We were recently invited to sit in on a friend's travel writing seminar. He began with a warning to the audience: "Stop! Get out while there's still time — that is, unless you already have a good retirement income or you're a trust-fund baby."

Acquaintances tell us what a thrilling career we've chosen, that they, too, love to travel, can write well and have taken some nice shots with their digital cameras. They want to know how to make money by writing about their travels.

As all professional travel writers and photographers know, although our jobs may appear to be glamorous, they're not all fun and games. By now, we've developed a standard response...