What I Learned at My Bookshop

How Zibby's Bookshop can help... you!

Here’s the thing.

My bookstore isn’t special just because it sells great books in a unique way in a beautiful space. Although it does! Zibby’s Bookshop is special because of who sells the books, who comes to talk, and who comes to listen. It’s because of you. It’s special because it exists to benefit the lives of those who enter or exit, a place of light in a dark world.

The store is not about commerce, although it does fine. It’s about connection. I’ve just spent the past five days there, watching, listening, learning — and I don’t feel like I’ve communicated enough here about what’s different about it. I mean, it’s really a conversation space that sells books.

Kyle and I took the team of bright, talented, funny, kind, and connected booksellers to dinner last weekend. They’re also all screenwriters, authors, marketing execs, book lovers. 7 (out of the 9) booksellers have been with the store for more than two years – almost since opening day! Unheard of in retail! But is this just... retail?

The booksellers are a community of their own, a group who loves what they do and do it because they love it. Being around that energy is infectious. Yes, their recommendations and intellectual insights are spot on. But several shoppers also - unsolicited! - told me about a special connection they’d had, a moment with a bookseller, that had changed their life. One that they’d always remember.

At our event this week with Krista Williams (left) and Amber Rae (right)

And then there are the wonderful authors who come to do events. We spend a lot of time inviting select guests, sorting through pitches, carefully planning, to curate seasons and sessions that form a perfect topic tapestry. It’s all intentional. Just like my own live event series. Just like the salon I started in my living room 8 years ago.

The topics range widely. But what every author discusses obliquely and every guest craves is that extra something, thezing of recognition, the spark that sets them on their way. One guest sat in our folding chair last night after an event and said, “I just want to stay with the energy here and not face the real world again.” It’s a special place.

When we open our doors and set up the authors’ mics for the livestreams, we trust them. They deliver. And their own communities show up to support them. Then, our own Santa Monica neighborhood community also comes in regularly, beneficiaries of this little haven in their midst.

Our events are free or, occasionally, have a book buy required. Why? Like with my daily podcast, I just want to spread these conversations, led by authors with something to say, far and wide.

I want to amplify. I want to exponentially help. And I firmly believe select authors are the best messengers to help others live a life well lived. I dedicate my life to finding them. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? Live better lives before we go?

So indulge in our den of delight and distraction, of details and drama, of destiny and double takes. Pass through our shelves of souls, stanzas, sounds, and sensations. Browse through the canvas covers containing courageous stories and create space to connect, if only with yourself. Yes, please buy our books in person or online, support the authors, support a local indie. Yes. Please.

But know that we’re here for you as a place of refuge from the chaos in the world, a place to recharge, marvel, or mingle at an event. Or a place to just sit silently soaking up the sentiments.

At our event this week with Erin Rachel Doppelt and Cathy Heller

We held a recent event with Cathy Heller and Erin Rachel Doppelt about manifesting. As I sat in the audience, I thought back on an interaction from years ago and got goosebumps. About seven years ago, I was desperately trying to sell my first book without much luck. I’d gotten an agent but hadn’t been able to sell my memoir - and that was after rejections almost 20 years prior, too. I happened (happened? Universe?) to be seated next to a medium at a dinner with Kyle and his family.

“Okay, can I just ask you,” I said. “Am I ever going to get my book published?”

The medium looked at me thoughtfully and said, slowly, “Oh, Zibby. I see lots of books.”

As I looked around my store, it hit me: this! This is what she meant. Yes, I’d ended up selling that book, but I was missing the bigger picture. This is what it is all about for me and what I’m meant to be here for. The bookshop. The publishing. My own writing is just one small part of it, which is perhaps why I’ve recently decided to give back my advance for my next novel.

Yes, I wrote Overheard (twice, entirely) but the world just doesn’t need another novel from me right now. I want to be insanely proud of what I put out and want it to be something I need to write and you need to read. Plus there are so many books I’d rather recommend you read than the one I just wrote.

So I’m going to wait and focus on other projects, like the many events I have coming up, the bookshop, Zibby Publishing, my daily podcast, shorter form like this and non-fiction, and my amazing family. I must say, this is the first time in two-plus years where I haven’t felt guilty for not working on my novel or felt badly for not getting enough done.

Seriously, what a relief. To all you novelists, hats permanently off to you. Respect.

So come by the store. Check out a book we published. Listen to the podcast. Come to an event I’m doing myself (list below)! Or come by the bookshop. You are welcome.

(To join the bookshop mailing list specifically, click here. Follow us on Eventbrite here for upcoming events. Watch all events live-streamed on YouTube here. Follow us on Instagram here.)

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Feature:

Thank you to Lilith Magazine and Lauren Aliza Greene who just today included Zibby’s Bookshop and me in a big feature, “Women of the Book(shop).” Honored.

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My Own Upcoming Events:

9/10/25 at 11:30 am ET: CORE Club Event with Mallary Tenore Tarpley, Slip, Susan Burton, Empty, and Jackie Goldschneider, An Honest Reckoning: Women Writing about Eating Disorders (New York, NY). Link here.

9/11/25 at 11:30 am ET: Temple Emanu-el Streicker Center with Molly Jong-Fast, How to Lose Your Mother (New York, NY) Link here.

9/13/25 at 4 pm - 6 pm PT: Zibby’s Bookshop Most Anticipated Party (Santa Monica, CA). Link here.

9/14/25 at 9:30 am PT: Wilshire Blvd Temple with Anna Ephron Harari, Amy Ephron, and Rabbi Steve Leder (Los Angeles, CA). Link to follow.

9/17/25 at 12 pm ET: Ritualwell Event (virtual) Link here.

9/19/25 at 10 am ET: Totally Booked: Live Season Two with Authors Lili Anolik (Didion & Babitz), Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (Heart of a Stranger), Jane Hamilton (The Phoebe Variations), Maria Meltzer (It Girl), Dr. Corrine Low (Having it All), and Susan Orlean (Joyride). (New York, NY) Link here.

9/25/25 at 10 am ET: Totally Booked: Live Season Two with Authors Amanda Goetz (Toxic Grit), Mitch Albom (Twice), Jane Hamilton (The Phoebe Variations), Meg Josephson (Are You Mad at Me?), Alisha Fernandez Miranda (Someone’s Gotta Give), and Kate Baer (How About Now). (New York, NY) Link here. 

9/30/25 at 10 am ET: Totally Booked: Live Season Two with Authors Kate Sturino (Sunny Side Up), Tami Charles (Together, United), Eli Frankel (Sister’s in Death), Nate Berkus (Foundations), Jane Hamilton (The Phoebe Variations), Dani Shapiro (Signal Fires), Sam Sussman (North Country), Sophie Blackall (If We Were Dogs). (New York, NY) Link here.

10/4/25 at 9 am ET: Greenwich Petite Retreat with Authors Jane Hamilton (The Phoebe Variations), John Kenney (I See You’ve Called in Dead), Nora Dahlia Zelevansky (Backslide), Jamie Brenner (The Weekend Crashers), Brisa Carleton (Last Call at the Savoy), Caroline Palmer (Workhorse), Bianna Golodryga (Don’t Feed the Lion), and Heather Aimee O’Neill (The Irish Goodbye). (Greenwich, CT) Link here.

10/6/25 at 1 pm ET: VIRTUAL: ALA’s EMIERT Jewish Information Committee On Being Jewish Now: Two Years Later (Virtual). Link here.

10/16/25 at 6 pm ET: Temple Emanu-el Streicker Center with Geraldine Brooks, Memorial Days (New York, NY). Link here. 

10/22/25 at 11:30 am ET: CORE Club Event with Emma Gannon, Table for One. (New York, NY) Link here.

11/5/25 at 12 pm ET: Yale Schwarzman Center Fireside Chat (New Haven, CT) and at 4pm: Yale Schwarzman Center Event with Allison Pataki, It Girl (New Haven, CT). Links to follow.

11/12/25 at 6 pm ET: Temple Emanu-el Streicker Center (New York, NY): Zibby Owens and Lihi Lapid, I Wanted to Be Wonderful.  Link here.

11/13/25 at 5:30 pm CT: 3rd Annual Valor Event Milwaukee Jewish Federation (Milwaukee, WI) Keynote speaker. Link to follow.

11/21-23: Miami Book Fair panel. Details to follow.

11/30/25 at 1 pm ET: Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto (virtual). Link to follow.

And more to come! Thanks for the support.