Every week, the esteemed planet-botherer and self-proclaimed “globo-scribe” Fenwick Mahler imparts salty droplets of his hard-earned wisdom to help aspiring travel writers. Guest poster Mahler has been published in some of the world’s most obscure journals, and instantly checks out of any hotel that doesn’t offer ‘tribal’ cuisine in its restaurant. Here, he speaks of the benefit of ploughing your own furrow in an increasingly-crowded market.
Over the coming weeks, Mahler will be offering life lessons to anyone who would fancy themselves an exponent of that most esteemed of all professions: that of the travel writer.
1. Standing out
Hello, fellow Earth humans. People often ask me how they can tread the same path that I do, reporting from the most desolate corners of the earth for very little financial reward. This is what I tell them.
By far the most important part of travel writing is getting your picture byline or headshot right. Now, you’ll want to distinguish yourself from the all the other writing Johnnies, and there’s no better way to do this than by having a promotional photograph of yourself taken with you standing next to a huge globe. The bigger the better. I can’t stress this enough. This makes it clear that you mean business. Global business.
Any editor forced to look at this via an unsolicited email or ten-page document outlining your suitability as a correspondent (see future lesson: “Pitching”) will be under no illusions about the message: “Specialist subject: THE EARTH”.
An antique globe in a national library or other respectable thinkery is best, though at a push, a luminous inflatable one will get the message across, though if this is the case, don’t blame me if your first assignments are filed from the confines of various all-inclusive resorts in the less salubrious outposts of the Med.
If this proves too tricky to organise, simply have your photograph taken whilst sporting some kind of exotic accessory – an explorer’s hat, giant compass or some kind of tribal knickknack works a treat, and imparts the same sense of authority.
In short, it immediately singles you out as someone who completely understands and empathises with the diverse cultures to be found in even the most PR-starved regions of the sub-Sahara, for instance.
I leave you with my current self-portrait, taken as I held forth with my big wooden spoon to the aboriginal elders in a far-flung organic yurt. Look and learn, my fellow journeyers. What does it say to you? It says ‘a man of the world’, ‘a man of the (indigenous) people’, a TRAVELLER.
Until next time. Stay safe. And stay global.
(Images used under Creative Commons, copyright massdistraction)
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