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 400 small and independent presses, the majority of which have no other source of distribution. 140+ 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 2010, books sales topped $1,128,074. Of these, 60% were poetry, and 25% are by writers of color. SPD sold 105,502 books in 2010.

SPD's 2010 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. 

In FY2010, SPD's customer base was comprised of 31% independent and chain bookstores, 18% university and college bookstores, 11% libraries, 22% other wholesalers and jobbers, 12% individuals and 6% other.

SPD is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has 8 full-time and 1 part-time staff and is governed by a board of directors. The 10 directors are: Joshua Cohen, David Rothenberg, Alan Bernheimer, Rena Rosenwasser, Mary Shapiro, Michael Morgan, Juliana Spahr, Jonathan Fernandez, Ethan Nosowsky, Andrew Day.

2010's Top 10 Titles: