Meet Patricia Smart | Founder, Author Adventures Literary Travel Platform

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patricia Smart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind the success of Author Adventures, a literary travel platform, is our openness to adapt our course as we gain a deeper understanding of our audience. When we began our passion project, it was intended for students in grades five through eight and their teachers or parents. The writing style was juvenile and each web page had surprise pop-up activities, like ideas for crafts, recipes, and games. The content was also linked fairly closely to school curriculum standards. Over time, however, we realized that our primary audience was comprised more of book lovers and retirees, who had the discretionary time available to engage in travel. Also, the technology culture changed such that blind pop-ups became undesireable and even perceived as potentially unsafe. Once we modified the writing to appeal to adults, removed the pop-up activities, and broadened the scope of our content, our metrics more than doubled.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I began my career working for a publishing house that was created, owned, and operated by the founder of the Literary Landmarks Association. (Later, this association was adopted by United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.) His enthusiasm was contagious. Over time, I visited many of the places that were designated as literary landmarks during family vacations, while my career as a writer and champion of literacy blossomed through the fields of publishing and education. Eventually, I served as the Executive Director of the Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles, where I honed my skills in public service and grantwriting. During this time, my work attracted letters of commendation for innovation from the U.S. Department of Education and the First Lady of the United States. Of course, the career path wasn’t easy. I faced the usual obstacles of underfunded organizations, a professional network needing continuous energy, and personal setbacks that sometimes impacted my career trajectory. What I would want the world to know is that success can be defined many different ways and to not lose sight of seeking fulfillment in every sphere of your life. Paid work is essential, of course, but your unpaid efforts provide compensation for the soul, contributing to an overall healthy life. Author Adventures is constantly evolving and expanding its audience because of the credibility that comes with it being a passion project by partners who care.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend visited my area, I would ask them to view the videos on our Author Adventures YouTube channel and the ones profiled on AuthorAdventures.org and tell me which places they would like to visit.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
At the top of the list of my shoutouts is the Robert Frost Farm in New Hampshire, which inspired and triggered the idea of designing nationwide road trip maps of author homes, organized by state, that are open to the public. They also kindly include one of our page links on their site, which has benefitted our visibility and traffic. Big thanks!

More shoutouts to our three partners who write and provide most of the original photography. Their bios can be found in the About Us section of authoradventures.org. Between the three of us, we’ve personally visited, written about, and photographed literary homes in nearly every US state. This public service is a voluntary labor-of-love for all of us. None of us receives compensation for these efforts.

A heartfelt shoutout to the John Corcoran Foundation, which has allowed us a path to accept donations that cover our technical expenses.

Shoutouts to the personnel at all the literary places we have visited for being so consistently warm and welcoming, some of whom even have agreed to appear with us in our Author Adventures YouTube videos.

Last but not least, shoutouts to all of our readers, especially those who have contributed their own ideas and photos to our website and social media.

Website: authoradventures.org

Instagram: Author Adventures

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/patriciasmart

Facebook: facebook.com/authoradventures

Youtube: Author Adventures Literary Road Trips (youtube.com/channel/UCTknT6AT2IO42uLmr9Qd-IA)

Image Credits
Author Adventures