Under the Umbrella: A Queer Little Bookstore

Story

Overview

Salt Lake City is one of the ten queerest cities in America, but we have hardly any queer-specific spaces and even fewer that are accessible to all ages. Having spaces available for queer youth to feel safe and validated is especially important—check the FAQ section if you’re interested in the stats about this—and we all deserve a space where we can be ourselves and build community. One bookstore isn’t going to change the world, but one bookstore can be a place of refuge, a place of validation and celebration, and a place to learn more about yourself and discover that you are not alone.

According to the 2019 GLSEN School Climate Study, only 16% of LGBTQ+ students in Utah were taught positive representations of LGBTQ people, history, or events. We deserve to have our stories told, shared, celebrated, validated, and loved. And that is exactly what Under the Umbrella, a queer little bookstore, will do.

*A note on language: I identify as queer and use that term and LGBTQIA+ as umbrella terms for anyone identifying as not-straight and/or not-cisgender. Queer has historically been used as a slur against LGBTQIA+ people, and many still do not feel comfortable with its use. This is a reasonable response to the marginalization and systemic oppression of our community! I honor and respect the right of other LGBTQIA+ folks to not use that term for themselves, and I expect queer and non-LGBTQIA+ folks to respect them as well by not using the term for them.

Everyone Under the Umbrella Is Welcome at Under the Umbrella

Under the Umbrella is a safe space to experience and create queer stories and queer community. The bookstore will offer a sense of community and inclusion for all folks who fall under the queer “umbrella,” as well as queer allies.

Our mission is threefold:

Prioritize, share, and celebrate LGBTQ stories.
Provide a space for queer people to gather, build community, and celebrate their identities together.
Offer a means of livelihood to marginalized members of the community.

CHOOSE A REWARD & HELP US BRING OUR MISSION TO LIFE
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Queer Stories

Less than 5% of the publishing industry identifies as non-cisgender, and the industry is 81% straight, according to a Diversity in Publishing survey by Lee & Low Books. The most diverse segment of the industry is the interns—who make the least money and have the least decision-making power.

It’s not surprising then, that representation in the books that are published is overwhelmingly white and straight. According to author Malinda Lo, 81% of LGBTQ YA fiction in 2016 featured a cisgender boy or girl as the main character. And according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 18 YA books written by LGBTQ authors of color were published in 2017 and 2018.

Representation in publishing is slowly improving, but general bookstores don’t necessarily have the capacity or desire to prioritize these stories. Under the Umbrella will highlight the stories by and about people who have traditionally been excluded from publishing and mainstream media. We will also prioritize the marginalized voices in an already-marginalized group by bringing more attention to stories written by and about QTPOC, disabled queers, fat queers, and identities that are often excluded, including asexual, aromantic, and intersex identities.

When you walk into Under the Umbrella, you know that the books and other items you’ll find there are queer. Books will be clearly labeled based on the representation found in the books, as far as is possible, so individuals have the opportunity to see themselves represented in stories or learn more about other identities within the community. Every product will offer a way to connect deeper with yourself and the community at large.

Queer Space

A bookstore is obviously about the books—but it’s also about so much more than that. Under the Umbrella is about having a space where you can go and know that you are accepted and validated and loved. It’s about knowing your pronouns will be respected and your identity will be celebrated. The bookstore is specifically designed to be a safe space for those who are questioning or exploring their own identities, as well as those who are established in their identities (queer or otherwise) but want to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community. This is a space to experience and create queer community through the books and other goods sold, as well as community events and projects.

Under the Umbrella will serve as a community hub for connection between LGBTQIA+ folks. We are working to establish relationships and programs with Drag Queen Story Hour, LGBTQ Books to Prisoners, and Black & Pink, as well as other queer groups to offer ways for us to build connections beyond the books we read. Our plan is to offer book clubs, poetry readings, letter writing activities, and a space for groups to congregate (once it is safe to do so).

Queer Employment

Our mission includes offering a means of livelihood to queer folks, who experience higher rates of unemployment and lower wages. These issues are systemic and are compounded for POC, disabled folks, and trans folks—especially trans women of color.

We plan to hire queer booksellers and other staff members as our budget increases. We are dedicated to providing a minimum $15/hour wage, which means it may take us a little while before we are able to hire additional staff. In the meantime, we will offer consignment for local queer authors to sell their work in the store, and we plan to offer sideline items (candles, stickers, pins, socks, art, etc.) made exclusively by LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Our services will include new and used books with a buy-back program, which will allow us to meet the range of budgets in our community.

About Kaitlyn

I’m Kaitlyn (she/they), a queer reader, editor, and bookseller from Salt Lake City, Utah. I identify primarily as queer, but specifically as pansexual and nonbinary/genderqueer. Those are words I didn’t know existed 10 years ago. Growing up religious in Provo, Utah, I didn’t have the language for or access to identities beyond heteronormativity. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that gender and sexuality weren’t the binary structures that I had been taught they were. What followed was more years of learning and critical thinking about my own identities, and reading every story I could find about queer people and queer identities.

Finding stories that featured people like me—and people unlike me but also queer—was transformative. It made me feel powerful and seen. But it shouldn’t have taken so long to find that.

While I’m proud of my journey, I don’t want anyone else to have to wait to find a space to experience and create queer stories and queer community.

I have spent the last 14 years of my professional life as an editor focused on making language as accessible and inclusive as possible. Last year, I started an Instagram account dedicated to the queer books I was reading. I found an incredible community of queer book lovers and a world of queer stories I didn’t know existed, because traditional media didn’t prioritize those stories. This year I decided to expand that by providing space for queer stories to thrive.

Here’s how else I’ve immersed myself in the book industry:

Completed an intensive course on the realities of bookselling and being a bookstore owner
Joined the American Booksellers Association and the Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, attended industry events, and networked with industry professionals across the country
Joined the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce

Making Under the Umbrella a Reality: Timeline and Budget

So, turns out bookstores are expensive. With my personal investment and business plan, I’ll be able to cover a lot of costs for fixtures and furniture, rent, licensing and insurance, marketing, etc. But I still need help to purchase the opening inventory. Opening an account with wholesalers and publishers requires pre-payment for the first order, and ordering enough books to stock a bookstore costs a lot. The numbers below are an estimate based on a 1,500 square foot space.

Books and non-book merchandise (queer candles, mugs, pins, bookmarks and other book accessories): 1,300 selling square feet @ $70 per square foot (~7 titles per square foot) = $91,000. All of the money raised from this campaign will go toward building this inventory.
Indiegogo fees: Indiegogo gets part of the amount we raise, 5% of funds raised and 2.9% + 30 cents per contribution. In order to actually get $50,000 for our inventory, we need to raise about $55,000.
Cost of perks + shipping: We’ll do our best to keep these funds as low as possible, but some funds will inevitably go toward fulfillment of perks. If you’re local, consider opting for local pickup to help us save on shipping costs! (The cost of shipping is included in the perk cost.)

Perks will ship ~30 days after the campaign ends. We hope to open shop in June, in time to celebrate Pride with y’all.

Risks and Challenges

The margins on bookstores are very slim. If I try to compete with sellers like Barnes and Noble or Amazon on price, the bookstore simply won’t make any money and will have to close. As it is, I estimate it will take three years for the store to break even and start making any sort of profit.

Many bookstores have had to close over the last year because they were not equipped to handle online ordering when COVID forced stores to pause in-store shopping. I won’t be able to compete with Amazon on shipping price or speed, either, but I am building this business with a focus on online capabilities to ensure we can survive if in-store shopping has to pause again.

I’m in this for the long haul. Opening this store is my dream, and I deeply believe that our community would benefit from this space. I’m not doing this to make a lot of money, I’m doing this because I believe we deserve a space like this in our community, which means any profit the store makes will be reinvested into expanding the store, employee benefits, and community-building programs.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t contribute financially, that’s ok! Your support in any form means the world to me.

Spread the Word

A project like ours depends on word of mouth. Please Share this campaign using Indiegogo’s share tools, follow us on social media, and share the story with your family and friends!

Buy Books Through Bookshop and Libro.fm

We’re not up and running with a physical location yet, but you can support us by purchasing books through our affiliate links at Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and HummingbirdDM! These sites aren’t based on our store inventory, so you can order books that are not queer and we will still get a share of the sale price. Any money raised through these links will go directly back to building the store’s physical inventory.

Donate Books

If you have queer books that no longer spark joy for you but are in good shape, we’d love to receive them! Once we are open, we will start a buy/trade/sell program, but for now your donations will help us build our inventory with a smaller upfront investment required so we can get in business faster! Contact me to arrange donations and figure out a reward if you’d like.

Tell us what you want to see in the store

Under the Umbrella depends on community. There are thouuuusands of queer stories out there, and we want to make sure we are providing the ones that are most valuable to you right off the bat. Send us your recommendations for queer stories, queer artists, queer merch, etc., that you’d like to see in the store. Email your suggestions to kaitlyn at undertheumbrellabookstore dot com.

Join Us

Most importantly, join us at Under the Umbrella when we open in summer 2021. Can’t wait to see you there!

Kaitlyn