Big News in the Outdoor World

At Trekalong, we work hard to keep you in the know about big news in the outdoor industry. So we’re excited to announce that the biggest news this week is about us!

Keen Communications is doubling the amount of books we publish with the acquisition of another outdoor publishing company in Cambridge, Minnesota, Adventure Publications. Adventure brings hundreds of nature and children’s books to our list that will be perfect complements to our travel, outdoor, and regional titles at Keen. Our new combined enterprise is known as AdventureKEEN.

Adventure, the largest independent publisher of birding books, is also renowned for full-color field guides for animals, constellations, trees, rocks and minerals, plus many children’s books. They also publish cookbooks (hello, more Friday Foods posts!) and regional history books. Founded in 1988 by Gordon and Gerri Slabaugh, Adventure Publications joins the other publishing brands of Keen Communications, which include Menasha Ridge Press, Wilderness Press, Clerisy Press, The Unofficial Guides, and Nature Study Guild. Keen’s imprints produce some of the best-selling travel and outdoor guides in the country, delivering to readers and enthusiasts the best travel content and outdoor where-to information available.

The coming-together story is a familiar one for Keen. Cofounders Bob Sehlinger and Richard Hunt collaborated for years at the Denver Publishing Institute and as part of U.S.I.A. book industry delegations before merging their respective companies in 2006, the genesis of Keen. Similarly, Hunt and Adventure Publications’ Gordon Slabaugh worked together at Houghton Mifflin in the late 1980s. Both followed their respective yet similar paths in publishing, championing outdoor topics and local subjects that sell best for retailers. The merging of companies is a reunion of sorts and a big step forward for the newly combined group.

This strategic acquisition for Keen folds together decades of collective experience bringing guidebooks to market. AdventureKEEN titles will continue to be trusted resources for parks, interpretive centers, and specialty retailers, as well as for the book trade.

We’re excited to expand our family and to bring Trekalong readers an even bigger variety of outdoor posts!