How to become a Lonely Planet author
Guest Post by Hackpacker
January 22
Seconds after telling anyone you're a Lonely Planet author, they'll ask how you got the job. Sometimes it's just polite curiousity other times it's because they think it sounds like a dream job, but mostly it's because they believe there's an arcane ritual that you have to pass through be annointed by guidebook brahmins. If there was a ritual then I missed it and the truth is it requires an odd collection of skills.
If you're looking to get a job as a guidebook author the first place to check is the Lonely Planet's own instructions on becoming an author. For the last year there's been a hiring freeze, but word is that this will soon be thawing as they begin refreshing the pool of around 300 authors.
There's no secret to the recruitment process. As well as normal material like a CV and examples of previous work, new authors can be asked to write a sample chapter to show how you'd write a guidebook. You'll get some instructions on how to write this so follow these as closely as you can.
Choosing where to write your sample chapter about is crucial. It needs to both showcase your writing but also be the kind of place you'd see in a guidebook. Originally I did mine on a small town and found there just wasn't enough material. Plus there wasn't much significance or history to the town so it was hard to see why it would appear in guidebook with 2000 words dedicated to it. It's about selecting somewhere that suits the word count. Trying to cover all of metropolitan Melbourne is tough and will give you only the roughest sketch, but covering a suburb in depth is going to give richer writing.
And what about your writing? Travel writing is really competitive so your sample needs to be distinctive and show that you've got your own style. Brochurese ('stunning vistas' or 'luxury options' anyone?) and cliches are the unexceptional kids picked around the middle in playground football. Challenge yourself to write like nobody else in the slush pile and even if you're bad at least you'll be exceptionally bad.
Accuracy is always important and you can bet that anyone assessing it will fact check with a phonecall or even visit. In guidebooks even the best writing is worthless if your basic information is wrong and you see a lot of reader's letters where people have got the maps wrong.
Oh yeah - the maps. You need to do a sample map that points out everything you mention in the text. Map-text consistency is important, but maps need to be both clear and complete. It's not just about writing and you'll need to be an amateur cartographer as well. Generally you can work from existing maps but knowing where to put each item is important.
Having in-depth knowledge of destinaions is important and having a language or two is useful. The Lonely Planet website sometimes targets difficult destinations where they need specific skills or specialists. Getting the balance between writing skills and specialist knowledge is important though so lecturing professors need not apply (though these kind of specialists might be useful on a specific books).
Many Lonely Planet authors (including me) get experience with house style and guidebooks by working in-house. This used to be called 'jumping the fence' as even in-house staff have to do the same process of writing a sample chapter and have it assessed.
Assessment is usually done by skilled editors who've worked on their fair share of books. They're looking for something that has no errors (so don't just spell check your work) but also reads well and is accurate. Getting rejected can give you some good feedback that will improve your writing and your chances next time.
While not quite an arcane ritual, the sample is a big hurdle but if you're given the nod as an author then you can start pitching for books anywhere in the world.
Cross-posted from Hackpacker
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Comments
22 Jan 10 at 10:45
Fail. You do not seriously believe anyone buys LP titles for the writing, surely?
There are two ways to become an LP author: work in house (editorial) and jump the fence, or run the gauntlet (submit, sample etc) and kiss ass.
Success at LP is about slavish devotion to The Brand. Writing
for LP is not about eschewing clichés, but substituting the kind of
'quirky', 'independent', 'opinionated' ones sanctioned by the LP
House Style for those found in other mainstream
publications.
Ah, maybe they're more human now they're BBC owned?
I know whereof I speak; I used to write for them (four titles).
Here's another tip: I just re-wrote your whole article in a quarter of the words, and with more truth and accuracy. Brevity is your friend always, but especially at LP.
...22 Jan 10 at 11:56
Fake email address and website duly noted, Former LP Author. If you feel able to argue your case rather than just be sarcastic, we might be able to get an interesting discussion going.
...22 Jan 10 at 12:23
What a nasty little person you are Former LP author. I for one enjoyed reading this.
...22 Jan 10 at 14:28
I recently interviewed another former LP author and asked him if he was 'an embittered former author". He laughingly replied "Is there any other kind?" Congratualtions on the re-write and looking forward to seeing it at your www.lolnaive.com site.
...22 Jan 10 at 14:32
Oh and thanks for the kind words, Sam. They shouldn't get lost in the bitterness.
...22 Jan 10 at 14:57
'Former LP Author' - you're kidding yourself if you believe the quality of writing in an LP guide is unimportant. No, it might not influence the first purchase of a guide, but I've read a fair whack of the LPs, and I will quickly offload one if I find the writing tedious or cold. Props to Hackpacker for encouraging potential LP writers to engage with their audience with their own inimitable style, methinks.
It's a wee bit sad that you have been spat out of the end of the LP tube, embitterred and unempowered. Change doesn't come from past employees complaining annoynomously - maybe your above comments might have been more useful if they were aimed at the upper echelons of LP, instead of at an author who is simply providing a few inside hints?
A post such as this is as good as example as any. Hackpacker writes in an easy-to-read and informal style that delivers its information with clarity, so that the reader doesn't need to re-read sentences or have to pause so as to ensure the content is sinking in. I would bet dollaz that your summarised and cold concretised edit would induce both brain soreness and bored yawniness. I know whose version I'd rather read.
...22 Jan 10 at 15:19
Back in the days when Usenet newsgroups were popular, posts like
the one submitted by 'Former LP Author' were called flame bait. Do
people still use that term? Speaking from bitter experience, I find
the best thing you can do with flame baits is to ignore
them.
On the other hand, Hackpacker, I read your post with great
interest, especially the point about accuracy.
Wasn't there a news story last year about some travel writers making things up in the guide books (can't remember the publisher) because they weren't pay enough to actually experience everything included in the books? I wondered at the time how did those writers get away with fiction.
...22 Jan 10 at 16:29
Thanks also for the kind words, SamC. I'd also add that there's a lot of subjectivity here with brevity being the soul of wit. Writing for LP is about word counts but writing to different word lengths is a great skill and a handy one for any professional writer.
...22 Jan 10 at 16:37
Simon, the guy you're thinking of was Thomas Kohnstamm - I blogged about it a couple of times: http://hackpacker.blogspot.com/2008/04/hellish-travel-writing.html http://hackpacker.blogspot.com/2008/06/do-travel-writers-go-to-hell-review.html On accuracy, my personal experience has been that editors are fairly painstaking. I can't speak for all authors but accuracy is the thing you get stung by most in reader's letters and often it's because information dates so quickly in print. Bring the guidebook into the digital space and it might be less stinging. I'm also ashamed that one of my comments above has a typo in it - a great advert for accuracy that isn't.
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