"Village to Village" updates going digital-only in 2024 😢

[Prentiss Riddle]

Well, this makes me sad: my favorite camino guidebook series, the "Village to Village" guides by Dintaman & Landis and collaborators, will not have printed updates for the 2024 season.

That's according to email I received from David Landis in December. His words: "We are planning digital-only updates for 2024 ahead of the walking season, so the print books that are now available are the newest versions. We'll have digital updates on our website by March and then update them ongoing throughout the year."

I see some updates already on their website, but I guess more are coming: https://www.caminoguidebook.com/

There's also an interactive map of the Francés that looks useful: https://www.caminoguidebook.com/routes/camino-frances

I have treasured the Village to Village books for years because I really like the way they organize and present information, in particular the terrific quality of their maps but also their information design in general.

I hope this is just a one-year blip and they'll be back in 2025!

 

[Silvermomma]

OH! I just ten minutes ago ordered the paper copy of their Norte book, 2023 version.

 

[CanadianBarb]

Oh I am also sad and hope this is temporary. Their very compact extremely useful books were all I took along and I referred to them frequently along the Norte, Primitivo and Finisterre routes. I certainly can understand that it is excellent to update online versions more easily but the paper options are also still useful!

 

[davebugg]

Just a guess, but perhaps the author found that not enough new information has changed the overall information about that camino route as of the last edition of the guidebook. Or maybe the publisher decided that the money spent on a new edition of the guidebook just to incorporate such a small number of changes didn't really warrant an entire run of new books. It may well be that it might take another year or two or three before enough changes are seen to warrant a brand new guidebook edition.

I sort of like this idea of a digital addendum to a current guidebook. It allows me to see what - if any - differences exist compared to the last guidebook so I don't have to wonder if a brand new guidebook purchase is warranted.

Perhaps the digital updates are able to printed out as a compiled addendum and then taped or stapled to the inside of the last book published .