Our Story
How did we meet? Why did we start a publishing company? And what are we planning to do with it?
It all started when…
Aaron messaged Frank on instagram in 2021, asking him what pants he was wearing in this video Frank had made about his recent expedition through the Southern Appalachians in search of salamanders. He needed them for a birding trip he was about to embark on out West. They got to talking and realized they were living close to one another amongst the Allegheny Highlands of West Virginia & Maryland.
After A While, the two met up.
Aaron joined Frank on a rocket run (quick, overnight trip to search for a target species) to the nearby Ridge & Valley Mountains in search of two extremely range-restricted species of salamanders. Aaron was practicing his macro photography while Frank filmed this YouTube video on his phone.
Frank was working at an environmental conservation organization in thomas, west virginia at the time.
During his time there, he had the idea to start an eco tour program to provide free nature hikes throughout the watershed the organization worked in. The Blackwater River Watershed.
Eventually the funding became available to start this program and Frank hired Aaron to lead most of the tours. In the boy’s eyes, the program was a success, as they were seeing consistent attendance from small groups, as well as the occasional 15 or 20. Later that summer, Frank was able to hire on Atlee (who Aaron has known throughout school) to join the team. He helped out leading tours and worked on administrative tasks that winter.
The Field Guide.
After falling in love with the ecology of the Allegheny Highlands, Frank dreamed of writing a comprehensive field guide to the Blackwater River Watershed. After two attempts, he secured the funding to do so through the organization via a grant award from Dominion Energy Foundation.
He then hired Aaron on for another summer, and with Atlee still there, the three got to work. The three already had a good knowledge of the local species and ecology, always getting out and photographing every plant, insect, bird, and amphibian they came across, but there is always more to learn.
So, they scoured every book, field guide, research paper, blog, and video about the area so they could tie it all together into one, efficient resource.
Towards the end of the summer, Aaron moved away for some field research, and Frank hired Brady (another colleague of Aaron and Atlee, who they vouched for with absolute certainty).
Things were going well, until they weren’t.
Frank, Atlee, and Brady had all the species photos they were going to get at this point, as it was now late fall. It was time to get in gear, as much of the formatting and narrative still had to be written.
As winter set in, the three got more and more excited as the book began to take shape. Frank began to research printers and learning how to prepare the files for print. There was a lot more to all of this than he had expected, but that didn’t stop him. He was determined to produce a useful, high-quality product for people to enjoy.
Eventually, things at the organization fell apart for the boys, as they were no longer satisfied with the safety of the workplace. Frank was the first to leave. He worked away at his book until the moment he sent the finished files to the printer, moments before he clocked out for the final time.
A few weeks later both Atlee and Brady decided to leave the organization as well.
Finally Finding success.
The boys were distraught, concerned that the field guide they were so proud of would never see the light of day. They no longer had any sort of ownership over it. At this point, they simply wanted the organization to release it for sale so people could enjoy it.
Eventually, later that fall, it was released after Frank contacted the grant funders to let them know what was going on with the project they paid for. The boys were conflicted, not knowing whether or not to celebrate. After all, they didn’t own the rights to their own book.
Luckily, Brady took the initiative to write a post about the book, celebrating all of our hard work and accomplishment. The rest of the authors followed suit, writing their own posts and directing people to pick up a copy of their own.
We wanted to do it again… the right way.
Thus, the formation of:
Allegheny Boys llc.
Publishing the best field guides in Appalachia.
Moving Forward.
We now have our very own publishing company - Allegheny Boys LLC. Moving forward, we will be able to retain the rights to our own books that we will publish through our own company. This will ensure we retain the creative freedom to produce books that we can stand behind, remain in high quality, and actually see a return on our hard work.
But, we’re not stopping there.
We don’t see this solely as a way to publish our own books, but a way to empower you to become a published author. We are actively in search of Appalachia-based naturalists with a niche passion in an area of ecology. Whether you’re a crayfish nerd or a fern fanatic, we encourage you to reach out to us to inquire about publishing with us.
We have come up with a unique business model that provides no upfront publishing costs to you, where in the end, you will end up with a physical book that you can purchase from us at slightly above the cost of printing.
If you’re interested in learning more about our publishing agreements and what we can offer for you, head over to our frequently asked questions page.
