This deal is a dream come true for me and the fulfillment of years of hard work. The truth is, I’ve never really cared much for blogging or the internet. I’ve always viewed it as a place for amateurs and knew that the real prize was appearing in print. To paraphrase Kevin Spacey’s character Frank Underwood from the great House of Cards series on Netflix, “The Internet is the McMansion in Sarasota that falls apart after 10 years. Print is the old stone building that stands for centuries.”
I’ve always considered the internet to just be a stepping stone to something better. The minor leagues if you will. If you want to get anywhere in travel writing or photography, you have to be in print. There simply isn’t any other choice. Everyone knows that the worst writer in print is better than the best writer online.
In early 2012 I knew I was ready to finally make the leap to print. It was just a question of where I’d end up and what the terms of the contract would be. I had met an agent in New York by the name of Stephen Plaisanterie who I had spoken with in the past about helping me find print work. My only instructions were that I didn’t care where I landed, so long as it was in print.
The initial response we got was mainly from midlevel newspapers like the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, the Cincinnati Post and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Working for a newspaper is fine, but unless it is the something like the New York Times, why bother? Everyone knows that your status as a writer is directly proportional to the size of the publication you write for.
This time he did much better and had several major magazines bidding for my services. By February we had it down to Budget Travel Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and Newsweek.
During our negotiations, Newsweek indicated that they also wanted me to blog on the DailyBeast.com like Andrew Sullivan, but I was firm and told them that I wanted nothing to do with the internet and that I would only appear in print. Once that was out of the way, we only had to hammer out the rest of the terms and we signed the contract two weeks ago.
You can find my first article in the next edition of Newsweek that will appear on newsstands.
Also, I’d like to thank all the readers that helped to make this happen. Now that you have served your purpose, however, in the future please do not send me any more emails, tweets or Facebook messages. All correspondences should be sent in writing to my editor April Broma or her assistant Roy Dewit. I can’t be talking to my readers every day and meeting up with them around the world like I have been doing for the last 6 years. I enjoyed meeting everyone, but I am real print journalist, so I hope you understand.