Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
Our Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class is now available as an online course. We recorded it LIVE in Seattle, for aspiring travel writers who weren’t able to attend in person.
Who's it for?
- Do you struggle to sell your articles? If you’re a novice travel writer, or you haven’t had much luck selling your articles to print magazines, this Online Travel Writing & Marketing Workshop is for you. You'll learn a variety of strategies to help you sell your articles - strategies that work!
- Do you like saving money? If you weren’t able to travel to the Live Master Class in Seattle, here’s the opportunity to attend anyway - with no travel costs and at a fraction of the price!
- Do you have a job with no time off to pursue your interests and dreams? If you work a full-time job and can’t get time off to attend the live class – you can attend online. You can take the course on your own schedule after working hours.
- Do you like the convenience of online classes? If you’ve wanted to attend our Live Master Class but can’t get your schedule to fit with the dates it’s offered – here’s your opportunity to attend at your own convenience, on your own schedule, and at your own pace.
What’s included?
Everything is included from the classroom sessions at the Live Master Class – except now you’ll get to experience it in the comfort of your own home. It's 3 days worth of travel writing, marketing strategies, working with editors and CVBs, hearing for participants who have been successful, and much more - accessible on your desktop.
You can “attend” class at your own pace.
The training is organized into the 5 most important travel writing topics:
1. All About Marketing & Selling Your Stories - 27 video sessions
2. Working with Tourist Agencies & Landing Press Trips – 9 video sessions
3. Building Relationships with Magazine Editors – 6 video sessions
4. Improving Your Travel Writing to Make It Sparkle and Sell – 17 video sessions
5. Success Panel of New Travel Writers – 4 video sessions
That’s 63 recorded video sessions in all! The entire Master Class is broken down into bite-sized pieces so you can absorb it at your own pace, whenever you’re in the mood. And you can go back and listen again to any topic for a refresher and review.
Now you can get exactly the same information, techniques, tips, and tricks that participants heard in the live Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class - without the travel costs and at a substantially reduced price!
We recorded the Live sessions – so you’re hearing our world class instructors deliver the same content that our Live attendees heard in the classroom. Plus you’ll get all the slide presentations and handouts.
You can view the master class presentations—all 63 of them— in the privacy of your own home. View them on your computer or tablet. Pause the presentations to take notes or take a coffee break. Come back to exactly where you left off . . . all without missing a word. And you can easily keep track of the modules you’ve completed.
You can view these presentations at your own pace, according to your schedule whether you're at home or on the road. And you can listen as many times as you wish to ensure you fully understand the concepts.
All presentations are broken up into 10-12 minute segments – bite-sized pieces so you can focus on each topic without getting “information overload”.
All you need is an internet connection and a computer (or tablet) to view the course.
“I found the marketing strategies presentation extremely valuable because it gave me an understanding of Fam and comp trips and how to request them. I also learned how to manage multiple acceptances and selling the same, or similar, articles multiple times.”
Candi Licence, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“This weekend was one for the books! It was an incredible honor to be a part of Roy’s world-class Marketing Master Class and I’m eager to see how my fellow classmates and I crush it!”
Jessica Pickett, Master Class Attendee April 2018
COURSE DETAILS
All About Marketing & Selling Your Articles
Are you a good writer but you don't know anything about selling? Do you need to learn how to sell your travel stories?
"If you can’t sell your articles, you don’t get to write them," says Roy Stevenson. He'll teach you exactly how to sell your stories – and so much more!
Seminars about the craft of travel writing are a dime-a-dozen. But until now, there’s never been a workshop specifically designed to show you how to sell your travel stories. It's a skill that can be learned.
Most aspiring travel writers and bloggers struggle with querying and pitching their travel stories—and they have very little idea where to sell their articles.
Some workshops touch on rudimentary marketing techniques—but their token sales coverage has been so scant as to be useless. They raise more questions than they answer and just gloss over the actionable nuts-and- bolts details of selling and marketing travel articles.
Roy Stevenson’s marketing and selling sessions will radically improve your sales and marketing learning curve. They’ll place you at an advanced level in the rewarding travel writing field.
Beginners waste valuable time stumbling through the sales and marketing minefield. They damage their relationships with magazine editors—often burning their bridges as they go. Most eventually give up.
In these videos Roy will show you how to sell more travel stories to print outlets without making the common marketing mistakes that novice writers make.
You’ll learn . . .
- How to dream up travel stories that will REALLY sell
- How to assess the ‘salability’ of your travel story ideas and when to discard them
- What kind of research makes your queries enticing and irresistible to magazine editors
- Why you should always query your story idea before writing it
- How and where to find dozens—even hundreds—of publications that want to buy your travel stories
- How to create sparkling query letters that WILL sell your stories
- The top query letter formatting and sequencing tips used by top tier professional travel writers
- Query letter mistakes that scream “amateur” and how to avoid them
Your marketing instructor, Roy Stevenson, is one of the most prolific travel writers in the U.S. He’s sold more than 1,000 articles to travel and specialty print magazines, in-flights, on-boards, trade journals, newspapers, and online outlets.
Roy’s an expert at selling travel stories to magazines. In fact, he sells 90% of the stories that he pitches to editors. Most freelance writers are lucky if they can sell 25% of their stories!
Roy’s marketing sessions in the Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class covers all his most important and most effective sales techniques.
In the Online Master Class you’ll also learn . . .
- Strategies that will boost your travel story acceptance rate and help you get your first print bylines
- How to use simultaneous queries to sell your stories faster and more successfully
- When to pitch several story ideas to an editor
- How to handle multiple article acceptances like a pro
- How to earn more by reselling your articles around the world
- How to address your lack of bylines and get around that ‘I haven’t been published before’ problem, in your query letters
- The Marketing Mastery Links Formula – and how using this formula will guarantee your success
“I appreciate Roy’s philosophy as a rebel. He has a formula that works and that is proven. With due diligence and hard work, I can be successful.”
Dave Hamill, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“I got some really good story ideas from Roy. Liked the reinforcement of Roy’s marketing approach."
Pam Baker, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“I found the research activity valuable because I learned how to research and evaluate places and go and get story ideas in advance, to gain assignments.”
Candi Licence, Master Class Attendee April 2018
Building Editorial Relationships
and Breaking Through Barriers
Do you want to know how to work with editors - exactly how to get their attention and make them want to buy your story? You’ll get an Editor’s perspective – straight from an active, hard-working regional travel & lifestyle editor in this 6-video section.
Allen Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Northwest Travel & Life Magazine, will teach you how to break the editorial barrier and build editorial relationships.
A Pacific Northwest native, Allen brings years of experience as a widely published travel and lifestyle journalist, editor and guidebook author.
As a magazine writer, his articles about travel, food, wine, the arts, the outdoors and profiles have appeared in several publications, regionally and nationally including South Sound, Harbors, 425, Coast Explorer, AAA Journey, Oregon Coast, WellBella, City Arts, Washington Magazine, Northwest Palate, and Northwest Magazine.
In the Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class and as a current Editor-in-Chief, Allen shares his insights about:
- How to get a response from editors
- Why editors don’t respond to your queries
- A 3-step process for following up with editors
- Six things your queries should include to get the editor's attention
- 4 actions – beyond the query – you can take to build relationships with editors
- 4 tips you need to do if you're really serious about your writing craft
- 5 ways to stay on top of your game
“Editors tend to be faceless entities in control of our writing direction. It was good to hear from Allen and find out editors are approachable and receptive. It takes the edge off the fear of submitting pitches when you meet them face-to-face.”
Jessica Pickett, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Allen was great! I especially found the part about staying on top of your game very valuable.”
Becky Breshears, 2018 Master Class Participant
“We got real time, real world experience from Allen Cox. It helps to hear it directly from the editor’s mouth.”
Charlene Scott, 2018 Master Class Participant
“It was valuable to hear Allen tell us specifics about how to get his attention. Also his thoughts about the importance of story ideas really helped.”
Jill Friedman, 2018 Master Class Participant
“It is critical to hear the perspective of editors. I don’t think any travel writer can be successful without empathizing with editors and learning to become strategic partners. Extremely valuable.”
Kim Kortum, 2018 Master Class Participant
All About Press Trips and FAM Tours
Are Press Trips still a mystery to you? Do you want to know exactly how to go about landing press trips? The Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class teaches you exactly what steps to take for requesting assistance from tourist offices for free or super low-cost travel.
Most novice travel writers don’t know how to use their travel assignments as collateral for complimentary travel. Free accommodations, gourmet meals, private tours, luxury cruises, and entry to tourist attractions are yours for the asking if you know how to do it right.
You'll learn exactly what kinds of assignments are needed for your ticket to getting invited on exciting press trips to regional, national, and international destinations.
Since 2007, Roy has been on more than 90 press trips and Fam tours around the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. and internationally. He receives one or two press trip invitations each week, and declines most of them. He’ll lay the basic foundation and teach you about different kinds of press trips, and how to line up trips of your own.
You’ll learn . .
- How to use your travel writing assignments, credentials, and skills to request free or heavily discounted travel, accommodations, meals, tours, luxury cruises, and entry to tourist attractions.
- How to get invitations to press trips, Fam tours, restaurant openings, wine tastings, spa treatments, and even film festivals!
Roy will walk you through the process he uses, step-by-step, so you can secure travel writing assignments and turn them into complimentary press tours. But that's just the beginning.
Annette Bagley, our guest speaker from the Bellingham & Whatcom County Tourism Bureau, will tell how to work successfully with DMO Media Reps for press trips and FAM tours.
As a writer and media relations consultant, her work has appeared in local and national media. Annette will share her knowledge about press trips from the destination marketing organization (DMO) perspective.
She’ll share insider information including:
- Why getting a quality travel article published matters so much to tourist organizations
- What services travel writers perform for a DMO and why personal experience matters
- 10 things DMOs can do to help travel writers
- What tourist organizations expect of travel writers before, during and after a press trip
- The 4 things DMOs do to screen travel writers and decide whether or not to invite them on a press trip
- 11 expectations of travel writers on a press trip
- Why a tourist organization will be happy to invite you back for a repeat visit (or not)
- Things the tourist organizations can do to help promote you and the article you write about their destination
- How much lead time a tourist organization needs to put together a customized tour for you
- Why an advance LOA (letter of assignment) is important to a DMO
“It was extremely valuable to have a questionnaire to use as a template for approaching CVBs and DMOs. Thanks, Annette!”
Jessica Pickett, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Annette’s presentation was extremely valuable to me. Understanding her needs as a DMO and her willingness to work with writers was excellent.”
Candi Licence, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Annette’s precision about expectations was extremely valuable for me.”
Gary Baker, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Annette was terrific. It was great to hear how she evaluates travel writers for comps, and how she plays the long game with her venues / community and works with her travel writers.”
Kim Kortum, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Loved Annette’s presentation. It was so helpful to hear directly from a well-run organization and to be able to ask questions.”
Kari Dahlstrom, 2018 Master Class Participant
Online Master Class - Regular Price: $799
Sign up here for access to the
Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
(if you have a Promo code, enter it on next screen)
The Romance of Travel Writing
Are you having problems knowing how to write a high-quality travel article? Expert travel writing instructor Nick O’Connell will show you how to improve your travel writing and make it sparkle.
Nick O’Connell’s writing presentations will help you master the craft of narrative travel writing essential for creating good, saleable nonfiction stories. Follow Nick’s tips and your travel writing will stand out above your peers.
Nick O’Connell is one of the finest travel writers on the West Coast of the U.S. His bylines make most of his peers envious. Nick’s work has been published in numerous top tier travel and food glossies including Newsweek, Gourmet, National Geographic Adventure, Conde Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Sierra, Sunset, Image, Outside, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Horizon Air, Wine Spectator, Saveur, Seattle, Image Journal, and the New York Times.
You’ll get four hours of video presentations on the art and craft of travel writing.
In these sessions Nick covers:
- The 5 most important travel sub-genres editors use to help you find the best way to pitch your story idea
- The 5 skills needed for creative non-fiction travel writing
- The Top Ten Tips to make your story easier to sell to an editor
- The single most effective way to grab a reader’s attention in every story you write
- The 6 most important things that make a good travel story
- One of the oldest story techniques, why it still works so well today and how to use it in your articles
- How to effectively use scene openings to bring your readers into your stories and give them life
“Nick gave us very good tips for creating a story that is appealing to the readers. Also, his tips and examples using his own articles was extremely valuable.”
Annette DeSmedt, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Nick has a systematic approach and very organic, creative steps in the writing process. I loved his outlined approach to setting the scene and the sub-genres of travel writing.”
Jessie Pickett, 2018 Master Class Participant
“I thought Nick’s strong emphasis on story and painting the scene was extremely valuable.”
Candi Licence, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Nick’s fundamentals of travel writing and his explanation of the creative process was extremely valuable.”
Gary Baker, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Learning to tell a story, and the outline of how to do it was extremely valuable for me.”
Becky Breshears, 2018 Master Class Participant
“It was great to listen to Nick and hear how he and Roy approach some things differently, some things the same. It’s important to understand the common threads that exist and how they express their personalities and career paths differently. It was very helpful for Nick to frame the creative non-fiction sub-genres and break down scenes. I don’t have a background in this so it was terrific.”
Kim Kortum, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Very nice to hear about first-person articles versus service articles and roundups. Nick was great – I loved hearing about all the types of articles he talked about.”
Kari Dahlstrom, 2018 Master Class Participant
“Nick’s handout with the ten steps was extremely valuable to me. We have a checklist when we write our stories and I’ll add this to our toolbox!”
Pam Baker, 2018 Master Class Participant
Success Panel
Do you wonder if travel writers really have success or if it's just a bunch of hype?
You’ll hear from our Success Panel of four new travel writers who have been published in both in print magazines and online sites. You’ll learn how they’ve successfully landed complimentary press trips and other travel perks.
Each one of them will share their story and secrets and tips that helped them succeed. They’ll share other information like how many hours per week they work – and you’ll be surprised by what you hear! You’ll learn about the money they’re making from their travel writing, and what kinds of press trips they’ve landed.
“Loved hearing from the Success Panel – real people sharing their success stories honestly.”
Becky Breshears, 2018 Master Class Participant
“These success panels are always helpful to bridge the gap between the novices (me) and the veteran professionals like Roy and Nick.”
Kim Kortum, 2018 Master Class Participant
If you weren’t able to attend the Live Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class in Seattle, don’t miss this opportunity to attend at home.
Live participants paid as much as $1697 for this course and another $1500+ in travel expenses, spending over $3000 to attend the Live event. Although there's nothing like being there, it's also very convenient to have the entire course at your fingertips.
The regular price for access to the online Master Class is $799 – only a fraction of attending the Live class. You’ll save as much as $2500 and more if you have a discount (promo) code!
Online Master Class - Regular Price: $799
Sign up here for access to the
Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
(if you have a Promo code, enter it on next screen)
More testimonials from attendees at our Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class:
“I cannot say enough about how valuable this workshop has been. Roy is a wealth of knowledge and just a joy to work with! I love his enthusiasm, encouragement and passion for helping new travel writers.”
Pam Baker, April 2017 Master Class
“This workshop has been very valuable to me because of the building blocks Roy presents. The “Links-in-the-chain” strategy provided much insight. In addition, the premise of sending out query letters to multiple magazines is brilliant!”
Barbara Wertz, April 2017 Master Class
“It is one thing to try and increase your skills, or learn a new skill, from reading books. It’s another to have someone to properly teach you how. If you’re looking to improve or learn, travel writing skills, there is only one person that I recommend.
"At Roy Stevenson’s travel writing and marketing master class, you’ll learn everything you need to know about travel writing. The workshops are intense, in-depth, and a lot of fun, all at the same time. There are no holds barred.
"Roy is a master of his trade of travel writing and teaching. He imparts his knowledge and experience in a way that makes it very easy to absorb. He isn’t afraid that you’re going to steal business from him. His ambition is to help you to become a master at travel writing. Be prepared for the guest speakers who will also pass on their knowledge about other skills associated with travel writing."
Peter Safe, Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
Chiang Mai, Thailand, October 2016
Online Master Class - Regular Price: $799
Sign up here for access to the
Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
(if you have a Promo code, enter it on next screen)
“Thank you, Roy, for all your help, education and support. Your writer’s Master Class has been extremely helpful and I so enjoyed your class. You have given me the confidence that I need to go forward in my new career as a freelance travel writer, photographer and destination video producer-artist.”
Shelley Pittman, Freelance Writer & Photographer
2016 Chiang Mai Master Class
“Home and ready to go to Barnes and Noble this morning. Thanks so much to Roy & Linda for this amazing weekend and thanks to all the participants for your support and generosity with advice. Looking forward to your success stories!”
Mary Lou Osmond, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“Learning and getting inspired! Wohoo!”
Kari Dahlstrom, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“Great class, already working on first pitch at the airport.”
Charlene Scott, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“What a great learning weekend! Great workshop...hope to see everyone again next year. I’m looking forward to what happens in the future with the knowledge I’ve picked up.”
Becky Breshears, Master Class Attendee April 2018
“It was great to really hear Roy drive home how to be professional & to have integrity in your travel writing career.”
Kim Kortum, Master Class Attendee April 2018
Online Master Class - Regular Price: $799
Sign up here for access to the
Online Travel Writing & Marketing Master Class
(if you have a Promo code, enter it on next screen)