As autumn approaches, regional publishers of travel guidebooks are heading to market with their new titles. These books aim to appeal to both tourists and locals by capitalizing on a familiarity and day-to-day expertise that some larger publishers may not have.

“As a regional publisher, we’re more attuned to what’s important to readers in our area,” says Shannon Davies, editor-in-chief at Texas A&M University Press in College Station. “We all live and work here, and understand the regional market and culture.”

The publisher’s travel books focus on Texas history, nature, and culture with an educational bent. June saw the release of Explore Texas by Mary O. Parker, a frequent contributor to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, with photography by her husband, Jeff Parker, whose work has appeared in that publication as well as in Audubon and elsewhere.

Most of the book’s original print run of 2,000 copies has sold, Davies says, and it has gone back for a second printing. In addition to the quality of the book’s information and photography, Davies credits its success to its spotlighting of lesser-known attractions, including Hummer House, a summer hummingbird haven in Christoval, and what Davies calls Texas’s “under-advertised” state parks, such as Estero Llano Grande State Park, a wetlands area deep in the south of the state, home to alligators, rare Mexican birds, and hundreds of butterfly species.

Eighty-year-old University of Wisconsin Press in Madison, another publisher with a scholarly predisposition, also draws heavily on regional knowledge. Raphael Kadushin, executive editor, says that some of the press’s books, particularly nature guides, have been in print for more than 50 years, counting updated editions. Other titles include travel guidebooks, local histories, and cookbooks associated with popular area restaurants and cafés.

One of the press’s all-time top sellers, he says, is The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin by James Norton and Becca Dilley (2009). “People actually travel the state collecting autographs from cheese makers.” A more recent success for the press, he says, is Crossing the Driftless: A Canoe Trip Through a Midwestern Landscape by Lynne Diebel, illustrated by her husband, Robert Diebel, which won the 2015 Midwest Book Award in the recreation/sports/travel category.

In October, the publisher is releasing Place Names of Wisconsin by Edward Callary, an alphabetical guide that delves into the cultural history behind the names of many Wisconsin locations. Callary, professor emeritus of linguistics at Northern Illinois University, has written extensively on Midwestern place names.

The press is marketing Place Names as a “glove box companion to the highways and byways of Wisconsin,” says Sheila Leary, communications director at the press. Publicity, she says, will focus on state and regional travel and book-review media, with “a localized set of press releases [being] sent out to attract the attention of Wisconsinites whose communities have names with an interesting back story or meaning.”

If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Join ’Em

One thing regional houses have in common with larger travel publishers: by the time a book is in print, some of its information may already be out of date—an issue that travel websites don’t have to contend with. In other words, “How do you compete with the Internet?” asks Amy Lyons, editorial director at Globe Pequot Press in Guilford, Conn.

For Globe Pequot, one answer has been to tap talent that has gained an audience on social media. Next year, the publisher is releasing Road Trip New England; nearly 12,000 people follow author Walter Pierce and his wife, Danielle Pierce, on Instagram, where they post under the handle @roadtrip_newengland. “It’s not about re-creating a travel blog,” Lyons says, “but it’s about [accessing] that network and finding those regional stars.”

In November, the press is publishing Historic New England by Patricia Harris and her husband, David Lyon, who live in Cambridge, Mass., and whose many travel books include Globe Pequot’s Food Lovers’ guides to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Though not Instagram famous, the couple is known to Boston Globe readers for, among other writing, their series on iconic New England eateries. Lyons hopes Harris and Lyon’s regional expertise will appeal to local booksellers—who, like publishers, are angling to survive and even thrive in the digital era.

Support Networks

This fall, John F. Blair in Winston-Salem, N.C., is publishing regional travel titles including the first three bound installments of North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail Guides by the nonprofit group Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, as well as Vanishing Landmarks of Georgia by Joseph Kovarik. The publisher also distributes the nonprofit Hub City Press, located in Spartansburg, S.C., which is releasing Wild South Carolina by mother-daughter team Susan Hamilton and Liesel Hamilton, with photography by Tori Steyn.

If history is any indication, these books will find a home at independent bookshops in the South.

“Local bookstores support local authors, and local authors support their local bookstores,” says Anna Sutton, v-p of sales and marketing at John F. Blair. Because North Carolina has “an enormous literary community,” she says, the publisher has been fortunate in placing its regional travel titles at stores including Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café in Asheville, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, and the Regulator Bookshop in Durham.

“We’ve always taken pride in our regional section,” says Justin Souther, assistant bookstore manager at Malaprop’s. “While we do carry a wide array of world travel guides, we pay close attention to local guides, especially hiking guides and trail maps, and have a robust selection of local travel books, since Asheville is such a tourist destination.”

Allison Lee, co-owner of Blue Ridge Books, says that the store’s most popular titles in the local travel section are hiking guides, regional wildflower field guides, and hiking maps. “The two regional publishers that are most important to us are the Great Smoky Mountains Associations and John F. Blair,” Lee says, adding that the store has a distributor who “travels in a van full of regional books.” Blue Ridge can call the distributor and request specific titles, she says, but most often, “he parks in front of our store, and we go and choose the books we want.”

Making a case for how localized regional interest can be, Lee points out that books about western North Carolina do best at Blue Ridge. “Books about Asheville, 30 miles east, don’t even sell particularly well,” Lee says. “Most people in our area are interested in the outdoors because we are so close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains, Pisgah National Forest, and a large number of waterfalls. Many of our tourists have been visiting since they were children and really enjoy books that tell the history.”

Up north in Bath, Maine, the Mustard Seed Bookstore also aims to appeal to outdoorsy types exploring the region.

“In our store, we have more local Maine travel guides and related books than we do books on other areas, such as Europe or India,” says Julie Shea, the shop’s owner. “During our tourist season, summer through fall, our customers ask for anything to do with Maine.”

A perennial Mustard Seed favorite, Shea says, is Explorer’s Guide Maine by Christina Tree and Nancy English; Countryman Press in Woodstock, Vt., released the 18th edition in March 2016.

Dan Crissman, senior editor at Countryman, says that Explorer’s Guide Maine has “definitely been our bestseller,” adding that in addition to independent bookstores in New England, “big accounts like Barnes & Noble have stocked the book in stores all across the country. We used it to introduce our new design and format for the [entire Explorer’s Guide] series, and the response has been outstanding so far.”

Just as its design and format continues to inform newer regional titles by Countryman, Explorer’s Guide Maine also serves as an archetype for Countryman’s marketing approach. Crissman says that part of the reason the book has been successful is that its authors aggressively network with various local retailers, a tactic the publisher encourages authors of all its regional guidebooks to follow.

“Christina Tree and Nancy English are on the road every time a new edition of Explorer’s Guide Maine comes out,” Crissman says. “They’ve been making connections with small businesses in Maine for decades. Many times [these businesses] reach out directly to us to stock the books. The Five Gables Inn in Boothbay Harbor, for instance, has ordered dozens of copies for its guests.”

Size and Scope

Even a larger press, such as Avalon Travel, based in Berkeley, Calif., and home to Moon Travel Guides, depends on local enthusiasm for its regional titles, says Donna Galassi, associate publisher.

“We have 28 active titles about California in our list at this time,” she says. “We make sure that local booksellers are shelving our guides and [that] we’re providing them what they need should they want to display or promote the guidebook. Book Passage in Corte Madera specializes in travel and has always been a strong supporter of our guides, as have Copperfield’s [in Sebastopol], Bookshop Santa Cruz, and Books Inc. [in Mountain View].”

In October, Avalon is publishing Moon Palm Springs & Joshua Tree by Jenna Blough. The area is a popular getaway in California, Galassi says, and as such it could attract booksellers all over the state.

A hundred miles away in Pasadena, for example, stands venerable Vroman’s Bookstore, founded in 1894. Sherry Gallentine, head book buyer at Vroman’s, says that the store’s extensive regional travel section includes hiking guides and restaurant guides, and general Los Angeles and Southern California travel books.

Regional publishers that have done well at the store include Santa Monica Press, with the idiosyncratic Los Angeles guides Secret Stairs (2010) and Secret Walks (2015), both by Charles Fleming.

Secret Stairs has sold more than 18,000 copies in trade paperback, according to Nielsen BookScan, a strong number for a hyperlocal title. For regional publishers, smaller unit sales than that can make a big difference.

Bored Feet Press in Fort Bragg, Calif., published Trails & Tales of Yosemite & the Central Sierra by Sharon Giacomazzi in 2001. The guide has sold has sold more than 8,000 copies to date, says Robert Lorentzen, who owns the press. “While that may seem modest by industry standards, it’s bread and butter for us. [The book] has performed very well in a market crowded with Yosemite titles.”

Two other titles by Giacomazzi, Exploring Eastern Sierra Canyons: Sonora Pass to Pine Creek (2005) and Exploring Eastern Sierra Canyons: Bishop to Lone Pine (2009), each sell about 500 copies a year, Lorentzen says. It’s “the health and viability of our backlist,” as well as relationships with local indie retailers, that keep the company chugging along.

Michael Kauffmann, who owns Backcountry Press in Humboldt, Calif., also relies almost exclusively on local indies for sales. The publisher is releasing Hiking Humboldt Volume 2: 101 Short Day Hikes, Urban and Road Walks by Rees Hughes later this year. It follows April’s Hiking Humboldt, Volume 1: 55 Day Hikes in Northwest California by Ken Burton, which Kauffmann says did well by his standards.

“Over 1,000 copies of [volume 1] sold this summer in local stores,” Kauffmann says, naming Northtown Books in Arcata, Blake’s Books in McKinleyville, Booklegger in Eureka, and Rain All Day Books in Fortuna among the shops that stock it. “In Humboldt, there’s a lot of interest in the outdoors, but also a lot of private land where there’s marijuana growing that you don’t want to be caught on, which is why these guides are so important to local hikers. I do a lot of email and outreach hoping to get new customers, and I also have a link on my website for folks to contact me. Word of mouth works well in a small rural community.”

Nicole Audrey Spector is a Los Angeles writer whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, the New Yorker, and Vice.

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