Plan your book, then plan your trip

This post is an example of the content I share every Friday in my Living by Experience Magazine. If you’d like your free copy, just click here.

When you plan to make a book about your vacation travels before you leave, the experience of your trip will be much better – as will your book. This applies even more if you want your book to be more than a simple collection of photographs. To create more of a journalistic or documentary-style book that others might enjoy, you’ll have to do some planning beforehand.

The same applies when you write or create any non-fiction book. Good books are structured in a certain way to make them a success. In my book writing class Write a Book in a Week I teach my students this structure. When you plan ahead, you’ll be inspired to search out interesting stories during your trip to tell, and images to share. If you’ve kept an open itinerary, you may even decide to visit new places and experience unanticipated events along the way.

I didn’t quite follow this model when I created my book A View to Take Home. This full-colour fine art photography book presents the unique life found in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, as well as the bordering cities Calgary and Vancouver. It also includes some of my unseen coastal work from Vancouver Island. Readers will get up-close and personal with grizzly bears, black bears and even wolves, photographed in the wild. Creating this book all started with the purchase of my motorcycle which allowed me to explore Western Canada in style. When I set out on my initial trips, I had no real plan to create a photography book from my explorations, but sometimes one things leads to another. The book is available on Amazon and finer book retailers worldwide.

In creating my book, I wanted to take readers with me on my trips and create an experience as if they are riding alongside with me as I explored my newly adopted homeland on my motorcycle. I did some research in advance, but left a lot of my trips unplanned to see where the open roads would lead me next. Eventually I ended up on Vancouver Island, all the way from Calgary.

During my travels I began to think about what the book would look like. I wasn’t planning on creating some great masterpiece destined for widespread publication. I wanted to create something special, to share some of my experiences with a select group of travel and photography lovers after I returned home.

The whole process was a lot of fun, and it made me fall in love even more with the beautiful country I now call home. Once you set out on your own journey, I’m sure it will be the case for you too, no matter where you go next.

Here’s some ideas to consider before your next trip:

Learn to take better pictures, and more of them before you leave – so you don’t miss that shot of a lifetime because you weren’t ready. You can even join the fun in my online photography masterclass.

Have an open mind to embrace new ideas and experiences while you travel. Don’t be afraid to meet new people, try different foods, and get off the beaten path. Read more about my approach to travel in my #1 bestselling travel book The Freedom Project. The book is also available on Amazon.

Join my book writing class Write a Book in a Week to learn the structure you can use to create a book that is already a success, before you even make it. Apply to join the next class today.

Once you’re ready, take your travels to the pages of your very own photo book to preserve your memories, share your adventures or maybe even sell your travel tips.

P.S. Questions, comments, compliments? Text me: 604-210-8668. I’d love to hear from you.

If this post helped you, please consider buying one of my books, or checking out a more in-depth course on one of the topics I talk about. Thanks! 🙂