I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 26.
First of all, How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money by Kirsty Stuart is not a book on how to write travel. It’s how to set up the blog and then make real, tangible money from it.
So if you’re looking for topics to include on your new travel blog, or how to write blog posts, this isn’t the book for you. Look instead for how-to books on actual travel writing for blog posts, articles, features, books, websites, etc.
What the book does do is make it very clear that this isn’t an easy ride. There’s a lot of hard work involved in travel writing, and then having to keep up with a productive, income-generating travel blog that offers incentives to readers to keep coming back is a lot more extra work.
Surprisingly, the first thing the author suggests is starting a premium blog, i.e. not a free one. Personally, in the 6 – 12 months she also suggests building a following, I think I’d go for a free blogging platform and then upgrade if the need becomes apparent. But there’s nothing wrong with aiming high from the start, and perhaps once the blog is busy enough for an upgrade, there might not be the time to do it.
Once the blog is up and running, the book then goes on to cover things like adding social media, how to generate income from information products, affiliate marketing, advertising, press trips. And then it continues with how to make money blogging for other people and other organisations.
I did try to visit the author’s travel blog, but it doesn’t seem to be there any more. Instead there’s a link to a new website that’s all about the author selling her writing courses and offering other advice to fellow writers.
How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money is only available on Kindle, and as it was published in 2013, this isn’t likely to change, especially with the author changing direction now. Buy it for £2.99 ($3.87).
