He has co-authored History Matters with John Grimaldi, Ed Lengel, and Michael Bishop; newsletters for his Grateful American Foundation, and David Bruce Smith Publications.

The company specializes in creating, designing, and writing limited-edition books on a variety of subjects such as authors, historic figures, artists and leaders.

Smith is the author of thirteen books: In Many Arenas, 13 Young Men, Tennessee, Three Miles from Providence, Conversations with Papa Charlie, Afternoon Tea with Mom, Letters to My Children, Building the Community, Continuum, Building My Life, Souvenirs of the Riviera and the children's books American Hero: John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, and Abigail & John.

In March 2015, Smith co-founded the Grateful American Book Prize,[4] with Dr. Bruce Cole, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The inaugural winner, announced at President Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, was Kathy Cannon Wiechman for her Civil War novel, Like a River.

2016's Grateful American Book Prize was presented to Chris Stevenson at the Library of Congress for his Revolutionary War novel, The Drum of Destiny.

"Honorable Mentions" went to Michaela MacColl's and Rosemary Nichols's, Freedom's Price, and Laura Amy Schlitz's, The Hired Girl.

"Honorable Mentions" went to Jennifer Latham for Dreamland Burning, and Edward Cody Huddleston's, The Story of John Quincy Adams 250 Years After His Birth.

“Honorable Mentions" went to Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Tonya Bolden for Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction And The Dawning Of Jim Crow, and to Mike Winchell for The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race To Light The World.

[6] 2021's Grateful American Book Prize was given virtually to Alan Gratz for Ground Zero: A Novel of 9/11, while "Honorable Mentions" went to Chris Stevenson's The Cannon of Courage: Gabriel Cooper & the Noble Train of Artillery, and Michaela MacColl's View From Pagoda Hill.

[7] 2022's Grateful American Book Prize was presented at the Perry Belmont House, in Washington DC, to Michelle Coles for her debut novel, Black Was the Ink, while "Honorable Mentions" went to Gail Jarrow for Ambushed!

[8] 2023's Grateful American Book Award was presented at Washington DC's Warner Theater to Lynn Ng Quezon for her debut novel, "Mattie and the Machine," while Honorable Mentions went to Sheila Turnage for her mystery, "Island of Spies," and Sara Latta's biography, "I Could Not Do Otherwise: The Remarkable Life of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.

Honorable Mentions went to Lea Lyon for "The Double V Campaign: African Americans Fighting for Freedom at Home and Abroad," and to Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal's "Plague-Busters!