The Renegade Writer Blog

Kayleen asks: Hi! I’m an experienced non-fiction magazine article writer. I’ve published 1,500 articles, many of those in recent years focusing on travel. I’m ready to attempt to write a book and have thought I’d enjoy writing a travel book, perhaps on the Bed and Breakfast Inns in my state.

But I don’t know if that type of book is necessary with the Internet. It seems people already have that information at their finger tips and would not be interested in purchasing a book of the same information.

A friend suggested that she’d rather carry a book with her to Disney than print out pages from the Internet.

What do you think? If I decide to go ahead with the project, would The Writer’s Market give me ideas of markets that might be interested in this information? Is there a how-to book for this type of writing?

I think the Internet isn’t about to replace books anytime soon. It’s much nicer, and worth the price, to have all the info you need in one place and easily portable. So while travelers could look up and print out info on every B&B in your state, they’re not likely to do so.

A writer’s real concern should not be whether people need travel books since the Internet is so handy — it’s whether the writer has an idea that publishers and readers will pay for, and is the right person to write it. You’ll need to write up a book proposal to present to an agent or to send directly to your target publishers (assuming they accept unagented proposals). I believe Writer’s Market includes listings of publishers that accept freelance proposals. (I went to check and found out my account had expired and I never received a notice!) Another option is to find books on related topics at the bookstore or on Amazon.com, and send your proposal to those publishers. There are also directories of agents you can find at your bookstore or on Amazon.

The book proposal is not only a selling tool — it’s also a kind of diagnostic tool that lets you know if your idea will fly. For example, if you’re working on the section about competitive books and you find the market is flooded with books just like yours, you may have a problem. If you’re writing up the section about your credentials to write (and sell!) a book on X and you have nothing to put in there, you may have another problem. So writing a proposal is a good exercise to help you refine your idea, determine where it falls short, and fix any shortcomings.

I’m not an expert on writing book proposals, but there are plenty of books out there that can help you. Diana lists her favorites here. Also, my writing buddy Jennifer Lawler offers an e-course on writing book proposals, and her students have been having a lot of success. I don’t know much about travel writing, but a search on Amazon brings up lots of books, including Travel Writing by L. Peat O’Neil (2005), Lonely Planet Guide To Travel Writing by Don George (2005), and Teach Yourself Travel Writing by Cynthia Dial (2006). We also interviewed travel writer Ellen Barone for the Renegade Writer blog last year; she gives lots of excellent advice.

If you have any suggestions on the best travel writing resources, please post them in the comments!

Have a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com. [lf]

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