Publishing: a straw in the wind

More of a gale than a wind, really. The Daily Telegraph reports that the AA will stop publishing printed copies of its travel guides, and is going digital:

AA Publishing is the largest travel publisher in the UK. The first AA routes, accompanied by handwritten details, were issued in 1910. The AA’s “Key Guides” travel series started in 2004.

One freelance travel writer, who has contributed to many AA travel guides but wished to remain anonymous, suggested that commissions had begun to tail off last summer.

Earlier this year, the author was advised to accept other commissions rather than rely on work coming through AA Publishing and later received confirmation that there would be no travel guide book commissions in the near future.

The official line is that the company is “currently focussing resources on delivering… information across multiple digital platforms”.

So here is Leonard Cohen on Later with Jools Holland in May 1993 (the superb backing singers are Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen):