The summer term is an excellent time for Ooligan’s forthcoming hiking guide, 50 Hikes in the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests. With reliably clear skies, our team members can embark on the titular hikes, strengthening our connection with the project and allowing us to ensure accuracy for our readers. Not many publishing projects involve going outside and breathing pristine forest air; we’re feeling pretty lucky.

At the end of the spring term, we sent out sales kits composed of chapbooks, bookmarks, carabiners, and marketing materials. This term, we completed another round of copyediting, and we are just wrapping up a round of XML typecoding.

50 Hikes is slightly more complicated than other Ooligan projects. Instead of working with a single author, we’re working with several Sierra Club volunteers. In addition to the typical editing tasks, the 50 Hikes team is charged with bringing together many visual elements, including maps, photographs of the hikes, an illustrated plant list, and informational icons. Fortunately, our team comprises talented members with a wide range of skills, and they are more than up to the challenge. Also, each Sierra Club volunteer writes with infectious passion for the Tillamook and Clatsop forests, and shepherding their words through the publishing process is a pleasure. We believe 50 Hikes will be not only a practical and aesthetically pleasing guidebook but a warm introduction to two beautiful Oregon forests and a heartfelt appeal for their conservation.

This summer, we seek to bring all the elements together and hand the project off to the design department, which will design the interior. Once the interior is complete, we’re looking to print and send off galleys in the fall. Our spring 2018 pub date still feels a long way off, but we know it will be here sooner than we think. Miles to go before we sleep!