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Summary of Course Structure |
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The Complete Travel Writer® Course - an Overview |
THE KEY AREAS
In order to be a successful travel journalist, you need to master
WRITING, PHOTOGRAPHY, SPONSORSHIP and MARKETING.
The Complete Travel Writer® course provides valuable instruction in all these areas. |
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A Complementary, Holistic Approach: |
Travel writing is but one aspect of travel journalism. Today's freelance marketplace demands that writers supply quality photographs with their submissions, and that each article package is strongly tailored to the title in question.
However, anyone who hopes to succeed in the field of travel journalism must not only become proficient in the artistic fields of writing and photography, but also develop commercial strategies for securing sponsorship from carriers and tourism organisations. Freelance travel journalists must also learn how to market their work effectively.
It is the purpose of this course to provide a thorough grounding in all essential facets of travel journalism, so that graduates can enjoy both the personal satisfaction and financial return of a successful hobby or career in freelance travel journalism. |
| Why The Complete Travel Writer®? |
A pragmatic, integrated approach that focuses on all key areas of freelance travel journalism: Writing, Photography, Sponsorship and Marketing.
Developed by professional travel journalists, editors and photographers with input from industry experts: magazine and newspaper editors, tourism authority managers and airline public relations managers.
As well as being offered online through www.offbeatrips.com, The Complete Travel Writer® course is currently being taught as an extension course at The University of Western Australia. The course is also offered through Australia's Technical And Further Education system and via global education providers www.worldwidelearn.com
 We want your decision to study with us to be risk-free and worry-free.
That is why we provide a full 60 day money-back guarantee on all our travel journalism courses.
Every module is specifically designed to get you published. All the info and support you need to supply quality submissions to newspaper, magazine, guidebook and book publishers worldwide. Our students have been published widely in newspapers and magazines around the world. And so will you!
REAL-WORLD APPLICATION
All our course material and exercises have been designed to produce work that is not just of a publishable quality, but also targeted to specific, real-world print media titles. Essentially, this course helps you to groom your work to fit any given magazine or newspaper format. The outcome for graduates is a formidable insight into the print media marketplace and a working knowledge of the craft of freelance travel writing.
A TRULY GLOBAL FOCUS
Whether you are in Reno or Reykjavík, Offbeatrips' course will demonstrate how to maximise article sales to worldwide publications - taking into consideration the preferences and nuances of each particular marketplace. In addition, we share with you our database of over 1000 global magazine and newspaper Editors.
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Blast into travel journalism with
The Complete Travel Writer® online course |
Travel Journalism - The Ultimate Portable Career
Work anywhere in the world - no work visa hassles.
Fulfil your destination dreams: travel the world for free as a published travel writer.
Global marketing: Sell your words and pictures to our database of over 1,000 worldwide Editors.
Secure personal freedom while maintaining a healthy income.
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Writing
"Have Something to Write Home About " |
Writing 1: Getting started, Writing Structure
and Pre-Trip Research
This course will show you how to write material
that will knock the socks off publishers.
 "To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what
he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company."
Andre Gide
"Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them."
John Ruskin
Travel Writing should always aim to be:
And above all, it should always HAVE A POINT and always HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. Any article needs to have a definite theme; a firm focus. It's fine to deliver a blow-by-blow account about the family holiday to the neighbours (if you can get them to listen) but travel articles need to have a point, and a story to tell.
This session will introduce the ground rules that are specific to travel writing. We will offer insights to assist the writer make that 'offbeat trip' come across as a great read rather than simply a list or a personal ramble.
The gist of any article should be clearly summed up in its title and its Intro, or 'Standfirst' and the theme maintained throughout the piece. This course will show how to maximise the impact of intros (your article's 'advertising banner') and keep focused throughout the body of the text through to the conclusion. You will also learn when it is appropriate to section off information into sidebars (or sideboxes).
This session will deliver vital info on writing structure including writing to length, writing to order and getting it right, first time! Great emphasis will be placed on the need to research each publication by:
- Studying entries in writers' guidebooks, and reading between the lines
- Securing a copy of the relevant publications' writers' guidelines
- Thoroughly analysing each publication's style, format, genre and demographics
All in order to tailor one's writing to the requirements of any given print media title and individual sections within each title.
From querying editors to writing full submissions, a writer needs to always write for the title in question, observing the preferred format. All newspapers and magazines have their preferences with regard to article length, style, preferred tense, and author's voice.
This course reveals how to tailor your work to the flavour of any publication, resulting in increased article sales, a more diverse portfolio of published work and enhanced sponsorship opportunities.
The many different types of presenting travel articles (Topical, Informative, Straight Destination etc) will be explored and accordingly, tips given as to how to maximise one’s article yield by employing a variety of approaches. There will be discussion on the relative merits of seeking fresh, relatively unexplored horizons and that of finding new angles on established destinations/activities.
Good travel writing is no accident. Successful writing reveals a strong sense of the author's personality and experiences, delivering information with calm authority yet with humility and often, a wry self-deprecating humour.
In a sense, the reader is travelling with the author for the duration of the article, so the author had better be an interesting and charming travelling companion!
Ideally, the writer's work should be of a high literary quality but never too highbrow or specialist for the intended audience. Above all, the work needs to be RELEVANT for the readership; full of meaty, practical information and salient observations.
This course will deliver valuable tuition in these areas as well as demonstrating how to eliminate redundancies and introduce compelling story hooks and interesting twists, bringing your writing to life and enabling you to reach your target audience. This course will ensure that every aspect of your writing is on target so that your article packages have the very best chance of being published.
| >>> Main Sub-Headings in Writing: Session One are as Follows: |
THE ART OF TRAVEL WRITING
ORIGINAL THINKING
GETTING STARTED
"It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing,
but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous."
Nathaniel Benchley
MAKE YOUR OWN NEWS!
TYPES OF TRAVEL ARTICLES
RESEARCH ON ARTICLE TYPES
WRITERS' GUIDEBOOKS
ARTICLE STRUCTURE AND IMPACT
THOSE DREADED REJECTION SLIPS - AND HOW TO AVOID THEM!
RESEARCHING PUBLICATIONS
ARTICLE CONTENT AND STYLE
THE TRAVEL WRITERS' JOURNAL - "SUDDEN LITERATURE"
RESEARCH: HOW TO GLEAN IDEAS
"Research your own experiences for the truth. Absorb what is useful. Add what is specifically your own.The creating individual is more than any style or system."
Bruce Lee
INTERVIEWING TIPS
BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUES
TIME VS. MONEY CONSIDERATIONS (THE STAY-AT-HOME WRITER VS. 'THE ROLLING STONE' - WHO EARNS MORE?
RESOURCES
OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS: WRITING: SESSION ONE.
Session One provides an overview and introduction to the craft of travel writing, laying down the ground rules as they apply to travel journalism. Students will glean essential knowledge on how the industry works and how and where they can fit in, whether on a casual or full-time career basis.
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Writing
"Have Something to Write Home About " |
Writing 2: Angles, Query Letters and Presentation -
The Submission and the Almighty Editor
This course will show you how to write material
that will knock the socks off publishers.
This session concentrates on the need to find a strong story angle, as practically every location on the face of the planet has been written about time and again, and from a variety of different angles (or viewpoints). Thus, if you hope to have your work published, your viewpoint must be novel.
The best freelancers are those that buck the trends and find their own stories, no matter what. This is only possible with a purposeful, highly individual approach to gathering stories based on the freelancer's resourcefulness, personality and preference for story types. Freelance travel writing is not about selling generic products like apples or oil. Each story should be written as a unique piece of work; a revealing insight into the writer's world as they see it. We will show you how to encapsulate and deliver a distinctive message in a form that will be easily digestible by your readership.
Most people burst with enthusiasm when verbally recounting a noteworthy story, so why should they shrink away when asked to narrate the same story via the written word?
Learning to write travel articles is a challenge, but the whole exercise should be approached as an opportunity to express one's originality. Only when writers genuinely give of themselves can they hope to have a unique 'voice', one which their readers may come to relish and editors to respect.
You will learn how to approach the three major article components:
| >>> (1) Destination/Activity/Subject Matter: |
What is the destination, activity or subject matter? Firstly, you have to decide which location (Tanzania, Tahiti, Mumbai) activity (diving, sightseeing, shopping) or subject matter (eg 'how to stave off seasickness') to feature. (The article can be somewhere you've been, plan to visit or would like to visit - or subject matter that interests you)
There has to be a story to tell. If you're in doubt, ask yourself: what's the main subject of the article? It could be about a photographic safari in Tanzania, great fish restaurants in London or the recent sinking of a ship to be used as a scuba diving site. It's quite common for a writer to visit one destination but find several different stories.
Any story must have an angle. It must have a point, a theme, a fresh perspective or a new spin on the familiar. Ideally, the angle ought to reveal a unique way of looking at the subject matter. The photographic safari in Tanzania might have a twist, in that it is run by an ex-game shooter who has now switched to 'shooting' wildlife with cameras rather than guns. Your angle for this article could then focus on how the ex-game shooter has used his predatory instincts to become a superior photographic guide.
Another example: An otherwise aimless horse-ride through far western Mongolia might be spiced up by an account of riding with the native Kazakh eagle-trainers, in search of their quarry of rabbits, fox etc. All of a sudden the stark, blank Mongolian desert is enlivened by a fascinating account of an ancient way of life few people have encountered. You may choose to approach this story from a historical perspective, detailing the circumstances that led to the preservation of raptor hunting. Alternatively, your main focus might be specialist, for an equestrian magazine - giving a snapshot of native Mongolian horses, their history and particular riding characteristics. You could even focus on traditional Mongolian cuisine!
NOTE: Any one story can be re-invented in a multitude of ways by employing different angles or shifting the focus of the subject matter.
| >>> Query Letters, Presentation and Building Relationships with Editors |
This session will also cover the essential process of structuring and writing query letters to Editors; your all-important first point of contact. The query letter is an efficient vehicle for offering targeted, tempting story ideas in neat little batches. We will make sure you can deliver on those ideas!
The course covers in detail the final structure of a submission and how to make it cohesive and easy for an Editor to deal with. This section will ensure that your submissions are absolutely TOP NOTCH.
Finally, you will learn how to best contact and approach Editors, and build relationships with them.
| >>> Main Sub-Headings in Writing: Session Two are as follows: |
THE NEED TO FIND YOUR OWN ANGLE
"We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world."
Marcel Proust
WHAT’S AN ANGLE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’VE GOT A STORY?
ONE EDITOR’S ANGLE MAY BE ANOTHER EDITOR’S POISON
FINDING AN ANGLE
GET A FRESH PERSPECTIVE!
GIVE IT A NEW SPIN
TURN THE FAMILIAR UPSIDE DOWN
STRONG ANGLE VS WEAK ANGLE
SEE THROUGH YOUR ANGLE
KNOW YOUR PUBLICATIONS
THE TRAVEL EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON FREELANCE TRAVEL SUBMISSIONS
APPROACHING THE ALMIGHTY EDITOR: A GENERAL GUIDE
FORGING RELATIONSHIPS WITH EDITORS
MULTIPLE QUERY LETTERS
THE REAL DEAL: THE SUBMISSION
OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS: WRITING: SESSION TWO.
This session explores the etiquette and methodology of editorial query letter construction, as well as the preferred format for full article package submissions. Students will also learn how to keep a steady flow of ideas circulating in the editorial marketplace so as to maximise the number of articles published.
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