Trust in your talent and your work, and put it out there. Just do your research.

The best way to break into publications is traditionally known as pitching the Front of the Book (FOB), the smaller sections in the front of a magazine. However, many online stories run the same length so there are a lot of opportunities to choose from. Get to know the publications that you’d like to write for and pitch accordingly.

A lot of people believe that publishing is a dying industry, but I don’t think so. It’s a changing industry, so be adaptable. Good writing is a gift and we need it!

Someone hands you a briefcase full of cash that you have to spend on a month of travel. Where are you going to go and why?

Vietnam, beginning in the south and working my way north, visiting small villages, overnighting on junk boats, and eating a ton of amazing food along the way.

Back when I took that six-month backpacking trip I had a plane ticket and visa to Vietnam, but returned to the US instead. It’s been something that has sat with me since, and I promised myself that when I do get to Vietnam, I will take my time and truly experience the country. I can’t wait!

Laura Kiniry is an award-winning freelance journalist specializing in travel, food, culture, and the outdoors. She’s a regular travel correspondent for Smithsonian, a frequent contributor to such outlets as Conde Nast Traveler, Atlas Obscura, and BBCTravel.com, as well as various AAA magazines, and has bylines in dozens of print and online publications, including NPR.com, CNN Travel, and O-The Oprah Magazine. A South Jersey native, she resides in San Francisco, CA, and has been to all seven continents. She occasionally harvests olives in southern Italy. 

You can read her articles here and follow her adventures on Instagram.