Small Press Distribution connects readers with writers by providing access to independently published literature. SPD allows essential but underrepresented literary communities to participate fully in the marketplace and in the culture at large through book distribution, information services, and public advocacy programs. SPD nurtures an environment in which the literary arts are valued and sustained.

• Founded in 1969 with five small publishers by legendary Bay Area independent booksellers Peter Howard (Serendipity Books) and Jack Shoemaker (Sand Dollar), SPD is now the nation's only exclusively literary nonprofit book distributor, serving over 450 small and independent presses, the majority of which have no other source of distribution. 200+ of SPD publishers are in California, 80+ are in New York, the rest are spread throughout the US, with several in Canada, the UK and in Europe. Two are located in Africa, in Eritrea and Senegal. SPD sells independent literature in every state in the country and to many locations in the world.

• In 2007, books sales topped $1,123,000. Of these, 60% were poetry, and 25% are by writers of color. SPD sold 106,894 books in 2007.

• SPD's 2007 best sellers represent a diverse cross-section of the literary world. More than half of the bestselling titles are poetry, several are fiction and a few are difficult to classify, emphasizing the current importance of cross-genre work. Of the 50 top selling titles, over 35% were by writers of color. SPD's bestseller list was featured in the New York Times in January of 2008. To read the article, click HERE.

  2007's Top 20 Titles:

  • Plants & Landscapes For Summer Dry Climates (East Bay MUD 2004)
  • Patient 002 by Floyd Skloot (Rager Media 2007)
  • Locke 1928 by Shawna Yang Ryan (El Leon Literary Arts 2007)
  • Ludlow by David Mason (Red Hen Press 2007)
  • Necessary Stranger by Graham Foust (Flood Editions 2007)
  • You Are a Little Bit Happier Than I Am by Tao Lin (Action Books 2006)
  • Journey To Topaz by Yushiko Uchida (Heyday Books 2005)
  • Eunoia by Christian Bok (Coach House Press 2001)
  • The Man Suit by Zachary Schomburg (Black Ocean 2007)
  • Sadder Than Water: Selected Poems by Samih al-Qasim / trans. Nazih Kassis (Ibis Editions 2006)
  • Devotional Cinema: 2nd Edition by Nathaniel Dorsky (Tuumba Press 2005)
  • The Transformation by Juliana Spahr (Atelos Press 2007)
  • Frank O'Hara: Poems from the Tibor de Nagy Editions 1952-1966 (Tibor de Nagy 2007)
  • Sleeping And Waking by Michael O'Brien (Flood Editions 2007)
  • Hannah Weiner's Open House by Hannah Weiner (Kenning Editions 2006)
  • Incubation: A Space for Monsters by Bhanu Kapil (Leon Works 2006)
  • Oulipo Compendium: Revised Edition edited by Harry Matthews & Alastair Brotchie (Make Now Press 2005)
  • Voices Rising edited by James G. Winston & Other Countries (RedBone Press 2007)
  • Complete Minimal Poems by Aram Saroyan (Ugly Duckling Presse 2007)
  • Baghdad, Yesterday: The Making of an Arab Jew by Sasson Somekh (Ibis Editions 2007)

  In FY2007, SPD's customer base was comprised of 33% independent and chain bookstores, 16% university and college bookstores, 12% libraries, 23% other wholesalers and jobbers, 10% individuals and 6% other.

  SPD is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has 7 full-time and 2 part-time staff and is governed by a board of directors. The 10 directors are: Mary Shapiro, Rena Rosenwasser, Ani Chimichian, David Rothenberg, Michael Morgan, David Martinson, Joshua Cohen, Juliana Spahr, Elise Cannon, Alan Bernheimer.
   

For more information, contact spd@spdbooks.org, or call (510) 524-1668