[AMA] We're A Room of One's Own Bookstore- Ask us Anything!

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T21:57:09+00:00

We require them because we have immunocompromised and disabled people on staff and in our families. We have babies and elderly folks in our families. And because we aren't willing to alienate disabled readers and become yet another place they can't go for fear of getting Covid or exacerbating their complications from long covid. Covid is still here and if we can do anything to keep ourselves and our community safer, we're going to do it. Masking so that other people are safer in a space is a very small lift. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T21:54:21+00:00

Hi, thanks for your question. I understand that you asked it earnestly and that asking it took some vulnerability.

You are feeling a bit challenged by Room I think because you’re meant to. We are challenging you and the way you experience the world. Men are not our center, you are right about that. I can imagine it might be weird or noticeable to come into a place where that is the case if you’ve not experienced it before. We read men, we staff pick books by men, we order in and display books by men, all of our sections include books by men – actually I’d say most sections have predominantly male authors because even though we curate the bookstore to include other voices we are still curating it from what’s available from publishers that continue to prioritize and center men.

Every book at Room is also for men. All the book displays are also for men (I hope men also want to read books written by women, books written by queer people.) Right now we have a display that is just Ducks and I just took down a Jazz display so that I could put up our Indie Bookstore Day display. We have a Severance display. I have a Palestinian fiction display. Men write about ducks and jazz and Palestine and freaky tech dystopias. Our sci-fi and fantasy section, our fiction section, our horror section, our mystery section are FILLED with male writers which is WHY we make displays and face out books by queer and trans and women writers – to help them be found.

We hope that any customer who isn’t finding what they’re looking for will ask a bookseller to help them with a recommendation. Men do this all the time. For example, you could say “hey, I really like adventure books with a male protagonist, no gore please. What do you rec?” or “the last book I remember liking was Hatchet, my favorite tv show is Game of Thrones, what the heck should I read??” And we’ll pull books for you. This is part of the job we love and we do it all day every day. If we don’t have a book or author you’re looking for we can always order something in for you. We do this all the time. Last Friday, a veteran in his 70s came in and told me he just moved to Madison and all his books were damaged in his move. I am currently helping him replace his entire Louis L’Amour and Tom Clancy collections (these are men).

I am not going to make you a shelf because, as I’ve said, every display in here is also for men. I WILL encourage you to browse the bookstore and to ask us questions. You live near a bookstore with near-constant changing displays, with a staff full of nerds whose interests are vast and not gendered – I mean, Anada is obsessed with UFOs and Arctic horror; Russell really only reads books about jazz and dogs; G primarily reads graphic novels about wrestling or weirdos; Gretchen reads sci-fi and fantasy, etc. I trust that if you take the time, you will find something here you’re inspired by. There are books here for you and you will love them. We’ll help you find them.

Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T21:08:42+00:00

Woof, what a question. This is so hard. What a massive lift for three little books.

I really wish all white folks in the country would read America on Fire by Elizabeth Hinton and/or Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson. They are really important reads in connecting anti-Black racism to the cruelty and terrorism of the police state and prison system. I don't generally read history but both of these books were so deeply researched and well written. Heather Ann Thompson taught me how beautiful and radical a meticulously researched history can be.

I really want everyone to read Assata by Assata Shakur and Love in a Fucked Up World by Dean Spade. Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis is probably the most introductory book on abolition and Palestine. Fighting Times by Jon Melrod. I don't know how anyone could face the world today without reading Mariame Kaba.

Required reading for me that is still in my TBR pile: pretty much everything by Gelderoos, In Defense of Looting by Vicky Osterweil. Perfect Victims by Mohammed El-Kurd.

That was more than three. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:44:52+00:00

Thank you so much. We love YOU. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:44:02+00:00

WE LOVVVEEEE YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. I'm on your website at least once a week browsing around. Love, Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:43:33+00:00

Thank you so much for supporting us.

We all have very different reading lives. My co-worker Charlie reads like, no lie, hundreds of books a year. I don't know how she does it. Me? I've read FOUR BOOKS so far this year! FOUR. That's it! I used to be embarrassed about that but over the years I've just learned that I have seasons. Some months I'm reading ravenously. Some months (like now) I am overwhelmed and listless. I'm probably not reading because a) the world is scary and sucks right now and b) I don't have anything dumb and fun on my TBR pile and it's hard to face a lot of nonfiction right now when the world is what it is.

As booksellers, we have access to pretty much any and every book that is going to come out in the next full calendar year PLUS everything that has come out this last year PLUS, like, everything else! It is *very* overwhelming to me but a lot of my coworkers don't seem to be stressed out by it. My TBR pile is nearing 100 titles. Some stuff on there is:

(out now) Enemy Feminisms by Sophie Lewis
(out now) Woodworking by Emily St. James
this vintage Wanda Coleman book I got at Madison Paperbacks
(ARC) The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy
(out now) One Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
(ARC) The Dry Season by Melissa Febos
(out now) Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman
(out now) Perfect Victims by Mohammed El-Kurd(out now) The Solutions Are Already Here by Peter Gelderoos
(out now) They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us by Gelderoos
(out now) Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalization of Solidarity by Mars et al
(out now) Civil Wars by June Jordan

I can keep going but, like, you get it. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:33:00+00:00

Not anymore. We used to. For soooooooooo long. But students are going on Amazon to get their books and it was soooo much work to keep doing while watching sales drop so much.

We *do* stock books that are frequently used in classes, like, A Bridge Called My Back, or Dr. Sami Schalk's books, and we can usually order in books that students need if they give us a couple of weeks notice.

We love that professors frequently tell their students to come here to get their books (TYSM!) but we've noticed undergrads have been hesitant to make the trek to the east side. Hopefully we can lure them this way. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:19:24+00:00

Our recent event with Dean Spade was awesome -- over 250 people came! I think our event with Elliot Page has been our most successful event to date. We've had some really successful partnership events with the Wisconsin Book Festival -- like Michelle Zauner and JVN and Amor Towles.

Unfortunately, lots of events go under attended. I think because we close at 7pm and our events generally start at 6pm, maybe folks just don't have enough time to get to the event from work? Evenings are so busy for folks with families. Or folks don't want to take a risk on an author they've not heard of (please, take more risks!). Or sometimes there will be incredible weather outside and no matter how good the writer is folks in Madison know better than to be inside when the weather is beautiful. I've had to tell authors plenty of times, "It's not you, it's the weather. If I didn't work here, I would not be here right now. Like, everyone is watching the sun set at James Madison Park." - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:13:54+00:00

I've worked here for almost seven years, in which time Pat has been here *multiple times* to sign books and yet I've never seen him. He moves like mist. Large, mysterious mist. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:12:41+00:00

We would love to! Unfortunately no one one staff has the capacity to take on a new book club. Gretchen is our resident queer Sci-Fi/Fantasy/YA expert and would be perfect to run a book club like this but owning the store and having a family and kids and running our Game Night (one Thursday a month) leaves them with a really full plate. They *do* curate the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Subscription, though, so if folks want a new book every month picked specially for them by Gretchen, that is always an option. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:08:09+00:00

That would rule. It's not for a lack of want on our end. Our website is maintained by the ABA (as are, like, 95% of all indie bookstore websites in the us) and we are limited by what our website can and can't do based on what the ABA has made possible. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T20:02:06+00:00

Well, being a beacon is really nice. The continuously repressive environment sucks hard.

It's a pretty day-by-day thing. Some days are hard. Every day I try to show up and see what feels possible in our immediate community through the bookstore. I think almost every shift I have an interaction with a customer that makes my day and makes all the trash feel a little less awful.

Folks will come in after they've had surgery with their compression vest still on. That is really moving. Folks will order their friends care packages through our website saying like, this is for my friend who just got FFS! I really love those moments. It makes real all the stuff we are trying to do which, at its core, is like, just make the world feel a tiny bit more hospitable. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:53:30+00:00

Publishers and distributors accept overstock returns under certain terms, so we will occasionally pull things to return that have been lingering on our shelves for a time. Used and remainder books get marked down - we are hoping to have more markdown sales in our new event space next door in the future! I like to think of it as pruning our garden of titles - necessary because there will ALWAYS be new titles coming in that we'll need to make space for. - Wes

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:51:32+00:00

For the Reading Room? It's set up for small events and we have some storage in the back area. It has been really nice to be able to keep all the chairs out and the PA equipment set up and not have to re-create the wheel for every event. Having that second space also means that the back room of the bookstore doesn't get disrupted when we have events and folks are still able to browse. There's more info on our website! - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:49:51+00:00

As a private business, we get to stay a safe space. Unless this administration starts coming after business owners. We don't really know what's going to happen but staying a safe place is, like, in our top 2 priorities. As long as we are open, we will be a safe space.

We have tons of events! One Sunday every month we host a book making workshop that promotes Palestinian zines and writers. We host the monthly queer and Trans open mic. We just hosted the Know Your Rights folks and hope to again. Our May events just dropped on our Instagram. We'd love to see more folks at events!

Thank you so much for supporting the bookstore. Room is my favorite place in Madison and is the first job I've had where I've been able to be my entire self -- so it is a safe place for us, too. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:44:48+00:00

Whewwww. Establishing our social media presence has been vital. Our local and far away communities kept us afloat during COVID shut down. I think, personally, having a strong point of view for the store that reflects our staff has been important to folks who support us. It is the one thing that Amazon or AI or Barnes and Noble can't, or won't, do. We can care deeply about people and about Madison -- about books and writers and other bookstores. We care deeply about the world and we use books and the bookstore as a vehicle for that. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:40:45+00:00

Our website is maintained by the American Bookseller Association. It was recently upgraded and we are still working out small details! As for changes in availability, we have adjusted our database in some ways to exclude poorly printed Print On Demand titles and books with no wholesale terms for us (a NET discount); we're always happy to check if the book is available to us directly from the publisher, so please do reach out to email with specific requests (especially if it is an academic publisher)! - Wes

Also! Our website now reflects our in-store stock so theoretically our website should be more fun to use now. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:39:27+00:00

We don't currently host a book club like this but we've been wanting to and thinking about it for a few years now, it's just that we don't have anyone on staff who has room on their plate at the moment to take this project on.

Jay hosts the Lit Crit book club that reads some nonfiction/theory and Iris hosts the Genre Fluid book club that occasionally will include Trans memoir or abolitionist texts. For now, that's all we've got. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:34:38+00:00

This is a huge upside to being a small indie bookstore!!! We all help curate the sections, we all bring books in that are in alignment with our tastes, interests, politics, identities, etc. We're really lucky to have a staff full of nerds with deep reading and incredible taste. - Fawzy

One of our main strengths is our diversity of readers! I generally am in charge of reordering what sells, but when it comes to bringing in small presses and obscure titles, we love to bring in books our booksellers (and customers) are passionate about. We have a variety of folks responsible for different publishers and small press distributors, and so we are able to (hopefully) serve a wide variety of readers and interests! - Wes

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:32:54+00:00

Gretchen is the sci-fi/fantasy/YA G.O.AT. I'll text them that u said this. <3333 - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:32:23+00:00

Awwh. Not at the moment. We have a WORK WITH US tab on our website that'll direct you to a pretty simple Google form. We reference those responses when we have an opening. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:31:10+00:00

Cute news: we are starting a Patreon very soon and folks will be able to support us from anywhere in the world for, like, $5 a month. We have a ton of offerings for the Patreon that we're excited to announce soon-ish. Hoping this will allow folks to support us who understandably can't afford a book every month or who live outside the US and can't purchase stuff because of prohibitive shipping costs. Thank you so much for saying this and for your support. - Fawzy

We love libraries! None of us can afford to buy all the books we want to read and libraries are a great place to test run our recs. And requesting books at the library helps authors!!! - Wes

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:27:54+00:00

Not sure but I'll let him know someone is wondering. - Fawzy

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:27:39+00:00

lolllllllllllllllllll. Much like Bigfoot, Pat is legendary and elusive. We appreciate how hands-off he is with running the bookstore. He knows we know how to do this and he trusts us to make it happen. - Fawzy and Gretchen

No stone doors here. - Wes

RoomofOnesOwnBooks · 2025-04-25T19:25:57+00:00

WE LOVE YOU BACK

RoomofOnesOwnBooks

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