More webby criticism. I’ve had quite a bit of thinky free time. Not interested in my opinionated bloviating on blogging? How’s about an odd little museum in Auburn, Washington, instead?
I’ve read a significant number of posts by bloggers saying, essentially, here’s a bunch of stuff I need if you’re going to invite me on your trip. Or, alternatively, here are a bunch of tactics you, blogger, can follow to get a free trip. And often, that stuff irritates the daylights out of me. No, truthfully, every time that stuff irritates the daylights out of me. Rarely, do I see anything saying “Do good, honest work. Strive to write well and love your readers. Everything else will follow.”
Honestly, when I get an invitation to travel somewhere I think:
ARE YOU SURE?! YOU WANT TO SPEND MONEY FOR ME TO DO WHAT, NOW? BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO WRITE ABOUT IT ON MY BLOG? WHAT? ARE YOU SURE?
Yes, I do I think these thoughts in all caps.
I am stunned to get invites for swanning about Austrian spa towns, or going to freaking Antarctica, or jetting about the back country of Alaska in tiny planes that look like they came out of cereal boxes in 1953.
Recently, I received two utterly amazing invitations. One to attend a week of ukulele classes in a tiny plantation town on Hawaii’s Big Island. The other, a trip of my choice with a tour company. On the options, the trans-Siberian from Beijing to St. Petersburg or, the one that makes me all crazy, a trip through Kenya and Tanzania that includes a stop in Zanzibar.
I am never not amazed. I never think, “Goddamit, I deserve this, or you ought give me this trip because X, Y, and furthermore, Z.” I never think, “Good lord, I can’t believe you expect me to pay for my own hookers” or “If you don’t give me wifi, how do you think I can get anything done, after all, I’m a blogger!”
Hat tip to my pal Mike Barish for the story about the writer asking for hookers on a press trip. That’s some serious nerve. Also, I think it’s idiotic that hotels charge for wifi, but that’s not the fault of my hosts.
I’m not so naive to think that I’m not a marketing investment or a commodity. I understand that on the scale of things, I’m cheap advertising, and that there’s a certain unwritten expectation that I’ll deliver shiny copy extolling the already over-documented virtues of the hotel or hosted meal or destination. I can point you to any number of independent bloggers who do exactly that, and to another handful who expect to be compensated by their hosts for the honor of having them partake in their all expenses paid adventure. I can copy and paste from an online brochure without leaving the house. And while celebrity endorsement fees are a grand dream, I’m not so egotistical as to think I have that kind of reach to warrant compensation for saying “I went to Prague. It was awesome.”
Sometimes things go terribly wrong, like that time I missed a flight to Mexico, something I’m still embarrassed about. And oh, there was a damaged motor home, and also on this trip to Austria, focused on outdoor activities, I got an absolutely vicious sinus infection and was unable to participate in anything beyond the first day’s leisurely stroll to the lakeside restaurant. I had to cancel a commissioned story because I’ve been unable to do the homework for it, and while I did get to revisit a major site on the itinerary, I’m quite sure my take on it won’t be what the PR people wish I’d written.
At the most basic level, I write about my experiences on a vanity web site. That’s what most independent bloggers do — we go and on about our opinions, our trip, me me me, and how weird or smelly or trying or any number of adjectives was it when we did some epic thing that many people will never get to do, and certainly never get to do on someone else’s nickel.
I don’t think, “I deserve this.” Or “look at all this exposure I’m giving you.” I know what my statistics are, I can see them, my traffic is negligible. If I had any shame, I’d be utterly sheepish about admitting this to you. While I might say, “Yeah, I probably won’t recommend this hotel,” I’d never say “I can’t believe you put me in such a second rate place.” I’ve actually gone so far as to tell the hosts that the place was not that great, but never in a personalized way. “I can’t send my readers there” is a completely different remark than “that place is not good enough for me.”
I’m not sure how we got from “Hey, here’s a little story about a trip I took!” to “Do you know who I am?” I’m not sure where we lost the wonder around the simple fact that telling stories can get us from Antarctica to Zanzibar and started to complain that we should have been flown there first class.
There are travel writers who work very hard to make a good living at their work, scribbling out query after query, squeezing every single story out of a trip so they can make it pay, chasing markets in all corners of the globe, working, working, working. I’m not those people; I’m an independent blogger. The most anyone can expect from me when they invite me on a trip is a post or two, a photo or two, and the contents of that post or photo? Totally up for grabs.
When I receive an invitation to do something unbelievable, I go from disbelief (ARE YOU SURE?) to absolute undiluted wonder. When it happens that I sit on the snow with penguins or look at the mustard and cranberry tundra of Denali National Park from the rattling window of a four seater propeller plane or stand on a completely empty beach on the island of Maui while the sun comes up, I think this: Thank you.
I hope I’ll get to go to Zanzibar. But even if I don’t, I’ll remain grateful to have even been asked.
Press trip posts
In interest of getting a little more 3D perspective, I’ve added a few links to posts I’ve written while on a press trip or sponsored travel. The sponsor is included (in parentheses).
- Waiting for the Apocalypse in Paradise: Religion, politics, and an evil dictator. (Hawaii Tourism)
- The Shipping Blues: Seasickness and lethargy in the Drake Passage. (TravelWild)
- You Have the Right to Experience Silence: Bad neighbors and the weirdness of camping. (BC Tourism)
- Sweethearts of the Rodeo: 4H funding and dead rock stars (Westport by the Sea)
My name was only once put forward for a ‘press trip’…and I jumped around the house like a monkey for a week!! There was no way I could actually possibly go but I am still high just for being considered!! Companies are just starting to see the value of our opinions and that our lonely natterings do have the ear of a growing portion of the traveling public; I only hope that those myopic, egotistical, idiots don’t go ruining it for the rest of us grateful tiny bloggers out there! I hope you get to Zanzibar also!!
I’m with Gillian, if someone offered me a trip I would be jumping around like a crazy women! To me, it would be an honor and one that I would take very seriously.
I’m still back at a writer asking for hookers on a press trip. It makes my interests seem pedestrian and my needs simple.
@ Mary Jo – I know! Who was that, I wonder.
Meanwhile, I wonder what I need to do get a PR person that I would really like to talk with to call me back after two calls and three weeks.
(I am evidently not a “credentialed journalist.”)
I guess there is plenty of variation in our needs (hookers??), and in theirs (PR peeps), as well.
OH, Pam I hope you get to go to Zanzibar. But I hope to see you during your Seattle layover before you do!
This needed to be written and certainly much better you, than me. Here ADD version of what I’m about to say to bloggers/writers:
1. Write GREAT stories.
2. Klout doesn’t matter as much as you think.
3. Twitter followers doesn’t matter as much as you think.
4. Page rank doesn’t matter as much as you think.
5. Really NOT much of ANYTHING matters as much as you think other that writing GREAT stories.
Sure hotels care about the return on their investment, page views, clicks, bookings, blah, blah, blah, but at the end of the day they want the same thing your readers want: stories that inspire people to visit i.e. to say after reading: “I really want to go there”. At the end of the day, this is what I’m writing for and places that aren’t interested in that, I’m not interested in working with. And hotels, destinations, and PR firms: If I’m wrong, feel free to call me out on this here or email me or whatever. It’s an investment. I want to work with people and places that want to keep an on-going relationship; therefore, I put in the time and effort. I have a couple PR companies that I have worked with for a couple years. Those are the kinds of people I like.
Don’t worry about Jerry Blogger who is the #1 travel blogger. Don’t write like him. The world doesn’t need a bunch of people that write the same stuff. There aren’t many “undiscovered” places or “hidden gems” left in the world, but if you find a voice and style, you can bring writing that others aren’t.
I think the numbers DO matter to a lot of PR folks, after all, they’re buying ad distribution, essentially, with their money. But even big numbers don’t entitle you to act like an entitled jerk.
I don’t mean YOU, Spencer, I mean “you” in the broader sense.
after having talked to a fairly reasonable number of PR people in the past few months to prepare for a project launch soon, I can testify that you are right on this, Pam. Numbers do matter. A lot. Just as the ad rates for the NY Times are a lot higher than for the Memphis Commercial-Appeal or a lot higher for NBC primetime than the Cooking Channel, people are paying for eyeballs when they send travel bloggers to places. They may want a very concentrated focus (say a blog that is solely on food travel), but they want eyeballs — and the more you can offer them, the better off you are selling yourself to them. Thanks, good post, as usual.
Ah Pam, you seriously you hit more nails on more heads when it comes to how to properly go about being a blogger than anyone else on this world wide web.
I absolutely HATE the entitlement bullsh*t that I see often from bloggers in this community.
I have been invited on many trips in the last few years and still get the same “are you sure?” reaction when I read the email invite.
I turn down 9 out of 10 press trips due to family life, not fitting my style of travel or because I just do not want to go there (sorry Sacramento).
I have however heard more and more in the last few months from PR people that numbers do NOT matter and that they want quality work to show to their clients. If that is indeed the truth, then we are headed into a much better world with PR folk.
None of us will pull in the numbers of a major company’s site or blog. However we are important pieces of the overall publicity puzzle when it comes down to it.
So while we should not just feel like lowly bloggers, we should definitely never come off like jaded C list celebrities.
p.s. I love your rants.
Andrew
Hey, thanks for the love. Woot.
I turn down a bunch of stuff too. Gotta make a living and all that.
I like the idea that the value of numbers has shifted a little, but what I think has happened is numbers don’t mean everything, rather than they don’t matter at all. Numbers are part of the equation along with something else — longevity, other channels, quality… I don’t have good insight in to what role indy bloggers play; it would be rather interesting to hear from someone in PR on that.
Solo folks like me will never compete with, say, Gadling, but we’re not the same animal, why should we?
Aside: I totally feel like striving to be a jaded C list celebrity. Next stop, Big Brother. Heh.
You are the voice of reason. EVEN IN ALL CAPS.
Thanks for this post. I’m so new to the blogging world, and I have much different goals than most, and I have really learned a lot from reading you posts about this unique little world I’ve stumbled upon.
Hey, thanks Erik. But look around, too. I’m kind of an internet contrarian and plenty of folks disagree with me. Plenty of folks who think themselves successful. It’s worth seeing how others find their way in this messy world. Mine is kind of the bushwhacking route. 🙂
I love this post. I think gratitude is one of the most important things in life. It’s hard for me to believe there are people who feel this sort of entitlement. If I ever get invited to a press trip and I start complaining about how it’s not good enough for me someone should come up and slap me. There’s a lot more people out there with a lot less than me. Always be grateful.
I am going to be very, very disappointed if you didn’t jump on that offer for a week of ukulele classes. ‘Cause I sure would’ve!
Of course I did. I may have to pay for my own plane ticket, it’s not clear yet, but I want to go SO badly that I will charge it if I have to.
Like Alouise, I totally loved this post. You hit the nail on the head. Being thankful and honest are such key aspects of blogging, especially when it comes to something like a Press Trip.
Thank you for this!
(And yes..I also hope you went for the ukulele classes… EPIC!)
As usual, Pam, your honesty impresses me. I recently was asked to attend a press briefing for the Maui Visitor’s Bureau. I’m still not sure how they picked me, but it was awesome. I had a blast talking with the PR people and if something comes from it, cool. If not, it’s just another cool experience. I actually learned a bit about Lanai and Molokai that I didn’t know and now I kinda want to go to those two islands (and maybe Maui) to check out some things I think are interesting. When I told them I was more of a budget/backpacking/camping kind of traveler, one of the PR people said it was refreshing to hear that. Made my day! I just have to remind myself, I blog because I love sharing stories. The challenge for me is to flesh those stories out into more narrative writing, and doing this while working a full time job trying to save money up so I can travel some more! There aren’t enough hours in the day!
Well said, Pam! I can’t help wishing this was a podcast so that we could hear all the delicate nuances of your wrath…but, c’est la vie.
As a blogger who takes press trips quite often and yet still pines for the trips not offered, I join you in encouraging our community to be excited — and yet practical — when offered a trip or travel experience.
Questions to consider: Does this property/tour/location fit your niche — or push against your comfort zone? Is there a ton of material about this on the web already? Would you lay down your own cash money to have this experience if only you could?
And perhaps most importantly: Can you live without a gaggle of hookers for the next few days?
Answering in the affirmative to any two of these is probably a good reason to take the trip. Or, as I like to call it, the “professional travel opportunity.”
And Pam, I join you in saying: Don’t be a prat about it.
I totally agree with what you’re saying here about entitlement, but it strikes me as being in opposition to this post: https://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/2011/05/09/on-saying-no-to-press-trips/. I understand both sides of what you’re saying, and I do agree with always being grateful but only taking trips that coincide with your ideals/time/product. It just seems like that other post came during a wave of “What I Won’t Do” posts from the blogosphere, which is how I originally found it. You’re entitled to pick either side of the coin, but I’m hoping you’re more of the person in this post than the last (and I’m sure you are!).
I realized about a day in that I should have included a link and cross reference to that post too, thanks for bringing it up. I don’t think they’re actually in contradiction, though I’ll take a “what the hell!?!” on “the travel is a pain” and explain myself further.
Understand that I never expect anything other than what’s being offered. My response to “the travel is a pain” is to say “no, thank you,” not to say “sure, but only if you’ll send me biz class.” If I think the trip is going to suck for me because I’ll arrive feeling crappy, not have any recovery time,and then find myself a weary puddle on the couch, I pass.
That post is more about how what I want, more than anything, is to be a gracious guest and if I think I can’t get there, I’ll say no. It’s not saying “Your offer sucks, fix it and then I’ll say yes.” It’s closer to “This doesn’t fit.” There’s no entitlement in that.
Late invitations are just difficult. Being invited a week before the trip makes the assumption — or perhaps hopes — that I’ve got nothing else to do. This simply isn’t true. I wouldn’t expect a PR person to support my requests for stays, activities, whatever, a week before I arrived, and I know from experience that some places want as much as six months advance notice. It’s not entitlement to want advance notice, it’s just practical.
That post is an advance checklist of how I figure out if a group trip is a good fit. I don’t demand the trip be changed to fit my needs, I just say, politely, “Sorry it won’t work out. Thanks for the invitation.” That’s a long way from saying “Yeah, I’ll grace you with my presence if…”
I would officially like to go on a press trip with you. I’ve been on SO many (print) trips where there’s a writer (always a nobody) who is a total diva, and it makes the experience terrible for all parties involved. One time, in Rio, there was a girl (from a publication no one had even heard of before, I must note) who refused to take her “$5,000 Chanel watch” off at AIRPORT SECURITY, complained about Brazil as a whole because “they don’t use ice in their water” and skipped out on all of our cultural activities because she “only writes about spas.” So she ditched the official CVB-sponsored and planned itinerary for the whole week to go from spa to spa on comped treatment she arranged! It was ludicrous, but at the same time, the other five of us were just happy she was out of our hair!
But yes, it’s the Era of Entitlement; journalists and bloggers think they’re “owed” something somehow; and someday, this is going to backfire on them all and the Yous and Mes of the media, the ones who stay humble and honest and polite, are the ones who are going to triumph. At least I hope that’s how it will go =)
OMG. If sponsored hookers weren’t enough, the Chanel watch/spa lady? I’m usually pretty diplomatic, but these two would be getting more than the side-eye from me. I want to go on a press trip with you both.
I swear, I think I traveled with that writer. I swear.
Great post, Pam.
I’m pretty sure I’m the one who told Mike about the hooker. Another fun twist: It was a female writer/editor/blogger asking for a little Jean-Claude action in Brussels. The provider said “no,” and then the writer did it anyway and tried to book it to the room. If it turns out Mike has his own story, that’s even cooler — I didn’t know our profession was that bold.
Although I work in traditional media, I support the idea of press trips. They don’t compromise a writer’s ethics anymore than an EiC compromises her/his ethics by devoting the front half of their magazine to coverage of luxury watches or cars so that those companies will advertise in the pages of the mag (*cough* CNT *cough* T+L).
I do think that press trips can produce some pretty terrible stories, though. When you’re beholden to just write something about a trip, you’re likely to write something just like the other half dozen writers who are tagging along. The trick is to have the guts to say “I can’t promise any coverage” and/or to get a promise of personal time so you can pursue stories on your own. My experience has been that if the provider balks at either one of these requirements, you’re dealing with with someone that will make you regret your decision — no matter how many wonderful ukelele lessons are involved.
–Jason
I love the personal time, but I can’t always get it. It’s not a 100% deal breaker, for example, I had very little solo time in Alaska but the group was small and the nature of the trip was such that I just wasn’t worried about not being able to write something in my own voice/style about that adventure. On that same trip I met a writer who said something that still makes me giggle. He was kind of a crotchety old Fox News watching guy, but he made me laugh when he mentioned how much he hated those huge FAM trips where you’re stuck in some shop with “two dozen ladies who are looking at jam.” Heh.
I’ve sent samples of the kind of stuff I’ve done before. Usually I say I can’t promise coverage but given the kind of things I’ve been invited to do, I can’t shut up about it. I never promise third party coverage unless I have an assignment, and even then, it’s the editor’s whimsy that determines if a story will run. On this trip,I had an assignment but could not do the story because of my health.
I feel the same way. My good, all purpose reality check is my Mom. When I tell her Riviera Maya was flying Sabrina and I down there last year, her first question was, “Why?”. My normal response is, “I dunno?” I too get baffled that I’m picked and I now always send actual, made of paper, thank you cards to contacts made during the trip. Because I am truly thankful that anyone would want to fly me to their cool place to check it out and do what I’d do if I went unsponsored; which is to shoot photos and write about it because I love sharing. I always assume each trip is the last (of the sponsored trips, anyway, as I won’t stop traveling) and am just thankful for the opportunity.
Real thank you notes. That rules. I usually send a note of some kind at the end of the year saying, “OH MY GOD, you made it possible for me to do THIS and it was AMAZING!” And I use a photo I took on the trip, if I’ve got one with me in it. Yup. What you said.
I love Pam’s take on travel blogging. I equally love the comments on her posts on travel blogging.
RE: The woman who blew off the CVB itinerary and went to spas (comp treatments she arranged herself), I think it was the trip organizer’s fault for choosing a lousy participant. I’ve lately signed agreements – or at least been told point blank – that if I go on this trip, I agree to attend all of the arranged activities. Similarly, PR peeps talk, and the trip organizer should have done some recon on this woman before she arrived in Brazil. (I know bad apples fall through the cracks, but just seems to me that more vetting could/should be done before inviting on group trips.)
RE: Melanie’s comment on “Would I use my own money to go on this trip anyway if I had all the riches in the world?” I never really thought about it that way, but increasingly that’s how I also choose what invites I accept. Especially if it means a) pulling kids out of school or b) being away from my kids.
RE: Peter & Pam’s hand-written thank you notes. I need to do more of this! I regularly jot off an email expressing thanks after a trip, but my momma raised me better!
I do adore our community, I must say.
A sense of entitlement is NEVER a flattering thing to wear around your shoulders, no matter who you are. And for a blogger to act that way? Well, it really just makes all of us look bad, doesn’t it? We’re definitely not on-level with print media yet, and a lot of PR people just simply don’t know how they’re supposed to work with us. But I can guarantee they won’t want to even be bothered if stories like the one about the requested hookers get spread around…
That being said, you and I are definitely on the same wavelength, Pam. While I haven’t really been invited on any press trips, I do get giddy and excited over the littlest things (interviews, free activities, perks while I’m traveling, etc.). Sometimes I am the one seeking out these things, but I do it in the most humble way I know how. I politely ASK. Never demand.
A-hem. WHO’S not on par with print media yet? We need to stop using that as the bar. And trust me, print media journalist are no immune to bad behavior, or typos, or crappy editing or…
Just sayin’.
I’ve just been on a sorta-kinda press trip (a day trip, travel paid for). It was my first. And I was doing it to publicize the Mongol Rally. My hosts (http://www.theadventurists.com/) haven’t laid down the law, they’ve asked me to do what seems right to me, and I’m doing it – thus far, a personal blog post in my way with my own voice, and upcoming, another personal blog post and a couple of articles to other markets, for which I’d enjoy the benefit of getting paid. I guess they’re also using my social media clout (or Klout) – I’ve done a bit of (hopefully) non-spammy promo on Twitter and elsewhere.
So that’s the sum of my experience so far, and it’s been positive. They let me do my thing. How would I react if they wanted me to change my thing to fit my thing? I’d be ok with, up to a point. Because I’m being hired. And if it’s work where I have a say in the way I do that work, it’s worth deciding what that middle ground should look like…
But I want to get hired again, frankly. And I work in an industry that is plastered all over millions of computer screens, for all to see. Making wearisome demands of the people giving me press trips? Might as well wear a hi-vis vest with the words “MORE TROUBLE THAN I’M WORTH”. (What, you really think these people don’t click around? Really?)
It’s all back to this Meeting In The Middle topic that was discussed at TBU in Manchester. Negotiate, by all means – but if you go in thinking you should try to screw everything you can (literally as well as figuratively, it appears from the hookers example), well, that’s kinda unethical and therefore kinda unprofessional, and surely the way to lose retainers. My gut says this. And since I want to both keep working and placate my conscience, I’m following my gut.
(And if the situation is reversed – if the people holding the press trips are trying to screw *you* for everything you’re worth, that’s just as bad – yet easier to see. Somehow it’s more obviously bad).
We’re getting hired (or “hired”) to do our thing. If we’re clear and up-front about what our thing is, and if we don’t move the goal-posts after the deal is done, and if the people hiring us don’t either – goodness will result.
Up-frontness. It’s the new screwing. You can quote me.
Actually, this is making me think. We all have advertising pages. Why not a crystal-clear transparent Press Trip page? “Here’s exactly what you can expect from me, and why that’s a good thing”? I don’t see many sites taking such an approach (Pam, your ads/PR page is an exception).
Is this because we’re subtly being taught to screw as much as we can from our sponsors, so we think it’s unwise to nail ourselves down? Hmmmm.
“How would I react if they wanted me to change my thing to fit my thing?”
Er, I mean to fit *their* thing. Sorry, I seem to be having a problem with “my thing”. So to speak.
Reading this after also reading your article on Gadling about divorcing blogs is wonderfully refreshing and reassuring. Integrity in writing is more valuable than high volumes of regurgitated content, not to mention, far more interesting to read as well.
For every PR list of “you must have XX followers, generate XX posts a day, with XX links and a klout score of XX”, there’s a perfectly suitable blogger willing to go along and spit out XX articles of “look what I’m doing with all these other bloggers” content – and often it’s the self-righteous demanding one. Match made in heaven.