...The road to stardom for Hank, however, wasn't all dog biscuits and gravy. Erickson graduated from the University of Texas in 1966 and studied for two years at Harvard Divinity School. He began to publish short stories in 1967 while working full-time as a cowboy, farmhand, and ranch manager in Texas and Oklahoma. Hank and his sidekick Drover are dogs Erickson worked with on the range. This mixture of true life experience, fun, and adventure has gained Hank a loyal following of thousands of children and adults.
In 1982, however, Erickson was at his rope's end. "I was working out in the cold; there was 8 inches of snow on the ground," he says, "I had just gotten a couple of rejection slips from New York publishers; and, I had a wife with two kids and another one on the way." So, with $2000 in borrowed money, Erickson started his own publishing company, appropriately named Maverick Books.
Hank the Cowdog made his debut in the pages of The Cattleman, a magazine for adults. An obvious favorite of readers, Erickson included two of Hank's humorous stories in Maverick Book's first publishing effort, The Devil in Texas (1982). Erickson began selling books from his pickup truck at cattle auctions, rodeos, and just about any place cowboys gathered.
When Erickson started getting "Dear Hank" letters, he knew he was onto something. So in 1983, 2,000 copies of The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog were published, and sold out in 6 weeks. Not long after that first printing, the book was recorded word-for-word on audiotape. Since then, every Hank book has been recorded, making Hank the longest running successful children's series on audio ever....
Read the whole write-up.
hat tip: "Rationalizing" post at Wittingshire. This post shares a short passage from one of the books.
There are lots and lots of Hank the Cowdog books. A sampling:
The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (Hank the Cowdog Series #1)
The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob (Hank the Cowdog Series #7)
The Garbage Monster from Outer Space (Hank the Cowdog Series #32)
The Case of the Falling Sky, Vol. 45
The Case of the Tender Cheeping Chickies (Hank the Cowdog Series #47)
And, the latest one (due May 4, pre-orders being taken now)...
The Case of the Monkey Burglar
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