Study the school article about the profession of a travel writer and do the exercises below.

Anna Faszcza The Most Daring Profession? A Travel Writer!

Are you a devoteddevoteddevoted fan of travelling? Do you think you're gifted withgifted withgifted with writing skills? Consider becoming a travel writer.  It’s a truly tempting outlook on life. In our school’s weekly series of meetings with a career counsellorcareer counsellorcareer counsellor, who clarifies the peculiarity of professionspeculiarity of professions [peculiarity of a profession]peculiarity of professions you are most concerned about, you will find out what it's like to  be a travel writer.

To many, it seems like a dream job. Travel writers reach far‑offfar‑offfar‑off destinations, write their experiences down in an articlearticlearticle in a cosy local cafe, gather the most precious and unforgettable moments to embody in a travel guidetravel guidetravel guide or a book bearing their name.  And above all, they are given money by corporations to cover expenses. A perfect job, isn’t it?

Alas, it’s not. It might sound brutal, but working as a travel writer is poorly‑paidpoorly‑paidpoorly‑paid and unbelievably competitivecompetitivecompetitive. Getting $150 for an article is scarcelyscarcelyscarcely satisfactory. Imagine how many articles have to be accepted to be publishedpublished [publish]published for you to make a living. For this reason, people decide to do it as a hobby. Don’t get discouraged, though. For those who persistently want to see their names on the  spine of a book or a  travel guide, there are some tips.

- Before you decide to start a  careercareer career in travel writing, make certain you have at least the three following features. First, make sure you you're excellent at your native language. Knowing a foreign one fluently is a great asset, too. Your editoreditoreditor will not pay extra money for correcting the mistakes. Next, photography skills are in great demand. You may earn a little bit more by adding good pictures to accompany your story. These skills will increase your chances for a steady incomesteady incomesteady income from different sources.

- Travel writing requires very specific features. You will be likely to catch the readers’ attentioncatch the readers’ attention [catch a reader’s attention]catch the readers’ attention and the editor’s interest if you are capable of finding an engaging angleengaging angleengaging angle. The more captivating the title, the bigger chances of attracting others’ attention to your article. Remember that publisherspublishers [publisher]publishers expect conciseconciseconcise pieces of writing (unless you’re working on a book). Simply speaking, always stick to the core of the storycore of the storycore of the story.

- Obviously, you must be passionate about writing. The rest is hard work and persistence. Although it’s a competitive marketcompetitive marketcompetitive market, and your articles may remain unnoticed at first, you need to start selling your products somehow even when publishers pay peanutspay peanutspay peanuts.

- Start with blogging. You need to honehonehone your writing skills on an established travel blogblogblog website to get acquainted withget acquainted withget acquainted with formatting and editingediting [edit]editing rules. Once you’ve done it, consider creating your own website. Should you feel comfortable with recording videosrecording videos [record a video]recording videos, running a vlogrunning vlog [run a vlog]running a vlog may present your travels in a more dynamic and lively way. That may lead you to even enter a partnership programme and get a company to sponsor you.

-  When considering publishing a book, you must realise that even if you sweat blood, no success is guaranteed. Sad, but true.

-   Guidebooks might provide you with some steady income, but creating them is believed to be terribly tedioustedioustedious, because you are expected to review every single spot and monumentmonumentmonument of a place.

-  Finally, you might wish to write for a travel magazinemagazinemagazine. It’s worth differentiating between various types of them. Travel magazines are high‑end ones. You may write for an online magazine version as well. Online travel blog‑a-zinesblog‑a-zines [blog‑a-zine]blog‑a-zines websites offer a professional and independent approach to writing. In‑flight magazines, which tempt the passengers to visit certain destination spotsdestination spots [destination spot]destination spots, are distributed on planes for free. If employed by one, travel writers often have the costs of accommodation and attractions covered. Trade magazines focus on totally different industries than travelling. And, finally, if you don’t mind working freelancefreelancefreelance, you may work for a newspaper in the travel sectiontravel sectiontravel section.

As with any other professions to choose from, you need to commit yourself and remain determined and patient to achieve success. Paulo Coelho once said, “Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage”, so don’t hesitate to be daring and become the one you have always dreamt of.

1 Źródło: Anna Faszcza, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.