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My husband and I have sold dozens of articles by both methods with payment ranging all the way from ½ cent to 3 cents per word. With extra money for photographs, this can be well worth your time.

Perhaps you'd like to know how and why we got started in this field and a few of the pitfalls to avoid. During the war while employed at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., I visited all the surrounding countryside like any other tourist. On week ends I was free to explore such places as Virginia Beach, Mount Vernon on the Potomac, and hundreds of other sights around the city.

Traveling had been a pet hobby of mine for a long time. I also made pictures of my trips but had never thought of writing up accounts of these trips to sell. While thumbing through a travel magazine I wondered if I couldn't write an article giving interesting historical facts about Washington and vicinity.

After obtaining free professional type photos from the Virginia Beach Chamber of Commerce, I wrote an article telling the visitor what he'd want to see there. I incorporated all the colorful background history of the place during colonial times and the article sold the first time out to Trail-R-News.

You say that Virginia Beach is a resort attracting tourists who prefer to stay in hotels? True, but the article must be slanted for trailer owners if it is sent to a trailer magazine. By leaving out the hotel part and giving valuable information on trailer parks and roads leading there, it had no trouble gaining acceptance. I gave the readers a name of a prominent trailer park near the beach where they could park for a minimum and still enjoy the beauty of the sand and water.

I HAD to learn to slant for each magazine separately, otherwise an article would never sell. Think of your reader when you're writing each article and say to yourself, "Does this give him something to think about, some helpful information he can use?" Look closely at the advertisements in the back of the magazine to determine what type of people your readers are. Write accordingly.

I sold several articles in this manner. After my husband, Clem Martin, was back from overseas, he wasn't sure where he wanted to live. He wanted to travel and live a sort of vagabond life. We had to have an income, so we decided on the idea of traveling and writing about our experiences. I persuaded him to stay long enough in one place to absorb some knowledge of professional photography, which has paid off for us since.

So far we have only seen a small part of the United States, but every trip has produced a wealth of articles. We plan to tour the entire country, living long enough in each section to learn the good and bad things about it, the people and the history of it.

Upon arriving in Florida, we toured every part of the state, making photos right and left, talking to the natives and asking a million questions. About thirty articles were written that time, half of which were descriptions of such places as the Everglades, the sugar industry at Clewiston, South Florida's Seminole Indians, Silver Springs' Underwater Paradise and Marineland.

What we didn't find out from the natives, we read in the public library. One or two days a week were spent in research. In this way you can be the second best authority on any subject in a few days.

WE HAVE sold ninety per cent of our articles. One thing we learned after a lot of rejections: It is not best to send any article in "cold" unless you are sure of the editor's needs at that time. Our best bet in finding out what he needed was query cards. These are simply double post cards. On one side we wrote the editor asking him if he would be interested in seeing an article on a specific subject, giving the type and number of photos that were available with it. He returned the other card marking yes, he would like to see the article on speculation, or else indicating that he was not interested. This saves the editor's time and yours.

Another trick of feature writing on travel subjects is sending material in at the right time of year. Most magazines are made up several months ahead of time, so it is wise to get a southern resort story in by September 1, if it is to be scheduled for the winter months.

We send out dozens of queries weekly now, making it a full-time job. If you send out about twenty queries, you should get a go signal for five or more. The more queries you send out, the more articles you are likely to sell.

NOT EVERYONE who wants to write this type of material has an opportunity to travel. By making use of the magazines and papers in your public library, you can glean interesting data on any locality.

We read all available articles on the section we want to write about, take down the exact information that will be useful and then write up the article in our own words. Your individual style is sometimes what makes the article go over.

After writing up a number of articles on various places of interest, we made a file in which the information is kept. At a moment's notice we can locate material we need. When you return from a summer vacation, usually it is too late to submit a feature for publication that year. Put it away in the file and wait until several months before the season starts for next summer and submit it. For this we use a follow-up file. Last summer we gathered material and photos on the Rockies. It will have to be submitted in February or March. Some juvenile magazines require material sent in six months in advance.

Most chambers of commerce will be glad to furnish photos of their city and surrounding scenic spots, merely for the asking, if you mention that you are writing an article on their city for a magazine. They also will send booklets describing the places of interest to the tourist.

If you own a camera, you might pursue that dream of most writers, traveling and recording your experiences by word and photo. If you are not equipped as yet for full-time traveling, make the most of your vacations.

EACH YEAR we have scheduled trips to different parts of the country, making pictures and finding out all we can about that part of America. Travel magazines like little accounts of a vicinity in your own words. The style of writing must be different from the chamber of commerce booster type of writing. It can be flavored with anecdotes of your own doings along the way and give the bad as well as the good parts of a vacation there.

For instance, the chamber of commerce only publishes the interesting facts and advantages of coming to their particular town. But if the place is full of mosquitoes, the tourist wants to know it and you should mention that fact in your article.

Most stories written on Florida advise the reader that the sun always shines, that the tourists simply live like natives all winter long, wearing little clothing. We have been in Miami Beach when the wind whistled and coats were in order. We wrote this up telling the traveler exactly what, to carry for a winter vacation in the famous resort. The reader appreciates a down-to-earth story, with real information that he can use on his trip. Of course, tourists need only light sport clothes in Florida most of the time, but the reader should be prepared for the cool days when they come along. These are the little points which make your travel copy most acceptable.

A DRAMATIC lead is good for the travel article. This can be some striking statement about a city that attracts the reader immediately. It has been said that the reader of an article must be lured past the first paragraph, or he will fall asleep and not read your article.

In an article on Boulder, Colorado, we began with, "Did you know that one city's water supply is furnished entirely by a glacier, and that it is the only city that can boast that?" instead of the old journalistic lead, such as: "Boulder, Colorado, located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, has 30,000 population, the University of Colorado and a water supply furnished by a glacier."

Travel magazines are not your only markets for this type of article. Most of the juvenile publications welcome travel subjects, written, of course, for the young reader. He is usually interested in any odd facts about a place. He likes to know what a city was like hundreds of years ago and what it is like today. These articles are sure-fire for the juvenile magazines.

For one juvenile magazine we wrote: "Did you know there are 600 summits exceeding 12,000 feet in Colorado, 300 above 13,000 and 50 above 14,000 feet in altitude? Yet Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs is the most famous, and is only 14,110 feet." This challenging first paragraph set the reader to wondering why Pike's Peak was the best known; then an historical account of it was given.

IF ONE is to take the hobby of writing seriously and if he is to make the most profit and derive the most satisfaction, it is well to attend the summer writers' workshops held at the various universities. We have picked up innumerable tips this way.

During the last summer while attending the University of Denver, we became interested in the Mexican migrants who flood the Southwest. Some of them enter illegally and work under poor conditions, with their children receiving very little education. As I am very much interested in social problems, I thought this was a good idea and might be of world-wide interest.

I queried the editor of the Christian Science Monitor asking him if he wanted to see how education was helping to solve the problem of the migrant workers' families. Photos were obtained from the Library of Congress for $1. The article brought $25.

The Library of Congress is an excellent source for almost any kind of travel photographs at a minimum cost. Write to it at Washington, D.C., describing the kind of photograph desired and the library will advise you what it has on hand. It will send loan lots of 250 small photographs to any writer applying for them. You may then select the photographs and return the lot.

MAGAZINES SHOULD be studied carefully for style and slant. Some like humorous accounts of experiences, some like straight facts on what-to-do-when-you-get-there, etc. The higher paying are harder to hit, but worth the try. That usually comes after a little experience and studying of needs.

Buick magazine likes factual, third-person accounts of places worth visiting because of their scenic, recreational or historic attractions in the United States, Mexico and Canada. As it buys six months in advance, be sure to send in articles to be used for summer stories, during the winter-time. These should be from 600 to 700 words, with two or three photographs for illustration. Always send 8 by 10 photographs with your article, as a snapshot will not reproduce.

The Highway Traveler likes travel features to 2,000 words, which favor bus travel and the advantages of it. It also likes good black and white photographs. Their payment is 3 cents per word.

Ford Times is one of the harder-to-hit and better-paying travel magazines. It is interested in stories of little-heard-of places, which have been by-passed by modern highways and have an interesting background story. Usually there is a story of this kind in your own backyard if you dig it up. Its style requirements are very definite and a copy of the magazine is a "must" to learn it. The payment is tops, at 10 cents per word.

Upward, which is a juvenile publication, likes travel subjects if they have some kind of historical slant and are informational to the reader, These should be from 1,000 to 2,000 words. Payment is ½ cent a word and is made monthly.