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This is going to be a thread & it's going to get emotional & it may contain swearing. All of which is to explain why it's not coming from @BkstoreRomance. Because, as a Romance reader and advocate, the fight for Romance in indies is personal & long. And fucking exhausting, tbh. https://twitter.com/tashalharrison/status/1274413871772639237
I've been an indie bookseller for more than 20 years. I've been a Romance reader since the 80s. These two identities have often seemed incompatible. I have been made to feel, by (some) peers & colleagues & @ABAbook & our industry in general that I am not a "real" bookseller
...because I don't read & advocate for what are deemed Very Important Books. (I am also a kids' book person, so I get the sneers from all sides.)
Instead, I read books with kissing & feelings, which have traditionally been coded as feminine; "women's books."
Instead, I read books with kissing & feelings, which have traditionally been coded as feminine; "women's books."
And therefore have been deemed less "important." Which is especially disappointing from indie bookselling which has a significant number of women in higher positions--owners, managers, buyers--& tells you a lot about the internalized misogyny rampant in the industry.
Progress is being made, slowly but surely. There is a new generation of booksellers who couldn't give a single fuck what anyone thinks about what they choose to read & another generation of veteran booksellers (like me) who have reached a point of refusing to be quiet any longer.
We are the vanguard and we are fighting a fight that shouldn't really be a fight at all. But, fuck me, it is *exhausting*. And it would be so much easier to give up and go back to quietly advocating for Romance in the little bookstore ( @3rdstreetbooks) where I work.
But I can't and I won't because that's not the lesson that I learned from reading Romance. We don't give up. We don't give in. We fight for what we love. WE KEEP GOING.
And, where necessary, we recruit allies.
And, where necessary, we recruit allies.
We need you to be our allies. I'm not asking readers or authors to keep trying with bookstores who have not respected you and your choices. That's our job. What I am asking is that you find a bookstore that is a #BookstoreRomanceDay participant & buy from them.
Here's a map. With website links. We'll ship your books to you if there isn't a store nearby. https://bookstoreromanceday.org/participating-bookstores/
@JenReadsRomance also has a map, with even more Romance-friendly bookstores. Don't give up on us. We are trying. So hard. But, it's a lot and we can't do it alone. Link to a Romance-friendly indie. Or link to the BRD @Bookshop_Org storefront. https://bookshop.org/shop/bkstoreromance
Just, please, whatever you do, don't give up on us. We are fighting to be better. Give us a chance to prove it to you. (Romance has also taught me the importance of the grovel, and I'm not too proud to employ it.) /end
