I think the problem with trying to make anything close to a living from a travel blog these days is that the barrier to entry has become so low. Even just 10 years ago, documenting and sharing your travel adventures required at least a little bit of technical know-how and often a monetary investment. Now, just about anybody can learn (relatively easily) how to use a site like Substack and start posting literally that same day without spending a dime.
From a reader/consumer perspective, it's hard to justify paying anybody for stories and information about travel locations when I can probably find a dozen or more similar accounts in 5 minutes or less without breaking out my credit card.
I 100% agree that the barrier is low, and to be honest, the last two decades of my professional career were spent designing, developing, and marketing these kinds of online tools to other bloggers, thus contributing to the demise we see today. I would never convince people to launch a blog or Substack for money, but for some reason, I am driven to find a way to make income from my writing. Perhaps it's not here but elsewhere, but nevertheless, the interest remains. 🤷♂️
Additionally, I agree with not paying for information you can easily find with a quick search or ChatGPT. Donetta has never wanted to charge for articles, but I considered paywalling some that are more unique, though it probably won't happen.
Regardless, what keeps you reading pubs like ours even if it's free? What is beneficial for you and what is not?
Personally, I enjoy entertaining stories and the social aspect of it. With your site specifically, Kelly and I may do something similar (travel in a van). So I do find the "what's good" and "what's not so good" type articles interesting. When we hit the road though will be after I retire from my current job in 5-10 years, so the finance part won't really be a concern. If I share stories of our adventures, it will be just for the fun of it.
When you have money in the bank, it changes everything, especially where you spend your time!
I've always wanted to monetize in some way because that's how I'm wired, but the idea for why I started this came from designing a website and brand for a food blogger in San Diego who exploded on the scene and was comped free food and drinks for reviews. I wanted to replicate that, and at the start of our journey, it did work as we got free hotels or great discounts for reviews, but those days are mostly gone.
Writing for fun would look completely different for me.
At least you seem to have caught part of the back end of that "getting comped for reviews" trend. I'm not a total cynic, I think there will be ways in the future for people to earn money even while traveling ... we just don't know what they'll look like. There's a good bet though that they won't necessarily look like what's worked in the past.
Hey Andrew! I like to entertain -- though I think people probably don't like my off-the-wall humor and weirdness to life. But I could be wrong! 😝
Everything else these days, other than writing or creating art, feels like too much work for so little ROI. Not to mention, I'm personally trying to stay away from social media because it's draining and unexciting.
I'll look it up, and if you have any other thoughts, I'd appreciate them. Thanks!!!
I am a travel writer and am considering stopping later this year. One of the publications I write for has such a stringent writing policy that there is no joy in trying to tell my story the way I want. It’s all about getting views. However, I get hosted stays by being published at this publication. And it’s unpaid. Ho hum.
Thanks, Julie! If you don't mind my asking, are you considering stopping for any particular reason? Just curious. I've heard pitching larger publications can be horrible and that they want everything for nothing, but I certainly have not tried. Maybe they are just content mills.
I reflect on all of the comments above. I am a big fan of Paul Theroux who has many travel books and has a unique perspective when he travels as well as stories to tell.
I think he may have been able to support himself writing but that was a different era for sure, however I still love reading people’s travel experiences because I cannot go everywhere I want to go and that is the unique thing you can offer.
Understanding a place from someone’s unique perspective, and maybe the place lines up with somewhere I might be able to go, but even the places I may not have value.
I don't expect to become the next Rick Steves by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it would be cool to build an audience who appreciates our travel stories or advice, even if it is free content. Which is why your input is valuable: if what we write isn't worth reading at all, I need to change it or quit altogether. LOL!
Like every other artist or creative, we want our work to be valuable somewhere.
I just posted a note about this. You'll need to define "future." If you're talking about the future as in earning a middle-class living and supporting a family from travel writing. No, I'm not sure there ever was a future in that. Even in the heydays in the 90s. But I do think there's still a readership for adventure narratives, as there is no shortage of good books coming to market. There's a future in some sense for sure, you just have to subsidize it with other writing or other work.
I guess "future" is what you said: an opportunity to derive income from writing guides, publications, or books, while subsidizing it with other revenue sources like products, sponsorships, advertising, or consulting. I've known that writing, like being an artist, is not typically going to produce a sustainable living, though, as a designer, I did really well.
No, I don't think books are worth it financially. Consider an author would be lucky to get a $20K advance (and most would get far less), and it's extremely rare that royalties even exceed the advance. Then they spend 6 months working on it. Not much money and probably barely minimum wage when you break down the time investment.
But would book writing be worth it for other reasons? Absolutely. I would certainly take on a piss-poor playing adventure travel book project that I was extremely passionate about.
We agree there! I've worked with best-selling authors in the past, and, aside from a few, most said their books were just a wash and an entry point into more lucrative pursuits like public speaking or consulting.
I've self-published a few books in the past and did really well at making some side money, but nothing to live off of. The greatest ROI was landing me jobs for brand consulting, web design projects, and speaking gigs.
There are a couple of book ideas in the works, but it's because I love to write, but then I also love hiking or drinking beer in the mountains more!
Hi James,
I think the problem with trying to make anything close to a living from a travel blog these days is that the barrier to entry has become so low. Even just 10 years ago, documenting and sharing your travel adventures required at least a little bit of technical know-how and often a monetary investment. Now, just about anybody can learn (relatively easily) how to use a site like Substack and start posting literally that same day without spending a dime.
From a reader/consumer perspective, it's hard to justify paying anybody for stories and information about travel locations when I can probably find a dozen or more similar accounts in 5 minutes or less without breaking out my credit card.
Howdy Todd! Thanks for your advice.
I 100% agree that the barrier is low, and to be honest, the last two decades of my professional career were spent designing, developing, and marketing these kinds of online tools to other bloggers, thus contributing to the demise we see today. I would never convince people to launch a blog or Substack for money, but for some reason, I am driven to find a way to make income from my writing. Perhaps it's not here but elsewhere, but nevertheless, the interest remains. 🤷♂️
Additionally, I agree with not paying for information you can easily find with a quick search or ChatGPT. Donetta has never wanted to charge for articles, but I considered paywalling some that are more unique, though it probably won't happen.
Regardless, what keeps you reading pubs like ours even if it's free? What is beneficial for you and what is not?
Personally, I enjoy entertaining stories and the social aspect of it. With your site specifically, Kelly and I may do something similar (travel in a van). So I do find the "what's good" and "what's not so good" type articles interesting. When we hit the road though will be after I retire from my current job in 5-10 years, so the finance part won't really be a concern. If I share stories of our adventures, it will be just for the fun of it.
When you have money in the bank, it changes everything, especially where you spend your time!
I've always wanted to monetize in some way because that's how I'm wired, but the idea for why I started this came from designing a website and brand for a food blogger in San Diego who exploded on the scene and was comped free food and drinks for reviews. I wanted to replicate that, and at the start of our journey, it did work as we got free hotels or great discounts for reviews, but those days are mostly gone.
Writing for fun would look completely different for me.
At least you seem to have caught part of the back end of that "getting comped for reviews" trend. I'm not a total cynic, I think there will be ways in the future for people to earn money even while traveling ... we just don't know what they'll look like. There's a good bet though that they won't necessarily look like what's worked in the past.
I clicked the last one - entertain me! Are you not entertained?!?
i don't YouTube or instagram my travel. I may be an outlier.
on substack there is one guy I've seen be pretty successful. Dan Outdoors I think is his pub. He's just California I think
Hey Andrew! I like to entertain -- though I think people probably don't like my off-the-wall humor and weirdness to life. But I could be wrong! 😝
Everything else these days, other than writing or creating art, feels like too much work for so little ROI. Not to mention, I'm personally trying to stay away from social media because it's draining and unexciting.
I'll look it up, and if you have any other thoughts, I'd appreciate them. Thanks!!!
I am a travel writer and am considering stopping later this year. One of the publications I write for has such a stringent writing policy that there is no joy in trying to tell my story the way I want. It’s all about getting views. However, I get hosted stays by being published at this publication. And it’s unpaid. Ho hum.
Thanks, Julie! If you don't mind my asking, are you considering stopping for any particular reason? Just curious. I've heard pitching larger publications can be horrible and that they want everything for nothing, but I certainly have not tried. Maybe they are just content mills.
I reflect on all of the comments above. I am a big fan of Paul Theroux who has many travel books and has a unique perspective when he travels as well as stories to tell.
I think he may have been able to support himself writing but that was a different era for sure, however I still love reading people’s travel experiences because I cannot go everywhere I want to go and that is the unique thing you can offer.
Understanding a place from someone’s unique perspective, and maybe the place lines up with somewhere I might be able to go, but even the places I may not have value.
Good stuff, Mike. Thanks!
I don't expect to become the next Rick Steves by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it would be cool to build an audience who appreciates our travel stories or advice, even if it is free content. Which is why your input is valuable: if what we write isn't worth reading at all, I need to change it or quit altogether. LOL!
Like every other artist or creative, we want our work to be valuable somewhere.
I clicked the last one as well. I think if you write with a sense of humour and adventure, people will subscribe to your channel and follow you.
Thank you, Charlene! Much appreciated.
I just posted a note about this. You'll need to define "future." If you're talking about the future as in earning a middle-class living and supporting a family from travel writing. No, I'm not sure there ever was a future in that. Even in the heydays in the 90s. But I do think there's still a readership for adventure narratives, as there is no shortage of good books coming to market. There's a future in some sense for sure, you just have to subsidize it with other writing or other work.
Thanks for your input, Craig.
I guess "future" is what you said: an opportunity to derive income from writing guides, publications, or books, while subsidizing it with other revenue sources like products, sponsorships, advertising, or consulting. I've known that writing, like being an artist, is not typically going to produce a sustainable living, though, as a designer, I did really well.
Do you believe books are still worth writing?
No, I don't think books are worth it financially. Consider an author would be lucky to get a $20K advance (and most would get far less), and it's extremely rare that royalties even exceed the advance. Then they spend 6 months working on it. Not much money and probably barely minimum wage when you break down the time investment.
But would book writing be worth it for other reasons? Absolutely. I would certainly take on a piss-poor playing adventure travel book project that I was extremely passionate about.
We agree there! I've worked with best-selling authors in the past, and, aside from a few, most said their books were just a wash and an entry point into more lucrative pursuits like public speaking or consulting.
I've self-published a few books in the past and did really well at making some side money, but nothing to live off of. The greatest ROI was landing me jobs for brand consulting, web design projects, and speaking gigs.
There are a couple of book ideas in the works, but it's because I love to write, but then I also love hiking or drinking beer in the mountains more!