Where are all the good travel writing assignments hiding?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved glossy magazines. There is something incredibly special about leafing through colourful pages, beautiful photos, and well-placed articles, seeing your name and photo in the contributors list and alongside your articles.

And who doesn’t want to keep a physical copy of their work on their coffee-table or bookcase?

As an avid traveller and digital nomad with a deep love for writing and travelling, I’ve always been drawn towards travel writing.

Unfortunately, trying to be a writer (let alone a travel writer) is not easy, and I quickly noticed something really infuriating.

Travel writing is overcrowded and a very competitive field to break into. It seems everyone wants to be a travel writer…and, frankly, I don’t blame them, it’s an amazing job!

On the other hand, there are millions of travel websites out there publishing content every day, but here’s the thing… they know how desperate travel writers are to get published so they don’t pay a thing (or pay very little). That’s the infuriating part!

They call it “exposure”, you see.

You know exposure? The kind I cannot cash in at the bank.

I once asked my landlord if I could pay him with exposure, and he laughed. I wonder why.

That made me think… instead of changing my niche, why don’t I change the market?

And so, I turned to magazines. There are a lot of travel magazines today. You just have to go to your local newsagent or supermarket to see what I am talking about.

Well, guess what? They, too, are very competitive and difficult to break into because they are in full view of everyone and clever travel writers have realised that shitty little travel websites don’t pay the bills.

That’s when I decided to look at magazines that are a bit more obscure, i.e. not many people see them every day.

Custom magazines.

Funnily enough, if you do go to the supermarket, you will see a custom magazine right there; the supermarket’s own magazine.

That’s what custom magazines are: magazines produced by a company, you know, supermarket magazines, bank magazines, gym magazines but also train magazines, cruise magazines…and inflight magazines.

I hit the sweet spot with the latter ones.

Aren’t inflight magazines going down the pan, you ask?

Well, yes, there are a lot fewer inflight magazines today than before the pandemic, but they are coming back. Some of them have gone completely online and others are getting ready for a re-launch.

So, why do I like inflight magazines so much?

There are many reasons why I say that.

1.)?Inflight magazines are quite formulaic with specific columns you can pitch to.?That makes it easier for you to pitch a targeted idea and the more targeted your idea, the greater chance it will be accepted.

2.)?Airline magazines work in such an international set-up that they are very open to collaborating with writers from all over the world? — whose first language is not English, that is.

3.)?You can build an expertise around your own city or region only,?and only write about that, if you want. In fact, editors of travel magazines love it when you can present yourself as the go-to local expert for all things [enter country or region].

4.) And here’s a bonus reason why I like writing for inflight magazines (and magazines in general) as opposed to travel websites.?Inflight magazines and established travel magazines are generally well received when it comes to press trips and freebies?(oh yeah baby!), so you can take advantage of their exposure to go on travel junkets. It doesn’t matter if you have 3 followers on Instagram!

5.) Finally, and that’s a personal one, as a language geek,?I love seeing myself translated in various languages.

So, have I convinced you that you need to start looking at inflight magazines (and custom magazines) differently?

If yes, I’d love to invite you to take a peek at my?FREE travel writing course for magazines.

I hope you like it…