Downloadable Lonely Planet Chapters

7/13/2007 5 comments

For about ten years now we’ve been hearing how the travel guidebook industry would change radically because more people are getting their info in digital form. For the most part it hasn’t happened. Old habits die hard on both ends. People get tired of staring at bits and bytes all day and books don’t need batteries or a cord. Plus the guidebook companies were in no hurry to change: they like a bird in the hand better than what the music biz is going through.

Lonely Planet is taking a big step forward though with guidebook chapters you can download. Some of the planning chapters are even free right now, which is great if you are just in the early stages of planning a trip or are just browsing destinations to get a feel for where you want to go. Otherwise you can buy by the chapter for a few dollars each. This makes the chapters more expensive than just buying the book if you need a quantity, but sometimes one or two would be plenty.

Let’s say you are taking a trip to Roatan Island in Honduras. You have a direct flight from home to the island and won’t even see the mainland. Then you don’t have much need for the whole Honduras book do you? You could just download the Bay Islands chapter and be set. You print it out or save it to a USB drive and off you go. No shipping, no extra pages.

You can get them direct at LonelyPlanet.com, or follow this link to find a big selection of Lonely Planet Chapters at Amazon.

Travel books, Travel industry none

Comments

Written by Mike on 7/13/2007. Reply

Travelfish is great for this, with their customizable guides, but I still used two other guidebooks in SEA as well. The history & cultural bits were valuable, plus I’d end up reading about places I hadn’t planned to go (which is half the fun of traveling).

In terms of stretching your travel dollars, I still prefer the used section on Amazon.com.
Written by tim on 7/13/2007. Reply

I agree, and have at times changed my plans based on some random page I stumbled upon. Sometimes you don’t know what you need until you’re there…
Written by Rob Meyer on 7/14/2007. Reply

I think this is great. Not that the Lonely Planet guidebooks are that big (well, actually some of them are), but I always feel kind of lame whipping out my guidebook in the middle of a crowded area to figure out where to go. It would be much nicer to just pull out some regular old pieces of paper.

Great looking blog Tim! I look forward to coming back!
Written by Tom Hall on 7/16/2007. Reply

Tim:

I’ve just come across your note on Pick & Mix (our downloadable chapter product). It’s really nice to see Pick & Mix getting a little bit of notice, and to get feedback on it.

I just wanted to note, though, that we discount for multiple-chapter purchases (20% off for 3-4 chapters, 35% off for 5+ chapters). This discount makes the chapters about the same price as the book, when you buy in quantity.

Thanks again.

Tom Hall
Product Manager, Pick & Mix
Lonely Planet
tom.hall@lonelyplanet.com.au
Written by Tim Shaw on 7/22/2008. Reply

I initially thought it was a good idea but it is very expensive. Considering there is no physical product to print and ship, I would have hoped there would be a reduction in the price- the main chapter for the Egypt book is £4.50, for example.

Downloadable Lonely Planet Chapters

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