NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 With deep knowledge of Stephen King's books and curiosity about their inspirations, writer Sharon Kitchens began a journey around Maine. As she learned about the real-life settings and people behind such fiction as 鈥淚T鈥 and 鈥淪alem's Lot,鈥 she arranged them into an online map and story she called 鈥淪tephen King's Maine.鈥
鈥淚t was amateur hour, in a way,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut after around 27,000 people visited the site one of my friends said to me, 鈥榊ou should do something more with this.鈥欌
Published in 2024, the resulting book-length edition of 鈥淪tephen King's Maine鈥 is among hundreds released each year by . Now part of Arcadia Publishing, the 20-year-old imprint is dedicated to regional, statewide and locally focused works, found for sale in bookstores, museums, hotels and other tourist destinations. The mission of The History Press is to explore and unearth 鈥渢he story of America, one town or community at a time.鈥
The King book stands out if only for its focus on an international celebrity. Most History Press releases arise out of more obscure passions and expertise, whether Michael C. Gabriele's 鈥淭he History of Diners in New Jersey,鈥 Thomas Dresser's 鈥淎frican Americans of Martha's Vineyard鈥 or Clem C. Pellett's 鈥淢urder on Montana's Hi-Line,鈥 the author's probe into the fatal shooting of his grandfather.
A home for history buffs
Like Kitchens, History Press authors tend to be regional or local specialists 鈥 history lovers, academics, retirees and hobbyists. Kitchens' background includes writing movie press releases, blogging for the Portland Press Herald and contributing to the Huffington Post. Pellett is a onetime surgeon who was so compelled that he switched careers and became a private investigator. In Boulder, Colorado, Nancy K. Williams is a self-described 鈥淲estern history writer鈥 whose books include 鈥淏uffalo Soldiers on the Colorado Frontier鈥 and 鈥淗aunted Hotels of Southern Colorado.鈥
The History Press publishes highly specific works such as Jerry Harrington's tribute to a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor from the 1930s, 鈥淐rusading Iowa Journalist Verne Marshall.鈥 It also issues various series, notably 鈥淗aunted鈥 guides that publishing director Kate Jenkins calls a 鈥渉ighly localized version鈥 of the ghost story genre. History Press has long recruited potential authors through a team of field representatives, but now writers such as Kitchens are as likely to be brought to the publisher's attention through a national network of writers who have worked with it before.
鈥淥ur ideal author isn鈥檛 someone with national reach,鈥 Jenkins says, 鈥渂ut someone who乌鸦传媒 a member of their community, whether that乌鸦传媒 an ethnic community or a local community, and is passionate about preserving that community乌鸦传媒 history. We鈥檙e the partners who help make that history accessible to a wide audience.鈥
The History Press is a prolific, low-cost operation. The books tend to be brief 鈥 under 200 pages 鈥 and illustrated with photos drawn from local archives or taken by the authors themselves. The print runs are small, and authors are usually paid through royalties from sales rather than advances up front. History Press books rarely are major hits, but they can still attract substantial attention for works and they tend to keep selling over time. Editions selling 15,000 copies or more include 鈥淟ong-Ago Stories of the Eastern Cherokee,鈥 by Lloyd Arneach, Alphonso Brown's 鈥淎 Gullah Guide to Charleston鈥 and Gayle Soucek's 鈥淢arshall Field's,鈥 a tribute to the Chicago department store.
The King guide, which has sold around 8,500 copies so far, received an unexpected lift 鈥 an endorsement by its subject, who was shown the book at Maine's Bridgton Books and posted an Instagram of himself giving it a thumbs-up.
鈥淚 was genuinely shocked in the best possible way,鈥 Kitchens says, adding that she saw the book as a kind of thank-you note to King. 鈥淓very choice I made while writing the book, I made with him in mind.鈥
Getting the story right
History Press authors say they like the chance to tell stories that they believe haven鈥檛 been heard, or were told incorrectly.
Rory O'Neill Schmitt is an Arizona-based researcher, lecturer and writer who feels is often 鈥減ortrayed in way that feels false or highlights a touristy element,鈥 like a 鈥渃aricature.鈥 She has responded with such books as 鈥淭he Haunted Guide to New Orleans鈥 and 鈥淜ate Chopin in New Orleans.鈥
Brianne Turczynski is a freelance writer and self-described 鈥減erpetual seeker of the human condition鈥 who lives outside of Detroit and has an acknowledged obsession with 鈥淧oletown,鈥 a Polish ethnic community after General Motors decided to build a new plant there and successfully asserted eminent domain. In 2021, The History Press released Turczynski's 鈥淒etroit乌鸦传媒 Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood That Touched a Nation.鈥
鈥淎ll of the journalist work that followed the story seemed to lack a sense of closure for the people who suffered,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o my book is a love letter to that community, an attempt for closure.鈥
Kitchens has followed her King book with the story of an unsolved homicide, 鈥淭he Murder of Dorothy Milliken, Cold Case in Maine.鈥 One of her early boosters, Michelle Souliere, is the owner of the Green Hand Bookstore in Portland and herself a History Press writer. A lifelong aficionado of Maine history, her publishing career, like Kitchens', began with an online posting. She had been maintaining a blog of local lore, 鈥淪trange Maine,鈥 when The History Press contacted her and suggested she expand her writing into a book.
鈥淪trange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State鈥 was published in 2010.
鈥淢y blog had been going for about 4 years, and had grown from brief speculative and expressive posts to longer original research articles,鈥 she wrote in an email. 鈥淚 often wonder how I did it at all -- I wrote the book just as I was opening up the Green Hand Bookshop. Madness!!! Or a lot of coffee. Or both!!!鈥