Arcadia acquires Texas guidebook publisher Wildsam

Listen to this article

Arcadia Publishing, the Mount Pleasant-based publisher of local history books, has acquired Wildsam, a guidebook publisher based in Austin, Texas.

Wildsam, founded in 2012, has published 10 guides to American cities, including Charleston; three guides for road trips across the American South, America’s southwest desert and New England; and a guide to Southern barbecue. The company plans to release three new city guides in the fall and recently released a field guide to the moon.

“The moment we picked up our first Wildsam Field Guide, we were sold,” Arcadia President and CEO David Steinberger said in a news release. “This is a product that is fundamentally authentic — it is exactly what today’s travelers and readers are looking for.”

Wildsam founder and editor-in-chief Taylor Bruce will continue to lead Wildsam after the transaction is complete.

“Arcadia is absolutely the ideal partner to take Wildsam to the next level as the elite travel publisher in America,” Bruce said in the release.

According to the release, Wildsam is expanding its editorial team because of the acquisition and is increasing the number of titles it plans to publish in the coming years.

This is the second acquisition that Arcadia has made this year. In April, the history book publisher acquired New Orleans-based Pelican Publishing.