BootsnAll Travel Community

I found this story interesting, especially as someone who long wanted to be a travel guidebook writer:

A former Lonely Planet writer is now promoting his own new book by claiming that he faked some of his own research and also accepted some forbidden travel perks.

Here's the story.

I've heard that these guidebook writers make very little, which is no doubt helped along by the fact that there are dozens of people lined up behind them who'd love those assignments if the writer demanded more money.

Those of us who read the Colombia section on (cough-cough) another, um, lesser travel site have long suspected that there was something up with the Colombia book.

And how it could have omitted both BlackSheep and Casa Kiwi?

This is why we are looking forward to the Footprint guide to Colombia and also why we use this free travel guide.

Interesting. Can Bootsnall get another interview with Tony Wheeler to get a more detailed Lonely Planet response on this?!

I'm of two minds. On the one hand, okay, he doesn't feel he was paid enough, but I don't think it's just "here's $500. Go write the book and tell us when you're done"...this writer most likely lied to LP repeatedly about, say, not actually going to Colombia. Not cool. And his expose will be completely true?

At the same time - he didn't write just one book. Why didn't anyone at LP know something was off after all this time? And does that mean things are off with other books, they just haven't realized it yet? Then again, this might not be fully on Lonely Planet ... but people who expect that something published or published by a certain source just has to be the final word.

I also wonder whether his book will just generate more publicity for Lonely Planet, rather than making people distrust it/not buy it/etc.

since the other thread was locked...

Stoo:

quote:

But if you are impling that they all work that way, including our own resident boot and LP author (RP), write so is a cheap shot.

Jeez dude I was joking. Of course I don't think all books are written that way. As it happens I buy and read LP books all the time.

Yes I know that the guy has acted wrongfully and that this is a serious matter etc. etc. But I can also see the funny side.

Hey Stoo. Obviously this topic has you a little hot under the collar. But the kid's comment on the other board seemed pretty innocent. Sorry you had to step on him like that.

Sorry boi. It's a soft spot I guess.

D

quote:

Originally posted by Piecar:
Hey Stoo. Obviously this topic has you a little hot under the collar.

Not really. Maybe 'flippant' would hae been better? Not that I ever post that way

Thing is, we have both actual and budding travel writers around there here parts and cb's comment can be interpreted, like I did, as a shot at them, boots I like and trust to actually show up.

cb: emotionicons are your friend

Ok well I apologise if my sense of humour has caused any offence to any guidebook writers on this board.

But I still think it was pretty funny the way the guy reviewed the Brazilian restaurant.

quote:

Originally posted by Stoo:
We have both actual and budding travel writers around there here parts and cb's comment can be interpreted, like I did, as a shot at them, boots I like and trust to actually show up.

Taking cheap shots at guidebook writers?! Who ever heard of such a thing?

quote:

Ok well I apologise if my sense of humour has caused any offence to any guidebook writers on this board.

Too late, cb. They are busily writing horrible things about Bristol and its inhabitants, even though they have not been there.

quote:

Originally posted by halfnine:
LP response

Wow. So, they are directly contradicting his claims. Is anyone following the grisly details enough to comment?

So the guy sounds like kind of an asshole.

My thoughts:
It's really no surprise that LP doesn't pay their authors enough that they can make a good living doing what they do. That's the problem with highly desireable jobs - there's always someone else who'd be willing to do it, so you can't really negotiate. Obviously, though, enough people see guidebook writing as lucrative enough to be worth the effort, or they wouldn't get written.

It's also been pretty obvious to anyone who uses guidebooks that the consistency within a brand doesn't extend any further than formatting. The quality of the guide depends entirely on its author. So it's no surprise that there are guidebook authors out there who are slacking off at their jobs.

And it's no surprise that at least some authors are breaking company policies that the company has no way to enforce. People are selfish, and if they can get free room, food, or sex in return for a listing, there's always going to be a certain number of people who take advantage of that. And there's no practical way the company can police it, so I'm not sure what people would expect on this front.

Lastly, a lot of this smells of 'publicity stunt.' While I'm sure he did some of the things in his book, you kind of have to take anything he says with a grain of salt. Did he really deal ecstacy? Who knows? But it's pretty certain that just by saying he did, he can sell more books.

I can't say this comes as much of a surprise. I guess if anything the fact its come out is - I thought it was one of those things that just never gets talked about.

Having now travelled using five LP guides I think with some of them it's clear the people have never been to some places.

Sometimes the maps are so far out that it makes you want to cry (I think I have actually cried).

There are often bold statements like 'there is no bus taking you from the airport to the city), and there is, and when you ask how long the bus has been running it's something like 5 years.

I think if you take a job, you should do the job. If you can't afford to do the job on what they pay you then you shouldn't take the job. Rather that than do a shoddy piece of work that lots of people rely on.

They should beat him till his dead with the guidebook he cheated on - or something slightly less sinister.

Where's Leif the God of Thunder with our insider's view?

quote:

Originally posted by static:
Lonely Planet was sketchy and vague where it should have been bursting with enthusiasm and information. The unbelievable Tierra Adentro country, for example, now safe for visitors - where stone manbird statues stand beneath dripping forest trees, our only link with a civilisation that has disappeared and of which almost nothing is known – was covered in a cursory way that gave no hint of the sense of mystery and revelation felt by any visitor. There was something half-hearted about this book – unaccountably smaller and inferior to the previous (1980s) edition, which our Colombian guide still kept with him.

LP is saying that this Kohnstamm guy only wrote the introductory chapter of the Colombia book (covering food and drink plus history). The review section was not written by him but by two other LP authors.

It seems that a number of disgruntled LP writers are coming out and attacking LP. Here for example one of them writes:
"Why did you [management] not understand that when you hire a constant stream of new, unvetted people, pay them poorly and set them loose, that someone, somehow was going to screw you?"

Read this in the newspaper today, another travel writer confessing her 'sins'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/apr/20/travelbooks