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Rival travel publishers have blamed Lonely Planet's commissioning methods for the revelation that one of its authors plagiarised and made up large sections of his books, and dealt drugs to compensate for poor pay.
Lonely Planet has responded to the claims, which appear in Thomas Kohnstamm's memoir Do Travel Writers go to Hell?, by undertaking a thorough review of any books still in print that Kohnstamm contributed to. Tom Hall, travel editor at LP, said: "We are obviously concerned about the integrity of his work as he has breached his contract and misled us. If there are any problems with content we will take whatever steps necessary."
But fellow travel publishers at the London Book Fair suggested LP's methods for signing up authors and putting its guide-books together could have played a part in the scandal.
Andy Riddle, Footprint m.d., said the news would give LP "pause for thought about the way they commission and manage authors".Bradt m.d. Donald Grieg said that the way authors are paid has an effect on the nature of the guide produced. "All our authors are on royalties, which sets a different tone from the start of any contractual agreement. They have an ongoing interest in the book and are involved right the way through." Ella Gascoigne, PR executive for Crimson, said the claims would be "hugely damaging" to LP.
Hall defended LP's methods, saying the publisher was happy with the quality of its authors. "All our authors have passed our entry procedures. We trust them to follow our policies; they sign a contract and there are specific requirements that their facts are true or reliably accurate. Our editors review the quality and content of all the work. While you can never be 100% certain, we take all reasonable steps to make our content accurate."