Next month at the RolfPotts.com Travel Writers page I interview Andrew Hempstead, who has been a fulltime travel guidebook writer for nearly 20 years. His advice to aspiring travel writers in simple: “In a word: specialize,” he says. “Guidebook publishers often look for local talent. Keeping this in mind, unless you have strong ties to another part of the world, the city or region where you live should be at the very top of your list of areas of expertise. Having written or contributed to a guidebook, the author is assumed to be an expert by other publishers and the general public, which makes building a reputation around a specific destination an excellent way to convert expertise to monetary returns. Using a guidebook as a “business card” opens doors throughout the industry.”

Full Andrew Hempstead interview online here.