Comments

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  Sarah Sekula August 10, 2010 at 5:45pm

  I need to interview a writer who has written a guidebook or app on Great Britain. Know of anyone?
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  Evelyn Kanter August 9, 2010 at 8:07pm

  Ed -- Perhaps guidebook versions on eBooks (ie. Kindle) will help bolster sales, plus we need to be writing guidebook apps. All of us guidebook authors -- me included -- should be urging our publishers to add electronic versions of our books to 'the' list.
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  Allan Lynch August 9, 2010 at 6:22pm

  Tom - like you I own a bunch of domain names. I've been too busy to develop a site. I plan to this winter as I burrow in against raging storms. What I plan to do is link the various names to one omnibus site (for now) and see if each name/link could take people to a different page, which could then lead them back to the main website.
  
  I have to think about this a bit more and quiz a webmaster friend, but it shouldn't cost anything. And could work for you/me.
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  Allan Lynch August 9, 2010 at 6:17pm

  Has anyone considered that many guidebooks aren't relevant to readers anymore? At least not as they're done. Publishers seem to be trapped in old notions of what interests readers. Writers are given x-number of characters in which to describe a place or event and include all sorts of banal information. And there doesn't seem to be much leeway for the writer to actually give more space to a place or event that deserves it compared to another spot that has faded.
  
  As for print being dead, no one seems to be factoring in the impact of the economic downturn on publishing. The industry is down, but when consumers come back, advertising will as well. In Canada circulation has stayed steady. We're already seeing a rise in advertising. The September fashion magazines, which are the canary in the publishing's mineshaft, are up 12-25% in ad pages over last year.
  
  I was amused yesterday watching CNN Reliable Sources to see the man behind LA's blogdowntown.com is excited to finally, after five years, to launch a print paper because of “the power of reaching people who don’t know they want us.” He was referencing how people find the paper when they stop in for a coffee or go into a convenience store or roam a bookshop...
  
  When the host asked about the costs of actually printing a newspaper, he said, “there’s an amazing value people put on print. Especially advertisers.”
  
  He raved about the ability of carrying it with you, reading it whenever and wherever you wish and having all kinds of things you don’t know you’re interested in right before you. CNN labelled this “hyperlocal” content.
  
  And then my Sunday newspaper carried a feature on the woman who founded formerlyhot.com. Her blog has gotten her a book deal. I have read a number of features about bloggers who get book deals.
  
  It’s ironic that the overriding aspiration of bloggers, these apostles for cyber space, is to get book deals and get into dead-tree technology.
  
  The head of the Just For Laughs Comedy Fest told me he could reach his audience 100% on-line, but would lose millions of dollars in sponsorships because sponsors expect to see their names in print. They place value on it and are sticking with it.
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  Max Pesling August 9, 2010 at 5:55pm

  Paper guidebooks are indeed dying. But then, so is anything printed on paper. For a few years, print will hang on so long as the older generation (that includes me!) is not comfortable with lugging around iPads and whatever else Steve Jobs dreams up. My best guess is that at that point, paper guidebooks will get more expensive, as a "luxury" commodity for those select few who have not embraced technology. But inevitably, as this "older" generation passes, paper will go the way of vellum and papyrus.
  
  What do YOU think?
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  Simon & Baker Travel Review August 9, 2010 at 5:47pm

  Time will tell Ed. Maybe like movie theaters there will be a place for both movies at home and in the theaters. Elena
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  Ed Wetschler August 9, 2010 at 5:45pm

  Are Guidebooks Dying?
  
  Not a new question, but the Financial Times quantifies the issue:
  
  "Over the past two and a half years, guidebook sales in Britain have fallen off a cliff. Sales for 2009 were down 18 per cent on 2007, and if the second half of this year follows the first, 2010 will be down 27 per cent on 2007, according to data from Nielsen BookScan. If the current rate of decline continues, the final guidebook will be sold in less than seven years’ time."
  
  So is this the end? And if so, what would we be losing?
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  Mary E Gallagher August 6, 2010 at 11:00am

  In case you don't get this report, I thought the figures compiled for various cities was most interesting and may come into play in your travel stories.
  http://www.eturbonews.com/17713/best-worst-travel-taxes-top-50-us-d...
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  Tony Tien Huynh August 5, 2010 at 7:10am

  www.oneworldvn.com or www.indochinas.com for Vietnam and Indochina package tours.
  
  Tony
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  Evelyn Kanter August 4, 2010 at 3:28pm

  Right on, David. It's just too easy to google something and use what pops up in the first few listings. (And I should start a new thread about how we turn nouns such as Google into verbs). I just dug into the anti-plagarism software link posted earlier and found a USA Today article from 2006 on the subject. That's around the time of the Jason Blair/New York Times debacle.