Insight
Wheeler: Lonely Planet grew through slow compounding momentum, not instant hypergrowth
“It wasn't like your .com or, you know, social media set up these days. They start on one day, and a week later they're worth a billion dollars. That wasn't us at all. We, our business grew very slowly, and I think it was more like the snowball rolling downhill…”
Assertion Partly supported
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet sold 100,000 copies of its India guidebook
“Suddenly we had this book that was over 700 pages, and it sold for, you know, double figures. It was 12 dollars or 14 dollars or something instead of three or four, and it just sold, it sold, we sold a 100,000 copies of it.”
Assertion Supported
The first Lonely Planet guidebook was 96 pages and cost $1.80
“It sold for, it was 96 pages. It sold for one dollar 80.”
Assertion Supported
A Singapore bookshop bought 1,000 copies of Lonely Planet's second guide
“I saw him writing Southeast Asia on a shoestring in the, on the order form, and then write some number down. And he spun the order around and pushed it across the desk to me, and he bought a thousand copies. You know, I walked out of that that office you know,…”
Assertion Partly supported
Lonely Planet's India guide sold 100,000 copies at $12 to $14
“And, ah, suddenly we had this book that was over 700 pages, and it sold for, you know, double figures. It was 12 dollars or 14 dollars or something instead of three or four, and it just sold, it sold, we sold a 100,000 copies of it.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lonely Planet's early success rode baby boomer travel trends
“We came along when the baby boomers were suddenly deciding they needed to go to more interesting places than their parents did. So there was that element. They were a big market.”
Disclosure
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet Originated from Daily Travel Cost and Mileage Logs
“Oh, just where we stayed, and what it cost, and how many miles the car had covered that day, and, you know, now I think about the palaces, and the walls, and the fortresses, you know, those things are just as important, but in those days it was very much the i…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony Wheeler: Pawned camera for $25 to rent Sydney room
“We got 25 dollars for my camera, which I bought back a week later. So we had 25 dollars, and in those days you could get a room for a week for 15 dollars”
Assertion Supported
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet's first book was 96 pages and cost $1.80
“It sold for, it was 96 pages, it sold for one dollar 80.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet was named after a misheard Joe Cocker lyric
“That movie and that, that album is Joe Cocker singing a song called Space Captain, and the first line of the song goes, once while traveling across the sky, this lonely planet caught my eye. And I said to Maureen, I was humming the song, hey, that sounds nice,…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lonely Planet: Singapore bookshop buyer ordered 1,000 copies of second guidebook
“I saw him writing Southeast Asia on a shoestring in the, on the order form, and then write some number down. And he spun the order around and pushed it across the desk to me, and he bought a thousand copies.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet doubled in size overnight after India book
“The company doubled its size overnight, and we suddenly started taking on more writers and looking at other big projects.”
Disclosure
Tony Wheeler: Neither child wanted to take over Lonely Planet
“It wasn't going to be a dynasty. We weren't going to hand it on to our kids. Our kids had both worked in the company at one stage, but Neither of them were going to take it over from us.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony Wheeler pawned his camera for $25 to survive in Sydney
“We got 25 dollars for my camera, which I bought back a week later.”
Assertion Supported
Lonely Planet was named after misheard Joe Cocker lyrics
“One of the songs in that, that That movie and that, that album is Joe Cocker singing a song called Space Captain, and the first line of the song goes, once while traveling across the sky, this lonely planet caught my eye. And I said to Maureen, I was humming t…”
Disclosure
Lonely Planet survived its first year entirely on Maureen Wheeler's salary
“But the first year, though, of Lonely Planet in, in Melbourne, you had a full-time job, and, you know, we were living on your, Maureen's salary while I worked on the books.”
Disclosure
The Wheelers sold Lonely Planet because their children declined to inherit it
“It wasn't going to be a dynasty. We weren't going to hand it on to our kids. Our kids had both worked in the company at one stage, but Neither of them were going to take it over from us.”
Tony Wheeler