Ron Emmons          Writer & Photographer
  • Blog
    • Introduction
  • Teaklord
    • Description and buying options
    • News of Teak Lord
    • The Making of a Book Cover
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 1
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 2
    • Review of Teak Lord
    • Teak Talk
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Periodicals >
      • A Culture Blossoms
      • Black, White and Blue
      • Deep in the Delta
      • Strange Town
      • Blissful Bloom
      • The Wonder of Water
      • Striking Signs
      • A Hike up Chiang Dao Mountain
      • Quirky Chiang Mai
      • Trailblazer
      • On the Road to Rio
    • Digital content
  • Portfolio
    • Searching for Shangri-La
    • Travel
    • Biography
    • Nature
    • Buddhism
    • Photography
    • Article List
  • Short Stories
    • Beyond the End of the Road
    • The Green Monkey's Tale
    • The Red Lion's Tale
    • Eruption in Ethiopia
    • First Flight
    • As Dawn Breaks over Choroni
    • The Hungry Eye
    • On Spirit Mountain
  • Biography
    • Ron's CV

Welcome!

What an amazing world we live in...to watch an audio slideshow introducing my website, please click here.
Open slideshow

Google kills Frommer's kills me

29/3/2013

2 Comments

 

The life of a guidebook writer can be full of surprises, such as world-famous clients suddenly disappearing overnight.

Picture
I was just about to go out for a Friday evening meal with a few friends, to enjoy a few beers and some witty conversation, then thought that before I left home I should check my email to keep my inbox clear for the weekend.

Big mistake.

Ironically it was in an email from the Rough Guide Authors’ Forum that I read the news, posted by a writer who works mostly for Lonely Planet. The headline simply read ‘Google kills Frommers’, and my heart sank.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at the news. When Google bought Frommer’s in August 2012, I guessed they would start using Frommer’s reviews on Google maps, and that eventually they would wind down production of Frommer’s printed guides. It’s just the speed that shocked me, and my hopes that I might soon get an email asking me to update Frommer’s Thailand, Frommer’s Vietnam or chapters of Frommer’s Southeast Asia evaporated in the blinking of an eye.

As everyone knows, print media has been in steady decline as people have switched to smartphones and tablets to get their information and social media fix. The result has been a huge upheaval in guidebook publishing, as websites like tripadvisor.com have been causing travellers’ habits to change—see my previous blog about this ‘new kid on the block’.

Just a few days before the Frommer’s announcement, the BBC sold Lonely Planet, which it had bought just a couple of years before, for about half what it paid for the company, and nobody seems to have any idea what the new owner, Brad Kelley, plans to do with the world’s most successful guidebook series.

And if you think that some guidebook publishers, such as Rough Guides, are somehow immune to these ground-shaking changes, then think again. About six months ago the powers-that-be at Rough Guides announced to their royaltied authors that that they would be cutting unprofitable titles and buying out authors’ copyright to others, effectively bringing to an end the royalties that authors have received since the inception of the company. 

The day after reading about the death of Frommer’s, I signed away my copyright to the Rough Guide to Vietnam, after over a decade of involvement with a guidebook that had come to seem somehow ‘my book’ (while updating several editions I have visited every significant town in the country, some of them several times). 

I’ve been making a living as a freelance writer and photographer for about 15 years now, and for the last five or six years my work with Frommer’s and Rough Guides has accounted for about 80% of my earnings. And while I may continue working occasionally for Rough Guides and other guidebook publishers, it still feels as if I’ve had the rug pulled out from under my feet. Perhaps I should just enjoy the sensation of floating and trust that I’ll land on my feet.

Anyone got a job for a guidebook writer lost in cyberspace?

2 Comments
Mark Henshall
4/4/2013 10:09:38 am

It does move fast... Arthur Frommer just weighed in & bought back the brand. Jason Clampet's got the goods over on Skift. May be some light here.

Reply
Rose Offner
29/4/2013 10:03:48 pm

Wow! what a shock and then like you said, you could sort of see it coming. But, still... I wonder if it is possible to make friends with travelers who look for traveler writers and need them to help to find and plan a great adventure, complete with images of places to go, eat,be and experience the heart and soul of a country and its people. Let's chat! what about publishing your own line of ebooks for travelers. It is mind blowing how fast people can out ebooks these days! thinking of you and hoping you are well!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ron's Blog

    Categories

    All
    Buddhism
    Hiking
    Historical
    Myanmar
    Nature
    Personal
    Photography
    Post Apocalypse
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Social Issues
    Thailand
    UK
    Vietnam
    Writing

    Picture

    Ron Emmons 

    is a British writer and photographer based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

    Categories

    All
    Buddhism
    Hiking
    Historical
    Myanmar
    Nature
    Personal
    Photography
    Post Apocalypse
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Social Issues
    Thailand
    UK
    Vietnam
    Writing

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    March 2011

    RSS Feed

Text and images copyright © Ron Emmons 2000-2023

Contact details:

Ron Emmons
122 Moo 7, San Pisua,
Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand.

Tel/Fax: (66-53) 115150
Mobile: +66-841758104

ron@ronemmons.com


Contact Ron
  • Blog
    • Introduction
  • Teaklord
    • Description and buying options
    • News of Teak Lord
    • The Making of a Book Cover
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 1
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 2
    • Review of Teak Lord
    • Teak Talk
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Periodicals >
      • A Culture Blossoms
      • Black, White and Blue
      • Deep in the Delta
      • Strange Town
      • Blissful Bloom
      • The Wonder of Water
      • Striking Signs
      • A Hike up Chiang Dao Mountain
      • Quirky Chiang Mai
      • Trailblazer
      • On the Road to Rio
    • Digital content
  • Portfolio
    • Searching for Shangri-La
    • Travel
    • Biography
    • Nature
    • Buddhism
    • Photography
    • Article List
  • Short Stories
    • Beyond the End of the Road
    • The Green Monkey's Tale
    • The Red Lion's Tale
    • Eruption in Ethiopia
    • First Flight
    • As Dawn Breaks over Choroni
    • The Hungry Eye
    • On Spirit Mountain
  • Biography
    • Ron's CV