It has been a rugged start for Rugged Land Books, a fledgling publisher that plans to specialize in publishing popular fiction and nonfiction. The company's temporary offices were within seven blocks of the World Trade Center, and after the terrorist attack the company moved to its permanent offices on Canal Street, which are still under construction. But Shawn Coyne, a cofounder of Rugged, has not let the recent difficulties curb his enthusiasm for the new venture. "I'm very excited about our first list," Coyne said.
Rugged will publish two hardcovers in each of the winter, spring and fall seasons with its first title, A Nasty Bit of Rough by CBS golf analyst David Feherty, set for release in March. Henry's List of Wrongs by screenwriter John Scott Shepard will be published in April. Coyne has set a first printing of about 75,000 for the Feherty book and 35,000 for the Shepard title. Due out in spring are Steel My Soldiers' Hearts by Colonel David Hackworth and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Coyne had been a senior editor at Doubleday Broadway and used ties developed at that house as well as connections when he was at St. Martin's to land not only his first authors but Rugged's distribution deal as well. The company will be distributed by Holtzbrinck Publishers' sales force. Rugged also has ties to Hollywood in the person of Webster Stone, a movie producer and book packager, who is Rugged's other cofounder. Stone will produce films at Rugged, some of which may come from the company's book projects.
Coyne stressed that Rugged is not limiting itself to signing only books that lend themselves to films, but views Stone's Hollywood connections "as another service we can provide to our authors." With the support of a wealthy backer who promises to invest between $1 million and $3 million for at least three years, Coyne said Rugged is committed to devoting a significant amount of resources to support its authors' careers. "We expect to drive the long-term careers of each of our authors from book to book," Coyne said.
