S8 E93: How Do You Know If Your Travel Story Has Potential?

Get the show’s transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] YD: Hello everyone. Hello. Hello, welcome back. Welcome back to Travel Media Lab. I'm Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel photographer and writer storyteller, community builder. Podcaster, an entrepreneur working with various publications like na, geo Traveler, the New York Times, a far media lonely planet, and more traveling to some interesting places around the world and producing stories that I'm just absolutely passionate about.

[00:00:31] And Travel Media Lab is our channel, our platform. for helping you break into the travel media space where I always share insights, tips, advice, and all the knowledge I've g gathered in working in this space in the last six years. And today, what I wanna do is I wanna talk to you about one of the most, Common questions I get asked all the time.

[00:00:59] All the time. And that people, in our community, when they ask me that question, when they understand what I'm, About to tell you, they have just the biggest aha moment, in their journey into travel media space. So I'm super excited to share with you today, some thoughts about how do you know if your travel story has potential?

[00:01:23] Okay. How do you know if your travel story has potential? I am recording this from Istanbul, Turkey, and. this is just a, a warning that you might hear some noises today. if you hear them coming through the street, right here I have a, a view of, of a street here in Istanbul. I'm staying on a very busy street and so.

[00:01:48] You know, you might hear some of that street noise coming in today. There's lots of traffic. People are shouting because somebody is blocking traffic. So, it's a very busy, busy day right now in Istanbul. So excuse the noises, but I wanted to make sure that I get this information out to you cuz it can help you on, on your, path on becoming a travel photographer and writer when you realize or when you understand how to think about, whether or not your story has potential.

[00:02:17] so I'm in Istanbul right now and I've had a pretty wild year already. and it's only April. Lots more to come. This year already in the first four months of the year, I went, on assignments to Qatar, to Sierra Leone, to the Arctic Circle. Now I just, just about wrapped up an assignments, on Turkey Southern coast, that I'm about to start pitching.

[00:02:42] And, then I have Jordan coming up and Puerto Rico and, and all of that's, by the end of May. this assignment in Turkey in particular was very important to me. As you know, you are probably aware of the fact that, Turkey had a devastating earthquake happen in one of their regions, at the beginning of this year.

[00:03:04] And I've been wanting to do a story in Turkey for a long time now, this specific story on, on one of the coasts, here in the country. And when I, was deciding whether or not I, I should go, The tourism board representatives that I work with, they actually told me, Yulia, please come right now.

[00:03:23] Because many people are hesitating to come to Turkey this year because of the earthquake. But what's happening is that, actually this means that the, the rest of the regions that weren't affected by the earthquake are, are now suffering, because they're not getting the tourists that they, they usually get in the season and they.

[00:03:42] Tourism, you know, this is, this is their livelihood. So, that was, kind of one of the reasons for me going to Turkey now and, checking out some of the regions. And there are lots of stories that I'm going to be pitching from this trip that I'm, that I'm just really, really excited about. And you know, what I just described to you this, the last four months or so.

[EPISODE]

[00:04:05] It's, you know, six years ago when I started on this path, it seemed absolutely impossible that this would be a career path for me. That this would be something that I would be doing, going on all these assignments, pursuing all these stories and stuff. And now I'm here. Right now I'm here. And the reason I bring this up is because if I can do this, you can do this too.

[00:04:25] You can absolutely do this. It's not a rocking science kind of job. You do need to understand how the industry works. You do need to. a sense for storytelling, for writing or photography, whichever one is your thing or videography even. But, once you do that, then you absolutely can, can make it in this industry.

[00:04:44] But the thing is that you've got to take steps, right? You've got to take action, which is something that I always advocate for taking action. Getting a break in this industry is not going to magically happen on its own, right? You're not just going to get discovered on Instagram or Twitter one day, and that's the real talk, you know?

[00:05:05] So don't sit around and wait for somebody to discover you or how great of a writer you are. How, how great of a photographer you are, you have to take steps if you want to reach a certain level in this industry. And I'm a huge believer in that and everybody who I work with in the trouble Media Lab community has taken steps, to get to where they wanna be, and now they're getting results, which is super exciting as well.

[00:05:32] So, alright, let's get into it today. So how do you know if your travel story has potential? So there are kind of three big considerations that I wanna, share with you today. And hopefully by the end of this, you will be approaching evaluating your stories or evaluating everything that you do in a different light.

[00:05:53] that's going to help you become a better story teller and start approaching magazines and publications and people that you wanna work with, which is super exciting. So, first consideration that I wanna leave you with is that just because you went and traveled somewhere doesn't make it a story. Just because you went on a trip somewhere, it doesn't make it a story.

[00:06:17] Right. That is a very big mindset shift from and, and an orientation shift from a sort of this trouble blogging. Orientation into a trouble journalism orientation. Now, trouble blogging and trouble journalist journalism are definitely related fields, and I get this question a lot as well. Right? How does trouble journalism differ from trouble blogging and, and literally differ is, is it this one and the same?

[00:06:47] And the answer here is that no, they're not one on one and the same, they're related. And of course the line, the. For each of them are blurring more and more in the industry. You know, as a travel journalist, I also blog on social media for sure. travel Blogger is definitely published articles in magazines for sure.

[00:07:08] So you can do both jobs. And, and b called both a blogger and a journalist. But the orientation and how you approach the stories that you do will be so, so different for a blogger versus a journalist. as a blogger, right, as a travel blogger, I report on things, that I do on a trip from my own personal perspective, right?

[00:07:30] That's why we. oh my goodness. I don't know if you guys can hear this, but people are just really going off on the street honking, honking, honking like crazy. So today you, you get to experience the, the vibe of a busy, Istan Street as well. for sure. So as a travel blogger, I pursue everything that I do in the travel story through my personal perspective.

[00:07:52] And that's why we follow travel bloggers, right? We wanna know where did you stay, what did you do, what did you think about it? How, how did you feel? What did you think of this hotel? Et cetera, et cetera. And it's all about my own experience as a travel blogger. Right now. As a travel journalist, it's completely, 180 degrees switched.

[00:08:14] It's not about me. The story's not about me. The story is, oriented externally. It's about other people. Who did I meet? Who did I encounter? What is their life like? What are they doing right? Things like that. And so, when you understand that you, when you understand that, you understand that as a travel journalist, just because you traveled somewhere just because you, you did this hike, it doesn't automatically make it a story for a travel blogger.

[00:08:42] That's a story, right? I went on this, amazing hike and it was great and I loved it. And here are some things to consider for a travel journalist. For most of the stories that were published with magazines, that's not enough of a story. Now, there is an exception to that, right? If you have a personal narrative, personal essay, that we do, and I've done for sure in my career, then we turn that personal experience of going on a hike or of doing something.

[00:09:11] But the key here is that we always, scale up or zoom out of our own personal experience and tell a larger story that tells us something about the world through the lens of our personal experience. So I hope you see the difference here, right? And one is the stories that I went and I, and I did a hike That's a trouble blogger approach.

[00:09:34] And for a trouble journalist it would be, I went and did an, I went and, and, and. Did this hike and here's what it, what it can tell you about, you know, the importance of keeping our natural parks alive, for example. And maybe there are some statistics about how, natural parks are increasing around the world and how it's related to our health and mental wellbeing and things like that, right?

[00:09:57] So as a journalist, we always have an orientation external. We always want to think that, think about, the fact that the story's not about me. The story is about other people that I'm encountering, that I'm pursuing,on the road, right? So again, number one, just because you did something doesn't make it a story.

[00:10:15] Very important to understand as a travel journalist. All right. Second tip that I wanna share with you. So think about when you're considering if your travel story has potential, a story, has many different ingredients, story has characters, story, has a narrative. Story has a progression, something has happened, something has impacted, somehow something has shifted, right?

[00:10:43] Maybe there is a conflict, maybe there is a tension. Maybe there is a surprise or a suspense. There is some development there, right? A story often has some news attached to it, right? perhaps, Japan just open up borders and we are looking at, five new. eco-friendly hotels that are opening up in Tokyo, let's say, as, as a result of the country opening up again.

[00:11:10] Of course, I just made this up and it's, it was probably a pretty bad example, but you get the point, right? so. If you have any or many of these elements, characters, narrative, progress, tension, conflict, then you probably have a story on your hands. If you cannot answer the question, who are the characters in my story?

[00:11:34] Then you probably don't have a story. If you cannot answer the question, what happens or what changed, or how did somebody get impact as a. Then you probably don't have a story, right? So, and, and, and a way to sort of practice your eye and practice your own skill of figuring out if, if it's a story or not, is by reading you guys, is by reading the publications that you wanna work with and.

[00:12:04] That is a tip that I always give to everyone, and it's a really good one. If you wanna work with National Geographic, read National Geographic, right? Look at what kind of stories they publish, look at, any particular stories that you read and, and, and you're really gravitating towards and try to come up with answers to these questions.

[00:12:23] What are the characters in this? Who are the characters in this story? What is the narrative? Right? What is the tension here? Or the. Are there any news that the writer of the story has pulled into the story to make it seem,even more relevant to the current moment, right? You can start reading stories, not just as a consumer, but as, as a student.

[00:12:46] Of this craft, of, of the travel storytelling craft. And, by doing that, you will actually become better yourself at identifying potential stories and of identifying, you know, characters in the story, thinking about the narrative, thinking about, you know, if, if there is any potential news that you can. find to support your story if there is any tension or conflict that the story resolves, right?

[00:13:16] All of those elements need to be present for the idea that you're thinking about potentially pitching, a publication to be an actual story. Okay? So number two, tip number two, story has to have characters narrative progress or tension or conflict, and ideally, News attached to it as well. Alright, the third tip that I wanna leave you with is that a story answers the question or two questions rather.

[00:13:49] So what and why should my readers care, right, as an editor to a publication? That's sort of the lens that I, I take on when I get pitches. If I was an editor, I would be thinking about every potential pitch that comes across my inbox in this way. So what, right? Why should I care? Why should my readers care?

[00:14:13] Why should the world care about what you have to say? in this story, right? So, and again, and that actually comes back to point number one or tip number one, just because you went on a trip doesn't automatically make it a story. And that's, sort of where I see a lot of, beginners in this field.

[00:14:34] That's where, they trip up oftentimes because they pitch stories that are about their trip, that are about them going and hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, for example, right? And again, as a blogger, it's great you have an excellent blog post or blog article to write about hiking, Mount Kilimanjaro. But as a, as a travel journalist, you have to answer that question.

[00:14:58] So what, right? Why should we care now that we don't care that you went and Clive Kilimanjaro? Of course. It's exciting, right? We're very, very excited for you and proud of you. It's a, it's a huge endeavor. But you have to ask why does somebody who doesn't know you, somebody who is not in your immediate circle of friends, would care that you went and did the cle manjaro, climb, right?

[00:15:21] That's kind of the lens you need to start taking on. Why would other people who don't know me care? What is something here? what is something important that is part of the story that this story of me. Climbing Mount Ki Manjaro absolutely must be published and shared with the wider world, with people who don't know me.

[00:15:45] Maybe there is, again, something new happening in Mount Kilimanjaro. Maybe you've learned about this community of, you know, again, I'm just making this up and it's probably gonna be a horrible example, but, maybe you just learned something about the community of female. Climbing instructors, who are, indigenous and who are coming up with a way to bring more, young girls into this community, let's say.

[00:16:13] Right? And it's a new thing that's been happening over the past few years, and you are absolutely fascinated by the story. You think it's an important story, and you, you went and did that, right? Again, you went and you experienced this climbing Kilimanjaro. But you also encountered this community of indigenous female climbers, and you wanna tell the world about it.

[00:16:34] The world should care about the fact that these women are doing these awesome things, right? So again, Answer that question, why should my readers care? Why should anyone who doesn't know me, the climber of Kilimanjaro care, the fact about the fact that I went and did this? Okay? And it's not always, straightforward, right?

[00:16:56] It's not always as black and white as I might, make it. in this conversation, but actually that's where communities like the one, that I've created with Travel Media Lab come in because we can discuss that together, right? We can brainstorm together. We actually have a brainstorming call coming up, in two days, our monthly brainstorming call where we get on the phone or we get on Zoom rather.

[00:17:21] And we discuss all kinds of questions, including questions like this, right? When you're putting your pitch together and you're struggling to understand why should my readers care? Or why should the readers of this publication care? We can come up with an answer to that together. Okay. So tip number three is a story answers the question.

[00:17:41] So what or why should my readers care? So once you work through these three, Considerations. Once you understand that just because you went and traveled somewhere doesn't make it a story, that a story has characters, has a narrative, has a progression attention, a conflict, some news attached to it. and that the story answers the question.

[00:18:06] So what and why should my readers care? Once you work through these considerations, you, will know. If you have a story on your hands or not, and if you do, you can develop it into a pitch that magazines will be super excited about. And how do you do that? I teach that, I teach pitch development and how to approach publications and how to research publications and much, much more.

[00:18:35] I teach all of that inside my upcoming six month group travel journalism program. It's called Introduction to Travel Journalism. Very self-explanatory. And by the way, I just wanna, remind you that we are opening enrollment to this program. This May and this year it'll be the only opportunity to join us.

[00:19:00] I have a very busy schedule coming up, as you can see. The year has just started and it's already been, pretty, pretty crazy for me. So I can only do this program once this year. This is the new thing this year. We used to o open enrollment for this program twice a year, but,I, I no longer can do that.

[00:19:21] And so it's only is going to be opening for enrollment. This may. So if travel journalism, if travel writing, travel photography, if working with tourism boards, working with magazines is something that you want to do and you want to, make a part of your life, then consider joining us in this group program.

[00:19:40] It's six months long. It's pretty awesome. Our students love it. We're gonna have an interview coming up with one of our students who will, will tell you herself how the experience, has been for her. So if that's something you are considering doing, just to be, be sure to not miss it because again, this year, We're only opening enrollment once and it's gonna be this May.

[00:20:04] Okay? And, in order for you to get notified about enrollment, when we open the enrollment window, you have to get on the wait list. we will only be sending this information to people on our wait list, okay? So if you are not on the wait list, you're not gonna know. When the program opens, when we're we, we start enrollment and all of that.

[00:20:24] So get on the wait list. you can go to travel medialab.com/class. You can find that link. just, just below. Okay. if you're listening this, as a podcast, you can find it on the show notes. Or if you're checking us out on YouTube, by the way, we have a YouTube channel, travel MediaLab. if you're looking at it there, then you can also find that link, in the video.

[00:20:47] Okay guys? So again, three things to think about when you're trying to understand if your travel story has potential to be published, in travel. Just because you did something doesn't make it a story. A story has characters, narrative, progress, tension, conflict, news, and the story answers the question.

[00:21:07] So what and why should my readers care? I hope this was useful to you. I hope some light bulbs went off as they often do when I cover this topic, in my community. And I hope you, you consider, joining us, in our group travel journalism program that, starts this, this may definitely get on the wait list because that's the only way you'll find out, when and how, the program will open.

[00:21:33] Okay. Have a wonderful rest of your week everyone, and I will talk to you soon. Bye.