Confessions of a Travel Writer Rattle Execs at 'Lonely Planet'
MORE Pub Crawl
Over the weekend, news spread among the vast global network of Lonely Planet travel guide writers that one of their own had gone native.
His name is Thomas Kohnstamm. He worked for Lonely Planet for three straight years, contributing to guidebooks on South America and the Caribbean. Now, at 32, he has written a book of his own, to be published on April 22 by an imprint of Random House. It’s about his experiences as a delinquent travel guide writer who cut every corner because he was so short on time and money.
The main idea, Mr. Kohnstamm explained yesterday, is that “even on a good day, a fair amount of what ends up in a guidebook is arbitrary, and therefore people shouldn’t necessarily treat them as gospel.” The book is called Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? It’s Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, but with tourism.
News of Hell’s imminent release came to the Lonely Planet community directly from the company’s Australia-based CEO Judy Slatyer, who wrote a dramatic letter to the private Lonely Planet Yahoo! group.
“For those who don’t know,” Ms. Slatyer wrote, “Thomas Kohnstamm has written a book … about his somewhat self-indulgent experience working on the previous edition of our Brazil guide. The book’s press release highlights his sexual encounters with a waitress (allegedly resulting in a good review for the restaurant) and his need to deal drugs to supplement his author fee, as well as less titillating complaints against us on unrealistic deadlines, lack of money and lack of support when he was on the road.”
She went on: “Thomas also claims that due to lack of time and money, information in his titles is fictitious or plagiarized, and that he acted against our stated policies and accepted freebies, which compromised his recommendations. … We are now urgently reviewing all current books Thomas contributed to, using authors on the ground and others. If we find that the content has been compromised, we’ll take urgent steps to fix it.”
Ms. Slatyer made Mr. Kohnstamm’s book sound dangerous. Not only that, she implied that it’s an affront to the hard work that her writers around the world are doing.
“This is a shit,” she wrote at the end of her letter. “None of you deserve it, given the effort you put in.”
Mr. Kohnstamm, for his part, doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. “I don’t really consider it to be an exposé at all,” he said of his book. “I think that they need to read the book. I’m not sure what they’re so scared about.” It’s not an assault on guidebooks, he suggested, but more of a wake-up call to travelers imploring them to be a little more intrepid and open-minded.
Mr. Kohnstamm said he has received a dozen letters of support from other Lonely Planet writers who share his grievances.
The big wigs over at Lonely Planet, however, are not so willing to engage him. “We’re not confronting anyone,” said the Todd Sotkiewicz, the company’s U.S. president. “We know that Thomas is going to have to live with himself as a travel writer.”
fight the power. Any dude named Todd is a pole sitter in my book. Kohnstamm is write, we all need a wake up call, even travellers. what if they missed a connection? and what restaurant was that slut waitress working in? can I get a reservation for one for friday at 8pm? thank you for your attention.
Kohnstamm...where do I know that name? Ah yes, now I remember. I bought his Costa Rican phrase book when I took a trip there a few years back. I also remember doing some nice drugs and getting laid left and right. Best damn trip of my entire life. So was it because of the phrasebook? If so, then I hope this guys sells a million books and they give him a freakin' medal. Thanks Kohnstamm!
Nice to meet you.
I had a look at blog.
Please link to this site.
http://www.geocities.jp/uha876/
Having workd in the travel industry for 25 years, I do rely on the integrity of the travel writers and the authenticity of the material they write. Travel reports are a valuable source for consumers and professionals alike. I consider it a breech of ethics and the unwritten code of conduct of public writing. This would have been an interesting story line for a novel about a life spinning out of control but it makes less interesting reading for those of us who are serious and dilligent about what we do.
His lack of responsibility and lack of ownership of a bad deed with detrimental consequences for all, puts him outside of the circle of professionals!
"Thomas Kohnstamm" – Another American Who Will Live In Infamy
Thomas, I know you. You know me.
The shit storm that is coming your way you will not begin to fathom.
You sold out to sell a few copies of a book that will be forgotten before the end of this year.
You are another example of what is wrong with America. You blame others as rationale for your illegal activities, your inability to fulfill your contract, you inability to write coherently. You are a disappointment.
You are a fraud. You are a liar. You are a drug dealer.
Your parents must be really proud.
Loser.
Re the comment, both hateful and tedious, from (of course) an anonymous source: "I know you. You know me.... You are a fraud etc.":
I think you may be the one who is lying. If you knew Thomas, or had read his book, or had examined the details of recent articles, or read his interviews, you might understand how false the charges of "plagiarism," "fictitious writing," "favoritism," etc. are. Or maybe you wouldn't (sigh).
Thomas hasn't sold out - he has called attention to the plight of guidebook writers, whose enthusiasm for travel has been exploited for corporate gain.
In my book, "Crafting the Travel Guidebook" I spend several pages on the topic of plagiarism, copyright infringement and second-hand prose. Sounds like Thomas did what a lot of travel writers do--filled up some spaces with second-hand material gleaned from destination websites, other guidebooks, etc.
The funny thing is Lonely Planet is supposed to pay better than a lot of other travel publishers.
Back in the 1990s, I had to sue a well-known American travel publisher because one of their author had simply lifted 25 pages of my regional guidebook and changing the words ever so slightly, had used them. After research I discovered he had also plagiarized three other books. In other words, the complete book was a fraud.
I settled out of court. But what amazed me was that the editors at the publishing house had not noticed obvious errors that were caused by the writer copying an obsolete guidebook. This was not a travel guide to some far-off exotic country--but a day trip book to a state that bordered the state where the publisher had headquarters.How could they not have noticed that 50 telephone area codes were six years out of date? Since that day I have never respected the sagacity of traditional publishing houses.
There are some publishers that have research assistants. I thought the research assistants were supposed to check.
But since Thomas K's so-called plagiarism was mostly rehashing second-hand stuff (he never went to Colombia) and his section was about history, he could come off with credible material whithout stepping a foot outside his house.
I haven't read the book yet, and the plagiarism is being sensationalized, but there's no doubt that lots of travel writers use "hamburger helper"--a little meat and lots of filler.
Where does this guy get the nerve? what I don't understand is why he kept up the charade as a travel writer for so long if he didn't have the passion. why not step aside and make room for the thousands of others who I am sure want to kill him for treating this job so poorly.
Sometimes I just want to give up on guide books and rely solely on the internet. I found this site, vivatravelguides.com, that lets you add your own content and then they publish their online content into books, but only on-demand so they can be up to date. I thought that was a pretty sweet idea. LP certainly needs to figure out a way, like that, to keep up with the times.
Jan - You Ignorant Sod.
Thomas, himself, states he is a drug dealer. TRUE
Thomas, himself, admits to fabricating his book about Columbia. TRUE
Thomas, himself, admits to lying to his superiors. TRUE
"the plight of guidebook writers"? Hmm... Thomas' inappropriate and illegal behavior SURE is going to help those down-trodden travel writers! I am sure Corporate is going to become WAY more generous to travel writers after the stunts SirThomas has pulled.
"hateful and tedious"? YOU find the truth hateful and tedious. what is your agenda here?
You are defending a drug dealing, lying, cheating and stealing fool. If drug-dealing, lying, cheating and stealing are not offensive to you then you are a person sorely lacking in moral fortitude.
Gi2JIV fjosahfjk hajkfhs jkahfshafuksahfuas f8syaifa765978thsgjknd sjkgdjksbgjkds
KFLVjT fadfsad sa faf saf safsafadfsad sa faf saf safsafadfsad sa faf saf safsa
hIRBS3 htdioghrdeioh uerhuy h3oh iohgdfiogho isdfhio sdjhdf