As hard as travel guidebook publishers try to keep their products current and fresh–and they do try–deadlines thwart them. It simply takes time–about a year–to research, write, edit, print and distribute a book.
Given the amount of material that goes into a book, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that guidebooks contain information that can be incorrect. Restaurants open and close, hotels change hands, hurricanes and other disasters occur.
What normally doesn’t change between editions is the destination’s history and ambience, but publishers try to keep that material fresh as well.
A leading Chicago travel book seller said recently that of all the brands and titles that fill the store’s shelves, Lonely Planet, DK Eyewitness, Frommer’s, Fodor’s and Rough Guides seem to sell the best. How do publishers pull together millions of words on myriad destinations to put a book in a traveler’s hands? Here’s what officials of those brands have to say:
Lonely Planet. With more than 600 titles in 118 countries, Lonely Planet generally updates about 80 percent of its books every two years. “We have a pool of 320 authors,” explained Heather Dickson, a senior commissioning editor based in Oakland, Calif. Many writers live in the destinations they write about.
“We expect every hotel and restaurant to be checked out. We pay [the writer’s expenses] to do that. They can’t stay in every hotel or eat in all the restaurants, but they must at least visit the places.”
Dickson said that every time authors go out, “we give them the last editions. All have to be checked, all updated. We don’t expect the same book to come back with just a few details changed. We want a fresh new book every time.”
Generally it takes 10 months from the time the writer begins researching to the time the book hits the shelf, Dickson said. Lonely Planet books range from 96 to 1,396 pages and can be previewed at lonelyplanet.com.
DK Eyewitness Travel Guides. Known more for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way.
“Our guides are authored by people who know the destinations extremely well and speak the local language,” said publisher Douglas Amrine, in an e-mail from his London office. “Most of our guides have more than one author; we commission specialists on history, natural history, art, shopping, etc. Generally our restaurant and hotel recommendations are provided by someone other than the main author who has described the touristic sights. While it isn’t practical to visit for every hotel and restaurant, we choose contributors who already have detailed knowledge of these subjects. We employ researchers in the destination to check all the information.”
Eyewitness also commissions museum floor plans, aerial 3-D views of neighborhoods and cutaways of cathedrals, Amrine said. Because the guides are so heavily illustrated and meticulously designed, the books take between 9 and 24 months to create.
Popular Eyewitness Guides–New York, Washington, San Francisco, London, Paris–are revised annually, and most other guides are revised every two years. “We are now looking to the Web [us.dk.com] as a way to provide the latest information to our readers,” Amrine noted.
Frommer’s Guidebooks. A staple since 1957 when “Europe on $5 a Day” was published by founder Arthur Frommer (no longer associated with the books), Frommer’s Guides in their various brands appeal to a broad market. “We publish between 175 and 185 books every year,” said Kelly Regan, Frommer’s editorial director, who is based in Hoboken, N.J. “Our most popular titles–35 to 38 books–are updated every year, the rest every other year.
“We put a premium on keeping books as up to date as possible,” Regan said. “It’s the advantage of using authors who live in the destination and can keep up with information and not try to cram everything in during a two-week trip.”
Regan said authors get a “formidable” list of material they have to provide. “We provide them with outlines, guidelines, instructions. We know exactly what we want in every guide–exact prices for hotels, restaurants, everything. That does distinguish us from the competition.”
Regan said the majority of books are updated from previous editions, “but we probably do anywhere from 15 to 25 new editions a year.”
How Frommer’s guides are updated varies from destination to destination, Regan said. “For a city like New York or Chicago, where the dining, nightlife and hotel scene changes quickly, authors need to refresh content as quickly as possible. We expect authors to visit all the places they put in the book. Regan said most books are online at frommers.com.
Fodor’s Travel Guides. Fodor’s, founded by the late Eugene Fodor, began in 1936. Overall, there are about 250 titles in the Fodor’s series, 90 in the flagship series called Gold Guides, said publisher Tim Jarrell, who is based in New York. Of the Gold Guides, 40 are updated annually, the vast majority every two years.
“We have a network of writers–about 700 around the world–and most live in the destinations they write about,” Jarrell said. “It takes about a year from the initial assignment to the finished book. From the time the research is completed, it takes about six months, but we can make changes up to three months before publication.”
Jarrell said that books updated annually are entirely fact-checked.
“We also do one other thing,” said Jarrell. “We have a very active community on our Web site [fodors.com], which is rating our hotels and restaurants. We send that information out to the writers. If something is out of whack, the writer will investigate.”
Rough Guides. Started in England nearly 25 years ago with the publication of a book on Greece, Rough Guides now has about 200 titles, but not all are travel.
“Our travel guides have from one to four or five authors, depending on the area and amount to cover,” said Andrew Rosenberg, the series’ executive editor who is based in New York. “They endeavor to get to every place mentioned in the book and they try to update as accurately as possible each time. It doesn’t mean they’ve stayed in every hotel, but have been to them, checked rooms, beds and information.”
Most guides, said Rosenberg, are on two-year cycles, some on three-year cycles, depending on how well the book sells and how quickly the place changes.
As for the lag time between research and publication, on average it’s between 7 and 12 months, Rosenberg noted. (roughguides.com)
Advice to guidebook buyers: Check the copyright date and do the math.
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