Written by Duncan JD Smith, author of the Only In Guides
The path that led to my becoming a travel writer began a long time ago. Back in the early 1970s, when I was barely a teenager, three events shaped my adult professional life. First and foremost, my headstrong mother booked a family holiday to Tangier, Morocco at a time when most Brits were happy either to stay at home or else hop across the Channel to France. Secondly, my erudite father introduced me to an obscure book called Clockjacks and Beeboles, which celebrated architectural oddities around the British Isles. And thirdly, my maternal grandfather, a retired banker-cum-local historian, accompanied me into his back garden, where he told me that the stones on his rockery came from the grave of a Roman soldier. To a young boy brought up in the north of England who wasn’t interested in football, these encounters opened up a world of adventurous possibilities that I am still pursuing half a century later.
Around the same time, I opened my own private museum in my parents’ cellar. There was never a holiday or even a day trip when I didn’t return with a pocket full of fossils, seashells and human detritus. Nothing of any monetary value but priceless to me.
Looking back it seems inevitable that when it came to university I chose to study Ancient History and Archaeology. Digging deep into topics as diverse as prehistoric tools, Egyptian mummies and ancient Greeks only tantalised further my imagination. So much so that when I left university it was sobering to discover that it was not so easy to step into Indiana Jones‘ shoes! Fortunately by this stage I had developed a parallel passion for books, partly a result of both my parents having been librarians. So my first job was not as an archaeologist but as a bookseller in my home town of Sheffield.
I can’t say that I had too much interest in fiction in those days but I loved dealing with travel books and maps. I soon came to the attention of a local book distributor, which kickstarted a decade-long career in sales. Exhausting work for sure but it taught me the ins and outs of publishing, which would later prove invaluable. I worked for all manner of travel publishers, from one-man operations producing local interest titles to major concerns including Lonely Planet. I would be lying, however, if I didn’t admit that in the back of my mind I wanted to stop selling other writers’ guidebooks and instead write my own.
My chance came unexpectedly in 1998. I met and fell in love with an Austrian girl, who would later become my wife. I had long relished the idea of one day living abroad, even just for a short while. So it was that in 2003 I shipped out to Vienna ostensibly just for half a year or when my funds ran out. I arrived on a Friday, realised I’d burned my bridges over the weekend, and on the Monday defaulted to what I’d always done when abroad. I took my notebook and camera and set about exploring the city. It doesn’t take long in a city like Vienna to start picking up on the history. Remembering what I’d learned as a boy to search out the curious and the unexpected, I quickly began assembling a list of locations that told the city’s story through the eyes of an outsider. I was drawn by Roman ruins lurking in cellars, Second World War remains unknown to visitors, and specialist museums celebrating the likes of Esperanto, chimney sweeps, and the film The Third Man. By year’s end I had enough material for a guidebook and wandered into a Viennese publisher’s office full of enthusiasm.
I was incredibly fortunate. Had I arrived at a good time in the world of publishing? Was I perceived as something out of the ordinary? Did I have a book idea that could potentially morph into a series? It was probably a combination of all three because within a week I received a contract. The title of the book, however, proved more difficult and I worked through several ideas. It was only when I was reading a section of text I’d written about a remarkably ornate public convenience that I exclaimed out loud “Only in Vienna” and there was my title.
Only in Vienna has subsequently gone into five editions and counting, and in the intervening years it has been joined by a further eighteen titles all under the ‚Only In‘ banner. Each tells the story of a place using its unique locations, hidden corners and unusual objects. As for my target audience, I would describe them as independent cultural travellers, since that is how I would describe myself. Likeminded people who are not afraid of swapping the tour group for an adventure of their own getting under the skin of a place. Since 2010, I have taken over the publishing reign of my books under my own imprint The Urban Explorer. Having control over everything from the chosen destination through writing and photography is something that suits me down to the ground.
I learned early on that for a travel writer to find a measure of success, he or she needs to identify a niche about which they are passionate and to develop their own unique voice. They also need to be able to work long hours on their own. Self-discipline and independence is everything. Only in this way have I survived so long in what is an increasingly competitive and crowded market, one which has only become more so with the inexorable advance of artificial intelligence.
My research trips continue to take me far and wide, from Budapest to Krakow and from Berlin to Seville, around the Mediterranean coast from Marseille to Tangier, and even across the Atlantic to Boston, Massachusetts. All the things I’ve seen and the diverse people I’ve met are a reminder that despite the lowly income, travel writing is for some people the best job in the world. At the time of writing I have a volume on Athens in the pipeline, with a further two volumes in preparation. Despite reaching retirement age I see no reason to stop while ever I can do the work and there are enough readers out there who enjoy my work.
Happy Exploring! For more information about Duncan and his work as an independent travel writer and guidebook author visit www.duncanjdsmith.com and www.onlyinguides.com.