The Best Query Letter Books
to Improve Your
Travel Writing Pitches

Query letter books are an important resource for people just getting started in travel writing.  And you want to read (and use) the best ones.

Query letters are where the rubber meets the road in the freelance travel writing game.  A query is used to pitch your story idea to an editor and it requests the opportunity to write for him or her.

Here’s what good queries can do for you:

This seems like a tall order, especially to the novice travel writer.  Yet this task does not seem so daunting when you consider that queries adhere to set formats.  If you stick to the protocols you actually have a reasonable chance of having the editor buy your article. 

(This assumes, of course, that your story idea is exciting and that your story proposal is well researched.)

I’ve studied and experimented with various query letter formats over the years.  I’ve written thousands of queries.  And I’ve read numerous ‘how to’ books about them.

After all the books I’ve read and reviewed over the past few years, here are three books about the art and craft of creating query letters that I can recommend to my readers.

Note: there are some affiliate links in this post. If you click on the links and make a purchase, I will receive a small fee.

Query Letter Books:
The Complete Guide to
Query Letters for Travel Writers
Author:  Roy Stevenson

I’m biased about this guide because I wrote it.  But let’s move past that and examine my claim that this 117-page manual is the ultimate guide to writing query letters.

First, it’s the only book in existence dedicated solely to the art of writing travel queries. 

Certainly if you purchase a book about travel writing, there will be some mention of query letters.  But most of this coverage is cursory at best in these books. 

The Complete Guide to Query Letters for Travel Writers is entirely about writing queries.

Second, this manual was first published in 2014. We review it each year and make revisions if needed.  It’s the most up-to-date reference available and covers every essential element for successful query letters.

The third reason this book is an important reference is because it provides 20 real queries that I used to sell articles to high quality, glossy print magazines.  These are my exact pitches - unchanged.

I also include an introduction to each query.  For every query letter in the book, I explain my strategy and why I think it resulted in getting my article published.

After reading a few of my queries you’ll understand the format to use.  In practical terms, this means you can use my queries to craft your own letters.  Use my template and drop in your own story details.

In this book you’ll notice that I sometimes break the conventional rules.  For example, some are very lengthy.  Others are targeted at non-travel magazines.  Yet they all sold!

I wrote this query letter book for travel writers because my queries are highly effective.  They helped me sell more than 1,000 articles to magazines, trade journals, specialty magazines, in-flights, on-boards, newspapers, and online travel magazines. 

People kept asking how I sold so many stories. My query letters are my most important technique. They are your main sales tool. Follow my advice and your queries will be effective, too.

Available in my bookstore in PDF format at this link.

This book is also available on amazon.com in soft cover, and in the Kindle store.

Query Letter Books:
The Writer’s Digest Guide To Query Letters
Author:  Wendy Burt-Thomas

Written in 2008, this solid reference (7 chapters and 228 pages) has plenty of useful information. 

But first a friendly warning. 

This is a generic reference and includes chapters aimed at Nonfiction Book Queries, Novel Queries, and Agent Queries.  None of these are useful to aspiring travel writers.

Still, there are four chapters that include plenty of useful information, such as:

•    How to pitch a great lead
•    How to offer fresh ideas
•    Who to contact
•    Kill fees
•    Following up with the editor

Overall, I’d rate this book with a B+ for travel writers, but still worth purchasing.

It’s available on amazon.com in paperback, and in the Kindle store.

Query Letter Books:
 Query Letters that Rock
Authors:  Linda Formichelli & Diana Burrell

Presented in Q & A format, this entertaining book guides the new writer through the querying minefield. 

Written in 2006 and weighing in at 208 pages, it fields 47 questions, along with concise answers.

Some of the questions ...

•    Should I mail my query or email it?
•    What if the writer’s guidelines say, “send clips”, but I don’t have any?
•    Can I send the same query out to different publications?
•    Why can’t I skip the query and just write the article for the magazine?

The second section of the book lists 24 queries that actually worked for the writers, meaning they resulted in a sale and publication.

Note that most of these pitches are non-travel related.  However, there are a few that are related to travel for magazines like Wines & Vines, Smithsonian, Midwest Airlines, USA Weekend, and NWA World Traveler. 

These sample queries provide good background ideas.  Additionally, the helpful comments from the writers provide further insight.  There are also comments from the magazine editors on why they ran with the story.

Available in paperback form on amazon.com and in the Kindle store.

If you’re serious about getting into freelance travel writing, learning how to create a successful pitch is vital.  And it helps to have a variety of resources readily available to help you.

Armed with a thorough understanding about crafting your queries, you will get published.

There's no need to waste lots of money on query letter books.  These are the best ones out there right now - so get copies, and start pitching!

Related articles that will interest you:

Writing a Query Letter to Sell Your Articles

A Sample Query Letter for Travel Writers - Transform Your Query Letters from Good to Great

Twelve Query Letter Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Roy Stevenson is a professional travel writer and the author of www.PitchTravelWrite.com.  Over the past ten years, he’s had more than 1000 articles published in 200 magazines, trade and specialty journals, in-flights, on-boards, blogs and websites and has traveled on assignment around the U.S. and to dozens of international destinations.