Ron Thurston’s Two Scribe Media Books Became a Speaking Career and a Sponsored Airstream Book Tour
“It’s really interesting when you think about how books can change a conversation as much as they can change hearts and minds.”
— Ron Thurston, Author of Retail Pride and Human Pride
Ron Thurston spent more than thirty years leading retail teams before he wrote a book for the people who work on the front lines of retail. Six years and two Scribe Media books later, he keynotes for brands like Boot Barn, hosts his own podcasts, and has taken a sponsored Airstream book tour across the country.
A Book for the People Nobody Had Written For
Ron did not plan a career in retail. Like many people in the industry, he told Author Hour, it started as an accident, and he stayed because he loved it. He worked his way up from a department-store trainee to store manager, district manager, and Vice President of Stores at Intermix. When he decided to write a book in 2019, he knew exactly who it was for.
“I wrote a book for everyone that actually works in stores that doesn’t have a voice, that doesn’t have someone to celebrate them, thank them for their hard work, maybe give them some helpful insights and be that person that can drive the concept of celebratory career advancement.”
— Ron Thurston
He had looked for a book like it and could not find one. In his words from the case study Scribe Media published in 2021:
“There was nothing that celebrates people in the industry, or recognizes their hard work or says what they’re doing is amazing. Those workers, along with our industry, desperately needed that.”
— Ron Thurston
Why Scribe: A Workshop, a Cohort, and a WhatsApp Group That Outlasted the Book
Ron hesitated over the price for a week, then decided he was going to do it. He attended Scribe Media’s Guided Author workshop in October 2019. Looking back in September 2026, he still puts it plainly:
“By October of 2019, I had signed with Scribe because through all of my research, this is the best place I can do this as someone who knows nothing about how to do this.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on the authors he met at Scribe · 63s
The room mattered as much as the method. Ron says the authors around that table included an Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneurs, and doctors who had nothing in common except that they wanted to write a book. Seven years later, he says, they still have a WhatsApp group.
“I met this incredible group of people, many of whom I am very close friends with today, that were on this magical mission of creating a book.”
— Ron Thurston
“They helped give me the confidence that I could get this done. We had group chats and answered questions for each other. In fact, we’re still very close to this day.”
— Ron Thurston
The Book That Changed the Conversation
Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career came out in October 2020. Ron hit his goal of selling 1,000 copies in the first year. In June, on the strength of the platform he had built, he left his job as Vice President of Stores.
“It’s become my full-time work, which was my dream.”
— Ron Thurston
He describes the book as a language tool for people who are asked when they will get a real job, or when they will stop working in the mall.
“I love to say I’m going to teach you what to say. And I’m going to do that through a book and through speaking.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on how a book changes the conversation · 58s
Six years on, Ron says Retail Pride still sells on Amazon around the world. In 2020 he told Author Hour where culture starts:
“Culture doesn’t just start with those of us in senior leadership roles. It starts in the store.”
— Ron Thurston
How the Book Became a Speaking Business
Retail Pride launched when most conferences had moved online. Ron says the timing helped him practice.
“It’s pretty easy to become an inexperienced keynote speaker on Zoom.”
— Ron Thurston
He is candid that it took time. The book gets him onto the stage, he says, but the business took years to build.
“You don’t just become a high ticket speaker overnight. It’s taken me several years to get here.”
— Ron Thurston
“I have the pleasure now because of Retail Pride that I get to be on stage and go to a lot of conferences and speak about the importance of human connection.”
— Ron Thurston
That stage now includes Boot Barn. In September 2026, Ron gave the keynote at a Boot Barn conference for 700 store managers. Boot Barn bought copies of Retail Pride for everyone attending. Ron spent months preparing, including store visits, and he says he received many messages from Boot Barn employees afterward.
“You shift their [store managers’] mind a bit about how to talk about their career. And when I get to do that, when I have those incredible opportunities, and seven hundred people are holding up a copy of Retail Pride, it’s pretty impactful.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on the Boot Barn keynote · 77s
Ron now says he can negotiate his rates and is represented, and he shared the playbook he uses with authors who want to speak. He starts by asking the organizer for their budget before he talks about money.
“I can negotiate rates and I am represented now and I can build a proper speaking business.”
— Ron Thurston
“Tell me about your budget for the show or the conference.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on asking about the budget first · 88s
When an organizer has no speaker budget but offers to pay his travel, he asks whether they would buy copies of his books.
“I will come back and say, I understand that. Would it be possible for you to purchase a hundred copies of one of my books to give to maybe a hundred people at a raffle?”
— Ron Thurston
He told Eric he asks event hosts to buy copies of the book and almost always puts a book purchase into the speaking contract, and he says every event he delivers is customized.
“What I ask is that whoever is putting on the event buys X number of books.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on putting book purchases in the speaking contract · 37s
“Every single event that I have delivered, keynotes or workshops, have been fully customized.”
— Ron Thurston
Then he pitches the whole experience, not only the hour on stage.
“I will come, I’ll do 60, 90 minutes for you, but I’ll stay for the day and I will sign books. If you’re having a gala that night, I will help you present awards.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on pitching the experience · 57s
“My advice is you’re actually pitching yourself and your ability to create an experience more than you’re pitching yourself as a speaker.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on pitching an experience, not a speech · 11s
A Sponsored Airstream Book Tour
In May 2025, Ron told Eric Jorgenson on Author Hour how his speaking and podcasting turned into a book tour:
“It became a book tour, a sponsored book tour from several brands, traveled across the country in an Airstream, hosted events.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on the sponsored Airstream book tour · 33s
He says he had three sponsors, including Spotify, and built the tour around what each of them needed: book signings in sponsors’ booths at trade shows, events for their customers, and podcast interviews recorded live in the Airstream. A 2022 announcement of the Retail in America tour named YOOBIC, KWI, and Spotify Advertising as its sponsors.
Clip · Ron Thurston on lining up three sponsors · 43s
“I’m not just taking a check. I’m saying, well, how can I help you? What do you need? And how can we make sure you’re getting as much out of this as I am?”
— Ron Thurston
The sponsorship also opened doors he says he could not have opened alone. Guest number four on his Retail in America podcast was Sarah Jessica Parker, filmed with a full crew in front of a live audience of female entrepreneurs.
“That would never have happened without the sponsorship, because I can’t just call her people and say, hey, does she want to be on the show?”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on landing Sarah Jessica Parker · 71s
“I’m just a big advocate of go big. Ask for what you think you need.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on asking for what you need · 9s
In that same conversation, Ron said another tour was on his wish list.
“And then the last one would be another Airstream book tour.”
— Ron Thurston
Human Pride: A Second Book, Launched Through Readers
Almost five years after Retail Pride, Ron published Human Pride: Optimizing Your Human Potential in a Digital Job Market in May 2025. What he kept seeing on conference stages, and the questions he kept getting, pushed the book past retail. He also built a retail recruiting company, and says he saw how AI was changing the way people find work. The book has two halves: one for the job seeker and one for the leader.
“The conversations about retail, which is my entire career, also apply more and more to what’s happening in the world, which is about human connection and spaces that we create in job search and in leadership.”
— Ron Thurston
He built the launch around readers. He went dark on social media in the summer of 2024 to finish writing, teased the book about six months out, and emailed a subscriber list of a few thousand people every two or three weeks.
“In order to finish the book, one of the things I had to do was go dark on social.”
— Ron Thurston
He also asked his LinkedIn audience for pre-readers. Several hundred people asked, he chose about a hundred, and the result was early reviews on launch day.
“I ended up with about a hundred pre-readers, which came into 20 pretty early reviews on day one, which always helps.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on launching a book with pre-readers · 31s
For Human Pride he also ran a Goodreads giveaway of 100 copies on launch day.
“I think there were close to 500 people that entered for the 100 books.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on the Goodreads giveaway · 28s
The reviews came back as more than star ratings.
“They’re writing paragraphs in there that says a lot to me.”
— Ron Thurston
There was also a surprise. Readers have suggested the book for high school and early college students, and Ron told Eric he planned to lean into that.
Clip · Ron Thurston on an unexpected audience for Human Pride · 98s
What Ron Tells Authors to Do After the Book Is Out
Ron says the work starts when the book is published, and for him it starts on LinkedIn. He posts every day, he built an email list of several thousand people early on, and he still uses that list every week.
“I don’t sell books on Instagram. I sell books on LinkedIn.”
— Ron Thurston
“If you spend 30 minutes a day, seven days a week on LinkedIn, it will change the game for you.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on thirty minutes a day on LinkedIn · 63s
He does it himself. He does not use an AI assistant, and he answers every comment and message.
“It’s important to engage because you can’t write books about human connection and then outsource human connection.”
— Ron Thurston
“You need to respond to every comment and you need to respond to every InMail message you receive.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on answering every comment · 66s
The reward, he says, is what readers tell him. Some have bought Retail Pride for their own families, because their families never believed they had a real job.
“It has happened multiple times to me.”
— Ron Thurston
“That is power. That’s really, really special.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on readers who gave the book to their families · 48s
“I just got a note from a store manager thanking me for helping him create a trusting environment where people are free to be proud of what they do.”
— Ron Thurston
Two Books, One Team
Ron worked with Scribe Media on both books. Asked whether he would recommend Scribe, he did not hesitate.
“I would highly recommend it [Scribe]. And having gone through the experience twice with just these incredibly talented, committed team members at every step of my journey on both sides.”
— Ron Thurston
He says Human Pride took much longer to write because it is a more complex book than Retail Pride.
“Every step of the journey they [the Scribe team] kept up and pushed me and stayed true to my deadlines and helped me produce two really exceptional books.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on working with Scribe · 62s
Ron also talks to friends who are thinking about self-publishing. He asks how big an impact they want to make, and then he points them to Scribe.
“I’m just such an advocate of put the effort and the time and the money in because the return on that will very much return itself if you’re willing to put in the work.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on doing it well · 74s
Ron came to writing late, and he uses that to encourage other authors. He told Eric he wrote his first book at 55.
“I think it’s powerful to say, I wrote my first book at 55. I’m about to turn 61. It’s not too late to say, Wow, I have a lot of life experience. It’s time to share that with the world.”
— Ron Thurston
Clip · Ron Thurston on why it is never too late to write · 26s
Hear Ron in full on Author Hour: his September 2026 conversation about the speaking playbook, his May 2025 conversation with Eric Jorgenson about the Human Pride launch, and his 2020 episode about Retail Pride.
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