After more than 30 years leading stores for some of America's biggest brands, Ron Thurston realized no one had ever written a book for the 55 million people who work in retail. So he wrote one. Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career came out in 2020 and still sells around the world. His second book, Human Pride: Optimizing Your Human Potential in a Digital Job Market, followed in 2025 as AI started to crowd people out of the conversation.

In this episode of Author Hour, Ron joins Scribe CEO Travis Stoliker for his third appearance on the show. He lays out his playbook for going from free talks and book giveaways to a represented, paid speaking business: how to ask about budget before naming a fee, how to get bulk book purchases built into an event, and why you're really pitching an experience, not a speech. He also shares his book marketing routine (30 minutes a day on LinkedIn, an email list, and replying to every single message), why he's never handed his engagement off to an assistant or AI, what he tells self-published friends, and why he'd recommend Scribe after going through the process twice.

For more information on Ron Thurston, visit https://scribemedia.com/authors/ron-thurston

For more information on Retail Pride, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/retail-pride

For more information on Human Pride, visit https://scribemedia.com/published-books/human-pride