What do birders and Disney-bound families have in common?

Cheryl Strayed used their guide book while finding herself, ruining her feet and ultimately writing the best-selling memoir “Wild” on the Pacific Crest Trail.

And with more than 4 million copies sold, many, many parents have gleaned time-saving and mind-saving tips from their book, “The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World.”

Now, the publishing company Keen Communications, whose co-founder lives in Cincinnati and works out of a Covington office, will double the number of books it publishes with the acquisition of another outdoor-themed publisher, Adventure Publications, out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed and Keen owners declined to share the company’s revenues.

You might be surprised to learn that some of the books on your bookshelf exist because of Keen, and one of the men behind it, Richard Hunt.

Those “60 Hikes within 60 Miles,” “Best Tent Camping,” “Walking,” “Five-Star Trails” series for cities, states and regions across the country have roots right here.

Keen’s backpacking, rafting, canoeing and paddling guides cover the entire country, from Hawaii to Houston, Cleveland to Cape Cod.

Now, Keen will add more than 500 titles to its catalog, including numerous field guides, children’s books, cook books and more, bringing its titles to more than 1,000, according to Hunt, also owner of Roebling Point Books & Coffee.

“It is doubling the size of our company,” Hunt said. “We had no tree guides, no bird guides. Suddenly we can offer all that together. This is one of those situations where two and two equals five.”

The story of Keen began almost 25 years ago in Budapest, Hungary.

The United States Information Agency, now defunct, but whose work today falls under the U.S. Department of State, had invited Hunt (then working for Bantam Doubleday Dell) to share his knowledge of large-scale publishing with people in Eastern Europe that had been occupied by the Soviet Union until 1991.

The cultural exchange included an American author, book seller, agent and a representative of small publishing companies, Bob Sehlinger, who owned Menasha Ridge Press, which published guides to traversing American rivers.

“I would listen to Bob’s presentation, and think, ‘That is the smartest thing I ever heard,’ ” Hunt recalled.

Menasha was publishing river guides on plastic, not paper, so that getting them wet was no issue. It also punched holes through the top of its guide books so they could be tethered to a boat.

After the cultural exchange, the men kept in touch.

By 2005, Hunt had moved to Cincinnati from New York and formed a small publishing company, Clerisy Press, which was publishing books by Midwestern writers. Those titles now include former Enquirer photographer Michael E. Keating’s book of images, “Cincinnati Shadow and Light’ and Kathy Y. Wilson’s “Your Negro Tour Guide.”

Sehlinger still ran Menasha and the men started to talk of a merger.

It happened in 2007, and since then Keen has acquired other small, mostly family, presses, including Wilderness Press, Nature Study Guides and Coconut Press.

The acquisition of Adventure is the company’s biggest step since forming, Hunt said. The business will grow from 14 to 26 employees and everyone at Adventure will stay on with Keen, except for its shipping department, Hunt said.

Adventure Publications’ owners, husband and wife Gordon and Gerri Slabaugh, said they feel fortunate to leave it in Keen’s hands.

“Our audiences are the same, our philosophies, our tendency to run our businesses as a sort of family,” Gerri Slabaugh said. “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet people who are so well positioned and equipped to take things over and not only just continue the company, but improve it.”

Consolidating similar niche publishing companies is generally a smart move in an ever-more competitive market, according to Tina C. Weiner, director of the Yale Publishing Course.

Today’s challenge – and opportunity – for niche publishers is to find their audience and get the books out in front of them in nontraditional ways, said Weiner, who went to work at the university after a 40-year career in the book publishing business.

“The good news, because of all the social media out there, is there are ways to get your books known that we didn’t have before,” she said.

Keen is officially headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, where Sehlinger lives. But the beauty of having Hunt and a Keen office here is that Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky get more books written about the area.

For instance, in 2017 Hunt expects to release the first “60 Rides within 60 Miles” for Cincinnati, which will include information on six local mountain bike trails and 54 road rides.

And, by the way, someone should tell Cheryl Strayed that Keen publishes a book called “Fixing your Feet.”