Getting started on your travel writing career

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When people find out what I do for a living, the first thing they ask me is how I became a travel writer. The truth of the matter is, it was just something that happened. I’ve always loved to travel and to write, and it seemed like the most natural thing to combine both passions into something that provided me a fairly stable income. Still, for aspiring travel writers out there, there are certain steps that you can follow to propel your career forward. I’ve listed some of them down.

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Build a writing portfolio: Forgive me for stating the obvious, but being a writer means you have produced a good (if not readable) body of work. And nowadays, many new (and even seasoned) writers turn to the Internet to host all their stories and articles. Most travel writers start an online blog, too, to grow further their portfolio.


There are many different (and free) sites that you can use. And some sites come with templates specifically for travel. I suggest researching on which ones to use. Try several of them and find the one that best suits your writing style. Most of the websites have a "paid" option which will afford you wider access to templates and features.

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Find a niche: One thing I’ve learned in my writing career is that to be successful, you have to be the best, the first, or the most unique. Given the growing number of travel writers out there, you can scratch out being the first; but you can still be the best one or the most unique. Separate yourself from the rest by the way you write or by visiting places not normally ventured out.


The most important advice, however, is to just travel! Most of the time, I hear people talking about how much they want to be a travel writer, but they are frozen by their fear of the rules of language. Writing and grammar can be learned (and re-learned) in time. You may have such a strong grasp on your sentence structure, but if you have nothing interesting to write about, it just doesn’t make any sense. So I say, go out, explore, and then write.



 My name is Louis Habash and I travel to live and write to make a living. Journey with me on Twitter and let’s explore all the wonderful places to journey to and read about.