Updated: 02/20/19 | originally Posted: 9/8/2008
Travel writer Chuck Thompson highlighted his troubles with the travel market in his recent book, Smile When You’re Lying. I checked out the book while traveling Europe as well as liked its sharp commentary as well as funny anecdotes.
Intrigued by his opinions, I just recently talked with him about the dark side of the travel market – the press trips, lies, advertorial, bought writers – all the juicing stuff!
Nomadic Matt: As somebody so crucial of the travel composing industry, why have you stayed in it for so long?
Chuck Thompson: I’ve been crucial of the travel-writing industries, however it’s a error to presume that this means I’m dissatisfied with everything. most of the time I enjoy the work; most of the time I enjoy the travel. I’ve just gotten back from India — exactly how many other tasks send you to India for a month?
That said, I don’t compose solely travel stuff. I just did a story about new York sports teams for a new magazine called high-end Manhattan. I’m doing an essay about smoking bans for a city magazine in Portland. I think about myself a “writer” as much as I do a travel writer, so usually the work is a matter of opportunity.
Could you see yourself doing anything else?
I can see myself doing a thousand other things. What a tragedy that we have only one life to live, right? I don’t want to bitch as well difficult about a task many people would like to have, however I don’t understand a single freelance writer who doesn’t sit around believing of methods to get out of the business.
Part of this is since there’s extremely bit monetary security for writers. The pay is lousy, the work is unreliable for most of us. There are no 401k’s or health and wellness insurance coverage for most writers. magazines are asking us to do much more work today for the exact same pay we got twenty years ago.
How do you overcome that? The majority of writers never get rich.
There have always been more aspiring writers than publishing outlets. This makes it a buyer’s market, which means writers will generally wind up on the short side of the ledger. exactly how to overcome it? ended up being expense Bryson. Or be material that you will likely online a scratch-and-claw existence as a writer. like music, acting, painting, etc., genuine money comes only to a little portion at the top of the game.
Did you believe about composing this book for a while or did the believed just come to you one day? was there anything in the book you wished to include however weren’t able to get in?
The concept established over time. I sat on it for a couple years just type of believing about angles before ever committing concepts to paper. Eventually, I composed the very first proposal for the book. It took about a year as well as a half after that to offer it, one more year to compose it. during this whole time, the entire book was being modified constantly. The rough draft of this book came in at about 600 pages. The final book is about 325. So, yeah, there were a number of anecdotes or observations I’d originally really hoped to get in. however some just didn’t in shape the chapter themes or were redundant, or just ordinary didn’t seem that fascinating when I had them written up. I’ve saved a few of them — a Shanghai Bob story or two — that may show up down the road somewhere.
When you were discussing the Travelocity magazine, you stated that only about 5 million people checked out travel magazines. Why do you believe that number is so little?
For the most part, travel magazines are marketed to elite travelers. So, if you figure on 100 million unduplicated American travelers every year as well as then figure you’ll try to offer to the top ten or fifteen percent, then five million subscribers is most likely what you’ll wind up with. one more method of stating this is thattravel magazines don’t want the bottom eighty or ninety percent of the traveling public to checked out their magazines since those people can’t pay for Rolex as well as Cartier watches as well as Escalades as well as business-class tickets to Tokyo as well as Starwood suites in London, as well as those are the advertisers that keep most magazines in business. A readership base with a home earnings of under $100,000 USD drags down a magazine’s capability to offer to high-end advertisers.
Why can’t a magazine that isn’t a glorified press release sell? I’d be thinking about buying a magazine that dealt with independent travel as well as highlighted the goofy locations in the world.
This one’s quite simple to answer. publications don’t compose about goofy as well as independent (i.e., “cheap”) travel since the businesses that support inexpensive travel (local restaurants, affordable modes of transport, family-owned hotels, etc.) don’t have the money to advertise. travel publications as well as travel sections of newspapers exist largely to be the megaphone of their advertisers.
So, if four seasons buys $250,000 worth of advertisements in a specific publication, what hotel do you believe the publication is going to compose about? A mom-and-pop guesthouse can never pay for to promote in a Western magazine or newspaper. however the Raffles hotel in Singapore can. That’s why you get “tips” advising you to go to the Raffles in Singapore, as well as not a cool one-room hut just up the coastline in Malaysia. visitors are important, however eventually magazines are kept in business by marketing money.
What do you believe about the increase of on the internet travel mags? Is the future of independent travel magazines online?
Online travel mags as well as sites are great; I inspect them out from time to time as well as have a couple bookmarked. however the Web is going to replace print the exact same method television replaced radio as well as the movies. In my view, the demise of print is greatly exaggerated. I still prefer reading on paper over a monitor.
You’re quite pessimistic on the whole industry. Is there any type of hope for the travel composing occupation or are we doomed?
The travel-writing market will be fine as long as the travel market stays afloat. Now, if peak oil as well as the resource wars as well as all that truly kick into gear, or if the American economic climate goes down as well as the dollar continues to be worldwide toilet paper, the travel market will take a extremely difficult hit. as well as most travel writers will be looking for other work. everything depends upon exactly how optimistic you are about oil costs as well as the general economy.
What did you believe about the Thomas Kohnstamm affair? He’s one more writer who laid the market bare in some methods as well as got a great deal of flack for it. Was he selling books or telling it like it is?
I haven’t checked out his book, however from whatever I’ve heard about it, nothing about what he states surprises me at all.
But let me address an assumption that’s at the root of your question. The recommendation you are making when you ask if somebody is “just out to offer books” is that somehow the work is corrupted just since it has a cost tag connected to it. I’ve never comprehended why this line of reasoning gains so much traction among book reviewers as well as readers.
The revenue motive drives every type of work as well as service as well as product in this country. Every single one of us does what we do for money. Teachers, lawyers, the guy who bags your groceries, cops, plumbers, cab drivers, everybody. None of these people would show up for work fifty weeks a year if they weren’t getting paid for it, nor should they.
Does the truth that you get paid for your task mean that I can’t depend on the integrity of your work? On the contrary, being a expert generally suggests some level of reliability. people who get paid have a much higher reward to do great work since great work means they’ll keep getting paid as well as perhaps even get paid more for the next job. Let’s state you want to develop an addition to your house. who do you believe will do a much better job: an amateur who agrees to do the task for free, or a expert contractor who provides you a quote of $60,000 as well as wants the task “just so he can make some money”? The amateur may be cheaper, however I assurance you the contractor will do a much better job.
I meant “was he sensationalizing what occurs in the industry?” are there a great deal of cut corners as well as Web research study done by writers? Or are most travel writers stand-up people who do whatever by the book?
Again, I haven’t checked out the book. however do travel writers cut corners as well as research study stories on the Web rather than on location? Absolutely. Ask ten travel writers if they’ve ever written about a location they’ve never set foot in and, if they’re being honest, at least seven or eight of them will tell you, yes. Does that mean these aren’t “stand up” people? I don’t know. The issue is that publications that pay shitty writer’s charges as well as zero cost money as well as then ask a writer in Seattle to compose a 500-word piece about Orlando. So the writer logs on as well as regurgitates some information since he or she wants the money as well as that’s what so much of the occupation has ended up being these days. That said, I believe most of the info in magazines as well as guidebooks is fact-checked to some degree as well as that it’s generally reliable. however definitely not perfect.
Would you motivate people to ended up being travel writers provided your viewpoint of the industry?
I never motivate anyone to ended up being a travel writer. I believe it’s a rather thin goal. I get some type of this concern from aspiring writers quite frequently as well as here’s what I always tell them: You don’t truly have to be a “travel writer” in order to travel as well as write. It’s easier as well as definitely much better to focuson “writing” as opposed to “travel writing.” You can compose about all kind of things — politics, sports, the environment, immigration, movies, gardening, architecture, food, art history — as well as still travel. If some “travel writing” creeps into that process, fine.
What people are truly asking when they ask this concern is, “How can I get somebody else to pay for my travel?” They are more drawn in to the travel and, perhaps, the composing (or the concept of writing) than to the actual “travel writing,” much of which is glorified pr copywriting as well as not much fun to puke out.
A great deal of my visitors are aspiring travel writers. What pitfalls as well as errors would you tell them to watch out for?
I’m a firm believer in the Hemingway quote: “There’s no such thing as fantastic writing, only fantastic re-writing.” I’ve been an editor at four magazines as well as you’d be surprised at exactly how much sloppy copy comes in. It’s rather obvious that most writers are material with their very first or second draft, their very first or second approach to a story. very first as well as second efforts almost always stink. somewhere around the tenth or fifteenth tries things begin to find together. I never turn in anything I haven’t checked out with as well as edited twenty or thirty times, minimum. By the time I turn in a piece I can usually recite most of it from memory just since I’ve checked out it so many times.
Bill Bryson is funny as well as obviously a gifted humorist, however to me his trick weapon is all the heavy research study he does. That guy digs up some truly fantastic info about places, as well as not from overused sources like brochures as well as history texts as well as newspapers — he goes out as well as interviews people as well as truly does the digging work of a historian. most travel writers don’t take the time to do that.
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You can discover out more about Chuck Thompson at his personal website, Chuck Thompson Books. Or buy his incredible book at Amazon! I highly, extremely suggest it. It stays one of my favorites to this day!
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