Are you interested in being a guest on The Thoughtful Travel Podcast?
At the moment, I get between 20 and 30 emails a week pitching to be a guest on The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. It doesn’t sound much, but it takes quite a while to go through these and figure out who will be a great guest. Some of my very favourite guests ever have come to me through a “cold call” pitch. Sometimes, though, it’s clear that the potential guest has never listened to my podcast and has simply emailed every podcast they can find. Alternatively, the potential guest might have some travel stories to tell but they mightn’t be a good fit with the “thoughtful travel” ethos of the show.
I’ve put together these guidelines to help potential guests figure out if they’ll be a good fit for The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, and I really appreciate you taking the time to work through them. And, for many of you, I look forward to chatting with you soon!
What kind of guests am I looking for?
I love speaking with people who’ve listened to at least a couple of episodes of the podcast and know the format (since it’s a little different to most podcasts). By listening to some episodes, you’ll be much clearer as to the kind of stories I love to share and whether or not yours will be a good fit. I especially love hearing stories about:
- the way travel has changed you
- lessons you’ve learnt from travel
- ways to engage genuinely with the local community when you travel
- when things go wrong! (seriously, listeners love these! And we learn the most from these scenarios)
- really entertaining tales – often one you’ve told repeatedly and people always want to hear
- under-represented guests: people of colour, people from non-English speaking backgrounds (don’t worry about your standard of English, we can edit, pause, re-take if you need)
What kind of guests am I less likely to speak with?
There are always exceptions to this, but by and large I’m unlikely to want to talk about topics like:
- cruising and cruise ships (expedition cruises are an exception)
- zoos or other captive wildlife situations
- volunteer programs which don’t benefit the local community (unless you have a cautionary tale)
- fast-paced, touristy destination list ticking trips
- authors promoting their self-published books*
*I get a lot of pitches from authors who want to promote their book by coming on the podcast. This is absolutely fine – I love travel books, which is why I run the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club. However, I can say from experience that I’m fairly unlikely to interview a self-published author. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with self-publishing, but that the standards vary immensely, and as I receive so many pitches from authors, it helps if I know the book has been through the rigour of traditional publishing. (As someone working on getting a book published, I know the rigour of this is very high!)
Would you like to be a guest?
If you would like to pitch to be a guest on The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, then please email me at [email protected] using the subject line “Guest pitch for TTTP”. Using this exact subject line will ensure your pitch is filtered into the right folder and I’ll know you’ve seen these guidelines. Please include:
- your name, location and any relevant work title (tour operator, blogger, travel writer, etc)
- why you think you’re a good fit for my podcast (just a sentence or two)
- a couple of sentences about an example of a travel story you tell people over and over. You don’t need to tell me the whole story – just a couple of lines to get me intrigued.
Thanks so much for your interest and for taking the time to look at these guidelines. I really appreciate it!