What's next for Vertebrate Publishing?

Our publishing journey has been quite straightforward. We have always published books we would want to read or use ourselves, which simply means outdoor adventure books and guides.

Our first book, Peak District Mountain Biking, is twenty years old. For the first few years we focused on guidebooks for mountain biking, walking and climbing. Some, like Day Walks in the Peak District, have gone on to be our most successful books. Then we thought about all those classic books out there – many published by Bâton Wicks – the Tilman’s, Bonington’s and Scott’s. We had seen outdoor stories emerging from our own adventures and so we published (I’m going to say groundbreaking) books like Jerry Moffatt’s Revelations, Waymaking, One Day as a Tiger and, of course, There is No Map in Hell.

Fast forward to 2025 and beyond and this is where we are at as a publisher. The world changes – social media, Covid and perhaps some new-found freedoms (like working from home!) are making traditional non-outdoorsy folk inquisitive about the outdoors. They want to wild swim, sit on a summit and see the sunrise, or chuck themselves into an ultra run. We have books for that person. Our Mountain Walks series, for example, is designed to help you safely and responsibly explore an area. New ones this year that are still to publish are Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Helvellyn. Our core play space (love that expression) has always been wild swimming, cycling, climbing, running and walking.

We look to produce how-to books for these activities, inspirational and turn-by-turn guidebooks and stories (us publishers call these narratives) to get adventures, that we can all relate to, down in print. As the next few months unfold we hope to produce a number of inspiring books – like Extreme Rock, a Munro-bagging guide, gravel riding adventures and reveal a few more wild swimming secret spots.

For runners we find narratives have been really popular, especially on audio to relieve the (let’s be honest) monotony of the long run. There will be new books in the coming years from some of our most popular authors like Allie Bailey and Damian Hall.

Climbing remains at the heart of what we do, and perhaps we have been really picky about what we publish, and going forward, that won't change. We want our books to be the absolute best they can be. Extreme Rock will be, and there is even a rumour we are working on Ultimate Rock... The Climbing Bible has been the world’s best-selling climbing training book of the last three years and we hope it has made a difference to what people can get from their climbing. We are always on the lookout for books that can give as much as this one has.

So there you go. Trail shoes, rock books, a set of gravel tyres, a dry robe and a fleece and you're all set to enjoy our books for the next few years.

Hey! See you out there.