Pinar Tarhan, Author at Addicted to Writing

Review for Kirsty Stuart’s E-book: How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money

Posted on May 5, 2014 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Some things in life are just amazing and should be experienced, such as:

– A rocking stadium concert by an artist you adore (and by that I mean you know pretty much all the songs), where you are ideally close enough to the stage so you don’t just watch things from the big screens.

– Writing at least one story where you pour out your soul. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction is irrelevant. And since you are a writer, chances are, there’ll be tens of stroy ideas where can you share bits of your soul. Don’t hold it in;)

– Dancing to one of your favorite songs without caring about anyone or anything else.

– Finding your favorite spot/city/country.

And probably the most important one for us writers:

– Making a living writing about a topic you truly enjoy. And most of us love traveling. We just happen to run out of money or time to do it as often as we’d like.

What if we could make enough money travel writing? Whether it’s from your own travel blog(s), writing for others or a combination of these, you can start your travel writing career. But if you feel stuck, or not quite sure where to start, I’ve just the resource for you.

Travel writing is easy – if you are writing for yourself.

It’s writing with the right voice, for the right audience and with the right structure that’s hard. Finding ideas and the right markets for them can be challenging, just like any other writing market.

Finding unique slants can be even more difficult in this niche. After all, it has existed for a long time, and pretty much everything has been covered. Luckily, no one covers anything like you. It does help, however, when you can take advantage of a savvier writer. It makes the climb to success less daunting, and a lot more fun.

One of those savvier writers is the lovely Kirsty Stuart, and the recommended resource is her e-book How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money. This e-book comes with 69 pages featuring:

practical tips and experiences from other expert travel bloggers,
Kirsty’s own story,
how to start and run your travel blog (including which pages you should have and what information each page should contain),
examples of thriving travel blogs,
how to find ideas,
how to find an audience,
how to manage and deploy social media for your travel blog,
earning money with information products (including tips on how to market them),
earning money with affiliate marketing,
sponsored posts and paid trips,
advertising on your blog (along with pros and cons),
how to pitch to publications and other clients,
list of some travel writing markets,
earning from blogging for others (as well as additional services you can offer),
writing an awesome travel post,
finding work when you need to,
inspirational quotes,
tips to kill your fears and feel encouraged.

Why I loved the book (besides the awesome content, of course):

it’s great for anyone who wants to write full-time about a topic they love, not just travel. The tips can be applied to any niche, but it is a lot more specific if you are interested in travel writing and blogging since she provides so many relevant tips, resources and first-hand experiences.
the lifestyle mentioned, and how she came to choose travel writing, is easy to identify with: she calls it the struggle to adapt after you’ve been traveling a long time. I call it post-Erasmus depression. (or blues, if you are having an easier time.This shall be one of my future travel posts!)
it’s honest.
it’s comprehensive. It fills you in about the effort level from the beginning. And you don’t need to be a beginner blogger to take advantage of it.
it’s fun. I’m big on fun.
it offers places/ways/markets you can find travel blogging work.

Oh, did I mention the price is £2,99 ? You can check out Kirsty’s site Freelance Writers Online for more useful tips on freelance writing. And you can check out one of her own travel posts: Must-See Temples in Chiang Mai.

She was also kind enough to answer my questions on travel writing.

Kirsty on writing about politically “hot” countries:

“I personally write travel articles for companies like Viator and Flight Centre, and while I’m sure they wouldn’t want me to cover up any truths, their business is promoting travel! They want people to travel – it’s in their best interests – so for clients like this I don’t really write about political instability or anything of that nature. They’re not news sites so it’s not really relevant.”

Kirsty on whether or not great stories have an expiration date (because what if you had a breath-taking experience years ago and you are only writing about it now?):

“I don’t think travel stories have an expiration date, no. Those tremendous experiences and stories need to be told! If there are details that I feel could have changed – the cost of a visa at the land border between Thailand and Cambodia springs to mind – then I’ll just say that. Something like, “It cost $20 USD (at the time of writing)” should cover it. If there’s a good story there, don’t let the passage of time prevent you from telling it.”

Even though some of the first articles I sold in my freelancing career were travel articles, I had somehow gone into a writer’s block-induced hiatus. But after going over the book for the second time, I made a plan, and made my “returning” travel pitch. It’ll hopefully lead to other ideas and acceptances.

Let me know what you think about traveling, traveling writing and the e-book🙂

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Updated May, 2021: 7 Awesome Resources For Querying Agents About Your Novel

Posted on April 20, 2014 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Update: This post was written some time ago, so an update is in order. While I still love these resources for querying agents, I decided to go the self-publishing route. I guess a post in favor of self-publishing is in order, so stay tuned to the blog. You can subscribe to the blog here.

Want to check out how my self-published novels and books look? Check out my Amazon Author page here.

My agent search has begun. So while I have several posts in progress including (but not limited to):

Review for extremely helpful and fun guide by Kirsty Stuart for making money travel blogging,
Review for another terrific resource for bloggers, The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing by Ali Luke,
A descriptive piece on steampunk,
Getting attached to fictional characters (and how sometimes writers need to kill off key characters).

But it’s only relevant and timely that I update you on my agent search, as well as the resources – yep, there’ll be some affiliate links- I’m using during the dreaded query and synopsis-writing phase:

Submitting and Formatting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino

Written by freelance writer/editor Chuck Sambuchino, this Writer’s Digest book guides you on the process of writing, formatting and querying both fiction and non-fiction. You’ll find invaluable tips on querying, cover letters, manuscript pages; as well as samples for anything you will need to write.

In addition to novel writing and submitting, the book includes sections for non-fiction, memoirs, graphic novels, screenplays and more.

2014 Guide to Agents

After having spent two hours and having only completed a detailed list for a handful of agents, I wanted to have a readily compiled book at hand with tips on the querying process as well:

2014 Guide to Agents includes contact details, agent interviews and their genre preferences, query letters agents liked, percentage of new writers vs. established writers, contracts and more.

Yes, I couldn’t recommend this book enough. That said, always check the website of the agency in question and combine the information you find in the book and on the site. Agencies tend to update their needs, so make sure you do your homework well.

For instance, while some agencies preference for romance is not mentioned in the book, you might find they’re especially after romance these days. Yeah, I’m speaking from experienceJ

AGENTQUERY. COM

AgentQuery, by their definition, is an online database of literary agents.

Agent Query is more than just a database, however. It includes information on the industry, including genre descriptions, reasons for needing an agent, other resources for writers and more.

QueryTracker

QueryTracker, by their definition, is a free database of agents and publishers. It’s free to register, and you can use it to track your own queries, hence the appropriateness of the name. The site has been repeatedly named as one of the best sites for writers by Writer’s Digest.

Query Shark

Literary Agent Janet Reid runs the essential query critique blog Query Shark where she analyzes real queries on what works and what doesn’t. Read her submission guidelines (and the rich well of previously critiqued queries) before querying yourself. There’s a chance she already corrected your mistakes and evaluated your strengths and weaknesses on somebody else’s query.

Writer’s Digest Posts on Agents

Just keep clicking on the related links you come across while reading these. There’s a ton, and it would take me months to generate a complete list here. I’ve, however, selected a few to get you started:

SUCCESSFUL QUERIES: AGENT ALYSSA REUBEN AND “HIDDEN CITIES” (MEMOIR / TRAVEL)

LITERARY AGENT INTERVIEW: MELISSA FLASHMAN OF TRIDENT MEDIA GROUP, LLC

AGENT ADVICE: SHIRA HOFFMAN OF MCINTOSH & OTIS, INC.

The Write Life Blog Posts:

This is a very insightful and practical resource on all aspects of writing in general.

But when you are looking for an agent, there are some questions you’d like answered to do a better job, including:

– What does an agent want to see when they google you?

– What do they want or hate in a query letter?

– Is it OK to query multiple agents at the same agency?

– How many queries without answers should be a warning sign for you to improve that query?

(*Please note that some of these have been excerpted from the 2014 Guide to Literary Agents, the book recommended earlier in this post.)

How Many Literary Agents Should You Query to have the Best Chance of Success?

Querying Literary Agents: Your Top 9 Questions Answered

What Does a Literary Agent Want to See When They Google You?

13 Ways to Convince a Literary Agent to Represent You

Frankly, I was a fan of The Write Life before. But these posts above turned me into an addict.:)

Of course it’s a good idea not to only apply these tips, but take notes of the names of agents that offered them as well. They might be amongst the people you’ll be submitting your work to after all.

Agents information are generally featured on the websites of the literary agencies they work for. However they tend to offer even more about what they want through interviews, tweets and blogs.

So learn what you can about each agent’s preferences before you send that query letter.

Currently, I’m absorbing and deploying these resources. Please add what you use in the comments.J

And good luck to everyone, whether you need it for inspiration, submission or just selling more.:)

Why I’m Forming My Own Thesaurus

Posted on March 20, 2014 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Thesauruses are often one of writers’ best friends, especially in times of drafting and editing. You don’t want to be repetitive. You want the word that sounds just right, and sometimes a nice Thesaurus provides you with some nifty words that for some reason elude your mind.

As someone who still has a fondness for paperbacks, I own an Oxford Thesaurus. I also make use of my built-in one that came with my MacBook Air. I occasionally use dictionary.com.

But I recently took up the habit of making a list of most-needed/liked words and phrases. I’ll be reading an article and I’ll see a word that fits the image I have in my head. I underline the stuff I loved in other books/magazines/blogs…Some of them even served as unintentional writing prompts. Ah…the mysterious (and slightly crazy) mind of the writer…

And let’s face it, while there are many ways your character can walk/enter/move/run…etc., only one or two will describe his mood and speed perfectly without contrasting his personality or situation.

Using the right word also eliminates unnecessary adverbs and adjectives. Don’t get me wrong. I might be the in the minority as a writer as I love those parts of speech. Still, some of them are redundant and if you can make your piece smoother, you go ahead and do it.

So there. I’m, with the help the stuff I’m reading and other Thesauruses at hand, forming my own. Because I know what I need. I know what my characters need.

And it makes the process much faster.

What are your go-to resources for the writing process? Have you thought about collecting your favorite vocabulary?

To conclude, here’s a funny video from Friends on why we shouldn’t overuse anything, thesauruses.:)

P.S. I was also recommended Chambers Dictionary for Mac.

Turn-Offs in Novels: Jargon, Foreign Languages and Detailed Description of Very Minor Characters

Posted on March 2, 2014 Written by Pinar Tarhan

I’ve fallen out with a novel I had eagerly bought. I picked it out the ways I always do. I went to one of my favorite bookstores (aka a big store with a decent, varied collection and offering comfy seating and quiet to explore), took 5-10 books whose premise (and genre) I was intrigued by and read a little. I chose the one that appealed to my current reading need: a fun, fast-paced, emotional romance novel. (While I’m also a huge fan of thrillers, I’m working on a romantic/comedy/drama manuscript myself, it makes more sense to research the market – seeing what sells while getting the escapism I need.)

And it started fine enough. For the first 50/100 pages or so, it was unputdownable. I read it on the bus, on the escalators, before I went to bed… If I wasn’t working (or resting my eyes), I was reading it. Sure, there were some wordy descriptions, a few mentions in a foreign language and some jargon related to the characters’ work. It set the mood. It was sort of relevant. I didn’t mind.

But then the characters dropped their foreign language randomly in their sentences regularly. Some characters were from that foreign country so it made sense. Regrettably, it wasn’t one of the languages I sort of spoke. No, they went beyond your typical travel phrases or widely-known vocabulary. Then there was the jargon rain. It kept coming and coming.

Now, the book is aimed more at a female audience. The romantic storyline, a typical female character (I’ll get into the “typical” in my next post) and even the job (decoration-related) probably made the majority of female readers happy. But, you see, when it comes to interior design, I’m more like a guy than a girl . I don’t have an extended furniture vocabulary . Sure, I love shopping and decorating myself, but I don’t want to know the name/root/history of every single thing. So the book slowed down further. I kept giving breaks and then coming back.

The third turn-off was the detailed description of the more minor characters- characters we run into once or twice as the reader. Yes, I could picture them all vividly, but it took me off from the plots and subplots. Now, there are some things the book did very well. The woven storylines, the setting and the dialogue were pretty good. But I started rolling my eyes way too often, and the initial love and enthusiasm disappeared.

The good news is, the book breaks some rules with novel-writing advice. It’s good news, because it proves you can follow your heart, write your novel your own way and get it published. The bad news is, this book isn’t a debut. So the writer had some leeway. First-timers don’t usually have this luxury.

Now, the point is this post isn’t to critique one particular book (hence the absence of the the title and the name of the author), but to spark a discussion about using other languages, jargon, and the amount of details insignificant characters deserve. Basically, this author hasn’t killed her darlings but has given birth to them over and over and over again.

How do you feel about the use of them? How generous are you with these when it comes to your fiction? As for my musings on “typical“ female character, that’ll be in my next post, so please stay tuned. Until then, you can check out the problem with following advice in this post The Problem With Following Advice, and Writing Your Novel Your Way.