Guidebook Writing Archives — Page 4 of 5

What does it mean to be ‘offbeat’ in an age where everyone is so ‘switched on’?

If something is ‘offbeat’, it’s strange, quirky, eccentric, so travel to offbeat destinations means visiting weird places and seeing unusual things that the average tourist might not think (or want) to see. Right? Travel writer Kim Wildman wrote ‘Offbeat South Africa: the travel guide to the whacky and wonderful‘ which the blurb describes as “a … Read more about What does it mean to be ‘offbeat’ in an age where everyone is so ‘switched on’?

Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 2

by Lara Dunston

By Lara & Terence*If you’ve just joined us, this continues from the previous post so read this first.So, why would these three places now get glowing reviews in an updated guidebook? What do they have in common? The answer: all of these places do excellent public relations. And when you read the reviews it’s quite … Read more about Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 2

Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook: the challenges of guidebook research and other considerations

by Lara Dunston

Our research last year for the Syria chapter of our recently released Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook required that we visit everything already in the book, along with many more sights that weren’t in the guide. And while we loved visiting all of those “out of the way castles and ruins”, when making decisions … Read more about Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook: the challenges of guidebook research and other considerations

Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook has hit the shelves!

by Lara Dunston

We’ve just received our author copies of our recently released Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook and I’m rather excited to see it in print as we put a lot of hard work into it. Admittedly, seeing a book for the first time is not as thrilling these days as it once was, especially as … Read more about Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook has hit the shelves!

Death of the (guidebook) author?

by Lara Dunston

If you’ve been following the Lonely Planet author fraud scandal or the Thomas Kohnstamm Affair as some of us like to call it, and you’ve read the comments following online articles and visited Lonely Planet’s travellers’ forum Thorn Tree, then you may well think this spells the end for guidebook authors. Or at the very … Read more about Death of the (guidebook) author?