Vertebrate Publishing Operating Instructions

• Tuesday 23 February 2021

It used to be so simple – we had the world’s best mountain bike guide – Peak District Mountain Biking, the world’s best climbing book – Banff Grand Prize winner Jerry Moffatt – Revelations and the world’s second-best bouldering guide Peak District Bouldering, after 7 & 8 Fontainebleau obviously.

But we simply couldn’t stop there. Now we have a lot of books, a lot of great outdoor adventure books – climbing books, mountain biking books, fell and trail running books, hillwalking books and even bizarrely enough a book on cold, open water, swimming.

Here’s a quick go-to round up of our special offers which may be a help to find just what you are looking for on our website.

First up, all our books are 20% off all the time, and if you’re UK based, shipping is free.

Second up, have you subscribed to our newsletter? If you have, you’ll receive a code that gets you an extra 5% off any purchase every time. You can sign up HERE.

Special offers and reduced books

Many of our older books, some books we perhaps just printed too many of and a few we want to get out there, are often half price on the site. Some you’ll just need to find, but here’s a quick list of the best of them:

• Peak Rock at £16
• Punk in the Gym at £9.60
• The Fight for Everest 1924 at £10
• Chris Bonington Mountaineer at £12
• Sky Dance hardback at £8
• Walking the Literary Landscape at £6.40
• Statement: The Ben Moon Story at £12

Looking to write an adventure book?

If you’re a prospective author, you could do worse than reading one of our books before you submit. We are quite specific about what we like. I’d like to say we know our readers and we know what they like to read. Before submitting, I do suggest looking at Big Trails: Great Britain & Ireland, or Swimming Wild in the Lake District if you’re sending in a guidebook, and Broken or Tides if it’s more narrative. These books demonstrate that unique combination of quality, sometimes quirky writing style, narrative arc and well-presented insight.

Free stuff

We always have a free stuff offer running. This week (panic not I’ll update this blog each week), the following are worth looking out for:

• If you buy any bouldering guidebook – Lake District Bouldering, Peak District Bouldering, Fontainebleau Climbs, or Off Piste, and Churnet Bouldering – we will send a complementary Lapis organic wooden bouldering brush. 
• If you buy a copy of Peak District Gritstone, we will send you a free guidebook pouch. 
• And this week’s book of the week offer is a free copy of one of our four Boardman Tasker books with any copy of Troll Wall or Quest into the Unknown purchased. 

Please note with all our free stuff offers, the gift will simply be packed with your order – don’t worry that it doesn’t appear in the order acknowledgment, our website just isn’t that clever.

Signed stuff

We have a bunch of books that have been signed by the author; the best of which are:

• Jerry Moffatt – Revelations and his excellent training book Mastermind
• The Darkness Beckons hardback
• Sky Dance hardback
• Hanging On
• The Uncrowned King of Mont Blanc
• Quest into the Unknown
• The Magician’s Glass

The biggest bargains

Our book bundles offer the biggest savings on the site. We’ve collections of all sorts of books, for example, our wildlife book bundle is £36 and our Peak District Bouldering bundle is £28. There’s also a walking, a children’s book and a John Burns bundle to choose from. Click HERE to visit our Book Bundles page.

The best of the best

What would we recommend is the best climbing book or the best outdoor adventure book?

Here’s five to get you started:

• To Live – a truly epic read; harrowing, life affirming, gripping and about as good as mountaineering literature gets.
• Winter 8000 – an epic of the genre; a history of hardcore.
• Waymaking – what happens when you ask the world’s greatest writers on adventure to send you a chunk of their best work.
• Wild Winter – a love letter to the highlands from an enthusiastic, if not entirely energetic, beau to his older and wiser, long suffering, perhaps slightly reluctant lover.
• Big Trails – everyone should do one before they die. From the Dales Way to the Pennine Way, the ups and downs of the very best.

And finally, something special

Our collection of gift boxes make beautiful presents. For the price of the books, we package them up with a few choice other gifts, finished with elegant rustic wrapping. Popular as birthday presents, the All About Scotland gift box is the most popular, followed by Adventures on Two Wheels and Inspiring Reads.

And if that is no help at all – just phone us up and tell us what you like and we can recommend a book, taking payment over the phone … we’re usually in from 8.30 a.m. until 5 p.m., unless we’ve gone climbing.