Previewing MMJ Masterclass 31: Travel Journalism

What sort of travel journalist do you want to be: sensible specialist or insane adventurer?

We’ll do sensible later – the stuff about how difficult it is to make money as a travel writer.
The need to treat travel as seriously as you would any other specialism.
How you need to cultivate both editors and travel PRs, the rock and the hard place between which you place yourself as a travel writer.
Let’s do the adventurous, exciting stuff first.
The exciting approach to travel journalism is for people who love adventure and maybe danger, don’t care about money and security and just want to have a great time and tell others about it.
One who takes that approach is Robin Esrock.
Just look at this video of his, about the world's most dangerous hike.
This is probably the sort of thing you dream about if you want to be a real traveller, an adventurer...

In that video Robin Esrock demonstrates pretty much all that needs to be said about how being a travel writer can be so electrifying.
But how do you get to be paid for doing stuff like that?

Modern Gonzo

We’ll be profiling Robin, who’s carved out a brilliant career for himself as a newspaper, TV and online travel writer, in a later module.
He calls what he does Modern Gonzo, inspired by the exploits of Hunter S Thompson.
We’ll also take a close look at how to approach travel journalism in a more sober way – to treat it as seriously as any other specialism: international journalism, sport, politics or business.
The ways to tell travel stories module is really central to this masterclass. Travel stories can be told on social media – via Twitter, Gowalla, using Google maps, with video clips on YouTube or Vimeo, stills on Instagram nd audio on Audioboo.

The Twitchhiker

One exponent of the new social and online style of travel – who has also got a book out of his exploits -  is Paul Smith, who goes by the screen name of Twitchhiker.
We’ll be profiling him, and showing how it's possible to use both new and old media as a travel writer.
Then there is the traditional travel feature for print. I love writing them, and I’ll try to show how to make a text travel article great feature, and a really good story as well.
The top 10 UK travel writers are profiled, and there are links to their work - so you can learn from the best in the busiess.

Next: The insane approach. How Robin Esrock did it

How I made £750 by going shopping

Classified ads are at the centre of one of the various tussles newspapers are having with the web.

Here’s a personal experience of what is happening.

Years ago, when we wanted to go on holiday, we’d look in the small ads in The Observer. There you got owners offering their second homes for rent. The chances were that you got a well-loved family home-from-home, in a pleasant place, at a reasonable price.

For years that was how we found and booked our holidays. When we came to have a holiday home of our own, and wanted to rent it out to cover costs when we weren’t using it, we looked to the classified ads. From ten to five years ago, we could place an ad in The Sunday Times for thee weeks in January, and get around 20 weeks of lettings out of it.

But, in more recent times, the ads dwindled. We tried other papers – The Telegraph (Saturday and Sunday) and the Saturday Times, but to no effect. The lettings were down to ten, then eight, then three weeks. And the ads were costing around £250.

When the reps rang I’d point out that we were now barely covering our costs, and that my very basic home-made website was getting me more bookings than their expensive ads. They suggested using their websites. So we did, in both The Times and The Telegraph. We got not one enquiry.

Last week, convinced that there must be a market for a very nice, reasonably priced flat on the shores of Lake Garda in Italy, I did a Google trawl for dedicated websites on which to advertise. The one that looked most reliable was called Owners Direct. So I paid my £65, drafted my description, uploaded my pictures and waited.

I didn’t have to wait long. The day the ad appeared I got three enquiries. Out of that came one booking, at £250, which easily covered the cost of the Owners Direct listing.

I hadn’t expected to get any bookings for this year, it being rather late in the season, but this morning as I strolled around the farmers’ market I got two SMS messages on my mobile, forwarded from visitors to the website. When I rang the enquirers I got two bookings for next month. Later, at the garden centre, I got another call, and sold a week next August.

So, while I went about my other business, I took £750 in bookings. That’s more than my last Times and Telegraph ads achieved, at several times the price.

There is a lesson here. It is that the cosy and reliable community of owners and renters of private holiday homes has migrated to a place that serves them far better than any print publication could.

The print publications, being slow off the mark, have allowed dedicated websites to syphon off this business.

As we all know, newspapers are working hard and fast to make the web work for them as they fight to retain their classified lifeblood.

Will they do it? I have to say that, in my very limited experience, they don’t have a hope.