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| Lonely Planet Comet
The author issue | | | |
| A day in the life of an author | | | | Every entry in our guidebooks has a story behind it. Slip between the lines and find out just how tenacious our authors can be in this interactive feature, or check out these slices of life on the road:
Andrew Burke in Iran
It was at the end of a long day exploring ancient Sassanian cities that Kazem suggested we stop for a picnic by a lake south of Shiraz. 'A picnic? What with?' I asked. 'Don't worry, I have everything in the car,' he replied. And he did. Kazem proved to be a veritable professor of the picnic, producing a plastic blanket, hot water, tea, coals, qalyan, biscuits, sugar and a wire cage in which he swung the coals until they lit in a sea of sparks. We sat, smoked, sipped tea and just enjoyed life as the sun settled behind the hills...it was pure Iranian hospitality.
This is an extract from Iran 5 by Andrew Burke, et al. Published by Lonely Planet, 2008.
Dean Starnes in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
When it comes to draughts on the Trobriand Islands, a good game is a quick game. However mine - and there were more than one - turned out to be embarrassingly fast. In my defence, the rules seemed somewhat flexible, oscillating between the 'French' and 'English' versions. Either way, my opponent's pieces jumped around the board like hyperactive frogs on steroids.
This is an extract from Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands 8 by Dean Starnes, et al. Published by Lonely Planet, 2007.
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| Online Shop
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Adventure tours to get you inspired!
- Adventures by the month
- On the road in China
- Tackle Mt Kilimanjaro
- Holiday on the Amalfi Coast
Peregrine gets 4 travelling for the price of 3!
Grab your three best friends, book a Peregrine Australia trip departing before 31 December 2008, and the 4th person will travel for free! Book by 15 July 2008 to take advantage of this offer.
- Kakadu Wetlands & Gorges
- Uluru & Outback Trails
- Cape York - Top of Australia
- Kimberley Colours
- Flinders Ranges & the Heysen Trail
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| | | Okay, it's time to press the flesh and meet the real live authors. Frances Linzee Gordon, author extraordinaire, was the first person ever to be granted a visa as an independent tourist in Saudi Arabia. Read the blog of her adventures or watch her video chat as she answers questions from the Thorn Tree.
Let our authors be your global guides. Sally O'Brien will show you around Copenhagen, Ellis Quinn revs you up for a pre-Olympic Beijing, Virginia Maxwell brings you the best of Istanbul and Danny Palmerlee shows you the unmissable bits of Buenos Aires. For something crunchier, take Tony Wheeler's tour of the Bad Lands.
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| Did you know:
- Lonely Planet currently employs over 360 authors.
- All our authors combined spend approximately 9,125 days on the ground researching each year.
- Our New Zealand guide had five authors spending a combined total of 189 days researching in the destination, then even longer writing the research up. They put a year's worth of work into a guidebook that is updated every two years.
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| | | The times they are a changin', and travellers are getting more and more sophisticated. Sure, you still want a great guidebook, but you might also want to see a slideshow on Voodoo in Benin, find out what they're eating in Ecuador, check out the Wheelers' classic family road trips, hear with your own ears what an Icelandic accent sounds like or debate the hot topics (would you drink fermented mare's milk?)
So our authors step up to the plate and meet that need. Take George Dunford. He's a guidebook veteran currently researching Lonely Planet's next guide to Finland. When he's on the road, he's not only picking up material for the book - he's also cooking up podcasts and articles, starring in videos and even finding time to share his notes from the road. Is there nothing a Lonely Planet author cannot do?
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| Compass Competition
To win one of five copies of Lonely Planet's Travel Writing guide, tell us who wrote:
- The Art of Travel
- Travels with my Aunt
- Smile, You're Travelling
Email your answers by 30 June. | | | |
| Think you've got what it takes? | | | | Writing a guidebook - how hard can it be? You go somewhere, you write something, you come home, you pop the champagne - mission accomplished, right? Well, not quite. Find out exactly how we go about making our books, and then see if you've got the chops to be a bona fide author. Have you got a flair for language and a love for travel? Got a laptop? Sturdy boots? You could be the one for us.
If you've never tried travel writing, why not experiment with documenting your own hometown? Take a day to explore your city. See it through a tourist's eyes. Make a video, write a blog, work up those skills. And we want to hear what you discover. Why not create a Bluelist of your favourite sights or post a comment on the Thorn Tree that might help visitors to your town. And if your travel video works out well, why not upload it to lonelyplanet.tv? If we love it, we'll pay you $500 for it. What have you got to lose?
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| Need inspiration?
We asked author Alison Bing 'What was the most surprising place to write about?'
'My adopted hometown of San Francisco. But once I started researching the city for LP, I discovered a whole other city: a cross-dresser who ran for mayor in the arch-conservative 1950s and got 6,000 votes; a hidden hilltop tennis court named after a San Franciscan woman tennis star who served as an anti-Nazi secret agent. I knew the city's skyline by heart, but somehow I'd forgotten than more than picturesque Victorian roofs or windblown Monterey pines, extraordinary people give the city its true grandeur.'
Read Alison's "Eco-swanking in San Francisco"
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| Author tips for aspiring travel writers | | | | Always try to improve your writing. Look on your writing as more craft than art; once you learn to put words together as a tradesman, your ability to do so as an artist improves dramatically.
- Adam Karlin
Aspiring travel writers are keen to focus on the travelling, though you really can't neglect the importance of building a strong writing portfolio. You can get your start by focusing on local newspapers and magazines, and then slowly expanding your network and building connections.
- Matt Firestone
Read as much travel literature - guides, magazines, travelogues and histories - as you can, to really get a sense of the places you'd like to write about. And then simply get out there and start writing.
- Amelia Thomas
| | Tips from Tony Wheeler
What advice can you offer to aspiring travel writers?
Walk, travel, write.
What advice can you offer travellers to get the most out of their time in a destination?
I'll say "walk" again but I guess the main thing is that old "life is not a dress rehearsal" suggestion, you're there, you may not be back, use your time.
What country or region has been the most surprising or enjoyable for you to travel in and write about and why?
Any place that is slightly weird, off the wall in some ways. So California is terrific. Ditto Japan. | | | |
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