SUNBELT PUBLICATIONS TODAY
Sunbelt Publications began a new chapter in 2022 when long time employees Lisa Gulick and Maria Groschup-Black, and Maria’s wife Nichole purchased the company from founders Diana and Lowell Lindsay.
Togeth
er, Lisa and Maria have over 35 combined years with the company and will strive to continue the legacy that is Sunbelt Publications. Diana will continue in supportive roles while she works on her many writing projects.
Lisa continues in her role of sales manager extraordinaire and assumed the title of CEO. Maria takes the ro
le of CFO while continuing her work in accounting, and managing the warehouse. Nichole, new to the business, is assuming the role of corporate secretary and holds title as The Manager of all Things Strange.
To all of our fans and customers, Sunbelt Publications will continue to produce and provide the high quality titles and stellar customer service for which we are known. We welcome your feedback, so please let us know how we can better serve our community!
SPOTLIGHT ON LISA
Lisa began her sales career at Sunbelt in 1997 and quickly became account manager for larger accounts. Eventually she became sales and office manager where she has delighted us all with her wit, and ability to know just what the client needs. It has been said the she is the one who coined the phrase “you want fries with that.”
When not glued to her sales desk, or managing the latest office project, Lisa enjoys writing, reading, and all things mystical.
SPOTLIGHT ON MARIA
No one is exactly sure when Maria joined Sunbelt, as she just kind of showed up one day; but best estimates are early 2010. Since then she has worked in a variety of positions and is a Jill of All Trades. Maria started in sales at first and then spent time in marketing. Eventually she took over the accounting office and found a happy fit. Most recently Maria added warehouse management to her resume and enjoys splitting her activities throughout the day.
When not working, she tends her worm farm, or can be found fishing off the Ocean Beach Pier for mackerel which she then uses for catfish bait at the local reservoir.
SPOTLIGHT ON NICHOLE
Nichole comes to Sunbelt from a very different background. She is a full-time Special Education Teacher of severely disabled students and also tutors outside of class. Her patience and calm manner are invaluable to Lisa and Maria as they frequently turn to her for research, ideas, and aesthetics when planning a project. Nichole is the queen of handling odd forms and processes that businesses require in order to make all of the bells and whistles work and can out-draw anyone reaching for a smart phone to look up the latest trivia or important information.
In her spare time Nichole can be found…. Oh who are we kidding? Nichole has no spare time.
THE REST OF THE STORY…
Debi Young will continue as our Production Manager, putting together award-winning books and creating exiting new publications. In the warehouse we have assistance as needed from some very key fellas for whom we are so greatly appreciative!
And as it must be said, “Thank You! Thank You!” to our customers, authors, vendors, and friends. Sunbelt Publications is only possible because of your support, talent, input, and assistance throughout the years. We look forward to to continuing our work with you all!
Principal owners:
Lisa Gulick, CEO/President, lgulick@sunbeltpub.com
Maria T. Groschup-Black, CFO/Vice President, maria@sunbeltpub.com
Nichole Groschup-Black, COO, nichole@sunbeltpub.com
SUNBELT PUBLICATIONS, INC., with over 36 years of experience in the publishing business, has three areas of specialization: publishing our own line of award-winning books; distributing and marketing books for clients that have a similar focus; and custom publishing well-crafted books for corporations, businesses, non-profits, organizations, and partnership publishers.
The goal for our publishing program is to contribute to the body of knowledge about selected disciplines and topics. Sunbelt Publications produces and distributes natural science and outdoor guidebooks, regional histories and reference, and stories that celebrate the land and its people. Sunbelt books help to discover and conserve the natural, historical, and cultural heritage of unique regions that include California, the Southwest, and Baja California. Sunbelt has taken to heart the words of the Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum (b. 1937), “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
We seek partner publishers whose vision is similar to ours and are looking for distribution and marketing of their books. We assess the market for each title and seek placement of those books in appropriate venues. We work with our clients to strategize optimum sales.
Our goal for our custom publishing program is to turn ideas and dreams into reality by working closely with our clients to assess their needs and budget and to design and produce books that exceed their expectations and meet their deadlines. If the subject of their book falls within our publishing vision, we can also offer distribution and marketing services.
SUNBELT PUBLICATIONS began as an idea several years before it became a reality. The idea was drawn out on a napkin at the historic Scholtz Beergarten in Austin, Texas, and the focus was marketing and distribution for books written by authors Diana and Lowell Lindsay.
The idea was to turn the publishing model upside down — not be publishers dependent on others for distribution, but become distributors whose publishing program could feed into their own system. To that end, Lowell and Diana drew a logo for this new company based on the New Mexico Zia sun symbol, representing the Southwest, with “SB” in the center for the “Sunbelt” states of the Southwest that the company would represent in its distributed titles. The plan was to focus on producing books on the Southwest and the Californias which would be an extension of the Lindsays’ love for the outdoors that they acquired in college days through numerous adventure trips with the UCLA Bruin Mountaineers.
By November 1984, the Lindsays were able to act on this plan. Diana took a small stock of books in their VW Vanagon and visited her first customer, the Julian Drug Store. Gradually their customer base increased to include the major chain bookstores, independent bookstores, outdoor retailers including Adventure 16, Sport Chalet, and REI, national and state park bookstores, museums, gift shops, and many specialty shops.
For many years Sunbelt was the regional wholesaler for the major bookstore chains. Demand for the many thousands of wholesale titles caused the company to put the idea of publishing and distributing our own titles on hold.
As the world of bookselling changed through the years with many of the large book retailers going out of business — Crown Books, Waldenbooks, Borders, Tower Books & Records, Lauriats, and others — Sunbelt also changed. We had come full-circle from creating publications to wholesaling the work of others and back to doing what we do best — publishing our own works and distributing these and like works from partner publishers. We were back to our original plan and vision of 1984 with a lot more experience of what would and would not work. To that end we have invested in a new operating system that allows us to take advantage of the newest technologies as we move forward to advance our publications in the marketplace.
Sunbelt has won numerous awards not only for its many books but also for the company’s contributions to the local community and regional conservation organizations.