World Hum | Travel | Death of a Guidebook

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TRAVEL BLOG

12.11.07

Death of a Guidebook

Over 28 years and eight editions, Moon’s South Pacific Handbook has helped guide travelers to the region’s many scattered islands, from Easter Island to Tahiti. But in a blog post entitled South Pacific Handbook RIP, the guidebook’s author, David Stanley, laments that Avalon will not be publishing a ninth edition.

He blames a number of factors, including competition from Lonely Planet and the Internet, the decline in sales of regional guidebooks in favor of country-specific books, and high research costs. He hopes to give the book a “second life,” he writes, by posting some of the material on his Web site.

Former Moon author Carl Parkes writes on his blog: “[I]t’s all about money, or lack of, due to declining sales, poor marketing and distribution, and the relatively high royalty rates granted to early authors such as myself and David.”

In an interview with Rolf Potts a while back, Stanley described the perils of the guidebook-writing business. It can get pretty ugly.

From everything I’ve read and heard, whatever golden age once existed for guidebook writers is long gone. Because so many guidebooks these days are written by multiple authors who change from one edition to the next, the level of regional expertise going into them is diminishing. And in the future, there won’t be many guys like Stanley lamenting the death of a guidebook, because there won’t be authors who have that same sense of ownership over a particular book. And that’s sad.

“South Pacific Handbook” RIP.

Related on World Hum:
* It’s Official: China Bans Lonely Planet Guidebook
* Lonely Planet at 30

Posted by Jim Benning • 12.11.07
Categories: Weblog • Life of a Travel Writer • Media Addict • United States

Permalink • Comments (2)

COMMENTS

It’s a pity; I remember reading that interview with Stanley and the world of travel writing that used to exist, pre-internet. Is the internet destroying just as much opportunity as it’s creating? Or is it “distributing the wealth”, so to speak (e.g. multiple authors for one time stints vs. single authors like Stanley for a portion of royalties).

RIP, indeed.

By Fusiler (Jacob) on 12.11.07 at 09:11 AM

It certainly is sad, as is the consistently declining quality of guidebooks these days.

Hadn’t thought about that angle—the “diminishing level of regional expertise.” Good point.

By jv on 12.12.07 at 12:10 PM