You spend hours researching your topic. Then you spend time writing a query letter and finding potential magazines to pitch. How can you write successful travel stories that will have a better sell factor to magazine editors? Use this screening technique to examine story feasibility and turn ideas into successful travel stories that get published. I use “Nine Questions Test” all the time, which helps explain why I sell 90% of all stories I pitch.

1.  Is Your Story Angle Unique?

Say you want to pitch a travel story about Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. If you do an internet search of “travel articles Universal Studios Adventure Island” you’ll find hundreds of articles on this topic. It’s been beaten to death. Likewise trying to sell stories about standard cruises on popular cruise lines unless it has a huge celebrity factor, an unusual theme, or interesting port of call. Uncover fascinating and unique aspects about your destinations you don’t find in a typical online search.

2.  Does Your Story Idea Pass “The Wikipedia Test”?

Ask yourself, “Does my proposed story have information that Wikipedia does not have?”  If your answer is “yes,” then you probably have a saleable travel story idea.

3.  Are You Pitching to Non-travel Genres?

I’ve written for 200+ publications, the majority of which have not been travel magazines. Some of the non-travel genre magazines that have published my travel stories include gardening, gold prospecting, ham radios, four-wheel drive vehicles, classic cars, art and sculpture, wine tasting, beer brewing, hiking, kayaking, and living history re-enactments.

I’ve managed to place my travel stories in non-travel magazines like American Cowboy, Beer Connoisseur, Pacific Horticulture, Popular Communications, Renaissance, and Walking New Zealand. Non-travel magazines have proven to be a gold mine for my travel stories.

4.  Does Your Destination Have Multiple Story Potential? 

Before you take a trip, research the destination and identify multiple story ideas.  With multiple writing assignments about one destination you’ll earn more money and have a more fulfilling trip.

5.  Does Your Story Have Resale Potential?

Closely allied with writing in multiple genres is your capacity to resell across genres. The most lucrative and successful travel stories can cross-transfer from one subject to the next. For example, I’ve sold an article about skin care from overexposure to the sun more than one dozen times. It has sold to gardening, running, triathlon, yachting, tennis, kayaking, travel, and several other genre publications. I still sell it today.

6.  Does Your Story Focus On One Place or Attraction?

Novice writers consistently squeeze too many themes or places into one story pitch. Unless your proposed story is a general roundup about the attractions at a destination, your focus should be as fine as a laser beam.

Editors will not touch a pitch that jumps around like a pinball machine. This lack of focus tells the editor that you have not established a storyline clearly in your head. If you have a lot of story ideas about a place, you’re better off selling multiple story ideas to multiple genres.  See # 3 & 4 above.

7.  Does Your Story Focus On The Positive Aspects Of A Destination?

Travel writers are not critics. The mission is simply to tell a story about a place, and how it resonates with us. We describe what we like and what visitors will enjoy seeing there. It’s not our job to come across as spoiled kids, complaining about “the crowds in Paris” or our “personal moments of self-discovery.”  Successful travel stories are positive, not negative. Nobody wants to visit downer places.

8.  Do You Have High-Resolution Photos To Accompany Your Story?

Most editors appreciate writers who can produce a gallery of high-res images to illustrate their article. This saves them time and money. Many editors won’t buy your article unless you can also provide travel photographs.

9.  Is Your Story About A Safe Destination?  

I sell 90% of the stories I pitch versus other successful travel writers who sell 25% – 40%. I go with the safe bets. I write about destinations that are well received and safe, countries like Germany, for example. It’s just been ranked first in the Anholt-Gfk Nation Brands Index (NBI) that measures the brand image of 50 nations worldwide. Conversely, I ignore places that tourists shy from because of recent natural disasters or geopolitical hot spots.

Creating successful travel stories means tempering your enthusiasm with a sound business decision. Vacations are supposed to be “feel good” experiences that liberate us from the drudgery of our miserable 9-to-5 existence. Once a place becomes tainted by natural or man-made disasters, it’s difficult to lure tourists back, making the stories difficult to sell.

Checking your proposed story idea against this checklist may take you some extra time, but it will skyrocket your chances of seeing your article published—and re-published!

BIO – Roy Stevenson is a professional freelance travel writer and photographer based in Seattle, Washington. With more than 1,000 articles published in 200 regional, national, and international magazines, specialty magazines, custom publications, newspapers, trade journals, in-flights, on-boards, and online travel magazines and blogs, Roy is one of the most prolific travel writers in North America.
To view Roy Stevenson’s travel articles please go to www.Roy-Stevenson.com and www.PitchTravelWrite.com He also produces a free weekly newsletter for aspiring travel writers: http://www.pitchtravelwrite.com/pitchtravelwrite-ezine.html