When W.W. Norton bought the Countryman Press in 1995, "we very intentionally left the offices in Woodstock, Vt.," said Norton president Drake McFeely. "Our approach is to keep the strong regional roots and to try some of the same ideas in other areas, like the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains."
That approach—of establishing regional beachheads elsewhere in the U.S. and then publishing a full line of outdoor recreation books about those regions—is starting to pay off. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002, Countryman's sales were up nearly 30%, according to McFeely, who also credits Countryman's expanded publishing program—up from 20 to 25 titles a year to 30 to 35—as well as redesigned covers for contributing to that growth.
Countryman has had its greatest regional success outside of New England in the South. To date, the company has released nine Southern-oriented books and will publish 50 Hikes in North Florida in May. The book that put Countryman on the map in the South was the recently released The Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains: An Explorer's Guide. Sales have been strong enough in the South that Countryman plans to attend the Southeastern Booksellers Association trade show next year. This winter Countryman will also continue to expand its presence in the Mid-Atlantic region, where it will have nine books available following the February release of Maryland: An Explorer's Guide.
For Countryman editorial director Kermit Hummel, who anticipates strong sales again this year, transforming Countryman into a national publisher with roots in New England "is really an editorial challenge. With Norton's sales operation, we have the ability to sell books in a way that the traditional Countryman operation did not. Largely, our relationship with Norton is a lot like a distribution client. We do our own production, design and manufacturing. We really run as a small press, and that's one of the things that's unique."
Maine: An Explorer's Guide, now in its 10th edition with 125,000 copies in print, is Countryman's all-time bestseller, while the regionally authored The King Arthur Flour Cookbook is another top seller, with 100,000 copies in print. In fact, that cookbook has been so successful that Hummel is working with Vermont-based King Arthur Flour on a sequel on baking for fall 2003. The press does have a number of nationally oriented fishing books on its list, and this fall it added its first international guide, Bicycling Cuba: 50 Days of Detailed Ride Routes from Havana to El Oriente by Wally and Barbara Smith, who lead bike tours in Vermont.
