UPDATES! The state of the store + a SALE (yes, we still need you! did I mention there's a sale?), the chelonian movements of cross-continent orders, event news, and a shmancy new NEWSLETTER!

Hello, my winter warblers! Feels like a month since I've checked in with you here! Since it has in fact been a month, that stands to reason.

Thank you to all of you who have been bringing your friends and talking us up. This is how any living thing is sustained, by constant feeding. Just last week, an award-winning SF author from the US dropped by with a companion and told me that when she asked her local queer friends about places to visit in the area, everyone talked up this place--and she says she really enjoyed her visit and plans to come back! It was gratifying, for sure, but it also showed us that you are behind us. Thank you. Thank you.

CRISIS AVERTED just in time for the next one
First up, as you may have guessed from our continued existence, we did in fact make our critical goal at the end of December. Thanks to you, we ended the month at almost where we had originally budgeted, paid a chunk of back rent, and made our landlords much happier. On our annual graph, it looks like a December should!

January is behaving like January--retailers expect that things will slow wayyyy down. That's normal. We do still have bills to meet, and dodging that big bullet last month didn't leave us with reserves. And the political situation down south, besides raising all our fears for our siblings there, has added to the economic stress all are feeling, so naturally folk are pulling in their horns. So far we have mostly caught up our bill payments, but we must bring in $12,500 every month from now through July (when the rent and bills will go up again). That's our monthly "nut," no getting around it. We are presently $2500 short and the rent will hit on Monday. We need to make up that shortfall ASAP.

SO--there's a SALE on! BUY 2 GET 1 FREE on all used books
We've been offering this sale all week, with a few little extras in the evenings...but it's been really quiet on the weekdays, and today's cold rain has put an end to foot traffic. So tell your friends, as usual, that there is a deal here for them. If you want to shop online, the promo code RENTPARTY will get you the deal on used books. The site's filters will help you see what's in stock. In-store, we are happy to be flexible and apply the deal to mixed new and used purchases, but the website isn't as smart as we are. And in-store, we have tea to warm your insides while you browse! So if your spirits need lifting, come hang out with us this weekend. We have a lot of good nourishment here for tired souls.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?
If you haven't picked up a Cross & Crows tee, we have sizes M-3X! Specify size in the Instructions box at checkout.
PREORDER, PREORDER, PREORDER! This helps us know what books to prioritize, and make sure to have the books you want here for you as soon as they're available. Click here to check out the amazing queer titles coming out in February. Click here for March!

I'm going to pause the bookstore management stuff for a moment here.

These last few weeks have been hard for so many of us, in so many ways. What's happening in the US, the targeting of our queer and trans siblings, the destruction of efforts to push back against literal centuries of inequality and colonial violence, on top of the long year of barely comprehensible violence unleashed on Palestinians, plus all the things that wear on us closer to home--it is a constant fight. What I want to say is, it is a fight that can be fought. We have done it before. We shouldn't have to do it again, but I believe that we can. I believe in us, I believe in you, I keep this space for us and for you so that you can find what you need to go out and fight it when you have to. If you need to fortify your spirit by sitting in a comfy chair in a space where you are welcomed and wanted and cherished for being who you are, I hope you're finding that here. If you need to fortify your mind with knowledge and wisdom from the history of queer resistance, one resource is this excellent book published by Vancouver's own Arsenal Pulp Press: Our Work Is Everywhere by Syan Rose. It's in stock now. Please come in and take a glance at it, if you haven't read it already. It's just one of the many kinds of medicine for this moment to be found in books.

Has my special order come in yet?Thank you for asking. I've contacted some folks individually but this is a general note. Orders from three of our most distant sources have been very slow to arrive. This was happening before the postal strike, but hasn't gotten better since. One supplier is doing inventory and will only process rush shipments until that's done. One formerly fast source is experiencing a 5- to 7-day lag in processing orders before they even invoice us. At present, some shipments already in transit are flagged by the carriers as delayed. Fortunately, our preferred suppliers, the nearest and fastest, are getting restock of some things that ran out over the holidays, so where possible I am shifting orders to them. Orders already in transit will get here, just not within our original estimates. Thank you for bearing with. NOTE: If you're looking for a speedy turnaround, titles on our website showing arrival in 2-7 days really do show up that quickly, from warehouses right here in the lower mainland, so they are your best bets.

EVENTS at your bookstore

Tuesday, 11 February, 7:00pm: Dr. OmiSoore Dryden presents GOT BLOOD TO GIVE Through storytelling, theorizing and discourse analysis, Dr. OmiSoore Dryden investigates how anti-Black homophobic nation-building policies became enshrined in blood donation. The event will feature a reading, Q&A session, and book signing. Click here to reserve a copy of the book! Dr. OmiSoore H. Dryden (she/her/hers) is a Black queer femme and professor at Dalhousie University. Her academic appointments include founding Director of the Black Studies Research Institute (in STEMM), the James R Johnston Endowed Research Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Faculty of Medicine (2019-2024), and co-founder and co-lead of the national organization, the Black Health Education Collaborative. OmiSoore engages in interdisciplinary scholarship and research that focuses on Black LGBTQI communities, blood donation systems in Canada, and addressing anti-Black racism in healthcare and medical education, and developing Black health curricular content.

Saturday, 15 February, 6:30pm: Valentinian Open Mic Fundraiser for Bug's Backyard Theatre
See and be seen at this fundraiser for Bug's Backyard, a theatre company founded and run by queer students! The mic is open, and the evening will also feature performances by members of the company as they raise resources for their summer musical, Carrie! There will be art and treats available to purchase, with proceeds going to the company.






Monday, 17 February, 7:00pm: Vancouver NonMonogamy Discussion Group This is a free monthly meeting of nonmonogamous folks to discuss issues in relationships and culture. For more details or to contact the facilitators, please check out their Facebook group!

Monday, 24 February, 7:00pm: Open.Mic.Night. Bring your work to read or perform. Headlining the evening is a featured poet, TBA. For more details or to contact the organizers, follow them on Instagram @open.mic.night.1.

NEWSLETTER!
You asked and we are answering, with a new way to stay in touch with us apart from social media. If you'd like to receive a periodic newsletter featuring everything from book recommendations to news to special offers, please click here to sign up.

Reporting in, friends, and not with much good news. A little good news here and there, to be sure, and I'm thankful for it. As all too often of late, there will be snippets of math. To bounce back to the webstore and browse books, click here.

Bad News First

1. We expect to end December 40% under budget. That's a lot, during what we estimated would be a much busier month. Based on last year's month-over-month from November to December, and this year's average increases over same period last year, we expected December to be about double November. That's not what we got. As you can see from the following graph, of December's 24 "shopping days," only four were what we could legitimately call busy days. Five more were around what we expected them to be. Fifteen days were below budget. Eight were below average. Our highest highs were above last year's, but our lowest lows were below last year's worst days. On our most troubling rainy day this month, we had three visitors in total, and two sales--not enough to cover the day's rent. We've grown used to our graph being spikes and troughs, but this one is mostly trough.

2. We had deferred a significant chunk of debt to December, based on expectations that we thought were reasonable based on our limited but carefully studied data, combined with decades of retail experience. Our rather decent and patient landlords are approaching their limit. They're willing to accept a payment plan, but we have to make the payments AND stay current going forward. Most of our suppliers are paid up front, which keeps our leash tight but also helps us avoid racking up the kind of massive vendor debt that kills young businesses. However, there are a few places we owe, and they are quite reasonably expecting us to pony up. And we do have personal lenders in addition to our commercial resources, with whom we are fighting to keep faith.

3. Only a dozen people took advantage of special offers we created to encourage buzz about the shop and try to connect with new people.

IN SUM: You may have heard me say that every slow day burdens the next day with more weight to carry. December is a clear example of that. The season started late, and slowly, and didn't really begin to feel like what we expect from a retail season until just about the Solstice. We're not alone in this. Other retailers we know are puzzling over their data and having to carefully plot their ways forward. To get out of this pit, we need to come up with about $10,000 in the remaining 5 days of this month. (And then we have to consistently make $12,500 per month in sales to stay out of it.) We deeply need to meet more people, STAT.

The Sprinkling of Good News

1. We had the loveliest Solstice/Christmas evening celebration, with a visit from the Mari Lwyd and a storytime featuring Frog and Toad--attended mostly by queer grownups who cheered for the Mari, and hung out for over an hour after storytime sharing warm cider and chatting about the stories that still resonate for them as queer adults. Some folks brought Frog and Toad accessories, and handmade wearable art, and masks! We are so hoping to host more gatherings like that. Everyone seemed to be warmed by it. I certainly was. Communal joy is powerful stuff. Thank you to everyone who helped co-create that experience for each other.

2. We did see twice as many of you as we did in October.

3. Our "conversion rate," the percentage of visitors who find things they like and buy them, remains exceptionally high at 80%. That's retail speak, but it means that 8 out of 10 folks who visit find things they like or need enough to pay money for, and choose to do so here. (For a typical brick-and-mortar store, that figure is more like 4 out of 10.)

4. Our average sale has continued to hover around $33, which compares well with other bookstores in the area whose histories we know. This means most folks leave with a new book and a used book, or three used books and a sticker, or something along those lines. For December, that average did bounce up to $41.33 because more folks were getting new books or gift items like Lil So and So book sleeves.

5. An author we love, the marvellous Kai Cheng Thom, kindly used her platform to share our concerns about the season. We're pretty sure, based on visitor comments, that Kai's support is a key the reason last weekend went as well as it did.

6. Our new neighbours should start moving into the Nolo building next week, at long last. We hope this will bring more life and activity to our block.

IN SUM: We keep meeting new people every day. They're like you--they love it here. They find us offering books and gifts and activities and queer space and community connections they treasure, and they do come back. When folks tell their friends about us, we do see the difference in our bottom line. We just need to meet more lovely people, faster.

What's to be done?

Both the bad news and the good news point us toward the same basic need: reach more people. So we are lighting the beacon on the hilltop, dear ones. What we need is a mild case of virality, and not the kind that makes you sneeze.

1. MOST URGENT: Tell your friends about us! Do it today! We keep saying this because it really does matter. Some of you have, but not that many, as far as we can tell. We've already seen it work here on a small scale. If even ten percent of our Instagram followers connect us with five new local people each, the math starts looking pretty sexy. Thought experiment: 250 of our followers are local, and each convince five locals to visit. That's 1250 people. If 60% of those folks make purchases similar to our current average sale, that's two months of expenses covered, right there. And so many first-timers do come back, becoming part of the network of relationships we must build if this place is to thrive. We might be hard-pressed to keep up at first, but we would certainly try. More connections mean a stronger store, with a richer selection, more events, and more community involvement. Click here to check out our special offer for your friends.

2. If you don't need a book right now, would you like a tee or a tote? Now in stock, our rainbow crow logo gear is a great way to support and celebrate this place, and spread awareness of us in the community.

3. Join our Patreon. It's a great way to help support what you love about this place, even when buying books isn't the right choice for you.

4. Buy a book when you can. Most of us aren't in a position to get a book every day or even every week, but remember us when you're looking for great reading.

5. And remember also that we love to see you whether you are buying a book that day or not. The Comfy Chairs™ are always here for you.

IN SUM: Tell your friends. This place must grow or die, and we are close to the edge. Five days, friends. Five days that will make or break us.

Here's hoping that we come into the new year with a joyful pack of new friends (and see a bunch of old friends as well!). We look forward to connecting you with more wonderful books, and the writers and artists who nourish your souls. Let's all get there together.

Nena
for Cross & Crows and all its people

Keeping the lights on takes everything we've got

I hate fundraising drives. I truly do. But that's what we've come to, after a month that included A*****'s fall sale and a few other hits that, while anticipated, were again far bigger than expected.

Brace yourselves--there is some math involved. Or if it's tl;nr, skip to the end to find out what you can do, and what's in it for you!

First, at the end of September we took on a really cool opportunity-slash-responsibility, as booksellers for a special event. Any bookseller will tell you that offsite events can be a gamble, and I bet wrong. I bought $4000 in books and did not make the money back, or even close. They're terrific books--no shade to the authors, nor the organizers of the event. It just wasn't a big day for anybody, but we are bearing the consequences now. We do still have most of the books, now on sale at 40% off.

Then came our Large Online Competitor's Large Fall Sale, the one that rhymes with Crime Pays. It made a measurable dent in our sales last October so I knew a hit was coming. I estimated a similar percentage drop this year, but it was in fact quite a bit larger. Ths time, that week showed a 45% reduction in sales compared to the previous week. That's a massive whack for any business, but especially a small and still relatively new place like your bookstore. Among other things, this means that almost half the people who usually come here went to the 'Zon that week. This shows how pervasive and powerful that entity is. Our folk love us, but in the face of all that relentless marketing, it's hard to remember your own name sometimes, isn't it. Click. Click. (That fall sale affects many small retailers similarly--I compared notes with some neighbours and all of us agreed our graph for the week looks like someone scooped out the middle with a melon baller. It's notably worse than the summer sale of the same name.)

Next came the rain last weekend, which just killed our normally mellow foot traffic. One expects rain in October, even heavy rain. This is a rain forest, after all. However, coming hard on the heels of the previous blows, this has put us in a really bad place.

For the first time, we are not showing growth over the same month last year. In fact, as things are going, I expect we will wind up about 25% below last October. For a small shop just into its second year, this is pretty rough. Coming on top of months of struggle to keep up with cost increases, it's devastating. We are in debt, and the hole is getting deeper. We need to turn this around.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Buy books, of course--not only do we have great deals on our event overstock and clearance items, we've put together two sponsorship options that link your purchase to the specific ways your book dollars contribute to our survival. And each one comes with a little bonus for you. Click here for details.

2. Order bookstore merch! We've found a great local printer to make our Rainbow Crow gear, and we really want to put him to work! Plus when you carry a tote or wear a tee, you're letting everyone you meet know about us. Click here for details.

3. Make sure your favourite people know about your favourite bookstore! This one is really important, because to be financially resilient we must expand our community. We've got a great little deal specifically for you to give to your friends and beloveds--at no cost to you: a Buy-2 Get-1 deal just for them. And when they use it, you get a little bonus! Click here for details.

What else do you get when you support this bookstore?

A queer space. We regularly see queer and trans folks come in the door and let out a breath. Their body language changes. It's like they're taking off armour. This is what we are consciously and carefully trying to create. We hope everyone who brings good will and kindness experiences the same sense of safe harbour, but we build it with our LGBTQ2SIA community at the centre of our thoughts, and our queer folks tell us they are finding something they need here.

A place to gather. Whether it's a scheduled discussion group, a book launch, a pop-up art event, or something cool created by a community member, we offer this bookstore up as a 'third space' where you can participate in an enriched experience of books and stories and culture.

A welcoming, all-ages, free destination in the Trout Lake/South of Broadway part of East Van. No purchase necessary. We want you to turn to us as a part of your lives. We want you to feel like your neighbourhood has places where you can simply be, whether you buy anything that day or not. No pressure, ever. Just remember that we depend on your purchases for our continued existence, and come to us when you do want a book (or anything else we offer).

Thanks, loves. See you soon?

--Nena

This is not the kind of post I want to be writing. I'm sorry to be writing it, and extra sorry to be writing it as we all prepare for the solemnity of Truth and Reconciliation Day. It feels out of place. (And today is my actual birthday, so I am having Feelings.)

I can't get around it any more. This shop is officially a Struggling Small Business (TM).

All of our numbers are still headed in the right general direction, but not nearly quickly enough to keep up with increasing costs. In the short term, as it stands we are not making rent this month. And as my recent bout with a serious illness demonstrated, for the longer term we really do need a more complete staffing plan, so that one person being down doesn't bring essential processes to a grinding halt. (I've never missed that much work in my life and did not expect to anytime soon. I stand corrected.) Moving forward is just going to cost more. We absolutely have to meet more people and sell more books.

It's not all gloom, I will say. Every single day, we do meet wonderful new people. (We just have to do it faster.) And apparently y'all have been talking about us behind our backs, in a good way! Yesterday, working the book table at the (delightful, FREE) Word Vancouver festival, I met so many people, authors and audience members, who said, "I've heard SO MANY good things about your shop!" The next sentence was often, "I've been meaning to get over there!" If you're one of the beloved members of our community who have been talking us up, thank you. It matters and we want you to know it matters. If you're one of the folks who has been hesitating, or sidetracked by life (we get it, oh yes)--well, it is a lovely sunny Sunday, so why not today?

What's next, then? Well, we really need to head this off at the pass. Our goal right now is to get to Christmas, and hope to make warm neighbourly connections with the new folks who will soon be moving into the brand-new Nolo building at the end of our block. I'm going to make nice with the landlords, who have so far been decent folk, and hope they continue to be kindly disposed. Most of our suppliers are completely current, I'm glad to say, so the books continue to flow. We've got some beautiful events planned for this month; I'm going to be hammering to get them up on the website today. I'm still a little wobbly off-and-on, but I'm here and hard at it. So all that's left to do is have a
RENT PARTY!

All books in stock, buy 2 get 1 free. Send your friends. We have some lovely fresh additions of lit and poetry by the featured authors from Word Vancouver, so you'll find a few new delights since your last visit. See you in a minute?

Happy Pride and ever onward!

First up: We are so proud and happy to host a chill space tonight for attendees at Trans March! The live stream of Clark Park events is being set up right now. And we're delighted to once again be vendors at Vancouver Dyke March, Saturday 3 August, 12-5pm at Grandview Park! These two events are the most special parts of Pride Week in Vancouver, for us--inclusive, friendly, accessible, on a neighbourhood scale that quieter souls can enjoy. Tomorrow, we will be joined at the booth by two author guests, Tanya Boteju and Kristy Gardner, to share the good news about their upcoming new releases. We hope to see you!

Our anniversary passed last month with just a little fanfare. We have been very budget-conscious as we work toward long-term financial sustainability for your bookstore. Thank you for making our anniversary month one of the best we've had yet--up 15% from June! If we can climb another 15 percent, we can begin to breathe easy. For us that means less daily worry. For you it means more wonderful new titles by queer and trans authors, more art and gifts by local queer and trans artists.

So that thing you've been doing, keep doing it! Keep bringing your friends and telling folks about us. Every new friend helps us on our way to establishing ourselves as part of the future of this community.

Speaking of community, let me tell you about the cool things on our calendar for you to enjoy!

On 22 August, we'll be the booksellers at Kostuik Gallery's launch party for Long Live Queer Nightlife, a new book by UBC professor Amin Ghaziani that explores the history and importance of nightlife in queer culture, and looks at how it's taking new forms as queer, trans, and racialized folks replace traditional nightlife with radically inclusive parties.

On 4 September, Mx. Nillin Lore presents How Do I Sexy? a guide to sexuality and relationships for trans and nonbinary queers struggling to find their sexual selves in a landscape rife with misogynistic, transphobic and homophobic ideals and expectations. In this virtual event, Nillin will discuss the book with Vancouver therapist J. Matsui de Roo, followed by a moderated Q & A. Click here to order your book and and make your FREE reservation for the online event.

On 20 September, join local authors Wren Handman, Lucas J.W. Johnson, and Ziggy Schütz for readings, a panel, and a Q & A and book launch as part of Culture Days, Canada's national arts festival.

And I can't tell you how pleased we are to be invited as the bookseller for WordVancouver, the annual FREE literary festival coming up 21-28 September. Dozens of authors--readings--vendors--it's going to be great! Click here for information on WordVancouver memberships (which come with a little discount when you buy featured books from us) and to stay informed about festival events.

Please do ask us about regular gatherings including the 4th Sunday Queer Fibre Arts group, and 4th Monday Polyamory Discussion. Let us know if you'd like to learn more about hosting meetings and events in our space.

And finally, after many delays and frustrations, on Sunday 6 October we will launch Al-Khubz al Hayat/O Bread of Life, a zine to raise funds for relief in Palestine, inspired by my far-flung Lebanese family's traditional cooking. My late dad's hummus is the best hummus--garlicky, lemony, so satisfying--you'll get to try it, and pick up a sample of a classic Levantine spice blend along with your copy of the zine. The occupation of Palestine has loomed over the lives of everyone connected to the Middle East for so long, and I am so glad to be able to do this small thing.

The Joy of Pride and the State of the Shop

East Side Pride has been one of my favourite days of the year since I arrived in Vancouver in 2016. Performance, consciousness-raising, community mourning and solidarity and joy, at a human scale in a people-friendly location. Last Saturday was our second time vending at East Side Pride and the kindly welcome from everyone was just the same, only more so! Thank you, neighbours and friends, for every encouraging word. Thank you for talking us up to your folk--so many people said, "Hey, I've heard of you! I've been meaning to come in and see your shop!' Thank you for buying books, especially from our author and artist guests. Thank you for bringing your whole selves to the gathering and letting us celebrate with you. Thank you for supporting us. We can't wait to meet up with you again in Grandview Park for Dyke March, on 3 August!

Speaking of support, we are now going to call on you to support us in a specific way. Many of you regularly ask how you can help us (really, you are just the best humans and I am routinely misty-eyed at all the kindness you bring in this door with you), so this is a response to that as well as to the State of the Shop. Which is--

--holding on. Just. June is on target to be down about 25% from May, after two months of nearly reaching our goals for sustainable operation. [Note: Edited to update figure from prevoius estimate of 20%.]

So of course Your Data-Driven Bookseller sits down and does the math and looks at all the graphs, figuring out what they tell us about What's Working and how we can do More Of That, Thank You. And what they tell us pretty consistently is we need more of you lovely folks. Here's how it's looking:

1. About 8 out of every 10 visitors to the shop makes a purchase. Especially for a place of our modest scale, that's astounding. The average "conversion rate" across all retail categories is about 25%, so for 80% of people who walk in the door to choose to spend their book money here is massive. This tells us we're getting the right books, and connecting them with the right people.

2. Our average sale is a respectable $33--that's 1 new book or 2-4 used books, or a stack of stickers, for every person who spends money here.

3. We have been seeing fewer people. We know why, in at least some cases:

- As genocides rage and the economy gets harsher, even our biggest fans are reducing their spending. This means you. We see you making the same decisions we do every time we go to the grocery store or pay our utility bills. We get up every day feeling like we have rocks in our chests, weighing on our hearts as bombs keep falling on our siblings in Palestine. We know you're sending some of your budget to UNRWA and Operation Olive Branch and other orgs struggling to help. We know that's what you're doing with your money. We can't begrudge it or dream of asking you to do any differently. That's just what needs to happen right now.

- The developer building the new apartment block two doors over from us still frequently closes the sidewalk without warning. A couple of weeks ago, our neighbour from Games on the Drive popped their head in and asked how the day's closure had affected us, and that was the first I heard of being closed that day. It explained why I had seen only three people all afternoon!

- We still haven't saved up enough to get the big sign we planned for the front of the building. Your Eager Bookseller went over budget getting new books when we first opened, and that was the thing sacrificed. It's still on the list, just not first on the list. So some folks are still having a hard time spotting us, or think we're not open.

What we need to do to get this place self-sustaining is connect with more people like you. Folks who cherish queer space and make a point of seeking it out, even when the construction and traffic are really annoying. Folks who treasure books and especially queer books, and the experience of being in a bookstore. Folks who love meeting and supporting queer authors and artists. Folks who, when they want a book, choose places like this to get it from. And we can't think of a better way to celebrate both Pride season and the first year of being your bookseller, than to make a bunch of new friends. So send us your beloveds, your darling buds, your favourite people, and we'll give all of you some queer booky love!

This Pride season, from today until the end of Vancouver Pride on 4 August, we're offering a special for every person who creates a new account on our website, and every person who refers a new supporter. New customers will receive a promo code good for 25% off their first online order (the whole order) placed any time through 4 August. And when they place their order and name the friend who referred them to us, we'll give that excellent friend the same promo code! New accounts will receive instructions on sharing their referral along with their promo code.

Thank you, beauties, for all your help. I'll be back with you soon to update you on plans for our first anniversary and a long-delayed zine launch! Keep well--

Nena

Whatever are you doing?

Hello! I speak to you from the land of the eternally behind, where Sisyphus is our patron saint. Like any baby its age, this almost 9-month-old bookstore needs constant care!Blog posts are often last on the list.

First off, I'm writing now to update you on three projects that we cherish here at the bookstore, and that you have kindly supported.

the little gallery
This program continues, but we are taking a one-month break while Taz, who has been so generous with their time and energy, focuses on some life essentials and Nena pays close attention to the plethora of other events scheduled for April. We do have our May artist lined up for you, and we earnestly invite you to come appreciate Dacey Eliot's work that is currently hanging on the gallery wall.




First Sunday Community Book Fair
Our first book fair, featuring Disability Alliance of BC, was a wonderful success in many ways--thank you for your support! We raised $140 to support programs serving our disabled neighbours. We also learned a thing or two, so we are taking a breath and thinking through how to best make this program as useful as possible to the orgs and people it's supposed to benefit. We will be checking in with orgs that have reached out hoping to participate, and scheduling future events with our new experiences in mind.

Bread of Life Zine
The last time I made a zine, I was running an established bookstore and I was quite a few years younger. I somehow imagined that producing a zine while running a new shop, living in my middle-aged body, and being a functional member of my family would go smoothly. Well, no. A project I thought would take a month at most has taken three. I'm still working at it. However, I can report that I'm close to done--the text pages are ready to print. Updates with release info coming soon.

Next, I want to exhort, encourage, urge you to check out our upcoming events! We've got amazing author guests and events lined up, most of them centring and celebrating queer authors, as is our heart, our purpose, our reason for being. We are also thankful to have been invited to provide books for some offsite book launches by local writers. Click here to jump over to our events list and get the details, or pop in to look at the diverse and wonderful books these authors have created. As a new shop, we did not anticipate being able to bring you such a rich list of great author guests and activities at this stage. This is exciting for us and we hope you'll come check out the offerings.

On that note, we are extra-specially excited about our very first Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! Saturday, 27 April is the annual day when readers, writers, illustrators, publishers, and others come together to celebrate indie bookstores across Canada. By joining the celebration, you are advocating for independent businesses, supporting a flourishing bookselling community, and investing in Canadian culture. How can you participate? Come to the bookstore! There will be swag, there will be a guest artist--and every book you buy that day comes with a chance to win a $1000 gift card to your favourite indie (which, you know, we hope we are). Click here for more!

And now I'm going to answer two of the store's most frequently asked questions: How are things going? How can we support you?

Well, things are going okay. Winter has been a bit rough, bracketed by six (yep, six) days of sidewalk closures in December when we were hoping to really build up momentum, and an unexpected entire long weekend of sidewalk closures at the end of March. We did plan for winter to be challenging, and for construction to be challenging, but that was kind of a lot, especially the latest bit. It has hit us right in the budget. The shelves are thin, especially in our very popular Queer section, and we are working hard to build up our selection and keep it fresh for you. That said, we are excited and proud to note that 8 out of 10 people who walk in the door find something here they like, and take it home. And we are happy to see the queer and trans creators we champion so joyfully embraced by so many of you.

What it comes down to is that we would love to see more of you, more often, and hook you up with books. So--if you don't see it, ask for it! Especially when our budget demands we be very choosy, your special orders are key to helping us identify the right books, and keep them coming. And of course, they help us fund more books! Also, do please join us for our author events and other activities. Your presence is what makes them great occasions. Finally, if you like us, tell the world! Your social media shares and stories help us find new friends and make the new connections a young bookstore needs to grow strong. Every time a post of ours gets more attention than usual, that leads to measurable amounts of new activity and new energy in the bookstore. Your data-driven bookseller can see it! It really does matter enormously and we are so thankful for all your boosting on the socials.