After several tricky detours, Hank the Cowdog, the canine who's "Head of Ranch Security" in the popular children's books by John R. Erickson, has wagged his way back to the audiobook publishing company of his origin. Retail rights to all 40 Hank the Cowdog audiobooks, narrated by Erickson, have come home to roost at Maverick Books Inc., the Perryton, Tex.—based company that Erickson founded in 1982 to self-publish his stories (both print and audio versions) about Hank.
Hank's publishing rights have been roaming the range over the years. In 1987, Texas Monthly Press bought Hank's rights from Maverick and, in 1990, Gulf Publishing purchased TMP. When Gulf Publishing divested its book group in 2000, audiobook rights went to TaylorWilson, then to Books on Tape. As of April 2002, retail audiobook rights reverted to Maverick. Books on Tape (now owned by Random House) will continue to distribute Hank audio titles to the school and library markets. Hank's print novels have been published by Penguin Putnam's Puffin imprint since 1999.
In June, Maverick began rolling out the Hank audiobooks to stores, in both cassette and new CD versions. According to business manager Gary Rinker, all 40 current titles, as well as 11 double-packs (containing two titles each), will be on retail shelves by the end of summer. Going forward, Maverick plans to publish new audio recordings simultaneously with the Puffin books. "We'll do an audiobook every time we get the page proofs for a book," Erickson confirmed. The 41st Hank book and audio are due out in March.
Asked how it feels to have Hank back at Maverick, Erickson responded, "Maverick is a family-owned and -operated company, and there's a certain amount of security in that, especially these days. People who enjoy the Hank audios should know we're not going anywhere."
