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cover art for How Travel Blogging Became a Publishing Empire with Crystal Statskey

Travel & Transformation

How Travel Blogging Became a Publishing Empire with Crystal Statskey

Ep. 138
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What happens when your travel blog becomes so popular that Barnes & Noble comes knocking at your door?

In this episode, Crystal Statskey, a content marketing strategist and travel blogger who turned her personal travel diary into a successful publishing business. Crystal shares how her blog "Dates in the States" started as an online journal documenting road trips with her then-boyfriend, now husband, across America. We dive into her entrepreneurial journey of creating physical date books filled with romantic date ideas for specific cities, starting with simple prints at farmer's markets that sold out immediately. Crystal opens up about the challenges of self-publishing, navigating different Barnes & Noble locations, and working with sponsorship opportunities from local businesses. We also explore how she and her husband work together as a team, their alphabetical country tradition for anniversaries, and the learning curve of getting books into major retailers through platforms like Ingram Spark.

Listen in to discover how Crystal transformed her passion for travel and writing into a business that's expanding across all 50 states, one date book at a time.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

  • How Crystal started blogging as a personal diary and evolved it into a travel-focused platform
  • The Self-Publishing Process 
  • Creating location-specific guides 
  • Navigating different Barnes & Noble locations and the complexities of bookstore placement
  • How Crystal and her husband work together on content creation and maintain their annual country tradition

RESOURCES MENTIONED: 


BEST MOMENTS:

 "I would love something to be a little more passive and something that I'm super passionate about. And obviously that was travel for me."

"I love bookstores and I love libraries. And that's just, that's my geek side. I didn't want to own Geek for a long time, but it's like it's a part of who I am."

"It's just so nice to have a partner to like, not only to travel with, but to also bounce ideas off of and just have that like, I don't know. The only term that's coming to my mind right now is Cheerleader, but I know there's, like, a better term for it, but someone cheering you on and, like, showing their support."

"And let me tell you, if you don't know someone, a road trip will definitely help you learn more and make it to where you either, you know, split at the end or you stay together. And thankfully we stayed together."


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