The website Authory is a great boon for journalists, writers and bloggers. It brings together the articles you have written, and gives you the ability to take control of your work and build an audience. It is a fantastic showcase for your work, and a link to your dedicated Authory page can be given to commissioning editors, PRs and the many other key people who can help further your career. 

I was surprised at how quick and easy it was to set up my page – about three minutes. All you do is register and type in some publications that your work has appeared in, and the site trawls through their websites, extracting your work. It’s great to see a complete list of work going back years, and a portfolio that is right up to date. Your articles are automatically backed up, you can turn readers into subscribers, and you also get an insight into how your articles perform on social media. Authory provides detailed analytics of all the likes, tweets and comments your work receives across Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and not just those from your personal or your publisher’s account.

Many journalists, writers and bloggers struggle to curate and  keep up with their work spread all over the internet, so having everything, including updates, done automatically for you is a great asset.

Every article is saved by Authory, no matter what happens to the original. That means your work is preserved even if a  publisher had issues moving to a new CMS or you’ve moved on to a different kind of work. The site automatically finds your new articles and adds them to your page.

The site has numerous filters so that you can find specific pieces at lightening speed. You can create collections, perhaps a series of articles on a particular destination, or a specialism, or perhaps a bundle of interviews. Your work looks good on all devices, and because it is SEO-optimised, you will get found when people search for you.

You can transform your readers into lifetime subscribers. On your Authory page, with a single click, they can subscribe to receive email notifications about your new articles. And because they are following you directly rather than a particular publication or website, readers can become loyal, personal email subscribers staying with you for your entire career. It’s like having a regular newsletter but without all the hard work and hassle that entails.

Building your own following helps you strengthen your own brand and open doors to new opportunities. Authory’s data has found that on average one in three of your email subscribers will always read your new work. With Twitter, the ratio is around 1 in 200.

Not only that, but the subscriber data is all yours, you can export your email subscribers whenever you want, and link from Twitter, turning Twitter followers into email subscribers.

What’s more, Authory offers a free 14-day trial so you can test drive it for yourself with no obligation. 

Their blog has numerous interesting articles on the subject, such as:

Contently vs Muck Rack vs Authory

How to create a writing portfolio

10 Travel Blog Writing Examples For Inspiration

 

 

A selection of organisations useful to freelancers and staff, editors and prs,  working in travel media:

The British Guild of Travel Writers –  an organisation of about 270 leading professional travel writers, journalists, bloggers, editors & photographers.

 

 

TravMedia – a travel industry social media network, connecting media and public relations professionals worldwide.

 

Covered Press is a free-to-use, global resource connecting freelancers to commissioning editors and vice versa.

 

Freelance Writing Jobs emails weekly links to paying freelance and part-time writing jobs, and details of editors actively-seeking pitches.

 

The Family Holiday Association is the only national UK charity dedicated to helping struggling families get a break, and therefore an excellent travel-related charity to support.

 

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a British organisation that works to ensure that writers are fairly compensated for any of their works that are copied, broadcast or recorded.

 

The Freelancer’s Year is a website with lots of articles about freelance writing.

 

The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) organises meet-ups for travel journalists and can post media requests to members for comments, information, press trip enquiries etc.

 

Paydesk is an online marketplace where publishers, broadcasters and editors can find, book and hire professional freelance journalists.

 

African Trade and Travel Association (ATTA) promotes tourism to Africa from all corners of the word.

 

The Society of Authors is the UK trade union for more than 10,000 writers, illustrators and literary translators, at all stages of their careers.

 

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

 

Royal Geographical Society supports geography and geographers around the world.

 

Contently is an online content agency that also has articles relevant to the freelance writing life.

 

Muck Rack enables users to discover the best journalists to pitch stories based on their profiles in its media database.

 

Response Source is a media relations tools for PR people, businesses and journalists, including a Media Database, Press Release Wire and Journalist Enquiry Service.