What does a community share when they don’t share family, religion or ethnicity?
We share story.
We find each other and ourselves in hidden histories, in present struggles and in future dreams. There was a time when the stories of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people were unwritten, unspoken and unsaid. We now live in a time where mega-corporations are willing to sell some of our stories for their own profit. But there is cost for this new tolerance - they get to decide whose stories are worth sharing. They get to decide if something is too strange, too sexy, too taboo, too obscure, too radical, too boring, too ethnic, too personal, too political or too uncomfortable to share.
We live in a time that needs independent bookstores. We need to continue to be the keepers of our own stories. We need to keep dreaming.
Who We Are
Glad Day Bookshop is the world’s oldest surviving lesbian, gay, bi, trans & queer bookstore. Last year, this Toronto shop almost closed but a group of 22 community members pooled our funds and saved the store. The goal of our first year was to stabilize the business and we were successful.... but we aren’t out of the woods yet! It’s still a tough time for independent bookstores and we are looking for your support to move from survival to strength.
You can help us bring Glad Day Bookshop to the world.
Why We Need You
We need $15,000 to be able to launch and promote a new website with new tools. The most important new element would be an online bookstore that is independent of the mega-corporations. Your support will make it possible for us to list over 2,000 LGBTQ titles and use a platform that meets our needs. The new site would also have other cool functions like a book review blog, an events calendar and an LGBTQ ‘memory project’.
As investors, we have maxed out our available credit and debt to keep the store open. We don’t have a way to access the money needed to bring the store to the next level. Over this last year, so many people have asked us what they can do to keep the store alive and vibrant so we thought this could be a way to make it possible for all our many allies to show their support by funding something that is practical, concrete and strategic.
How Will The Money Be Spent?
If we raise all our funds, it would be broken down like this:
$6000 – Website Design, Customization & Coding
$4000 – Extra Staff Time for Data Entry of +2000 Items
$2500 – Online Promotion
$1500 – Online Store Start-Up Costs & Fees
$1000 – Local Promotion & Launch Event
If we get less funds than our goal, we will reduce the number of items we list and the online promotion.
If we get MORE funds than our goal, we will divide up the excess funds like this:
25% - Staff time to add more titles to the online store
25% - Doing more online promotion and marketing
25% - Buying more unique and diverse stock to sell
25% - Funding for authors to provide programming for youth, seniors and newcomers
What You Get
There are different perks for different donation levels. You can check out the perks on the right side of this page.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE GO TO
http://www.gladdaybookshop.com/perks.html
TO SEE WHICH PERKS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. There are even more options and some limits to the perks that are listed here. Unfortunately, the Indiegogo site doesn't let us list all our perks or change or add more as we go, so please go to our webpage.
In addition to the perks listed here.....
EVERYONE WHO GIVES $1 OR MORE GETS
Get named and thanked on our website & Facebook Page (unless you want to remain anonymous)
THE FIRST 200 PEOPLE TO GIVE $25 OR MORE
Get a limited edition Glad Day Bookshop button designed by artist Syrus Marcus Ware
IF YOU GIVE $300 OR MORE
The first 25 people get 2 tickets to a VIP website launch party, which includes drinks.
![A photo of the bookstore]()
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