www.travelwriting.net
.... calling all travel writers!
This is a new website featuring work by mostly unpublished travel writers, with a planned launch date of Summer 2006.
The primary functions of this innovative new project will be to overcome the difficulties faced by unpublished writers in obtaining placement of their work and satisfy the desire of the general public to read good quality travel writing.
We are inviting submissions now for potential inclusion on the site. Work can be of any length, but must be of a high standard - polished, professional and well-edited.
For further information, contact Andrew Green on or send submissions (in Lotus WordPro, MS Word, plain text or pdf format) to:
background
Of all the arts, writing is one of the most difficult to embark on and market to the public. An individual piece of fine art can be created and sold, as can any craft item. Music can be created on, or uploaded to, a computer and burnt to a single CD, which can be put on sale.
In contrast, a written article can only be read by the 'end user' if it is first accepted by a publication. A complete book can only be read if the whole body of work (the complete volume) is finished - which can take a number of years - and the book is produced, which is uneconomic for an individual, even in a short run, let alone a single copy. In reality, the economics of printing means that the work must be accepted by a publisher before even a single copy can be read by anybody.
So the unpublished writer is subject to the economic pressures, prejudices and opinions of publishers and has to negotiate his way through these before even one eventual consumer of his work has a chance to read his or her book, let alone form an opinion on it.
The publishing market becomes tighter year by year and the possibility of an unknown writer placing their work with either a publishing house or agent becomes proportionately slim. If you already have a name in another field, it is comparatively easy. If you have been published before, you will probably avoid the slush pile. And only slight comfort can be gained from the well-known tales of just how many publishers Joanne Rowling - or many a successful author - had to approach before somebody decided to take a chance on them.
But the inexorable tightening of the market is making even that handful of success stories fade into a mythical pre-conglomerate publishing past.
a solution?
But every day, a few thousand more people - worldwide - gain access to the internet and internet users
are becoming increasingly reliant on this medium, both for entertainment and information.
So the web can provide a viable alternative to traditional publishing:
you can get your painstakingly polished first chapter read by thousands of interested people every day.
You are now a published writer.
And you can ask for feedback from those readers which - as long as it is favourable -you can take to a
traditional publishing house, as an indication of just how well your work might be received by the purchasing public.
And this might be information which could tip the balance in favour of acceptance of your work.
the travelwriting.net project
www.travelwriting.net will showcase the best in high-quality travel writing from unpublished writers.
The site will, by deliberate intent, be a cliché-free zone, in order to avoid the dreadful
travel-writing-by-numbers journalese which plagues virtually all newspaper and magazine articles.
Every piece published on the site will include the ability for readers to comment on it.
I also intend to include pieces by well-known travel writers, in order to broaden the appeal, leading to:
my ultimate aim for travelwriting.net, which is to be the first place anyone looks for good quality travel writing.
My initial thinking is that content will be obtained by inviting submissions.
At a later stage, I would like to be able to commission (and pay) writers for material.
my credentials
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I have had a number of articles published in national media;
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I am an experienced website designer (see
www.andrewgreen.biz), skilled in html, dynamic html, css & Javascript;
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I have expertise in marketing and work with the media, having been self-employed, running my own business(es)
for the past 15 years;
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I have a large amount of expertise in the fields of internet marketing and search engine optimisation.
income sources for the site
The main income source will be commission-earning 'affiliate' links to online booksellers -
probably Amazon and Stanfords - with direct links to purchase pages at these sites from book reviews on travelwriting.net.
At a later stage, I envisage acting as an agent for writers whose work is published on the site and
attracting syndication fees for usage of the material.
For further information, contact Andrew Green on
or send submissions (in Lotus WordPro, MS Word, plain text or pdf format) to:
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travelwriting.net introductory page
back to top of the travelwriting.net introductory page
13 Market Street, Abbotsbury, Dorset, DT3 4JR, UK
tel: 01305-871561 (from outside the UK: +44-1305-871561)
fax: 0870-831-2726 (from outside the UK: +44-870-831-2726)
email: