Professional Qualities of a Freelance Travel Writer

Professional Qualities of a Freelance Travel Writer

You’ve probably seen a great deal of writers’ work published. At college, for example, you may have experienced and read the work of professional academic writers and now you may read the work of freelance travel writers who create blogs from all kinds of places around the world. This may have got you thinking about becoming a freelance travel writer yourself. It’s clear to see how you could become attracted to the thought of being a freelance travel writer as you get to see the world, avoid commuting to an office every day and you may even be lucky enough to get paid to write and stay in some top hotels at the same time.

This all sounds very idyllic but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s not tough, to begin with. That said, there are now lots of opportunities to get your writing published and make money from travel writing even though it is a very competitive industry. 

The best way to begin is to create your own travel stories and put them on a blog. The next step is to get your blog to have loyal followers. As well as this, there are many other professional qualities that a freelance travel writer requires and below we will highlight some of these.

Be creative

You need to stand out from every other travel writer which means you need to have something different about your writing. If you just simply copy another writer’s style, it’s not likely that your writing will stand out from the crowd. It’s not just how you write that’s important but also what you write about. For instance, consider writing about destinations that are different.

Be committed and persistent

The one thing you need to be prepared for is rejection, particularly when you first start out as a freelance travel writer. It requires a lot of effort and time at first, so don’t expect to be successful in a flash. If you find that your writing doesn’t seem to be hitting the desired effect, you may need to reconsider the angle that you’re coming in on.

Time management

As with all careers, good time management is crucial. Travel writing is not simply about travelling as you have to find opportunities to write amongst travelling. Make sure you are well organized so that you stay on top of your work. It’s important to remember that you may not get paid to travel and you may only be paid to write about your travels.

Be honest

Make sure you are honest when content writing. You may sometimes have to write about topics that don’t interest you, you still need to make sure that you write honestly and stick to the facts.   Never tell blatant lies, although you may need to embellish some details in order to make your writing more interesting.  

Be prepared to read

To be a successful freelance travel writer you need to make sure that you read what other great travel writers have written. Read books as well as articles of well-known travel writers so that you can gain an understanding of what is expected when you are traveling. You need to read a wide variety of texts such as books, articles, blogs, and magazines so that you can work out which style of travel writing suits you and the skills that you possess. Look at different styles of writing and this will help you work out which style best suits you.  Remember, your aim is not to copy a writer but to mix the different skills that different writers possess and use these to create your own unique take on things. 

Possess good writing skills

As important as reading is, you also need to make sure that your writing skills are of a good standard. If you are just writing for your own blog, it’s ok to make the odd grammar, spelling or punctuation mistake as no one is going to reject your work. However, if you work as a freelance travel writer for a magazine or a travel company, you will be expected to follow very strict guidelines. This means that your articles will need to be read and edited many times to ensure that they are perfect. Additionally, you also need to make sure that anything you include in your article is correct and your information is current.

Be flexible

When you first start working as a freelance travel writer you will need to be flexible along with other traits you should have. By this, we mean the work that you have to take on. For instance, there may be writing jobs that you have to take on that you have no interest in. For example, writing about travel insurance. Make sure you follow what is popular in the travel writing market and this may mean writing about things that you don’t feel passionate about or traveling to places that don’t interest you