The Sunbelt Story

It all began in 1983 at the historic Scholtz Beergarten in Austin, Texas. Authors Diana and Lowell Lindsay were frustrated over the problem of distribution for their natural history and guide books. They decided to become specialty distributors themselves, with a publishing program that would feed into that system. On a cocktail napkin, they sketched a logo for this new company based on the New Mexico Zia sun symbol with "SB" in the center representing the southwest "Sunbelt" states that the company would serve.

In November 1984, the Lindsays acted on this idea when Diana took her small stock of books in her VW van and visited her first customer in San Diego’s backcountry. By 1986, she was supplying regional books to the major bookstore chains in southern California. Lowell officially joined the business in 1989 and in 1995 the company moved into a 22,000 square foot warehouse in El Cajon, California, which is where you’ll find us today.

Sunbelt now services customers nationwide, and boasts a thriving award-winning publishing program. We have come a long way in the 20 years since the idea of Sunbelt first emerged from doodles on a napkin, and the dream of publishing great books that could feed into an established distribution system is now a reality.