Faced Out, with Brad & Liz

One doesn't simply talk with Angela Maria Spring. She is one of the true forces of bookselling, and it was a pleasure talking with her in this episode of Faced Out.

Liz & Brad get things rolling with a chat about "bookselling from a distance." What's working, what's not, what it could look like. This sets the table for Angela to discuss the evolution of her pop-up bookstore model, which emerged from her own struggles against the limits (and racism) of a lot of traditional bookselling. Again, one doesn't simply talk with Angela Maria Spring. You are invited to go deeper & inspired to push further, and it's all wonderful. 

We hope you enjoy this one as much as we enjoyed recording it. Hope you like the throwbacks to previous episodies!

[Note to the first-downloaders: Due to some technical issues, we've re-uploaded the podcast. There was a mysteriously missing 10 or so minutes around the 50 minute mark! -- BJ (8/1/20 6:38 PST)]

A free-wheelin' episode this week! Liz & Brad start off by talking about what's become of Wolfman Books since our last episode, and further lessons that a non-institutional space can offer. Then they get into the meat & potatoes -- pandemic bookselling & customer service. It gets passionate!

They're joined in the second half by their good pal Emma Ramadan, co-owner of riffraff in Providence, Rhode Island. Our trio get into the weeds of bookselling and discuss how riffraff's outdoor bookstore is going, the upsides and down of virtual events and (unsurprising if you know Emma & Brad) contentious perspectives on Bookshop. Fun!

As ever: feel free to email us at [email protected], if you have any thoughts, confessions, accusations, etc. We love hearing from our fellow booksellers.

We're tired. You're tired. We're all tired.

In this episode Brad & Liz power through their exhaustion and try to imagine alternative ideas of how to be a bookstore. We're hitting the limit of what we can do as a fulfillment center, and suspect many other stores are too. Is this all there is, or can we maybe create something else?

We talk with our good friend Tara Marsden, from Wolfman Books in Oakland, California, to spark ideas how we might imagine the immediate future for bookselling. 

Episode Two was recorded in both the midst & the wake of protests against police violence. It's a fiery one, from start to finish. Lisa Lucas, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, joins Liz & Brad for a conversation about the pros and cons of reading lists, the structural racism we all have to work against in the book industry, and the importance of a good "audit"(!). 

As always -- feel free to email us any questions, gossip, sundry greetings at [email protected]!

In our extra special first episode we sip from tiny cups while speculating wildly about the future of this podcast, and chat with Hannah Oliver Depp, owner of Loyalty Bookstores, about a little bit of everything: SBA loans, distribution monoliths, the power of Jameson for former academics and what the hell we’ll all be doing going forward. Enjoy! 

* Update: What is geography, anyway? We identify one of Loyalty Bookstores' locations as Baltimore. This is not the case! We're told that Baltimore is, in fact, an hour away from Silver Spring, Maryland. So ... FYI! & remember you can always fact-check us & call us on our bullshit at [email protected]!