Should travel writers pay for their own travels?
April 15th 2008 23:55
Category: No Category
One of the top travel news of the week involves an author of a major travel publication, Lonely Planet, reported The Age - Lonely Planet rocked by fraud scandal. He admitted to plagiarising, not having visited some of the places of the books he authored and managed to gather the information required for Colombia from "a chick he was dating".
He claims that the company had not paid him enough to actually travel to the place, and the company asks too much from their authors with the pay they offer.
The first writing course I did was Travel Writing. Very up front, the first thing told to us was "as travel writers, don't expect to earn millions. You'd be lucky to be earning just enough to cover the trips you've made for your writing." Travel writers make money by turning one destination into several many pieces from different angles to different publications. This is how they try to fund their own trips. Many major publication ban their writers to go on 'junkets', which are trips subsidised by a tourism board or hotel group or other means, as a form of advertising. By going on junkets, the writers are inclined to write positively about a destination or a hotel, even if they did not enjoy the journey at all.
I wrote a small piece on The Myth About Travel Writers, and I'll admit here it is not the first that someone has written about this topic. In fact, I learnt it off my travel writing teacher and I have merely rephrased and re-organised the points. One of the point is that people believe travel writers get free travels, whether it be a junket or a publication paid travel opportunity. It is not true. Travel writers often need to fund their own travels, similarly as any professionals need to fund their own education. While I personally believe if a good travel writer is commissioned to write a piece on a destination that is going to cost them a bit, they should be subsidised by the publication requesting the work, I can understand from the publication's point of view they know this writer is going to perhaps sell more than one story from this trip which will mean, they end up funding this writer as part of writing for another publication.
It is complicated, I know, but life is hard as a writer.
While I can't call myself a travel writer just yet, I recently have had an article accepted by an online eZine which I especially went to South Australia for to take photographs that will suit their needs. It was all good in the beginning, with them promising to publish the story soon, and now, I simply have never heard from them. They have not returned my emails to request the dates of publication nor will they confirm if the story had been pulled. Either way, it was $500 later, I still haven't got my story published.
The story would have been different of course, if I were the current editor or staff writer for Travel Leisure for example. Editors would take me a lot more seriously then. Until then, I'll have to just keep trying.
So what do you think? Should travel writers (the young and the old) be paid to travel? Thinking from both the writer's shoes and the publication's shoes. Who do you have more sympathy for?
Is Lonely Planet losing it's credibility? (Image Source: news.travelcounsellors.co.uk)
He claims that the company had not paid him enough to actually travel to the place, and the company asks too much from their authors with the pay they offer.
The first writing course I did was Travel Writing. Very up front, the first thing told to us was "as travel writers, don't expect to earn millions. You'd be lucky to be earning just enough to cover the trips you've made for your writing." Travel writers make money by turning one destination into several many pieces from different angles to different publications. This is how they try to fund their own trips. Many major publication ban their writers to go on 'junkets', which are trips subsidised by a tourism board or hotel group or other means, as a form of advertising. By going on junkets, the writers are inclined to write positively about a destination or a hotel, even if they did not enjoy the journey at all.
I wrote a small piece on The Myth About Travel Writers, and I'll admit here it is not the first that someone has written about this topic. In fact, I learnt it off my travel writing teacher and I have merely rephrased and re-organised the points. One of the point is that people believe travel writers get free travels, whether it be a junket or a publication paid travel opportunity. It is not true. Travel writers often need to fund their own travels, similarly as any professionals need to fund their own education. While I personally believe if a good travel writer is commissioned to write a piece on a destination that is going to cost them a bit, they should be subsidised by the publication requesting the work, I can understand from the publication's point of view they know this writer is going to perhaps sell more than one story from this trip which will mean, they end up funding this writer as part of writing for another publication.
It is complicated, I know, but life is hard as a writer.
While I can't call myself a travel writer just yet, I recently have had an article accepted by an online eZine which I especially went to South Australia for to take photographs that will suit their needs. It was all good in the beginning, with them promising to publish the story soon, and now, I simply have never heard from them. They have not returned my emails to request the dates of publication nor will they confirm if the story had been pulled. Either way, it was $500 later, I still haven't got my story published.
The story would have been different of course, if I were the current editor or staff writer for Travel Leisure for example. Editors would take me a lot more seriously then. Until then, I'll have to just keep trying.
So what do you think? Should travel writers (the young and the old) be paid to travel? Thinking from both the writer's shoes and the publication's shoes. Who do you have more sympathy for?
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Comment by Cibbuano
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Plagiarism is unacceptable!
Comment by Louie
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There is an inverse relationship between quality and earnings. Rant OVER!!!!!
Comment by AmyHuang
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But then again, I feel that for good writers to go on junkets is a waste as you often have to write 'good' reviews on the places that pay for your writing, which is a waste on those good writer's talents as a writer...
If you know what I mean.
Comment by Louie
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The lonely planet is certainly honest, I once drove though Mexico and there were many towns they said keep driving, this place sucks, invariably they were right. but i guess a date could give you that information
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