You’re Always Writing About Someone’s Home: Travel Writing, Press Trips and the Reality of Freelance with Rosie Bell

The travel stories you love rarely come from “perfect” trips. They come from patience, ethics, and a lot of unseen work. We sit down with Rosie Bell, an award-winning travel writer, editor, and educator whose bylines span BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveler, Wired, Forbes Travel Guide, Lonely Planet, and more. Rosie shares how she stumbled into travel journalism after moving to Panama, then turned one paid essay into a career built across Latin America and beyond.

We talk about the rule that guides her reporting: you’re always writing about someone’s home. That one idea changes how you interview people, describe places, and decide what not to include. Rosie also opens up about the less glamorous side of being a freelance travel writer: pitching without pay, working alone, managing admin, and staying resilient as the travel media landscape shifts with layoffs, smaller budgets, and fewer outlets buying freelance stories.

Then we get practical about press trips and travel PR. Rosie explains why she built Press Trip Pros, a matchmaking platform designed to align publicists, brands, and tourism boards with journalists and creators who are actually a fit. You’ll hear what makes a press trip great, why writers turn invitations down, how group trips compare to solo trips for deeper storytelling, and what a PR pitch needs to earn a real reply.

If you care about travel writing, travel journalism, press trips, pitching, and the future of freelance work, this conversation delivers clear takeaways you can use right away. Subscribe, share this with a friend in media or PR, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Rosie’s portfolio site
RosieBell.net

Press Trip Pros
PressTripPros.com

Instagram
@thebeachbell

Rosie’s books

• Escape to Self
• The Art and Business of Travel Writing

Transcript

Welcome And Show Premise

Angela 0:05

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host, Angela Toole. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes.

Meet Travel Writer Rosie Bell

Angela 0:28

Today we're talking with Rosie Bell, an award-winning travel writer, editor, educator, and entrepreneur whose work has appeared in more than 30 publications, including BBC Travel, Condiness Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, Wired, Forbes Travel Guide, Lonely Planet, and Foders Travel. She's reported from more than 200 destinations across five continents, arriving by helicopter, yacht, and even a converted school bus ferry. Based in Latin America, Rosie focuses much of her work on Mexico, Brazil, Panama, and the Caribbean. She's also the author of two books, Escape to Self and the Art and Business of Travel Writing. And she's taught more than 1,500 aspiring travel journalists how to break into the industry. Rosie is also the founder of Press Trip Prose, a matchmaking platform designed to create better alignment between travel PR professionals and travel media. Welcome, Rosie. Thank you for joining us. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, I can't wait to hear what you have to

Getting Paid Changed Everything

Angela 1:33

say. I do need to know what first drew you to travel journalism.

Rosie 1:37

Well, I didn't actually know travel journalism was a real job that was possible. I kind of fell into it in the best way possible. I had just moved to Panama, which was the place of my dreams. And I just kind of started writing for a couple of local blogs, writing about my life there, writing a couple of essays here and there. And then a friend told me that she saw something that World Nomads was looking for people who lived in Panama to write about their experiences. And I got paid $300 for that essay. And then I thought, wait a second, there's people that pay you money to write about your life and you know your travels. Let's look into this. So being in Panama really worked out for me. And I was based there. I wrote in English. And before I knew it, different publications started reaching out to me for Panama content. So just being in the right place, being in a place that inspired me, but I didn't seek it out. It just happened to me. And I'm so happy that it did.

Leaving London For Panama

Angela 2:29

So how did you end up in Panama? Where were you before there?

Rosie 2:33

I was in London. So I am British. It doesn't sound like it because I went to special school and I have whatever this accent is. But I was in London for uh just over a decade, living there with my family. I went to university there for both my undergrad and my masters. And uh I was just sort of done with London life, super completely tired of winters. And uh I went backpacking in Central America for three months and I was in Costa Rica. And then I thought, oh, you know, I'll just check out Panama for a couple of days. And I loved it. I fell head over heels in love with Panama and I said I was gonna move there one day, which I did two years later.

Angela 3:11

That is so amazing. It's it's so amazing that you say you're going to do it and you made it happen. We went to Panama with our kids uh for a week a couple of years ago and loved it too. The old town. We loved going out to the jungle where the natives lived and took us by canoe to their. I mean, there's so many amazing things about that country. Yes.

Rosie 3:32

I love it. I tell people, you know, the weather is fantastic.

Angela 3:35

Yes, yes. So you've traveled to, aside from living other places, you've traveled to over 200 destinations. What experiences have shaped the way you approach storytelling?

Rosie 3:46

Uh,

A Rule For Ethical Storytelling

Rosie 3:47

one thing I always try to keep in mind is that you're always writing about someone's home. So you may be going somewhere on an assignment, and you know, maybe to you it's a destination, but someone is from there. This is their life. This is might be your livelihood, and you might not like it, but you kind of always have to be very respectful that this is someone's home. So, for instance, if I'm traveling anywhere, I'm going and I meet somebody and they say, Oh, you're a travel journalist. Have you written about my country? If I cannot confidently send that person that article because I feel like I may have offended them, or if I can't confidently do so, then I have not shown enough tact and care in where in what I'm writing. So just always remember that you're writing about someone's home, even if you don't like that place.

Angela 4:32

Yeah, that's such great advice.

Brazil, Argentina, And Surprise Favorites

Angela 4:34

What have been some of the most surprising destinations, or is there a destination that still, you know, stays in your mind?

Rosie 4:41

Um, a place that will never, ever, ever leave my mind and my heart is Brazil. But I I knew I would love it. There were no surprises there. I knew I was going to adore Brazil. It's just such a magical place. The energy, it has everything. And if we're only talking about Rio, I think Rio's natural beauty is unfair to every other city in the world. It is just so stunning. I love the food, I love the music, I love the people, I love the atmosphere, I love my eyes, they are happy, my stomach is happy. Everything is happy when I'm in Brazil. Um, another place that surprised me was Argentina. When I was going to Buenos Aires for the first time, maybe five or six years ago. People said, you know, are you sure you want to go there? It's dangerous, people aren't nice, they're this, they're that. And uh Buenos Aires has really captivated me. And that's actually where I am today. Um, because I've been in Argentina working on the next Lonely Planet Guidebook.

Angela 5:31

Wow. So you're not living there? Are you just staying there temporarily, or is that where you're living?

Rosie 5:36

Um, I'm just here for the assignment, and I technically don't really live anywhere right now. I'm location independent, so I go where the work is and I go where it's warm.

Angela 5:44

Wow, where it's warm. I'll have to remember that. Where's your next place? Do you know?

Rosie 5:50

Um, I'm going to Mexico for a wedding in a couple of months. And I do hope to make it to uh French Polynesia this summer. I would love that. I would love to go. That's so that will be a new region for me. Um Fiji or Tahiti, fingers crossed. Um, but that's my my next trip that I have kind of in the pipeline.

ild Travel Moments And Confidence

Angela 6:11

That sounds amazing. You've also had some incredible and slightly wild travel moments, things like being hit by a policeman in Portugal, encountering a bejeweled cow carcass in Cuba, marching through mass protesters in Costa Rica. Um, how do experiences like these do they make you more fearless or more cautious?

Rosie 6:36

Uh, not more conscious. I wouldn't say fearless, I'd say more confident. So knowing that I've been able to go, you know, have these experiences and come out on the other side, and now they're just funny anecdotes while speaking to someone years later. Um, I have a lot of confidence that I know I can do these things. I know I can navigate strange situations, I know I can navigate uncertainty for assignments. Sometimes I go to places where I've never been before by myself and places where I don't even speak the language. Um, Brazil, if you don't speak Portuguese, can be quite difficult. So I'm actually learning Portuguese now. Um, and I'm on, I think, my 430th day on Duolingo. Oh, great. Um, but I'd say it just gives me confidence, just knowing that I can I can do anything I put my mind to, really, but not fearless, because you know, you don't want to take anything for granted. And there could be danger anywhere. I mean, even in London and anywhere. And everywhere I've been in the world, the only place I've ever been robbed or ever had anything happen to me was actually in Paris. That wasn't a great experience, I'm sure. Uh no, that's actually kind of a bit of a funny story, but another time.

Chasing New Places For Better Stories

Angela 7:46

Okay. Well, what kind of travel stories excite you the most?

Rosie 7:50

Right now, I'm very focused on places I haven't been to yet. Um, I feel like that those are the stories I can bring the most vigor to. Um, I have been in Mexico for three and a half years. I was in Panama for three and a half years. Um, I've traveled extensively in Latin America. Um, but I would like to see take some new uh countries and be able to tell more people's stories. Um I'm trying to prioritize places I haven't been to yet, like the uh like the French uh Polynesia. Yes, that I mentioned.

Outlets, Editors, And Guidebook Work

Angela 8:21

What are some of the outlets that you're most writing for lately?

Rosie 8:25

I have uh I love, love, love my editors at Voters. Um, I've been writing for them since 2019, and I'm about to submit my 100th article for them as a freelancer. So yeah, that's that's one of my strongest editorial relationships. The editors are so lovely. Um, and also Lonely Planet as well. Uh, that was one of the first publications I started writing for. Um, they reached out to me when I lived in Panama, and this is my fifth Lonely Planet guidebook as well. So, photos at Lonely Planet 2. Um, I also really enjoyed writing for BBC Travel. Um, that was also an editor that reached out to me for some story ideas a few years back, and I actually wrote about Nigeria uh for them. So, yes, those are some of the publications that um that I have a really, really self-spot for at

Two Books With Two Missions

Rosie 9:09

the moment.

Angela 9:09

That's great. We also must talk about that. You've written two books, one about life design and one about the art and business of travel writing. What inspired each of them?

Rosie 9:21

The one about um life design is called Escape to Self. And I wrote that when I moved to Panama with the first year I was there. And that was really about unlearning, or what I'd learned from unlearning so many of the things that I feel that we are kind of uh unknowingly coaxed towards, the uh tacit rules of life, things that we're supposed to be, the things that we're supposed to do. This actually somewhat very dangerous word, supposed to, that we feel um that we have to to do things. Um, and just actually checking our own internal temperature and finding out what we want, because I don't actually think a lot of people actually ever ask themselves what they want, what they really desire, yeah, where their desires come from. I think many of us are just sort of coasting on autopilot. I know I was in.

Angela 10:08

Yes, we're supposed to leave here, we're supposed to have kids, we're supposed to get married, we're supposed to things like that, right?

Rosie 10:13

We're supposed to get this next promotion at work, even though I actually hate my job, or you know, I'm I'm supposed to be wanting more money or wanting that next role. I'm supposed to be wanting these items or these status items, but actually, why do I want them? Do I really want them? Is this me? Um, and I I wrote this when I was in Panama when I'd sort of taken myself out of that should be supposed to uh lifestyle. Um, and I wrote about that because it was, it changed the entire trajectory of my life once I stopped doing those things that I thought I was supposed to be doing. That's book one. And then book two, the art and business of travel writing, um, is just all the things that I wish I knew when I started this. This is not a very clear profession. It's there's a lot of, I wouldn't not necessarily secrecy, but it's it's not a very straightforward profession to get into everything from, I mean, what a pitch even is, who to pitch, how to pitch, how often to pitch, how often to follow up. And it's so different from publication to publication, from editor to editor, from season to season. There's so much to navigate. And I wanted to put that all uh in one place to be able to find out from a source that they could trust, somebody who was writing for the publications that they would ideally like to write uh in themselves.

Angela 11:28

That's wonderful. Where can you find them?

Rosie 11:30

Uh they're both on Amazon, Escape yourself and the art and business of travel writing.

Angela 11:35

Great. We'll have links to those also. I did want to ask too, you've taught more than 1,500

The Glamour Myth And Solo Grind

Angela 11:41

students. What's the biggest misconception people have about breaking into travel writing?

Rosie 11:46

Yeah, so um, I'm happy to have welcomed uh quite a few people into my online travel writing course, travel writing 101. Um, and again, uh all of the questions that that I had, and many of us still have these questions, um the biggest misconception I think people think that travel writing or travel journalism is always glamorous all the time. And don't get me wrong, it is, it can be right, you know, those those Maldives resorts, overwater bungalows, five-star service, multiple butlers, you know, three-hour massages, it's all happening.

Angela 12:22

I think a lot of us will never be able to do, you know.

Rosie 12:26

You know, we are we we are uh aware of how sort of magical and almost ridiculous this is. I'm right to get a massage for work. However, it really is not glamorous all the time. It really isn't. Most of the time, you're alone in a room writing by yourself, you don't see anybody else, you don't have any colleagues, don't have camaraderie with anyone. Um, there can be a level of competition as well. So people, you know, maybe maybe might not want to share their editor contacts, things like that. You're pitching a lot, you're spending a lot of time pitching, again, alone in a room.

Angela 12:59

That you're not getting paid for, too.

Rosie 13:01

That's stuff you don't get paid for. Exactly. You're not getting you're not getting paid for that pitch, you're sending out that pitch, you're gonna follow up on that pitch. Um, maybe you'll never hear back from that pitch, and then you know, you're not doing some simultaneous submissions. Sometimes you are. Um, a lot of it is unpaid. And then another um something else that I also say is that um one way to think about this, especially if you're a freelancer, is that travel writing is like a nightclub. But like in the nightclub, there are different people who handle the different tasks. There's a bouncer to keep out, you know, undesirables. Um, and then there's marketing people who hand out flyers or do social media or whatever. But like you are the bouncer, so you're responding to all the emails and/or spam or whatever. You are getting insurance, you're paying your taxes, you're sending pitches, which is the marketing, you're doing the actual work, which is I guess the DJing, you're doing everything at the same time and hopefully thriving, still traveling and ideally making some money too.

Angela 13:59

Yes, that's a lot.

Rosie 14:01

Yes. But there's massages, so you know.

Angela 14:05

Kind of make up for it, right? Or the five-star resource. You know,

Why Press Trip Pros Exists

Angela 14:10

to go along with the traveling part, I really want to spend some time talking about Press Trip Pros. So tell us more about it and what problem you were trying to solve with it.

Rosie 14:20

Press Trip Pros uh is a platform that I am building, or I saw to build to for matchmaking with press trips for there, because I realize there's actually no way to find out some of this very specific information about us as travel media that will help the other side, the publicists, the hotels, the brands, the tours and boards, actually find us for the right trips that we want. So, for instance, let's say this month I will get invited to 30 different places, but one of them is for horse riding and one of them is for skiing. And I just I'm not going somewhere cold. I'm not going to a colder temperature than where I am now. It's just not happening. Right. So I, for instance, maybe like I am looking to go to Tahiti or Fiji or Namibia or Bolivia. It's essentially putting together the people who want those things. Um, I want to be discovered for more of the trips that I want, and also you want to spend less time searching for people. And okay, so now I know Rosie is not interested in skiing or snowboarding anything to do with that. Um, and it just saves everybody time. It will provide all this information that is essentially ungoogleable about our press trip preferences. Um, and I've been very fortunate over the years to go on press trips and had wonderful relationships with my publicists that I've traveled with and gotten to learn a lot about how they look for people, how long it takes them, how long the selection process is, the going back and forth with clients, the looking on different multiple different websites. Okay. And then even if you go on a publication and you see that I that I've written about your client or a similar story about your client, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm available for press trips in the wider sense. So you don't actually know who is available for press trips at all. Some journalists don't go on press trips, right? Then you don't know if they're available for press trips during a certain period. You don't know what they like to write about, you don't know where they're based. Um, you don't know what sort of passport somebody holds. If you find out that I have a British passport, then you know that I can maybe go somewhere visa-free, as compared to somebody else. All of this information doesn't live anywhere. And I wondered why. So I did some research, I spoke to some of my publicist friends, I spoke to some journalists, and the the idea was just it just doesn't exist because no one's built it yet. So I worked to build it. It's taken me a year, and I'm now in the process of onboarding. And we I have two separate databases, one for travel journalists and one for travel content creators. Obviously, as you know, we travel very differently. Right, different trips. Yes, two different camps. But then you can also find out things like whether somebody is happy with mixed media trips, whether somebody wants to be on only journalist trips, if they're happy to be with content creators, uh, for a content creator, if they accept trips with or without payments, who they travel with, do they have a crew, things like that. That information does not live anywhere. And I wondered why. Selfishly, starting from myself, I wanted to be able to be discovered for more of those, you know, warm paradise, wellness, culture, history, uh, cultural richness trips that I was looking for. For instance, last year I went to Namibia. I'd been wanting to go to Namibia for five years, and it took me five years to find uh a really wonderful Namibia experience that I was able to tell. And I did that last year with extraordinary journeys, and it was just beyond mind-blowing, beyond magical, beyond wonderful. And I was able to tell a really wonderful story from that trip in Photos Travel, and but I was looking for that for five years. So there's clearly a discrepancy between uh, you know, who's available, who wants what. Um, and also I know that it does take a lot of time to find uh journalists to go on trips. But then in the meantime, when you even sent me an invitation while you're waiting to hear back from me, like, but I was never really, I was never potential from voting in the first place. So uh I'm essentially building the the place that I wanted to see that will help all of us because we I think there's a lot of misunderstanding between both camps.

Angela 18:31

Yes, definitely. And I feel I've always said you want the right journalists that want to be there. And that because the the better experience they have, the the more they're going to write. You know, exactly. Yes, that's a so has it launched yet?

Rosie 18:47

Um, I am onboarding uh travel media at the moment, but when I when it's sort of more populated, that's when I will open it up to um pressure organizers. Because obviously, the more people that you can look through, the more you'll see how much those filters work, because you will be able to filter for everything from where they've written and also how often they've written for each publication. Because uh, I was informed that um by one of my very lovely publicist friends based in New York that um, you know, sometimes you might want somebody that has written for Travel and Leisure or Conin Nose Traveler, but if they've written for that publication once six years ago, you don't have to qualify that as them having broken in. So you can see, you know, who's broken in, who's written for this publication, how many, many times, six times or more, two times or more, frequently, infrequently, things like that. So you will really be able to filter until you can find the right person and the right people for your trip.

What Makes A Press Trip Great

Angela 19:44

That's amazing. We will be watching for that to launch for sure. What do you know, talking about press trips a little bit? What separates a truly great press trip from from one that maybe misses the mark?

Rosie 19:56

Well, I can answer this from my personal um experience, or I could actually uh share some data that I've seen from within the platform already. Um for myself, I I know that um, you know, just a trip that is just too jam-packed, too jam-packed. Uh, we're in a different hotel every night. I don't have enough time to actually enjoy the property. I don't have time to feel the essence or feel the magic, and I'm just go, go, go, go, go. Um, obviously, uh, you know, receiving the itinerary in advance is great. Lots of people have put that down because it with it, again, within press trip pros, journalists can just write whatever anything that comes to their mind. So most of the questions are are in a form that's very like clearly outlined, but they can also write anything that they want you to know about their press trip behavior. Um, but the 10 reasons travel journalists turn down press trip invitations, um, I think can help to answer this question, I guess, of like what makes something miss the mark. So for first one is clashes with other plans or commitments makes sense. You know, you send me a trip for the 4th of July, I'm I'm not available then. The next one is requests for guaranteed coverage or assignments right. I'm sure you knew that I'm sure you knew that was coming. And then the third one was misalignment with my editorial focus. Um, ethical concerns about the destination um partners or activities is another one. So I guess you know, if there is uh close contact with animals or things like that. Um, long haul travel for a very short stay. So if I'm if the trip is, you know, from flying from Miami to Thailand for three days.

Angela 21:39

Three days, right. Maybe not ideal.

Rosie 21:42

Um, two short notice to commit was another one. And then excessively packed itineraries with no downtime. That's a personal one for me, but that's also one of the um, so that was the fourth uh most popular reason why people turned down press trips. And then another one was destinations that they're just never interested in visiting. So again, something that oppressed pros will help is people can actually highlight where they want to go. And if there's places that they don't ever want to be invited to, they can also say that. Um, and then the last two reasons were trip logistics and then group size is too large.

Angela 22:17

Okay. You know, I have been very um, or it's been very interesting. I've always like kind of initially thought most travel writers wanted individual trips, but I've met a lot that love group trips as well. And like you said, though, it probably depends on the number. If you like your group trip, it might not be 20, it might just be a few, you know.

Rosie 22:39

Yes. And yeah, but there's a question as well on the Project Pros forum where you can highlight, you know, do you want groups only? Are you happy with both? Do you prefer individual? I I like a combination of both personally. Um, I've made wonderful friends on group trips. It's also really great to be able to kind of have your finger on the pulse of what's going on in the industry because as I mentioned before, we don't really see each other very often. We don't get to interact with people very often. So, group trips, that's that's your opportunity. If you're not going to conferences, if you're not going to trade shows, that's your opportunity to be like face to face with with your um with your colleagues who maybe one day

Group Trips Versus Solo Reporting

Rosie 23:16

will become froleagues, even.

Angela 23:17

Yeah, uh colleagues.

Rosie 23:19

Um and I love it. So that's that's why I love group trips, but I must say that I I always get better stories from individual trips. Always get better stories from individual trips. Um, for instance, uh with uh when I went to Bonaire with the tourism board, I was there for a week and I wrote three entirely different stories, but I don't think that I would have had time and space and even just even mental space to come up with those stories or even get the inspiration for those stories had I been on a very tightly packed group trip. And if I if I may, if we have time, if I may, uh, tell you what those stories were. Um the first one was a personal essay that I wrote for Condi Nas Traveler about just, I guess, how taken aback I was by the cultural intermingling there. Um, I grew up in the Netherlands, and then so being there, it was kind of like being the Netherlands, but just like with much better weather. Right, right. Street signs uh as I grew up walking around in The Hague. And then everybody was so multilingual. Like I people would speak to me in Dutch, not knowing that I even spoke Dutch. Then they turn around to the next person and speak Spanish, then the music is in Papiamento, and then it was just it was just such an interesting experience. I wrote that one for Cornina's Traveler, and then for Photos Travel, I wrote about people who I'd met because I was there for such so much time, and I therefore had time to interact with locals. I met so many people who had just moved there after going on holiday, never went back home. Some cases they never even went back to like pack their stuff, they just stayed there. And so that was a story I wrote for photos travel, but again, because I had time to really like immerse myself and spend time and not be in a rush. And then the third one was a story I wrote about a very unique uh festival that they have. I wrote that for Atlas Obscura, and it's a festival for people with a specific name. So if your name is Pedro or Juan or Juana, on a certain day in June, people come to your house and they sing for you and you have to give them food and stuff, and then it's like an all-night thing, and there's bonfires, and it's for people with a specific name. It was just, I loved it. And so I had the space and time to write three entirely different stories. And I don't know that that would have happened on a tightly packed group trust trip.

Angela 25:36

Yeah, that's so insightful and such great advice.

How Far Ahead To Invite Writers

Angela 25:39

How far in advance? I mean, I know it's different with everyone, and that's what PR, that's what the press pros will tell you, but how far in advance do you typically want to reach out to um journalists before a trip?

Rosie 25:53

It is, it it really, it really does depend. Um, I guess you knew I was gonna say that before you see in the data, it really does depend. Some people say, and people can say, you know, I want, I'm happy for last minute. Some people want as much as eight months in advance. I think there's really no way to truly know that um on a collective level. For me, I I prefer like somewhere like in between. I don't necessarily want last minute because I I kind of need to know where I'm going since I'm taking my whole life with me in a sense. Um, so I'm I'm happy with something, you know, four to eight months in advance, whereas some people have said, you know, I'm happy three weeks out, I'm gone because it's just me. I just go, I don't, I don't mind. My base is here and I go on all these trips, and I can go on 15 trips a year, but I only go on maybe two to four trips a year. So I it's it's different for everyone. I'm so I wish I could give you a straight answer.

Angela 26:46

No, that's like I I knew that would be the answer. So have you noticed press trips evolving in the years?

Media Changes Since 2023

Rosie 26:55

Yes, I most certainly have. I feel press trips have changed in the sense of we're being a little bit more um selective with the ones that we go on, just because I don't know whether there's been an increase in requests for confirmed coverage, confirmed assignments. Um, but most certainly there are fewer and fewer places to place those stories from press trips. We I speak for myself, and I can also speak for writers I've spoken to that we we have seen um a bit of a slowdown and a downturn in things since around 2023. I don't know whether it's with the AI snippets, I don't know whether it's with AI or whatever, um, advertising budgets being cut, um our but payment budgets being cut for sure, waves of media layoffs, all of this stuff. Um, and also in terms of when I created my course, I created my travel writing 101 course in 2020, 2020, 2020, and half of those publications don't exist anymore. Half of the publications that you could publish and pitch travel writing stories to do not exist anymore, or no longer accept um our articles from don't work with freelancers anymore. So there are just fewer places to sell our stories to. Um, so I'm not gonna necessarily go on trips willy-nilly uh if I don't feel like can truly confidently find a home for that story. So that's one way that I think things have changed.

Angela 28:26

Yeah.

Making Travel Writing Pay

Angela 28:27

And so what as a travel writer are you doing differently or others doing differently to make sure you have enough work and can pay your bills?

Rosie 28:35

I honestly think that most of us have um our fingers in many pies. I don't, I mean, of course, there are some people that if you're staff, that's a different story. But I think that people do, you know, obviously lots of journalists have substats now, and they have newsletters, they have courses, they do webinars, they do other writing, they do non-travel writing, they work for clients. Um, they have, you know, writing clients that pay more than travel clients do. I don't necessarily know very few people who just freelance travel articles are their bread and butter. Um, we all have something else that we do. I mean, whether it's somebody who focuses on guidebooks but then does something else or does in-person tours, everybody kind of has something because um, yeah, the the pay rates aren't going up necessarily.

Angela 29:22

Oh, unfortunately, yes. A little bit about, I'm going to ask a little bit about pitches.

PR Pitches That Get Replies

Angela 29:27

What makes so not just you know, press trip, but what makes a pitch stand out to you in your email? A pitch received from a publicist? Yes, yes.

Rosie 29:36

Um, and sorry if these sound very basic. Maybe you've heard these all before, but first of all, something that's actually addressed to me, like a different name or yeah, my actual name. So not like hello, Jezebel or Jessica or whatever. Somebody else listening. Um which obviously does happen, you know, things happen. Yeah, you know, even I'm sure we we do that with editor emails sometimes. Um, something that's addressed to me. And if I can see that you've sent it to my email address, not to BCC, and then I know it's gone to like a hundred people. So if it's gone to BCC and I'm just one of them, then I don't feel like inclined that I have to respond to that because it was just a massive email sent to everybody. Um, somebody that I guess has taken time to know what I what I do, what I like, and who I am. And of course, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of journalists, and I know that it's hard to do that, but I do think I have done somewhat of a good job in getting that information out there. My muckrack says at the top of my muck rack profile, I don't want cold destinations. Like I've written you, like I literally says it on my muck rack. And then I have two about pages on my website that, you know, outline where I've been, you know, where I like to go, who I've written for. Um, and then there's even like a uh, you know, questions about me list as well. So there is information for people who want to find it. Um, so I feel like if you have tried to find that information and understand who I am, then you know it's there's a symbiosis there. Like that I also kind of want to understand who you are because you already taken the time and I can see that there's going to be a duty of care and I think there's going to be consideration in our working relationship together.

Where To Follow And Sign Up

Angela 31:21

Yes. Do you only write about places you've been?

Rosie 31:24

Um for the most part, yes. I mean, if I'm assigned something, if my editor says, hey, just do this, do this quickly, then yes, you know, I'll I'll I'll research. But for the most part, yes. And because I have built a relationship with editors for specific destinations, so they tend to come with me for those stories. So I get lots of Mexico stories, lots of Panama stories, and uh Brazil as well, and I guess maybe Argentina now and the Caribbean, the ABCs. Um, so because they do know me for that, then I do just end up getting more of those destinations. Yeah. Um, so I guess that's why I need to go on more press trips. I can know more places.

Angela 32:01

Exactly. What else is next for you? You mentioned Mexico, anything else on the radar?

Rosie 32:07

Um, just yeah, a few, a few beautiful sunny destination trips here and there, and really uh trying to get press trip bros um out there so it can actually start helping people as as soon as possible, sooner rather than later. Um, onboarding journalists, the form is very, very, very detailed um and does take some time to complete to sort of you know answer all the questions, think about what you want, share anything that you want people to know about you. So that's uh that's my mission for the moment now.

Angela 32:36

So any travel journalists listening, how do they add to that?

Rosie 32:40

Um, they go to pressstrippros.com and create an account, and they can sign up either as a travel journalist or travel content creator. Um, there are two entirely different forms uh for each one because there's different um uh systems on the on the site. Um so press trippros.com to I guess get your your press trip profile out there and be discovered for the kind of trips that you actually want, your version of sunshine.

Angela 33:06

Yes. So, and how can our listeners follow your work, explore your portfolio, or learn more?

Final Thanks And Subscribe Ask

Rosie 33:12

And they can follow me on Instagram if they would like. That's the beach bell. So uh the beach bell with no e on the end, like the beach is calling me ring, ring, ring, ring, ring. Um, and uh, so that's on Instagram, or they can go to my portfolio website to see all my clips, uh my books, and a couple of hotel reviews as well at rosybell.net.

Angela 33:34

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Rosie. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate this today. I hope you have a beautiful day. That's all for this episode of Media and Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You can find more at Communications Redefined.comslash podcast. I'm your host, Angela Tool. Talk to you next time.