Regional Book Publisher Turns to Wiki Technology to Create Direct Connections Between Its Authors and Their Readers

September 5, 2006 -- Wetpaint.com (http://www.wetpaint.com/ ) today announced the launch of three tailored websites for Sasquatch Books, a regional book publisher specializing in non-fiction books for the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska and California. The three sites are http://howtodate.wetpaint.com/, a site centering on Diane Mapes' book How to Date in a Post-Dating World; http://booklust.wetpaint.com/, an online community for avid readers and fans of Nancy Pearl's popular Book Lust series; and http://shouldidowhatilove.wetpaint.com/, based on Katy McColl's Should I Do What I Love?, a book that gives advice to people seeking to enter creative careers written.

"Sasquatch has always enjoyed the relationships it fosters between its authors and their avid readers, so we decided to extend this relationship online by choosing these three very popular authors and the engaging topics they write about," said Chad Haight, Publisher of Sasquatch Books. "It's only natural for us to work with an innovative company like Wetpaint to translate the sense of community we've fostered with our readers over the years onto the internet."

"The strength of the offline community that Sasquatch has built by offering high-quality regional titles to its avid readers is remarkable," said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. "We're excited that Sasquatch recognized our ability to develop online communities with click-and-type websites and chose to work with us -- we look forward to them seeing real business benefits from this partnership."

With the rise of blogging and other personal publishing platforms, the publishing industry has recently been evaluating what impact personal publishing or user-generated content will have on its industry. While some publishing companies are still trying to decide best approach with this new technology, Sasquatch Books believed that Wetpaint's innovative platform, which combines the best elements of social networking, wikis, and blogs, presented a considerable opportunity to reinforce the relationship between its stable of regional authors and their loyal readership. In addition to the tailored sites created for Sasquatch, on June 19 Wetpaint launched a free service that enables anyone to go to http://www.wetpaint.com/cyo and create their own Wetpaint site in three easy steps. More than 3,000 sites were created on the first day Wetpaint's create-your-own service was available.

About Sasquatch

Sasquatch Books -- publisher of books for and from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and California -- is the nation's premier regional press. Founded in 1986, Sasquatch Books' publishing program is a veritable celebration of regionally written words. Undeterred by political or geographical borders, Sasquatch defines its region as the magnificent area that stretches from the Brooks Range in Alaska to the Gulf of California, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.