Chelsea Green Publishing Co. in White River Junction, Vt., is taking the occasion of its 20th anniversary to remake itself. One of the preeminent publishers of books on sustainable living, the press is shifting its mission starting with its fall list to emphasize the politics of that way of life. In June, Chelsea Green will move to a renovated bakery building, and the following month it will switch fulfillment houses from Tuttle to Resolution Inc. And after a hiatus this spring, it will resume publishing in the fall.
The transition began in November when cofounder Margo Baldwin decided to take a more active role and stepped in as publisher. Her husband, Ian, is on the board but will no longer be involved in day-to-day operations. Margo Baldwin explained, "The press has been standing still. We've been publishing into our core backlist areas: renewable energy, green building, and organic growing." After learning that the company had turned down Derrick Jensen's Language Older Than Words, Baldwin temporarily assumed the role of editor-in-chief and laid off four part-time staffers in editorial and production.
The lead title on Baldwin's first list is Jensen and George Raffian's Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests. Other new releases include the first in a series of Slow Food City Guides, starting with one to New York; Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods; and Natural Home Heating: The Comprehensive Guide to Renewable Energy Options by Greg Pahl. "We're doing five books in the fall," said Baldwin. "Next year, we're doing 12 or 13 books and we'll do that for the next two years." Chelsea Green had been publishing between 15 and 20 books per year. Its all-time bestseller to date has been The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, which has sold 250,000 copies.
Baldwin plans to keep distributing books, primarily for nonprofits that are too little to be picked up by larger houses. Currently Chelsea Green has 45 clients' lines. "We offer them entrée into the marketplace. They offer us visibility among their members," she noted. Although Chelsea Green's new fulfillment provider specializes in direct-to-consumer shipments and Chelsea Green has been selling a large number of its books through its own Web site and e-tailers, Baldwin emphasized, "We want to re-establish our bookstore presence. We're putting more resources in our trade catalogue and we're making more efforts with our sales force. We've brought on two new rep groups and we're hiring a sales and marketing manager."
As she continues to reexamine how Chelsea Green does business, Baldwin anticipates that the company will continue to evolve. "We're trying to re-think our corporate structure. We're talking about how we un-become a corporation," she said. Baldwin said 2003 has gotten off to a good start. "The backlist is doing very well, and we had a great first quarter."
