Another small press announced a banner year while the major presses stumbled. Chelsea Green Publishing, who most recently launched the NY Times bestsellers The End of America by Naomi Wolf and Obama’s Challenge by Robert Kuttner, reported their “best year ever” in 2008.
Publisher Margo Baldwin discussed sales at Conversational Reading, part of the literary site’s ongoing How To Publish in a Recession series. Baldwin also highlighted a few sustainable living bestsellers at her press: the sold more than 100,000 copies of New Organic Grower, 150,000 of The Straw Bale House, and 300,000 of The Man Who Planted Trees.
Here’s more from the article: We’ve just finished our best year ever and continue to grow. I attribute it to a growing interest in sustainability and green living and figuring out how to be more self-sufficient. When you don’t have a job, growing your own food become more critical. We’ve been ahead of the cultural curve for the past 25 years and now finally the culture is catching up to us.” UPDATE: Original image has changed.