BlogHer - Two Years of Reading Travelblogs. What Catches My Eye Now? - Comments

Good advice

On Da Road — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:01:35 -0500

As a newbie to the Blogging world .. I appreciate your list. I am not a fan of the whole iten listing either.

Robin

http://www.midlifeonwheelsblog.com

Sigh. As an author, I can

Cynthia Clampitt — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:26:34 -0500

Sigh. As an author, I can only dream of someone offering me an advance higher than, say, $1,000. But at least it's encouraging to know that travel tales can make it to the best seller list. One can hope.

Cynthia

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

publishing advances

chandi — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:29:51 -0500

Yes, after 82 weeks on the best seller list, and now a movie deal... I have no doubt the publishers got their money worth.... but she wasn't very well known before this book, so I am surprised by the size of the advance. I thought only writers who were very well know and who the publishers KNEW FOR SURE would bring in the big bucks, would get an advance like that. But I'm not in that industry so correct me if I'm wrong!

Getting to the heart: On Divorce and Italy
http://Italiandreams.wordpress.com

Gilbert's Site

Pam — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:44:36 -0500

She talks about her advance here.

On a purely business level, I'd say the publishers got their money's worth.

Nerd's Eye View

Holy Cow!

chandi — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:33:40 -0500

Holy Cow! Her advance was ONE MILLION?

When I first traveled around Europe in the 80s for 6 months I did it on $10 a day, or tried to for the most part. And in 1990 when I went around the world for over a year I spent under $10,000 to do it. And when I lived in Italy for 2003 and 2004 I had to support my husband and I on what my business earned which wasn't more than $24,000 a year.

I must say I was envoius when reading Gilbert's book, of the large "allowance" she had for the trip although I had no idea it was a million.

Getting to the heart: On Divorce and Italy
http://Italiandreams.wordpress.com

Eat, Pray, Love

krysleigh — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:36:26 -0500

Me, too, Pam! I got through Eat and could.not.read.Pray. So boring! And Liz Gilbert was one of my writing professors in college, too, and a really cool gal. I like her other books, just not this one. I think as a travel writer by profession, it irked me that she could go on a "round-the-world trip" with a one million dollar advance and be considered "inspirational" when I have so many friends doing that on a $15,000 budget they saved and scrimped for years.

differing reactions of travelers and writers

chandi — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:01:50 -0500

Great discussion! I agree with what Debbie said about Eat Pray Love not being exactly a travel narrative.... it perhaps could be looked at more as an account of a deep soul searching time in the author's life, with the travel as an outer structure that frames her inner search.

I have lived a few times in both Italy and India and I have spent time in Ubud Bali, (and did a 10 day meditation retreat while in India and of course adore the food in Italy) so it was enjoyable for me to see those places through her eyes. Even if my experience of those places differs from hers in some respects, I definitely don't need some else's experience to be like my own. It's actually most interesting to me to read traveler's reactions to places I am familiar with when the reactions are different from mine.

Like Courteny said, I too felt that Gilbert's description of eating pizza Naples was particularly enjoyable. She used her friend's reaction to the pizza to show the reader how exquisite it was, instead of just "telling" us it was "really good"... I thought the way she described Sophie's reaction worked particularly well.

My blog by the way, is about divorce and Italy but on both accounts my experience is very different from Gilbert's.

Italiandreams.wordpress.com

Great list

debbiedubrow — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:49:08 -0500

I agree wholeheartedly with your list. I also like to see the writer's personality shine through. That's not be what I'm looking for when I read a magazine article or newspaper piece, but a blog is an extension of the writer & I like to develop a relationship with him or her over time.

I don't really think of Eat, Pray, Love as a travel story. I think it's a personal journey that happens in some different places... but it isn't really about the location. That said, I liked the "Eat" part best too... perhaps because I felt she connected more with Italy as a place than India or Bali or perhaps just because I like eating :)

Thanks for the nice words Pam & Nancy. I hope I'll be back at Travel Writer's next year. It was tough being away for so many days (more on my husband than anyone else ;) but I thought it was worth it.

Making Travel With Kids Fun @ www.deliciousbaby.com

my tombstone will say: she lived for details

courtenayr — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:32:10 -0500

i love details too! i'm the one always butting in to say, but what were they wearing? how did they look? who saw who first? your article was very interesting. i just started a blog that is about everything and nothing. it's the seinfeld of blogs. and by the way, i just finished eat pray love (and wrote about it on a blog post). but i would have liked much more description of italy (how did the roads look? were they cobblestone like i imagine?) and bali (what's the place w/ all the huts that newlyweds go? tell me about the water - just how bloody clear is it?). my favorite line was about the pizza - in my delirium i have come to believe that this pizza loves me back.

anyhoo, come visit: http://www.lifespearliscast.blogspot.com

i am trolling for comments and obsessing over how to get them. next time do a write-up on that.

Travelblogs - What catches my eye?

Nancy Brown WhataTrip — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:40:34 -0500

I met Debbie of Delicious Baby at BlogHer. We recently spent four days together at the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference in Marin. She is delightful.

As a 40-something, I couldn't agree more about the physically readable advice. I'm very aware that I need reading glasses and I don't need a blog site to affirm my failing eyesite.

If we're recommending good books, I'm enjoying the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I also picked up Alison Wright's "Learning to Breathe" at a recent book signing. She survived a horrific bus accident in Laos.

Thanks for the timely tips. My own URL blog is "under construction."

Nancy Brown

What a Trip

Twitter

Fair Enough

Fly Girl — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:21:51 -0500

Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard it labeled that way but fair enough. Maybe it depends on your own experiences and how closely you can relate to it. I haven't been to India yet but I have many friends that have and her tale resonated with me. I found it fascinating.

Farsighted Fly Girl: http://rosalindcummingsyeates.com/blog

I don't want to negatively influence Pam ...

Denise — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:55:52 -0500

so don't read, Pam! It may have just been me.

I had heard so many great things about Holy Cow and it just didn't live up to my expectations. I wanted to like it. I read every word and kept waiting to like it, or love it the way some people did. It felt flat to me.

A book about finding yourself and experiencing all of those really spiritual, soul searching events shouldn't bore me - and it just did.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

What didn't you like?

Fly Girl — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:49:54 -0500

The author is a journalist who takes readers along on her journey to India and self awareness. I thought her descriptions were evocative and I thought her voice was engaging. What didn't you like about it Denise?

Farsighted Fly Girl: http://rosalindcummingsyeates.com/blog

Disappointed in Holy Cow

Denise — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:43:25 -0500

If you read it, I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts on it Pam. I was disappointed in it.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Oh I love Linda

Fly Girl — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:23:17 -0500

Oh I love Linda Ellerbee but if you didn't love the whole thing, you definitely need to get Holy Cow. I highly recommend it. And here's my blog, I just started it on Sunday:

Farsighted Fly Girl: http://rosalindcummingsyeates.com/blog

Two Years of Reading Travelblogs. What Catches My Eye Now?

Pam — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:50:42 -0500

Shortly after the BlogHer 08 conference, I met fellow Seattelite Debbie from Delicious Baby. We talked about a bunch of stuff that's relevant to travelbloggers including what makes me, in my role as the contributing editor for travel, pay attention. Debbie suggested that I post my guidelines. What makes me stop and take notice? What makes a travelblog leap off the travel list here on the BlogHer site and on to my own blogroll? (And did you know, I see every new blog that's added? When you add your blog, I know, and I click. Secret powers.) Over two years ago (!!!!), I complied a lis t. It's time to revisit it.

A disclaimer: It should go without saying, but this is personal opinion only. You go ahead and do what you want with your blog, it's your playground, your self-expression. This list tells you what *I* look for, not some talent scout, not BlogHer as an organization, not some blogstar maker, just me. Got it? Okay then.

Here's what I said in 2006 followed with some updated comments.

1. Make it physically readable, for starters. I can't read pink text on a yellow background, for example. And sometimes, wow, there is so much going on that I can barely find the text.

Wow, does this matter more than ever! Just this week I had my specs updated, again. My 40 something eyes are doing what my doc tells me is perfectly normal but don't think I'm not pissed as hell about it. That means no, I can not read your tiny white san serif text on the black background, no matter HOW much I zoom. Think of the reader. Won't somebody please think of the reader!

2. Minimize the design toys, please. Everyone wants a custom blog, but if you don't really know what you're doing, you just end up with noise. There are lots of perfectly acceptable templates to use, it's not a crime to use them, especially if you're a good writer. I want to read you, not hire you as a designer.

This goes for all those widgets too. I'm a minimalist, still. I get that all the sidebar candy can help build community, I get that you want to share the love. I get why you lke those things. I totally do. But as a reader, that stuff hurts my eyes. Think long and hard before you put something on the page. What does it offer your reader? What does it offer you? Do you know? You should.

3. Reading itineraries is really boring, unless they're mine. I skip right over blogs that list where the writer went without telling me anything about happened there. These things get hidden in entries - first we went to the Museum, then the park, then we took the subway back to the old part of the city.... Meh. Doesn't tell me anything. What did you do, see, eat there? No changes here. This is still completely true.

4. Turns out I do want to see a picture of you, who knew? I love the surprise of seeing that some big dude in a Hawaiian shirt and a silly hat is writing culturally sensitive stories about visiting holy sites. Or some hard core outdoors climber is a woman of a "certain age." Same deal. Still totally true.

5. Speaking of pictures, bring 'em. It's nice when there are thumbnails in the posts, or a single photo up top, and then, after reading, I can go click through to an album. I don't care for it when people use a linear blog format for photoblogs, however, there are better ways to present photos only. If you're keeping a photoblog, use a tool that's designed for it, not one that's designed for text.

I've become a bit more forgiving on this because, I admit it, I love seeing your travel pictures. Love it. I'm the neighbor who will sit through the three hour slide show of your trip to the Mall of America. Crazy, but true. Do pay a little attention to what's happening when you use text and photos together - sometimes if the photos are too big you'll end up with a paragraph stacked along one skinny edge and that's too hard to read. Rather than fuss about how you present your photos, now I'd just like you to make sure they don't break your readability.

6. In general - though not always - I tend to breeze past Live Journal and My Space blogs. Sorry, but mostly, I'm not seeing compelling reading in those implementations, or they're too noisy to read.

Yup, this is still true. I also tend to avoid the travelblog hosts - not because I don't like them, but because something about the way that content is indexed means I rarely find it. This is a shame because there's good stuff in there, I'm quite sure of it. So I guess I'd add that I pay attention mostly to self hosted stand alone blogs. Mostly. It's not 100% true but if you're at your own URL, you're easier for me to find.

7. Negativity can be okay as long as it's not cultural imperialism. "Oh my god, I ate the most disgusting thing ever!" is all right as long as it's followed by a description of what the thing was and how it's a local specialty and you had the nerve to try it. Props to you for being adventurous. Just don't diss the locals, man.

Culturally sensitive and insightful commentary catches my interest every time. And yeah, I know that you can end up some place where it seems like everyone is trying to rip you off or sell you something - ask me about Hoi An some time. Wow, was that exhausting. But if you always remember that you're the outsider, that you don't understand how things work when you're traveling, you are unlikely to fall into the unforgivable sin of cultural superiority. I'll have none of that. This doesn't mean I have no sense of humor about cultural foibles, but be careful, okay? I am extremely unforgiving of anything that seems racist or nationalist.

8. Too much introspection? "I was thinking about my friends back home and how they were so not having this experience that was totally changing me and everything is different now..." Click. Next please. I get that travel can equal huge transformation, but I'd so much rather read about how that transformation is being experienced. Is that too woo woo to make sense? Maybe. Maybe you get what I mean. Ditto for irony and ubercoolness. What's the point in traveling if you're going to be all inside your own head or distant from what's happening in front of you?

Oh my god, this is still so true. If I wanted to read about philosophy and enlightenment, that's what I'd be reading. It's not travel, it's introspection. I'm not saying that stuff is invalid, I'm just saying it isn't interesting to me as travel reading. Here's an analogy: I hated the "Pray" section of Eat, Pray, Love. I. Did. Not. Care.

9. Gimme the details! I absolutely want to read about how the waiter looked like he was wearing his Grandmother's wig, that hair could so not have been real, or how the train station smelled of cigarettes and pee and oddly, roses. Good travel writing doesn't miss the little things sitting in the corners in the background.

This still defines good writing for me. Anybody can see the Eiffel Tower. Can you see the woman in the headscarf in the background? She's talking on the cell phone while pushing a baby carriage full of baguettes. If you show me the what's happening around the Tower, it's so much more than a snapshot.

10. Take me with you. This is difficult to define and quantify, but good travel writing makes the reader feel like they're on the trip too. Put me in the car, on the bus, next to you on the plane. I really want to be there, so take me with you. No, seriously, take me with you. I can be ready to go in, like, 20 minutes.

It still only takes me about 20 minutes to pack. But I really can't go anywhere until my new specs come in, okay? They're due next week.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View. If you'd like to talk to others about what makes a great travelblog, join the Travelblogger's Forum.