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Issue #434: Two Query Letter Strategies — and Which One Works Best
March 20, 2023
Greetings Fellow Travel Writers!

. . . and WELCOME all new subscribers. Thanks for joining us.

We’re making a change — from today onward we’ll reduce the frequency of this newsletter from weekly to bi-monthly.

This means you’ll receive a free newsletter twice each month, during the first week and the third week. Usually you’ll receive it on Monday but if there’s a holiday it might happen later in the week.

There will be less clutter in your Inbox while you can still continue enjoying our travel writing and marketing tips.

We’ll still let you know when we’re running book deals and when we have coaching and workshop announcements. As subscribers we’ll also be sure to let you in on any special discounts.

With fewer emails to read, we think you’ll like this change!


Featured Post

Two Query Letter Strategies — and Which One Works Best

In my seventeen-year quest to find THE magic formula for effectively pitching travel stories, I’ve studied much literature about query letters. 

My research has shown two types of query letter formats.

One format is recommended in all the books about query letters. I call it the “elegant dance” and I rarely use it. Yet, it’s the one all the books seem to highlight.

My favorite approach is an alternative format and it's the strategy I’ve had tremendous success with. I call it the Direct Pitch Technique.

In this post I define and analyze both of these query letter formats. And then I explain why my Direct Pitch Technique is the most successful for landing travel assignments, especially if you're new to travel writing . . .

READ THE POST


Upcoming Posts

Apr 03: Writing for Expat Magazines
Apr 17: Dreaming Up Story Ideas That Sell
May 01: Press Trip Tips: Resources for Travel Writers

Here's Who Joined Us in Charleston SC for Our Travel Writing & Photography Retreat and Our Marketing Master Class For Travel Writers

Clint Funk . . .

. . . grew up in Central Illinois farming country and while anxious to leave, always enjoys returning to see old friends and capturing country images.

His diverse career went from interior design to commercial photography (interiors and architecture), to printing and desktop publishing, to consulting, to technology. He’s currently a Solutions Consultant for Adobe.

His favorite thing is presenting and explaining technology to groups of users, showing them how to work smarter, not harder.

He loves travel and thinks incorporating photography with travel writing could be his next career option.


Inspirational Travel Quote



Pitch Travel Write: Most Requested Links About Query Letters That Sell Your Travel Articles

The query letter is your most important sales tool. A query letter points out how your story will fit into a magazine. It explains your idea in enough detail to arouse the curiosity of an editor enough to commission it. 

Well-written query letters convince magazine editors that you have exciting travel stories their readers will absolutely love. All freelancers must learn the basics of writing good query letters.


Here’s our PitchTravelWrite Query Letter Resource Page with one dozen of our best articles on writing effective query letters . . .

LINK TO QUERY LETTER RESOURCE PAGE


MORE RESOURCES FOR TRAVEL WRITERS

Featured Book of the Month:

ADVANCED TRAVEL WRITERS' 2-PACK REFERENCE GUIDES

Take your travel writing career up a few notches with our advanced reference guides.

In How to Land Press Trips and Fam Tours you'll learn about how to use your assignments to request free and low-cost travel. You'll also get all the resources successful travel writers have at their fingertips to network with the right people and have DMOs clamoring to invite you to visit their region.

If luxury is your preferred style of travel, our manual How to Break into the Luxury Travel Writing Market will help you move quickly into this market. And it gives you a huge ready-made list of magazines and websites interested in publishing luxury articles.

When you purchase both these books together, you automatically save 10% on each book. During the month of March we’ll give you an additional $5 off the bundle price when you use discount code PTLT5:

BUY THE BOOKS


Latest News eBooks

New eBooks Coming Soon

We’re about to publish another eBook to help you get your travel stories published. It’s called The Best of Roy’s Blogs: Roy’s Solutions for Selling More Travel Stories, Writing Better, and Earning More Money.

You need to have a lot of skills to be successful in the freelance travel writing game. In the past fifteen years I’ve been bombarded with hundreds of email questions about many aspects of travel writing. The blogs you’re about to read are my succinct answers to these urgent questions.

These blogs are gathered from my email replies, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, blogs, and newsletter editorials. They provide quality solutions in summary form to the myriad challenges travel writers face.

Even better, at the end of each blog I give you the link to a more detailed and comprehensive coverage of each topic so you can continue on to a more in-depth post on our website PitchTravelWrite.com.

Follow the advice dispensed in this eBook and you’ll earn more from your travel writing by selling more stories and improving your travel writing.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve finished the draft of our ebook and our new release date is April 2023: 500 Print Magazines That Want To Publish Your Travel Articles. Rather than revise our current eBook, “100 Print Magazines That Want To Publish Your Travel Articles” we decided to write an entirely new book.

We’ve tossed out the magazines that have folded since the 2016 edition and added in a whopping 450 NEW magazines (maybe more) to this eBook. Yes, you read that right!

This compilation is far more specialized for travel writers than what you’ll find in Writer’s Market. Compiled over fifteen years from a wide variety of online sources, field resources, and book references, this comprehensive list includes international publications for the English-speaking market.

The magazine lists include . . .

  • General Travel & Lifestyle Magazines
  • Regional Travel & Lifestyle Magazines
  • Luxury Travel & Lifestyle Magazines
  • Travel Magazines about Select Countries
  • Motorcycle Travel Magazines
  • Outdoor Magazines
  • Airline In-Flight Magazines
  • Cruise Line On-Board Magazines
  • Hotel In-Room Magazines
  • Wedding Destination Magazines
  • Food & Travel Magazines
  • Family Travel Magazines
  • RV & Motor Coaching Travel Magazines
  • Gold Prospecting & Travel
  • Inns, B&Bs, Victorian Homes
  • Expat Travel Magazines
  • Lighthouses
  • Travel Photography
  • Canals & Waterways Travel

Watch this newsletter for release dates soon to be announced.


At Your Service

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PitchTravelWrite.com, is our information-packed website for travel writers. This e-zine, a series of travel writing books and reference guides, coaching programs, and our workshops all work together to give you guidance in this field.

Our aim is to provide you with practical, nitty gritty information to help you gain entry into the travel writing realm and all the enjoyment that comes with it. 


Awards and Accolades

We're thrilled to announce that our website, PitchTravelWrite.com has made The Write Life.com’s list of 100 BEST WEBSITES FOR WRITERS for 2020 and 2021! 

You can see the entire list by visiting their website - click on the graphic to view the list now.




We're proud to announce that our travel writing website, PitchTravelWrite.com has made Writer’s Digest Magazine’s 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 101 BEST WEBSITES FOR WRITERS.

Writer's Digest doesn’t bestow these awards lightly. And we’re the only travel writing website on their lists!




And the accolades for PitchTravelWrite.com just keep pouring in! Our website helps travel writers successfully sell their travel stories.

Thank you, Writer’s Digest Magazine for listing us on your “Best Genre/Niche Websites for 2020, 2021 and 2022.”


Friend me on Facebook

My Facebook page is about freelance travel writing. I frequently post about:
• links to other well produced travel websites and blogs
• links to my travel articles
• magazine cover stories and back stories
• links to resource pages
• links to coaching and mentoring resources
. . .and plenty of other useful information to get you up to speed

Link to Roy's Personal Facebook page




That's all for now. Until next week - just keep pitching! Roy

Roy Stevenson
Pitch Travel Write
www.pitchtravelwrite.com



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