March 1 was the date Sasquatch Books of Seattle, Wash., hired its newest employee: senior editor Jennie McDonald, based in Berkeley, Calif. McDonald's appointment is the first step in a program to broaden Sasquatch's reach into California regional publishing.
"It's a niche that's wide open," noted Chad Haight, publisher of Sasquatch. Known particularly for its Best Places guidebook series, Sasquatch published its first Northern California Best Places guide six years ago and, according to Haight, has been planting the seed ever since to expand its presence in the region. "California is beguiling, its population is huge and there is no other publisher completely focused on its market," he said. "But to be a California regional publisher, you have to be there, and not just be carpetbaggers. Our philosophy is: books written by locals for locals -- a formula we think really works."
Sasquatch is also expanding into Alaska, with the purchase of children's book publisher Paws IV of Homer and the establishment of a warehouse in Anchorage. Two years ago, Sasquatch began distributing Paws IV Publishing, which has a backlist of 14 vividly illustrated titles on science and literature in an Alaskan setting. Its most popular title, Alaska's Three Bears, has sold more than 120,000 copies. Shelley Gill, author and former owner of Paws IV, will remain with the company and will continue to do two to three titles a year.
Sasquatch itself is rapidly expanding its list, which will jump from 38 titles last year to 50 in 1999. This year, the company has brought on four new employees besides McDonald and is publishing 11 California regional titles alone.
McDonald, who for four years was at the Curtis Brown Literary Agency, is hoping to acquire five to six new titles in the next several months. "What I'm trying to do is come up with an identity -- figure out what we can do that nobody else can," explained McDonald. "Literary quality is very important to us. I'm looking for more narrative in books in the areas of outdoor recreation, food and gardening."
Haight, who hopes to see 10 titles a year generated from California, expects to establish a small office there with editorial and sales staff within a year. "A regional publisher requires a strong population center," he said, having cut his teeth on the Portland/ Seattle/Vancouver axis, toward which most of Sasquatch's 200 backlist titles are geared. The fact that it is entering an already crowded publishing center d s not seem to faze Sasquatch at all. "Other Bay Area publishers do slices of what we want to do," said McDonald, "but nobody d s it all."
