What Makes a Great Travel Pitch?

In our last travel writing advice post, we looked at ways to find fresh angles and original travel content ideas. But finding a good idea is only the beginning – once you’ve done that, you still need to market that idea. It’s time to write up that all-important travel pitch. For many aspiring travel writers, this is the most difficult part of the process.

While hopeful writers busy themselves wrangling their own thoughts, ideas and experiences into a saleable travel story, commissioners have to sift through what must seem like a never-ending influx of proposals. They too face difficult choices, having to discern what – if anything – will work for their readership and whether the freelancer will be able to deliver the job to their standards. To help both the commissioner and the commissionee through the arduous pitching process, we’ve collated six important questions – ones that writers should ask themselves before they press send, and ones editors can use to identify a winning pitch. Simply scroll down to read them all.

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Photography: A Collector’s Perspective

Few art forms have undergone as much upheaval as photography. Changes in technology over the last century-and-a-half have regularly thrown the medium into flux. And yet the impact of a great photographic image remains.

Recently, we had the opportunity to discuss the medium of art photography with two of the world’s most influential photography collectors: the Chicago-based husband and wife, Richard and Ellen Sandor. The Sandors have been avid art collectors since the 1970s, and have amassed a stellar collection of around 2,500 pieces. The collection encompasses not only photography but also other artistic mediums, including new media and sculpture. During our in-depth interview with the prominent collecting couple, we spoke to them about photography as an art form, their own prized collection, their unique collecting philosophy and their views on the current photography market.

The resulting article was published in the most recent July-August edition of Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine. To find out exactly what the Sandors had to say, scroll down to read an extended excerpt from the feature article.

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Travel Writing Clichés to Avoid – Part 2

Clichés are rampant in travel writing. Melting pots, best-kept secrets and cities of contrasts proliferate. And while we believe these phrases can, on occasion, merit an airing, we can’t help but feel that some travel writers are simply choosing the path of least resistance – inserting these familiar and frequently used phrases rather than seizing an opportunity to be creative. We previously listed our dirty dozen of travel clichés on the blog, but that was only the beginning. Now’s the time to share even more worthy additions to the canon of travel writing cliché.

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