Keen Communications, the travel and outdoor guide publisher that includes Menasha Ridge Press, Wilderness Press, Clerisy Press, the Unofficial Guides and Nature Study Guild, has bought Adventure Publications, which publishes a range of titles, including birding books, field guides, children's books, cookbooks, regional histories and nature titles. The newly merged company is called AdventureKEEN.
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| (l.-r.) Molly Merkle, Richard Hunt, Bob Sehlinger, Gerri Slabaugh, Gordon Slabaugh | |
Adventure Publications, Cambridge, Minn., was founded in 1988 by Gordon and Gerri Slabaugh. Keen was founded in a 2006 merger of companies owned by Bob Sehlinger and Richard Hunt. The principals have longstanding ties: Sehlinger and Hunt collaborated for years at the Denver Publishing Institute and as part of U.S.I.A. book industry delegations, and Hunt and Gordon Slabaugh worked together at Houghton Mifflin in the late 1980s.
Molly Merkle, COO of Keen, and Gerri Slabaugh, publisher of Adventure, are leading the integration of operations. Gerri will remain in an active consulting role before transitioning into retirement, along with Gordon. Julie Arthur of Adventure will direct the combined AdventureKEEN sales efforts. Keen is represented to the book trade by Publishers Group West.
"Gordon has always been a standout salesman, and he's remarkably astute about what works best for accounts, from product to service," Hunt commented. "Gerri has used her talents and insight to develop clear, concise, and intuitive guides for readers of all ages. The team that Gordon and Gerri have assembled in Cambridge is truly one of the most customer-focused groups I've ever seen."