A group of leading guidebook writers has accused the UK publishing industry of
“derisory” payments and plummeting standards — with some guides being
written without authors even bothering to visit destinations.
They told Times Travel that most of the country’s top guidebook writers
have grown so disillusioned by levels of payment that they are starting to
look for alternative means of making a living.
The result is that publishers are using young, inexperienced contributors —
many who are first-time authors — and that standards of reliability and the
quality of writing have fallen dramatically. Another effect is that authors
are cutting corners, not bothering to visit places as low fees do not cover
expenses.
Melissa Shales, former chair of the British Guild of Travel Writers, who has
written guidebooks for 20 years, said: “Publishers are using unqualified
rookie authors. Some authors are unscrupulously not even going to
destinations. The attitude among many is: ‘They pay * * * *, they get * * *
*.’ ”
She said that she was recently offered a fee of £3,000 for a 60,000-word book,
with 90 photographs also required. She was offered £16,500 for a
similar-length book 14 years ago.
Another writer, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Students are
undercutting us. The publishers are going for the cheapest rates. Inevitably
this comes through in the quality of work. Readers are getting a poorer
experience.”
A senior editor at a leading publisher, who also requested anonymity, said
that he found young writers often produced “quite embarrassing chunks of
prose”. Some also accepted “freebies”. “A writer may have stayed in a
cockroach-infested heap, but if it’s free, it will be given a glowing
write-up.”
Publishers defended standards and pay levels in guidebooks — now a
multi-million pound industry as more Britons take to travelling abroad on
cheaper flights.
John Duhigg, managing director of the Penguin travel divison, which publishes
Rough Guides and Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness guides, said: “I wouldn’t
like to comment beyond saying that how we commission is based on experience
and ability to do the job. We haven’t had any specific complaints about this
before.”
Lonely Planet said: “We are constantly reviewing, in consultation with our
authors, what we pay. We believe our fees are at the high end of the
market.”
Top ten sellers
1. Time Out Barcelona
2. Rough Guide to Sicily
3. Time Out Paris
4. Footprint South America
5. Lonely Planet India
6. Time Out Marrakech
7. Rough Guide Greek Islands
8. Cadogan Andalucia
9. Fodor’s Thailand
10. Eyewitness China
Source: Travel Bookshop (www.thetravelbookshop.com).
Reader comment on 'Travel guidebooks slammed':
Having just returned from a nine month round-the-world trip I found many
popular guidebooks to be really lacking in quality info much of the time.
The usually reliable Footprint's guide to east coast Australia was
especially bad due to the vagueness of info offered. Other guides were also
irksome with inaccurate maps, laughable prose, restaurant sections which
barely mention food and a lack of any high-end places to stay. However, as
an earlier post mentions, The Lonely Planet et al are often a good resource
for places to *avoid*. Travel is about discovering new places – not only
visiting those which are in your guidebook Simon B, London, UK
Having recently returned from a three-month trip to Thailand and Vietnam, I
can only confirm that guidebooks are not worth the extra space, nor the
paper, they are written on. Our Footprint guide - the off-beat track indeed
- became a standing joke and ended up in a rubbish bin in Surathani. Vague
directions, inaccurate maps and laughable quotes, using typically overblown
and meaningless phrases, meant we were very much on our own, which turned
out to be for the best. Our Rough guide to Vietnam was little better and
helped us only to avoid all the areas it recommended. Foxy Minky,
Paris, France
As a former writer for Frommer's, I can can attest to the downward spiral. I
quit following a steady drop in payment about six years ago. I know for a
fact that the person they hired to replace me on one guide never made it to
at whole regions I covered - he updated off the web and with phone calls. It
astounds me still today to open one the "new!" "updated!" guides I'd
researched about 10 years ago and see about 80 percent of my copy and
recommendations remain unchanged. They just change the prices. If sausage
were made like this, we'd all be dead. Travel Guy, New Orleans, USA
I'm a fact-checker for National Geographic Traveler magazine and our policy on
guidebooks is "trust but verify." We consult them for general information
about a destination but they are never our final, definitive source. Thanks
for confirming our suspicions! Marilyn Terrell, Washington, DC, USA
Even the Times is guilty here - look at the clause regarding copyright in the
monthly travel images competition - most unfair for the photographer. 11.
Entrants will retain copyright in their submitted entries, however by
entering, all entrants licence TNL a worldwide royalty free perpetual
licence to publish and use each entry in any and all media (including print
and online) for publicity and news purposes. John
It's not just Travel Writing where this is happening, it's also Photography.
The rates for images have stagnated for the last 15 years. But you cannot
produce a photograph without having been to the place. Everyone is jumping
onto the same band wagon; Photographic competitions: Which you have to pay
to enter, and then lose most of the Copyright. Photographic Libraries: Who
demand 50% or more of the sale price. Magazines: Who pretend to be 'Small'
and can only pay a pathetic amount for an image. Newspapers: Who will accept
mobile phone, and other low res images, usually for nothing or for a few
quid. There is no 'Business Ethics' anymore. So don't be surprised when the
next person along, tries to rip you off ! Photo_free, Herts, UK
It is not only authors that are feeling the squeeze, as a former employee of a
travel publisher, salaried staff are also pushed to their limit. In the UK
the winners are major book retailers. They are able to push the margins of
publishers to their absolute limit, thereby leaving little scope for any
real profit in all but major destination titles. Sarah, Hertfordshire,
UK
It is just not the quality of guidebooks which has suffered, there has been a
noticeable decline in the variety and range of guidebooks for those areas of
the world that these young guidebook writers show no interest in. 15 years
ago there was a good range of guidebooks on places such as Scandinavia,
Japan, Bolivia and Chile, Germany and various Pacific Islands. Obivously for
these young writers these are places which are expensive to visit or to get
to, so they don't bother. Publishers such as Lonely Planet had guides on
cities like Auckland, so its a problem for both large and small publishers
which impacts on those wanting to travel to interesting locations unless the
publishers want us the public to visit certain locations as it keeps their
costs down. Mark Tinklin, Bournemouth, UK
We have found that actual travellers reviews, especially of hotels posted on
www.tripadvisor.com to be one of the most reliable, independent and cheapest
sources of information; although reports can quickly date. Paul Homer,
High Wycombe, Bucks
Like many of my former guidebook-writing colleagues, I have also been faced
with the problem of cutting corners on research or funding the trip out of
my own pocket. I ate the shortfall a few times and, when I no longer could,
cut destination research to a bare minimum while I looked around for other
employment. Once I updated a book on a destination I knew well but could not
afford to revisit. I don't consider it unscrupulous - just a financial
reality. It is more unscrupulous to lower fees to the point where they
barely cover transportation and then pretend to the public that the
guidebook is written solely ore even principally from on-site research. As
we used to say, "We pretend to work. They pretend to pay us". Planateer,
Chicago, Illinois
