THIS WEEK
Company Spotlight Chelsea Green Publishing
FROM LEFT MARGO BALDWIN, MATT HASLUM AND MUNA REYAL
Chelsea Green Publishing outlines its plan for UK market expansion
CGP says it is on track to grow its business both in the UK and in the US by 40% by the end of 2020, and it now has plans to publish 12 to 15 titles a year in the UK to complement its US output
T
Caroline Carpenter @carolinec1988
12 24th July 2020
hough several publishers have been hit hard by the economic impact of coronavirus, one that has been thriving during this period is Chelsea Green Publishing (CGP), which specialises in non-fiction books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. CGP was launched by American husband-and-wife team Ian and Margo Baldwin in Chelsea, Vermont, in 1984. They decided to branch out into publishing in the UK a couple of years ago aſter its distribution moved to Publishers Group UK and it saw “amazing growth” in sales on these shores. President and publisher Margo Baldwin says: “It seemed to us that there was an opportunit with the UK for the kind of publishing we did.” Former Faber marketing director Mat Haslum came on board as managing director of CGP UK in March 2018. According to Baldwin, CGP has been “surviving just fine” throughout lockdown. In fact, the publisher reports
three record-breaking months in a row for book sales in the US, and remains on track for at least 40% growth across its US and UK businesses in 2020. This is partly down to the fact that the topics the indie’s publishing covers are now a bigger part of the mainstream conversation than ever. Baldwin says: “We like to think of ourselves as being on the leading edge of things. That’s showing right now in the sense that people are really interested in growing their own food, being more self-sufficient, and rethinking what an economy that takes care of everyone looks like.” Shortly aſter lockdown began, a CGP title from almost 25 years ago, Toby Hemenway’s Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home- scale Permaculture, reappeared on US regional bestseller lists. “These books that have been our major backlist for years are suddenly selling like hotcakes,” laughs Baldwin. Another example of the success that CGP has seen during lockdown is the reception to social activist Ruairí McKiernan’s Hitching for Hope: A Journey into the Heart and Soul of Ireland. Though it was published on 26th March, just as Irish bookshops were closing, the book went on to be an Irish Times number one non-fiction bestseller. Baldwin atributes this to McKiernan’s abilit to quickly adapt plans for a promotional hitchhiking tour around Ireland to launching the book on digital platforms instead,
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