An independent publisher, built deliberately.

Cordis House did not begin with a marketing plan. It began with letters. Since 2023, Cordis Global — the company this house belongs to — has published essays, letters, and limited editions on family enterprise and the long work of building things meant to outlast their founders. The Cordis Letters grew out of that habit, and still carries its long-running count; the letter that founded this house is Letter No. 047.

In 2026 we formalized that work into three book imprints — Cordis Studio, Cordis Press, and Cordis Audio — and published our first trade titles. The Letters kept their numbering; the new imprints begin their own catalogues honestly at 001. We are, in other words, an old habit formalized into a young house — which is roughly what a family business is.

Ron Smith founded the house out of his own life: a childhood in a family HVAC business and twenty-five years advising the owners of family-run companies. The first book, Hands Like Daddy's, came straight out of that — a picture book for the kids who wait for the truck.