Karen Brown

Karen Brown Herbert wrote her first travel guide in 1977 (while still at UC Berkeley). Karen Brown was one of the first of the true desktop publishers—shipping books from her dorm room and then later out of her parent's garage.

Three decades later, Karen Brown's Guides are recognized as the most personable and reliable guides to the inn and bed & breakfasts of Europe, United States and Mexico. They include detailed itineraries that guide travelers through the countryside and recommendations of charming lodgings for each night’s stay. What began with a single guide to France in 1977, has grown to a series of seventeen titles, each revised every year. Personally researched, Karen Brown's Guides combine a warm, personal tone, beautiful line drawings, maps to help readers plan their journeys and up to date reviews. Savvy travelers have come to depend on Karen Brown's recommendations.

For eighteen years she and her husband also took on the role of innkeepers at their own, award-winning Seal Cove Inn on the San Francisco Coast.