Hello Friends,
First off, HOW ARE YOU? Are you surviving the cold? I’ve been lucky enough to work from Baja California, Mexico this winter and I almost feel a bit guilty as I watch the news and weather around the world. I’ve been in a bit of a bubble of writing a new novel, ROCKET, and a few other projects, helping others, and getting my own work out too. There are a few things to let you know about that you might want to check out or send in work to. Let me know.
CONTEST WINNERS: Anne Marie Wells and Sam Brakeley are the two winning authors of the Wanderlust Journal contest from 2022. Both wrote great travel books on their hitching and hiking escapades, Anne Marie hitched around Iceland, and Sam in New Zealand. More info will soon be released about the publication dates and cover reveals on https://wilddogpress.com
ALL ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING (and some of the steps along the way) covers all the basics from types of editing, tips on proofreading, links for formatting advice, front and backmatter contents, publishing platforms and more. Yes, this new eBook came out this week and it came out of that process with Sam, Anne Marie and another writer, Victor. I found myself answering similar questions from each of them. Hence a very short overview eBook. I set it to only $0.99to make sure it’s available. Would you let any of your friends know if they’re wanting to know more about the process whether being published by a micro-press or doing it themselves?
Our podcast https://wanderlust-journal.podbean.com offers three new short travel stories or excerpts twice a month. You can listen to trips from all over the world, as well as hear about events coming up, travel bloggers I’ve found, a bit of history on Overlanding and solo women travelers. More odds and ends. Here’s a quick overview so you see what’s been put out so far. Today I’m recording from Anne Marie’s and Sam’s books as well as few other bits and pieces. It’ll be live in April. Anyway, here are some of the travelers and writers we’ve read from so far: Not the whole list but a handful for you.
· S1E2: Feet, bikes, motorcycles, 2WD, 4×4, cars, vans, and trucks of all sizes can take you where you want to go – for the most part. You’ll hear about Tiffany Coates, Graham Jackson, Chris Wiewiora, Roshni Sharma, Michelle Lamphere, Carla King and more.
· S1E3: passages on the topic of through-hiking, that is the day-to-day challenge of following your feet across mountains and deserts. We’ll read what motivates folks to do just that, the people met along the way, and some of the ups and downs that come with it. Megan Okkerse, Rahawa Haile, and a great community in the PNW (USA): https://qpochikers.com.
· S1E5: Since my early twenties, I’ve been inspired by women who went out on their own, despite cultural expectations, and so today includes Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman and Karen Darke and others.
· S1E10: Focuses on kayaks, donkeys and a couple of fellas crossing the UK starting out with only their boxer shorts.
CALLS FOR PODCAST (WORK/SUPPORT): You can find the podcast on the platform you use or go here to start with . With it being so new, it’s hard for anyone to find but as we carry on and build more episodes and community, it’ll be easier to share. If you have a new travel book out, let me know and I can mention it on the podcast. AND PLEASE, if you can send in a little something to financially support me as there are no adverts, grants or sponsors – yet. So, please buy me a coffee or subscribe and share.
SUBMISSIONS CALL: WANDERLUST-JOURNAL Submissions: As some of you know, we had to drop Submittable as a submissions platform. It became silly expensive $115 per month and we had barely covered our costs when it had been $35 month. We are still taking submissions, either via our own website where you can email us and please make a donation to help us. OR you can go to Duotrope and submit there.
Let me know if you have any great travel books I could read from for the podcast, okay? Excepts up to 200 words are allowed to be read on air.
I’m looking for your suggestions:
After six years online, I am struggling to find new work. We had to drop Submittable due to their monthly costs but that means we also don’t have the visibility we used to. I, Sarah, originally created this as I saw a gap in the online presence of simple first person travel narratives such as I write. Travel as memoir. The response and submissions ebb and surge over each season, some work is more descriptive or personal, others more of recommendations. I wonder then what do we want to develop? How do we reach more people?
Suggestions include
- Reviews of books that are then used on the podcast?
- Push the Buy me a Coffee idea?
- Is anyone able to work on finding sponsors for us?
- More photo streams. (How find more photographers?
That’s all we’ve come up with so far, from Brianna, other emails from our writers. So I’ll leave you with this. What would get you involved more? How can we make this even better for us all?
NEW BOOK RELEASE: And lastly, I’m thrilled to announce my latest book is due out in May 2023! I LOVE the cover and working with Madville Publishing. They’re not taking pre-orders yet but this is the cover so remember it! I’ll let you know more…
Thanks for being part of this community of wanderers.
Sarah
Wanderlust 