The Bottom Line
- An easy way to pull your existing freelance articles into another product
- Hudgin's own journey as a freelance columnist/travel writer provides great insight
- Very thorough approach to the writer's journey
- Some sections focus exclusively on the book publishing industry
- While valuable and solid, these portions may not be of concern to freelancers
Description
- Crafting the Travel Guidebook
- By Barbara Hudgins
- Published by Woodmont Press
- Approximately 287 pages
- Copyright 2007
Guide Review - Book Review: Hudgins' "Crafting the Travel Guidebook"
Barbara Hudgins' book provided so very much information and resources that I had to hit my computer to sort it all out! Travel writers with a few articles under their belt will benefit from Hudgins' careful prodding and poking when adding to their portfolio. However, those seeking to start out in the industry will also need to consult this guide in order to receive a valuable introduction into the world of travel writing.
Yes, this is a book about writing a book, but Hudgins started out as a columnist, and it wasn't until her family prompted her to pull all of her separate articles into one great book that her bestseller New Jersey Day Trips was born. Freelance writers will benefit from the very first section, in which Hudgins, in a friendly and wizened voice, prompts writers with anecdotal travel tales and revealing stories about her own writing methods. The first section will aid potential book authors in narrowing down the focus of a travel guide, but the exact same prompts and questions are those that the freelance travel writer must face.
The second section is very much book-based, and therefore potentially not of too much use to a freelance audience. However, it does lead quite cleanly into the third section, "Words and Pictures", which is where the treasure trove of this book is for freelancers. Here, Hudgin's gets down to the nitty gritty of travel writing- what to write, how to write it, and what to leave out. It is in this section that this freelance writer garnered the most useful information.
This book is a must-buy for the aspiring travel writer, and for the travel freelancer working their way up the eschelons of travel writing. Highly recommended!
