Interview with John Perkins

John Perkins is the author of the books Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, The Secret History of the American Empire, and Hoodwinked.

I first interviewed Perkins in September 2008 after reading Confessions. It was a thought-provoking conversation about subjects that are of mutual interest… a conversation I taped but subsequently lost in a computer crash.

When Perkins’ media representative sent me his latest book, Hoodwinked, I was eager to conduct a second interview. Hoodwinked is a timely assessment of the economic and political crises we suffered as a human community in 2009, and it’s an eerily prescient warning about what might happen if we don’t work individually and collectively on changing our dreams and directing our energies accordingly.

I wrote briefly about Perkins on Matador Change and will be publishing a review of Hoodwinked on Matador Goods soon, but I encourage you to take some time to listen to our full interview. This 37 minute unedited version–complete with baby Mariel’s gurgling and occasional static caused by incoming emails on the Blackberry–is worth a listen for Perkins’ thoughtful insights about travel, politics, the economy, our goals as individuals and as a human community, and on concrete actions we can take to build more sustainable communities.

John Perkins Interview 2009

Some quick notes on superlatives, research, and writing a 600 word feature.

I was contacted by the editor of an in-flight magazine recently to write an article about voluntourism. Satisfied with that piece, I was subsequently contacted by the same editor to write a second article about ecotourism; the angle assigned was to identify five of the world’s most  “eco-friendly” places… and to do so in 600 words.

I’ve written before about my feelings regarding superlatives and I try to avoid them in my own writing, so the assignment was particularly challenging. How would I determine what countries were the world’s most eco-friendly? What criteria would I use?

I decided to start with my own experiences. What were the countries I’d visited that I felt were the most environmentally conscious and conscientious on the largest scale and with the greatest success? The list included intriguing possibilities, but they were not unproblematic. The more thought I gave to the assignment and the more reading I did of other writers’ “Best Green” or “Best Ecotourism” destinations lists, the more dissatisfied I was with making a broad sweeping claim that *any* country could wholesale claim to be eco-friendly at all. Brazil the most eco-friendly country in  the world? It tops many ecotourism and green lists, but astronomical wildlife trafficking and deforestation rates cause me to call Brazil’s superlative position into serious question, as do my experiences having traveled there. Sure, Curitiba, Brazil has been an international pioneer in urban sustainability, but one city’s successes can’t earn a country a top spot on a list like this.

Ultimately, I chose five countries* and felt confident about my choices and justification for the inclusion of each. But space limitations prevented me from being able to explain *how* I made those choices, and I don’t really feel satisfied about that. Transparency and responsibility are important to me.

The assignment was a useful exercise in becoming more cognizant of the processes we enact as writers when researching stories.

What insights have you learned as the result of a recent assignment? Share what you’ve learned in the comments.

*Which ones? Well, you’ll have to get your hands on the next issue of Singapore Airlines’ in-flight magazine, SilverKris, to find out!

Tip for writers: Jackassbiatch666 is *not* the best e-mail to use for submitting your writing.

Today was “Clean out the Matador inbox day.”

There are always some real doozies in there, but today might have just taken the prize.

We received a submission from a writer whose e-mail address was: jackassbiatch@xxx.com. (the “xxx” standing in for an email service and some other choice information omitted; I don’t want y’all sending her any funny e-mails, you know?).

Yes, I’m serious.

Now, there are lots and lots of tips out there for writers, floating around the Internet, in our own travel writing course, and–wait for it!–in good old fashioned books like Writer’s Market, and all of these sources tell you pretty much the same thing: Don’t use an email like jackassbiatch@xxx.com to submit your work.

I used to read that type of advice and think, “Huh? People really need this spelled out for them?”

Well, yes, apparently they do.

And no, we will not be running the article by jackassbiatch.

Writer’s lament

A few weeks ago, David published an article on the Notebook that asked, “What is your most productive writing environment?”

I was thinking about the question today as I looked at the to-do list:

• complete a couple of editing projects
• file an article on eco-tourism destinations for an in-flight magazine
• finish writing the U’s continuing ed course on interviewing
• bang out four mini book reviews
• schedule the training for a couple of interns

The question seemed like a taunt as the 2 pm show on NPR nattered on about the year’s best music, and the phone rang, and the Blackberry kept buzzing, and neighbors were screaming in the hallway.

“I just need a solid two hours of quiet,” I thought.

I don’t know any writer who has the kind of still solitude that so many of us crave. Sarah’s writing is punctuated by her dogs’ peeing on the balcony, a sign it’s time to push away from the keyboard and take a walk. David catches snatches of note-making time while tending to the nenas, both of whom are sick. Hal squeezes in some time to write while packing and moving on, Carlo while working on renovating his campervan, packing up his life in Oz, and getting ready for an epic cycling trip around Cuba.

Do I want the two hours of quiet?

Yes.

But I also realize that I wouldn’t really have anything to write about at all–and neither would the writers whose work I love most–if they didn’t have the swirl of sound and activity from the people they love and the plans they have always moving around them.

And that’s ok.

A quick note on sloppiness

From the article, “The Border of Madness,” in The Atlantic:

“More than 14,000 people have been killed in the almost three years since President Felipe Calderon mobilized the army to fight Mexico’s half-dozen major drug cartels.

Virtually none of these homicides has been solved….”

What’s the problem with these two sentences?

What does “Virtually none” actually mean?

14,000 is a big number. “Virtually none” suggests that some of the homicides have been solved, but it’s a sufficiently large number to call into question what the writer, Philip Caputo, considers to be “virtually none.”

It’s worrisome that this type of sloppiness and imprecision slipped past Caputo’s editor. So often, we use turns of phrase because they sound good… not because they convey facts accurately.

The only magic is the curtain.

If I watched “The Wizard of Oz” once, I watched it a thousand times.

Though I can’t reach into the hazy depths of childhood memory to describe exactly how I felt when the curtain got pulled on the wizard and we all learned that the jig was up, I found myself thinking of that image last night as I was falling asleep.

The phrase came to mind: “The only magic is the curtain.”

*

In one way or another, I’ve been exploring this theme for a while now, this notion–which we buy into so often and which simultaneously keeps us in perpetual anxiety and an elevated desire to be/do more than we are–that successful people possess some kind of magic. That there’s a special formula or some mysterious trick they have that you don’t. It would change your life if you, too, could just figure out what it was and own a piece of it for yourself.

But what so few people realize is that the only magic is the curtain and the curtain, of course, is the story about ourselves that we embellish to make everything seem more glamorous and less effortful than it is.

I’m all about sharing my professional “secrets”… because there really isn’t any magic. It’s hard work and common sense.

But if you still think I’ve got something magic behind the curtain, here’s an article I wrote about a year and a half ago: Top 5 Secrets Travel Writers Won’t Tell You

And here’s an interview I gave to John Beede of the helpful website Money for Traveling, in which I talk about my travel and writing “secrets”:

moneyfortravelinginterview

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What’s your magic? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Why you need to learn photo skills NOW

As I mentioned in the two previous posts (here and here), if you want to be a full-time writer, you need to have a diversified income stream AND you need to continually stay on editors’ radar screens, letting them know about all of your skills and subject area specialties.

Do you STILL need more proof?

*

This afternoon, within the span of a couple minutes, I received two emails from editors–one at Fodor’s and one elsewhere–asking if Francisco and I concurred with the terms of agreement for using the photos we shot while in Puerto Rico and in one other location. I’d been sure to include links to my Flickr albums when submitting the drafts of my written assignments, mentioning that I had relevant photos to accompany the pieces.*

I actually hadn’t seen the terms of agreement previously– seems like they got lost somewhere in the Internet ether–but I read over them and thought: Man, that investment in a camera and in learning photography might finally pay off! Theoretically (though I’m not holding my breath– I’ve lived long enough to know that money’s not in the bank until it’s in the bank), if the publication used the maximum number of photos they’ll run, we’d make more on our photos than we would on the written part of the assignment.

So don’t stop working on your writing skills, but do start polishing those photography skills. And if you’re not sure how to get started, keep your eye on Matador U: we’re launching a travel photography course in the Spring, put together by pro travel photographers Paul Sullivan and Lola Akinmade.

The course would be a great investment in yourself and your career.

**

*Beyond making work for an editor easier and your own portfolio stronger, having photos of the places you’re writing about serves another function: It confirms for the editor that you’ve actually been to the places you’re writing about. And one other benefit? Photos really help you as a form of what my friend and colleague Lola calls “visual notes.”

What’s the secret to becoming a full-time paid writer?

Of all my writer friends–and there are many–I don’t know a single one who lives solely off the writing he or she really wants to be doing.

A good many of them live off their writing, yes.  But this kind of writing–the best kind of writing, in my book–doesn’t pay the bills for them.

Instead, their daily bread (or tortilla, as it were) comes from other gigs: technical writing, text book writing, test-writing.  In short, the kind of writing that is vaguely interesting, but not the kind they’d be doing if they had their druthers.

*

This morning, I woke up thinking about the news that National Geographic’s Adventure magazine had folded. I wasn’t sad, exactly. I don’t think I’ve ever even read the magazine. But when one of National Geographic’s magazines goes belly up on the heels of one of America’s best food magazines going under, you have to wonder what’s next and if the whole glossy market as we know it is headed for the graveyard.

“It’s all about a diverse income stream,” I thought as I started on the first coffee of the day.

*

David wrote about all this over on the Notebook, and I was struck by a quote he included from former USA Today travel section editor, Chris Gray Faust:

“I’ve been learning all the tricks that a modern multi-platform journalist is supposed to know. In the past 22 months, I’ve blogged, tweeted, shot photos and videos, and handled speaking engagements. I edited my section, managed my high-personality staff and then in my spare time, I wrote cover stories – something that very few other editors at USA TODAY do. I hustled and I cajoled and I ended up out on my ass anyway.”

The problem, though, was that Chris was using all these “tricks” for a single publication. She placed all her professional goals and income needs on USA Today, and, as she reflected, “ended up out on [her] ass….”

The secret to becoming a full-time paid writer is simple. Really. Don’t ever, ever, ever put all your words in one place.  Until the world values writers more–and sad to say, I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon–if you want to be a full-time paid writer, you’ll always need to make sure you have a diverse income stream.

The simple game-changing phrase for freelance writers

“I’d welcome the opportunity to work with you again.”

A funny thing happened–twice–recently.

In the midst of my Fodor’s Puerto Rico guidebook assignment, the editor happened to mention a few other guides he was editing simultaneously.  He did this by way of apologetic explanation, I think.  He’d promised to send some additional guidelines for my PR features and had overshot his deadline several times; by telling me the other projects he was working on, he was letting me know he was overextended.

Among the other projects he was managing was Fodor’s Caribbean. I mentioned that I’d be interested in any assignments he thought would fit with my geographical and subject areas of expertise, and within a couple minutes, he’d written back to say he thought he had a couple features for which he needed a writer. Would I be interested?

Well, yes. Yes,  I certainly would. By the end of the day, the new contract was sitting in my inbox.

*

When I checked my email this morning, I had a message from an editor of the in-flight magazine for which I filed an article just last week. When I sent in my draft (along with photo suggestions, sidebar resources, and my author bio), I thanked the editor for the opportunity to write for the magazine and told her I’d welcome the opportunity to write for the magazine again.

*

It seems obvious enough, but few writers remember to seed future opportunities by adding this simple phrase (or some variation on it) to their communications with editors.  Editors try to keep writers in mind, but they often have so much work they’re managing that they’re not able to keep all the writers they know on their radar screen. As a writer, it’s likely to be far easier for you to get work through existing contacts than new ones, so don’t forget to use this game-changing phrase… it works.

How PR Professionals Can Make the Most of Travel Writers’ Requests

A couple weeks ago, Sylvie Laitre of Mexico Boutique Hotels responded to an article I’d written last year about press trips. As part of her job, Sylvie fields dozens of writer requests for free or discounted accommodation at MBH’s member properties every week. In response to my article, she asked:

“[H]ow does a company go about weeding out ‘writers with integrity’? I receive press trip requests almost on a weekly basis and would love to know what top points I should be looking at or what questions I should be asking before I accept a visit. I’ve been disappointed too many times with seemingly great people who don’t deliver—and I don’t mean shiny reviews. What would you advise?”

After participating in several press trips during the past year, interacting with and observing other travel writers, and talking in depth with public relations, marketing, and tourism board representatives who have to make these kinds of decisions (and often do so poorly), I’d already devised a list of pointers on the subject.

While most of these tips are written in specific response to Sylvie’s question, and as such, use hotel stays as examples, they apply to other travel industry PR and marketing representatives, including those who organize and host press trips.

1. Articulate your own PR goals.

Before fielding any requests from writers, photographers, or TV show producers and hosts, be sure you know what your promotion and marketing goals are.

What are the core demographics you’re trying to reach? What kinds of numbers do you want to pull in for your clients, and what are the key characteristics these guests should embody? In what kinds of media outlets do you want your clients featured?

If you don’t know what the end goal is, it will be impossible for you to determine whether a writer is a good fit for the property they’re requesting to visit.

2. Establish a basic policy.

Most travel writers I know would never abuse the privilege–and it is a privilege–of being able to stay at one of your clients’ properties for free or at a deeply discounted rate.

They appreciate your assistance–especially in the current economic climate, in which writers have taken a particular bruising. They are often working on assignments for which their costs, including lodging, will not be compensated by the publication, and this is true even if they’re working on a guidebook. Even one night’s lodging helps defray expenses significantly, and without comps, many writers would be unable to actually review the properties they’re expected to include in their write-ups.

All this being said, it’s smart of you to establish a basic policy regarding the extent to which you are willing to accommodate requests. How much advance notice do you need to accommodate a writer? How many nights are you able to provide lodging? What kinds of publications are you willing to consider?

Develop a policy. You don’t need to stick to it rigidly, but you will want to have the writer make a convincing case for deviating from it.

3. Conduct due diligence.

As Kara Rosner of DiamondPR notes, PR is “obviously a different ball game now than it was years ago,” when PR firms could simply ask for a letter of assignment to verify that a writer was, in fact, working for the publication he or she claimed.

Now, anyone who has a blog calls himself or herself a writer and many have no qualms about seeking access to the same privileges that travel writers with legitimate assignments are seeking.

To determine whether a writer’s requests are both legitimate and consistent with your client’s needs, you need to do some due diligence, which can include:

*a quick Google search:

A cursory Google search using the writer’s name should turn up:

-their publication history (all online or some print credits?; how frequently are they publishing?; how diverse are their media outlets, both online and off?;

-their social media use and reach:

This isn’t just about which platforms they use (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), but how they use them.

-their writing style:

Original and exciting? cliched? intelligent? clear and concise? free of spelling, grammatical, and factual errors?

-some clues as to their personality:

Consistently combative or overly critical? Professional or tweeting from a press trip about their drunken encounters in a hotel bar?

-their Alexa rankings:

If the writer passes muster on Google, then check his or her Alexa rankings. For writers publishing online in a publication with which you’re not familiar, you’ll want to verify that their reach is as broad as they claim (and you should ask for their monthly page views and other analytics data that interest you- how much time visitors spend on their site; what key words bring visitors to their site; the regions–cities, states, countries–where their visitors live).

You can check their analytics rankings against other blogs/publications of their type by plugging in their URL on Alexa.com.

-their clips:

If you can’t find any online, then be sure to ask for some recent clips of their published work. As Kara points out, “While there are some writers who are offended or turned off by a PR agency inquiring about their credentials, if they are solid, reputable professionals, they typically understand it’s an investment for the resort and part of our job to provide our clients with a comprehensive reason as to why they should (or shouldn’t) host a writer.”

If someone doesn’t want to provide you clips, you probably don’t want to work with them.

-their skill set:

Photography, videography, social media. How much mileage can you get out of each writer? When I participate on press trips or request comped lodging, I let the PR representative know that they can expect to see content I produce on Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, my personal blog, and on Matador, the world’s largest online travel magazine.

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Finally, put some conditions on the privilege. Invite the writer to meet with a manager or owner, someone on site who can give a tour and answer questions. It’s amazing how many properties *don’t* do this (and how many fail to provide press kits, too).

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Are you a PR professional? Have any additional tips you’d like to share or anecdotes that may help your colleagues? I welcome your comments.