My first travel book

I first came to Europe in 2003 for a professional exchange in Portugal. After a month there, I decided to backpack alone for another two months in Spain and Italy. It was a great time, I enjoyed travelling and meeting new people from all over the world and I learnt a lot about life. When I went back to Brazil, I decided to write a book about my experiences. After three months of frantic writing, I finished it and I was quite pleased with the result.

The forgotten poor book took five years of waiting in the drawer to finally be published and the launch is going to be on 13th January, in Brazil. It is difficult to find a publisher that believes in a new author, so I decided to seek sponsorship in the travel industry and it worked quite well.

Although I love writing, I don’t think I will run to start another book: there is a lot of work involved and the recognition is more of a gamble. When I say a lot of work I don’t mean just the writing process. I mean the rewriting, the re-rewriting, the editing, the editing again, and again… And again! Especially over a period of five years, we always find something to be changed, it is incredible! After that, there is the hunting for a publisher or sponsor, and once you found one, it is time to think about ways of advertising the book. I am not expecting to make any money from it, but probably nobody does with the first book, do they?

Writing as a freelancer for Brazilian magazines, though, is more profitable, immediate and doesn’t require the same amount of work. However, you need to be patient and carry on pitching ideas, until one finally fulfils the editor’s obscure wishes. Once you have delivered the text, then will come the long wait to get paid, which can be quite stressful, as you need to keep reminding them of their duties to you.

I came across many situations when a good idea was refused because I didn’t have good pictures. In travel writing, the picture is frequently more important than the text, even if you have been to an undiscovered far away place and have an extraordinary story to tell. Without pictures, who is going to believe you, anyway?

Travel magazines in Britain: a review

Naturally, it is part of a good marketing plan in any industry to boast about saying “we are the best”. So, there are several “best travel magazines” in Britain, but we don’t necessarily need to agree with them, do we? I selected four to have a closer look:

Conde Nast Traveller: Their motto is “truth in travel” and they explain why: “Unlike other magazines… we don’t accept travel press trips. This means that you can trust us to speak our mind. As a result, CNT is the most authoritative and influential travel magazine on sale today.” Maybe they are right. They speak their mind, that is true, but to say that their mind represents “truth in travel” makes me laugh.

Obviously, CNT’s truth is the one their readers want to see. And most of the time, it involves only the bright, luxurious and expensive side of the truth. There are far too many adverts and reviews on luxury hotels and restaurants, and they can't manage a creative cover; there is always a heavenly blue sea in the background and a woman relaxing on a sandy beach . They have an easy and simple layout, and as I said before, almost half the pages are adverts, which makes the magazine quite thick. I definitely regret to have subscribed to it, because my concept of good travel writing is another one.

Wanderlust: “for people with a passion for travel”, they say on the cover. This magazine explores the adventurous side of travelling and they are not afraid of showing all sides of reality, even the less glamorous ones. I believe this is the best travel magazine I have come across so far here in Britain. Wanderlust’s features are often related to responsible and sustainable tourism. The layout is quite funky and we are not annoyed by endless pages of adverts.

Real Travel: “real people, real places, real experiences”. This Bristol based magazine more or less tries to take on Wanderlust’s style, not just in the contents, but also in the layout, although it gets too jammed sometimes. They rely heavily on reader’s reports, which are unpaid. They are a quite new publication, with some things to improve, but a lot of potential. Let’s keep an eye on them.

The Sunday Times Travel: Their motto: “Be informed, be inspired, be there”. I have the feeling that they go for the let’s-make-an- easy-mag route, trying to please everybody, and maybe just doing a mediocre job. Like most of the magazines, they can’t resist making lists of the five best for this, ten best for that, which I can definitely do without. The layout is simple and works well.

Travel writing in the blogosphere

I would say that travel writing in the blogosphere has many advantages over the traditional way through books, newspapers or magazines. And this comparison between online and print can be generalised to any area of writing. The use of links makes the writing go quicker and smoother, without a lot of interruptions for in-between-the-brackets explanations. Another plus is the use of video clips and a lot more pictures.

Some travel publications, like Wanderlust and National Geographic, have a section for blogs on their websites. Real Travel also offers the opportunity to the reader to create his or her own travel blog, through its webpage. Travel blogs can very often be found in the online version of newspapers as well, as with The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail.Aside from the established publishers, I have found some very interesting travel blogs.

Let’s have a look why they caught my eye.

The Travel Rag: Most of the posts have interesting angles. For instance, a recent feature on Lake Como, Italy, recreates Henry Fox-Talbot’s photography from 1833, using a similar camera in the same places. You can also read about rugby in Paris and religion in Arkansas.

World Hum: It has an easy to navigate layout, which would be better if the scrolling down in the opening page was shorter. It has a tell-me-your-experience style, so you can expect to read about a blogger visiting Vietnam who asked a local waitress out at New Year.

Vagabondish: It is not just about travelling; it is about a travelling life style. It has a section on travel news and like most of the blogs, it uses twitter, delicious and all other available gadgets.

Travel Blogs: Great layout, some crazy ideas and a section for travel literature, several blogs together on one platform. One of the best I have found.

Illustration:davidastle.wideweb