Travel Writer's Happy Hour

Cheaper Magazines - Thanks B&N!!

Freelance writers, take advantage of a new discounter in the magazine subscription space: Barnes & Noble, which is now offering discounted print and digital magazine subscriptions online.

The new program, affiliated with online publisher Zinio, will open up more than 1,000 print and digital titles, and 12,000 digital back issues, for up to 90% off the cover price, the retailer claims.

Truth told, when it comes to big box bookstores I'm more of a Borders type. But as magazines are the bread and butter of the industry, and any writer worth their salt knows that subscriptions are great business expenses, it's worth zipping to the B&N site for the full list of available titles.

Don't forget, though, to also support your local independent bookstore.

Conde Nast Buys SFO Media / Jaunted, Hotelchatter

In yet another example why you want to start that travel, here's news that SFO Media, parent to travel blogsites Jaunted and HotelChatter, was scooped up today by CondeNet, the online side of Conde Nast. Terms are undisclosed, but as they say on the SFO Media site, "extremely exciting times for us.." I'm sure!

Purely warm-hearted envy aside, mad props from one travel content producer / instructor / commissioning editor to a team of savvy cats who prove dedication and hard work can pay off.

Lonely Planet TV: Jay Cooke's Austin Texas

If you want a peek at a once local's view of the Live Music Capital of the World, and some evidence the camera does put on 10-15 pounds, check my new Lonelyplanet.TV video travelogue for Austin, TX:

http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/player.swf?key=585C2060D97EDA9F

The Secrets Behind Writing and Selling Your First Book - mediabistro.com Courses and Seminars

When I teach my Mediabistro Advanced Travel Writing courses in San Francisco, or Travel Writing Boot Camp online, often I'll find students curious about landing book deals in particular. I have some savvy in that space, but for a full overview, suggest a dedicated book proposal course.

San Francisco writers are in luck with the upcoming MB seminar, The Secrets Behind Writing and Selling Your First Book. Book editor vet Laura Mazer will lead a panel of experts who'll offer market-tested tips on landing your first book, seeking agents, crafting book proposals and more.

Held Saturday, June 7 at the always hospitable Meridian Gallery on Powell at Sutter. Mention you are a student at the Cable Car cafe next door, they'll knock 10% off your coffee.

Is it Time for B-to-B Publishers to Panic? - B2B @ FolioMag.com

With the 2008 Book Expo America fast approaching its LA closeup, publishers and retailers will have more than their latest frontlists to dicuss: namely, the health and future of print publishing itself.

In a week that saw leading Christian publisher Thomsas Nelson bail on BEA, Folio magazine asks the question: Is it Time for B-to-B Publishers to Panic? - B2B @ FolioMag.com.

Short answer? Not if they've gotten their digital strategies together...

It's Web 3.0, and Someone Else's Content Is King - Advertising Age - Digital

Good question asked in this Advertising Age article announcing Tina Brown's news-aggregator site plans in development:

In an era when sites pointing to external original content are more the rage than those content sites themselves, how long will it be before the aggregators cannibalize their own resources? Are Digg, del.icio.us et al the future conquerers, or parasites soon to kill their hosts?

A third line of reasoning says they're just angling to get into the media space, shifting the paradigms to grab market share and knock some stalwarts who can't adapt to the sidelines. If the hosts begin to stagger too much, the (savvy) newcomers would shift business plans. Or, they'd just get bought.

That said, greed is sneaky and not all media, old or new, are going to survive the coming shakeout. That's why they call it Social Darwinism, we suppose.

Read it: It's Web 3.0, and Someone Else's Content Is King - Advertising Age - Digital.

Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands: Chris Klein

Full disclosure: These colors run pinstriped white and blue. That said, even the greatest Bronxophile can admit a pinch of envy for the landscapes and heritage afforded by the islands of Boston Harbor.

No disrespect to Lady Liberty and co, but Boston Harbor islands are many and varied, with different experiences to be had on all. Check out Confederate jail sites or dive century-old shipwrecks; dig jazz concerts or unlimited birdwatching viewpoints.

The islands are growing in visitation and popularity, with great reason. For deep details, check out Chris Klein's new guidebook Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands: A Guide to the City's Hidden Shores. It's 224 pages, and publishing June 1. Big props to Chris for the book!

Brooklyn Storefronts as Metaphor for a Changing Borough - New York Times

Not long ago Paul Auster acknowledged Brooklyn's photogenic streetscapes through the life's work of one Augie Wren, Harvey Keitel's main character in Smoke, the mid-90s love letter to a borough on the brink of change.

A decade-plus later, the new downtown lies across the East River, where artists and hipsters mix with breeders and natives in districts like Red Hook and Williamsburg, Boerum Hill and Fort Greene. With all such migrations, storefronts change with the demographics, as evidenced in Brooklyn Storefronts, the new pictoral by Paul Lacy.

Much like Augie, Lacy's been cataloging indie bodegas and beauty shops across Brooklyn, a landscape bound to change in coming years. Unlike Augie, who shot the same vantage point each day, Lacy travels the borough to capture 75 standalone shops.

Check the New York Times post Brooklyn Storefronts as Metaphor for a Changing Borough for an interview with the artist, and ever-interesting chain of reader comments and feedback.

In Venice, discounts for poor Americans

WIth a notable decline in American travelers in 2008, venerable Venice expat hangout and former Ernest Hemingway haunt Harry's Bar now offers a 20% discount for Yanks suffering from a weakened dollar and subprime loans.

As detailed in this Yahoo News piece, Hemingway haunt gives discounts to "poor Americans", Harry's is seeing American visitation down 5-10%, and falling. The current cost of a full meal with wine, roughly 200 euros, would be $314.50 at the current euro-dollar exchange rate. That'd bite into anyone's gelato budget.
 

For some reason (shorts and t-shirts?), American passports aren't required as proof of US citizenship..

In Depth: Eight Vacations That Will Make You Smarter - Forbes.com

Need an excuse to splash out on a pricey trip? Education and personal enlightenment might do the trick.

In yet another (surprisingly?) sharp travel slideshow, Forbes.com offers a group of Eight Vacations That Will Make You Smarter. Hang with archaeologists in Tunisia, power brokers on Wall Street or art historians in Paris for a deeper, different, and often costlier experience that's beyond the somewhat standard Thai cooking schools. No disrespect to pad thai, though.