You've Got Brass, Son

For most, writing isn't a terribly lucrative career. Some writers get part-time jobs as tutors or pretzel-makers to supplement their income; others deal drugs and cut corners by plagiarizing. Those in the latter group may end up getting a big-time book deal to tell their story of debauchery and deception. Check out this guy (CNN.com):

(CNN) -- A Lonely Planet author says he plagiarized or made up portions of the popular travel guidebooks and dealt drugs to supplement poor pay, an Australian newspaper reported Sunday.

Thomas Kohnstamm, who has written a book on his misadventures, also said he didn't travel to Colombia to write the guidebook on the country because "they didn't pay me enough," The Daily Telegraph reported.

"I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating—an intern in the Colombian Consulate." . . .

Kohnstamm has worked on more than a dozen books for Lonely Planet, including its titles on Brazil, Colombia, the Caribbean, Venezuela, Chile and South America.