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You’re a writer, right? Or maybe you want to be one and are looking for ways to crack into the world of freelance?
Either way, I think we can safely say that finding work in the current climate is not the easiest of tasks. There seems to be a helluva lot of people out there charging pennies for hours of work which lowers the overall pay of the industry, plus the freelance writing world is well and truly over saturated. With the rise of the internet and the ease of self-publishing, everyone and his mother can claim to be an expert writer on any topic they like.
I would say “oh how I long for the good old days”, but I only joined the crazy world of freelance writing five months ago, so this is the only landscape I know.
I may not have been in the game for long but I’ve certainly learnt a few things along the way. When I first started pitching for jobs back in August last year, I had no idea how much to charge, how long it would take me to complete a project, or even how to pitch successfully.
Through a painful series of trial and error I seem to have found a system that works. That’s not to say that I’m not looking for new ways to improve that system (oh hell yes I am, so if you have any tips please, please leave them in the comments below!).
Let me start by saying that this post doesn’t include pitching one-off articles to magazines and publications. This is an area I don’t feel I have enough experience in to write a blog post about. Instead, this post will show you where I find well-paying on-going blogging gigs, travel copywriting projects, and the likes, and how to pitch for them.
What kind of travel writing work is out there?
Travel writing no longer simply refers to journalists who get ferried around the world for free and then write feature pieces for newspapers and high-brow travel mags.
Sure, this is still an aspect of it, but there are so many other branches to the travel writing tree.
When someone asks me what I do, I tell them I’m a freelance travel writer, even though I blog, write copy, edit, research, and a whole load of other things. Why do I tell them I’m a freelance travel writer? Because I’m freelance and I write about travel. Simple.
Let’s start by looking at some of the jobs I’ve had over the past few months so you can kind of see the broad range of gigs available out there.
- Writing creative prose for luxury hotels and the cities/towns they’re in
- Researching and writing in-depth blog posts about solo and budget travel
- Researching and writing listings for attractions and tours in Singapore
- Writing ‘things to do’ lists for my hometown, Brighton
- Writing imaginative copy for a new-age travel experience in France
- Creating short, powerful destination blurbs for a luxury travel brand
- Writing weather reports and sightseeing guides for an online travel weather brand
- Writing in-depth language learning blog posts
As you can see it’s diverse. Some are more interesting than others, but all of them relate to travel in some way. I’ve yet to give in and pitch for work not related to travel.
As you can imagine, the pay scales are diverse as well. I get paid anything between £15 and £50 an hour, but usually I charge per piece (more on that later).
Now let’s look at some of the places I find these jobs (this is by no means exhaustive and I’m always on the hunt for new job platforms).
Where Can You Find Travel Writing Gigs?
- ODesk and Elance
I’m going to start with these two pretty controversial options. Some people swear by them, and others won’t touch them with a barge pole.
It’s all about learning how to spot good, relevant jobs.
On oDesk you can personalise your job feed so only the jobs best suited for you are shown and on Elance it’s a case of finding the right keywords that bring up jobs you’re a fit for.
Every morning I have a quick browse through my feeds and see if anything jumps out. Sure, there are loads of crappy $2 per 500 word listings, but I steer well clear of them. I’ve also signed up for Guru and Freelancer but I find that these are just full of rubbish jobs that pay rock-bottom prices.
- Freelance Writing Blogs
I’ve signed up to a couple of newsletters, including Brian Scott’s Morning Coffee Newsletter that lists a number of writing jobs every day. I haven’t actually found any work via this method yet, but there are some interesting jobs that crop up from time to time (mostly, they are aimed at American writers which is why I think I haven’t seen much luck there yet).
I’ve also added Freelance Writing Gigs (a blog) to my RSS reader. There’s a new post published every day with a range of writing gigs – they even have a dedicated travel writing section which I use the most.
- ProBlogger Jobs
I’ve applied for one or two jobs on the ProBlogger Jobs Board but rarely do I find anything that’s a good fit. For the most part, the companies that advertise openings here are looking for marketing writers and, whilst I could probably do that with my marketing background, I’m trying to build up a travel writing portfolio at the moment so have been cherry picking only relevant opportunities.
- Craigslist
Ah, good ol’ Craigslist. Until I went freelance, I thought this site was a bit of a joke forum for Americans looking for wacky opportunities and to sell weird items.
However, I found that each major city in Europe also has its own Craigslist and I regularly browse the London and Barcelona segments for writing jobs. I actually managed to land one of my top clients via this method so I’m definitely not writing it off just yet.
So, these are the main sites I use for finding work and, so far, a combination of them all has ensured I haven’t been jobless or broke for the past five months.
The Art of Pitching
The key to winning good jobs and getting brands to pay you what you’re worth is creating awesome pitches. I’m definitely not an expert but I have had at least two clients tell me that my pitches were the best they’d seen (and that’s really saying something because I think my pitches are something I need to work on).
So, how do you write a great pitch?
- Introduce yourself – be human, don’t be too formal (though don’t act like you’re emailing a friend)
- Highlight straight away your main achievements. For example, in the first paragraph I write how long I’ve been travel writing for, what kinds of content I’ve written, and that I was awarded second place in Nat Geo’s Young Travel Writer of the Year award back in 2012 – this usually gets people’s attention if they’re looking for quality content
- Keep it short and on-point – don’t ramble, but make sure you get all the important info about yourself in there
- Demonstrate how much you love travel – don’t gush too much, but say something like ‘I’ve been travelling non-stop for 2 years and have on the ground knowledge of X amount of destinations…’ (or something like that)
- Give examples of your best work – you’d be amazed at how many times clients have told me that they’ve received pitches with no writing samples! This is so important if you’re applying for a WRITING job!
- Make sure you answer any questions they specifically ask in the job posting (don’t make things harder on yourself – do as you’re told!)
My pitches are usually structured something like this
- 1st paragraph – I’m a freelance travel writer with over three years’ experience writing ___________ for brands like _________. My major achievements are _____________
- 2nd paragraph – I also run two blogs that (include achievements reached via my blog, e.g. SEO wins, awards, number of visitors etc)
- 3rd paragraph – Highlight similar work I’ve done in the past to the work they are advertising
- 4th paragraph – links to my online portfolio and specific, relevant work
- 5th paragraph – ‘hope you have a nice day and I look forward to hearing from you!’
I’m still experimenting with different formats and information, but for the most part this particular structure has worked well for me. If you’re looking for more info on pitching, this post on Write to Done goes into more detail.
Let’s talk about money
This is such a taboo subject and so many freelance writers avoid talking about it like the plague. Fair enough, I say. But I think there needs to be an open conversation here in order to improve industry standards and to get pay back up to where it should be.
How do you figure out how much you’re worth?
If you have already built up a decent portfolio and have lots of great snippets then you’re in a great place to start negotiating with companies and brands.
I personally prefer charging per piece – I know how quickly I can write a piece and it’s usually a safer bet for my clients too because, if I’m charging by the hour, I could drag out my work to get paid more.
The best and easiest way to work out how much you’re comfortable asking for is by figuring out how many words you can write in an hour and slap an hourly rate that you’re comfortable with on that. (Here’s a great piece on Copyblogger that highlights some great ways you can negotiate your fee).
There are so many people out there who will tell you that you should be charging a minimum of £300 for a 750 article, but my advice to you is to ignore these people.
They usually have a huge social following or many years of experience behind them (or a hugely inflated ego). As long as you are comfortable with what you are charging and you aren’t accepting those $2 for 500 word jobs then you’re doing just fine.
Everyone has different expectations and skills and it takes a while to figure out where you slot into the whole travel writing world so experiment, play around with asking for different amounts but, most of all, value yourself and your work.
Have I blabbered on for long enough? I think so!
Please let me know if you have any other questions about pitching for travel writing work or pay or anything relating to freelance life at all! I’m more than happy to answer any questions you have.
I have a few more posts lined up in this series, so if it’s something you’re particularly interested in then make sure to follow along on social media or via email (links in the sidebar).
great post Lizzie.
Travel writing is fun and when you own blog becomes big and well known amazing things will happen. I met a guy called Rob in Australia who was there because Queensland Tourism wanted him to write about the area.
He had the majority of his trip paid for him!
I’m aspiring to be a digital nomad myself and do a bit of travel writing whilst helping others get online and do the same. After living in Fiji for 6 months and meeting Rob… I definitely have the travel bug and I believe blogging is how I can continue to do so.
ODesk and Elance are great. I always go to them when I’m looking to outsource work for my sites 🙂
Happy travels!
Luke
Thanks for the comment Luke! There are a lot of travel bloggers getting invited on press trips now – there’s some controversy around it, but I think that if it’s relevant to your brand and you’re able to meet all the requirements then why the heck not!?
Living in Fiji… now that sounds like a great lifestyle!
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been quite intimidated about getting into freelance travel writing, but the fact that you’ve laid all this out helps me feel a little bit more prepared for it. Cheers!
Marie @ Marie Away recently posted…What I learned from writing every day
Hope it helps Marie! Feel free to fire away with any other questions you may have 🙂
Hi Lizzie, I’m new to your site. Just wanted to thank you for sharing your insight on this topic. I’m in a similar situation for pitching freelance work, so I found this content very helpful. Now to actually start pitching… 🙂 Thanks, Cliff
Cliff Hsia recently posted…The Art of Family Travel
Hi Cliff! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Glad you found it useful and good luck with the pitching!
Very informative. I do have one question: how do you receive your payments? Is it done through PayPal or another method? Thanks
Hi Katelyn! Glad it was useful for you 🙂 Yes, almost all are through PayPal. I only have one client that pays directly into my bank account.
Great post – I wish there had been one like it when I was starting out. You have some great tips here, especially Craigslist – I’d never even thought about looking there! Thanks
Elle Croft recently posted…5 European Hotels to Book for Valentine’s Day
I didn’t even consider Craigslist an option until I started panicking looking for work… but there’s some absolute gold there!
Hi Lizzie,
This was a great read. I recently started looking into doing some part-time freelance writing as well. So far, I’ve not picked up much work, but I have one regular gig. At $3/hr it’s not much, but it’s good practise at least. I’m not so sure about Freelancer or Elance either, so I’m going to be looking elsewhere as well I think.
I’ve found having a blog has definitely helped as an alternative to a portfolio, and have been doing some unpaid guest posts to bolster my credentials to potential clients.
Great read, and great advice!
Conor Walsh recently posted…5 Crazy Ways To Make Money Online in 2015
Hi Connor! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Yes, I’ve managed to land quite a lot of work through my blog – it’s a great alternative to a portfolio and a great place to show that you can write stuff that people share and engage with (rather than just having a list of articles on a portfolio… though I do also have a portfolio site…)
Guest posting is a great idea, too. I’m dabbling in a bit of that this year as well and I’m interested to see what the results are!
Thanks for sharing this. I wish I was that good to be able to charge for my writing… It probably take some confidence and some proof (other than your own, personal blog). I guess it’s more difficult until you get the first few jobs.
Anda recently posted…The Weekly Postcard: Lunch at Bravo Farms
It just takes practice, Anda! Once you start getting a few clients and build up a portfolio of work it gets much, much easier to find work (and charge more for it!).
Good luck!
This is a very helpful post! Well done! I have been working as a freelance writer and editor for a while. I haven’t traveled so much but I have lived for several years in the US for personal reasons, and it was through freelance writing that I made my money. I am currently back in my homecountry Germany and have just accepted my first regular full time employee job at a publishing house but if I ever feel the need to travel and not to be bound to one place again, I will definitely follow your advice! I am espeacially grateful for the part about money because this is really such an uncomfortable subject and I think it’s great that you dare to speak so openly about it.
Hi Sunita! I’m so glad you like the post and find it useful 🙂 You’re right, money is such an uncomfortable subject, and it will stay like that if we aren’t open and honest about. I wish you all the luck in your new job!
Thanks for this Lizzie 🙂 I’ve been trying to tweak my pitch to get more responses and I’m going to give your method a try.
Some people are so opposed to Odesk and Elance but I owe some of my beginning ‘success’ to them. It’s all about narrowing down your search as you mentioned.
Even though I’m not solely focusing on travel writing this is great info, keep these types of posts coming (please)!
Oh, and one quick question. Do you ever ‘cold pitch’ your services to businesses, blogs, other entrepreneurs? I’ve only tried it a handful of times (something I plan on experimenting more with) but am curious to see if others have had success with it.
x
Mariana recently posted…Accepting Self-Love
So glad this post was useful for you Mariana! I haven’t cold pitched anyone yet simply because I haven’t needed to – work has come to me so far. However, I do plan on doing this in the future, just so I have more control over who I work for and what work I do.
Would love to hear your stories about cold pitching – have you been successful? How do you pick out companies to contact?
Thanks!
Love this post! I am a humorist, but travel a lot and am considering combining the two. Appreciate all the tips.
The Shitastrophy recently posted…I’m Going Scuba Diving, Lord Help Me
I hope it helps in some way!
Thanks Lizzie,
Some very practical information for this beginner. One aspect that I have not been able to find too much detail on is the submission and payment process. I ended up writing travel articles that had to be submitted in full, an invoice lodged once a month for the work already completed and submitted, and then I just hoped that I’d be paid. Is this the usual set-up?
Hi Leann, I’m glad you found it useful! I think sending invoices after the work is done is the norm for most publications – in fact, I don’t think I’ve come across any that don’t work like that. Just make sure there’s a written agreement somewhere that states a) that you WILL be paid and b) WHEN you’ll be paid. Hope this helps and good luck with the freelancing! 🙂
Ahhh, good point regarding the written agreement. Thanks again.
No problem Leann! Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
Interesting read. I’ve never really thought of writing for someone else but have always been curious to how it all works. Thanks for being honest and open about it.
Frank (bbqboy)
Frank recently posted…Things learned through 8 months of travel
Hi Frank – thanks for stopping by! It depends what kind of writing you do, whether it’s blog posts, articles, copywriter, or feature pieces. You’ve actually given me an idea for a blog post so hopefully I’ll answer some more of your questions in that!
Hi Lizzie,
I’ve just recently started a blog and I found that it’s a great portfolio for clients to understand your way of writing. There was this time a client wasn’t especially satisfied with my writing, claiming that it ‘doesn’t suit with the motto of the company’ and decided to end my contract with me without any payment. I later found out that it was a gimmick they used to get free posts. (To those out there who uses oDesk, stay away from Fixed Priced jobs! Always ask for hourly based jobs, unless you’re familiar with the client. )
Thank you for the information on pitching!
Alicia Leow recently posted…Arashiyama, Kyoto
Hi Alicia! Yes, a blog is a great portfolio 🙂 when I was applying for 9-5 location-dependent jobs it helped me secure those and now I’m freelance it’s always good to show clients “look, see I’m dedicated to the cause!”
That’s a sneaky tactic by that company! I’ve heard that oDesk are pretty bad at helping out anyone who has a bit of trouble, too? Fixed price jobs are always tricky but they tend to pay more than hourly jobs so I find myself applying to more of those. The thing is, you can be as careful as you like and still not find out a company’s only trying to get free work until afterwards… it makes me so angry!
What a fantastic piece. Although I’m not a travel writer, I am a freelance marketing/social media/brand writer. I’m looking to expand into the travel writing too but haven’t had a chance to travel much outside of Thailand…when I do, this is certainly something I’m interested in doing….so post bookmarked! Strategies noted! Thanks!
Shayan Naveed recently posted…#WhyILoveBangkok
Glad you like the post Shayan! If you know lots about Thailand you could start there – so many brands look for people who REALLY know a place. Good luck with breaking into the travel writing world 🙂
I am *saving* this post and printing it out! It is so kind of you to share this information – which a lot of bloggers/writers wouldn’t normally impart. Thank you!
Jaime recently posted…Sri Lanka: Discovering Paradise at The River House, Balapitiya
So glad you found it useful Jaime! I know I loved reading through peoples’ experiences with freelancing before I took the dive, so the least I can do is return the favour 🙂
Amazingly epic article Lizzie! So many juicy tips 🙂
Thanks Sarah! So glad you like it 🙂
Hi Lizzie! As someone who is looking to get into freelance writing this post is really interesting and helpful. I’ve been slightly put off though by this article from journalism.co.uk about how much freelancers earn: https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/survey-results-how-much-do-freelance-journalists-earn-/s2/a656011/. Do you think it’s relatively easy to support yourself going freelance? I’m also from Brighton. It’s a great place to live! 🙂
Hi Hannah! It’s difficult to start with and can be daunting, the idea of supporting yourself. But I found that after a few months, when you start getting a consistent client load, it’s really easy to keep the momentum going! Journalism is quite different from content writing, marketing, and copywriting because newspapers are quickly going “out of fashion”, which means their budgets are being cut by the day. On the other hand, online writing is becoming more and more lucrative as businesses start to realise how important it is 🙂
So great that you’re from Brighton! It’s a fantastic city! I’m considering starting some sort of meet-up group in Brighton – would this be something you’d be interested in?
Hi Lizzie. That’s a good point that there’s more scope for work in relation to online content writing, marketing etc. I suppose a lot of it comes down to taking the plunge and making ends meet as you go along and build up a client list. I’d definitely be interested in a meet-up group in Brighton of some description. I had looked for one in the past and there didn’t seem to be much out there. If you need any help organising it I’d be happy to help 🙂 The MeetUp app seems to be a good starting point for organising things like that.
Hi Lizzie, I’m enjoying all your blogs. Thanks for the info. I’m currently overseas but will be back in Peacehaven in October for a few weeks. (It’s not so far from Brighton!)Have you given more thought to a meet-up group? It would be good to swap ideas with fellow travellers and freelancers.
Glad you’re enjoying them, David! Oh, Peacehaven is really close – is that where you’re from? I’m still in the planning stages of a meet-up, so it would be great to see how many people would be up for it!
hi Lizzie. I am a travel blogger trying my hands on freelance writing now. Found your post really helpful. Thank you
Glad you found it helpful, Neha! Best of luck 🙂
Hi Lizzie. This was such a great read, and I love that it was geared towards travel writing! So much of the information I’ve found out there is too general or focused on niches like tech or marketing. I am so excited to start pitching and putting myself out there, but also so nervous and at times unsure of myself and whether I’ve got the chops to make it work. But you never know until you try and put yourself out there, right? Your post has been super helpful, and I have a better idea of where to start looking for potential clients to pitch to. Thanks so much!