Red Room Where the Writers Are

Our online community, redroom.com, was founded in January 2008 by CEO Ivory Madison. Madison previously founded the Red Room Writers Society, a brick-and-mortar writers’ community in a historic mansion in San Francisco, which can be found at red-room.com.

While only four writers signed up for Madison’s original "Red Room Writers Studio" back in 2002, by 2007 hundreds of authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners, had joined forces to launch redroom.com, the online home of the world’s greatest writers.

Red Room in the News:

April 2009

LibraryJournal calls Red Room "Facebook for Authors and Fans"
For librarians seeking to check out what their patrons' favorite authors are doing, heading right to the source may be a great way to keep up. One option is through Red Room, a new start-up that aims to connect authors to their fans.
» Red Room: Facebook for Authors and Fans

February 2009

Publisher's Weekly's article on Red Room is entitled "Facebook for Authors?"
In the evolving digital marketplace, book publishers will seek to align with social media sites for everything from marketing and promotion to data on members' reading habits—at least, according to speakers at the recent Tools of Change conference in New York. Ivory Madison, founder and CEO of the book-oriented social media site Redroom.com, claims her startup combines the consumer popularity of sites like Facebook, with a focused “author-centric” mission and an infrastructure that can be used as a marketing—and even a retail—platform by publishers who want to connect fans to established and emerging authors.
» Red Room: Facebook for Authors

November 2008

In its “Live Your Best Life” section, O, The Oprah Magazine, recommended that:
“If you have only ... 5 minutes: Read the daily musings of both novice writers and literary celebrities on the lively redroom.com, an online social network for authors and readers (Amy Tan and James Patterson are among the frequent blog contributors).”
» Instant Inspiration: November’s Best Sights, Sounds, Ideas, Solutions

July 16, 2008

Longtime popular San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik covers Red Room’s event at Tosca, a literary landmark:
“The authors and readers site Redroom.com threw a book-signing and hello-everybody party at Tosca on Tuesday, and it was packed with local literati and glitterati (Bharati Mukherjee, Clark Blaise, Adair Lara, Bill LeBlond, Wendy Merrill, Jane Ganahl, Daniel Handler, Lisa Brown, Muriel Maffre, Ben Pierce, Susanne Pari, Bea Bowles, Terry Clark, Kathi Goldmark, Ishmael Reed, Ben Fong-Torres, William Poy Lee, Tom Barbash and Redroom founder Ivory Madison). The signer-in-chief was Will Durst, whose new book is ‘The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing.”
» The delicate dance of joke-making

May 28, 2008

Red Room makes the SF Weekly magazine “Best Of” list with the “Best Place to Virtually Meet a Famous Author” category:
“Why do so many wannabe writers sign up for MFA programs? Because they want to schmooze with authors. Instead, they could just sign up for a new social network dedicated to hooking up lovers of literature.”
» Best Place to Virtually Meet a Famous Author

March 10, 2008

Vanity Fair features redroom.com in the April edition’s “The Cultural Divide” section:
“Imagine an interactive literary hub where you can check out authors, browse books, read blogs, listen to readings, or find out about upcoming events in your corner of the world. Redroom.com, a compendium of all things writerly, features luminaries such as Maya Angelou and Khaled Hosseini, and debut novelists including Patry Francis.”
» Reading Room

March 6, 2008

San Francisco Peninsula Gentry Magazine forecasts that redroom.com will bring thousands together to bond over literature:
“A San Francisco-based website is bringing all your favorite authors together in one room. Best of all, they want you to be there, too.”
» Reading, Writing, and the Red Room

March 5, 2008

Content and creative industry website MediaBistro reveals that social networking has reached the next level:
» “Writers of all levels and aspirations (like ‘leader of the free world’) come to the site to meet, discuss, debate, find encouragement, and even hawk upcoming work.”
» Hey, How’d You Build an Internet Hot-Spot for Authors, Ivory Madison, CEO, Redroom.com?

February 18, 2008

Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News highlight Red Room’s high profile authors, including presidential candidate Barack Obama:
“One of the latest writers to join is Barack Obama, author of The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father and, oh, a presidential candidate.”
» Big names behind online writers community

February 16, 2008

The Oakland Tribune hails Red Room’s local SF Bay Area authors:
“Novelist Amy Tan, author of The Bonesetter’s Daughter, blogs weekly there. Poet Ishmael Reed graces the homepage with an essay about boys reading in his Oakland neighborhood. And Terry McMillan and Maxine Hong Kingston all helped to get it going.”
» A place online for writers to social-network

January 8, 2008

The San Francisco Chronicle calls Red Room “a literary MySpace,” an idea whose time has come:
“One of the more ambitious online communities for writers to date and perhaps the most timely, aiming to capitalize on the current potential for profitability of social-networking sites.”
» Literary Web site Redroom a new chapter for authors, book lovers

December 07, 2007

VentureWire praises Red Room’s vision and appeal:
Red Room launches “a social network and Web tool for writers ... and a roster of A-list authors ... The site allows authors to easily set up their own Web sites and update them ... as people can do on sites such as Facebook or MySpace.”
» Red Room Gets $1.25M for Author Social Network

December 05, 2007

Red Herring describes the advantages of a site that “gives authors complete control.”
“While other social media sites ... are focused on readers sharing reviews and bragging about the size of their libraries, the Red Room gives web-shy authors an easy place to promote their work, list book tour dates, blog, post podcasts and videos of readings, and communicate with fans and other authors.”
» Writer Site Red Room Flicks Switch

Books

September 2008

Prentice Hall Press’s How to Say It: Marketing with New Media—a business owner’s guide to effectively marketing their company to today’s ever-evolving online community—cites Red Room as an example of how businesses can use social media sites to expand their horizons:
“Every day social media sites pop up with a new focus on specific target audiences. Ivory Madison launched Red Room (www.redroom.com), a social media site for the literary world, at the beginning of 2008. It is already home to hundreds of authors, including numerous bestsellers ... [Madison said,] ‘The website was born out of the desire to provide a place where writers could showcase their work and help those who might be intimidated by technology. Our goal is to help writers with the business side while also building a great community.’”
» How to Say It: Marketing with New Media

Industry Blogs

December 13, 2008

In their “Writer’s Toolbox,”  tech news blog mashable.com recommends Red Room for writers who seek maximum exposure and maximum sales:
“Red Room – A social network for authors to maintain pages and readers to get better acquainted with those they know and those they may not know so well. Red Room is packed with blogs, essays, videos, podcasts, events and more. It’s one of those places which, the deeper you delve, the more engaging it feels. And it’s still in beta!”
» Writer’s Toolbox: 35 Best Tools for Writing Online

August 15, 2008

In an interview with Red Room CEO Ivory Madison, mystery-writer website Murderati praises Red Room for:
“…taking the blog concept and turning it into a vital resource for the writing community. Red Room celebrates their authors, shows a new respect for the literary world, and manages to have a healthy sense of humor. All wonderful reasons to join the community. And not only is a cool place to hang out, the site itself is a masterpiece. The dedicated staff of Red Room maintains an ever-changing site which not only looks beautiful, but is functional and easy to use. It's especially good for people who don't like technology, because it is simple and straightforward. They take the guesswork out of having a web presence.”
» A Murderati Interview with Red Room Founder Ivory Madison

August 12, 2008

Feminist Australian blog “The Dawn Chorus” interviews Red Room CEO Ivory Madison about the Huntress series and Red Room:
“Ivory is something of a superhero herself—when she’s not writing (and even when she is), she is the CEO and founder of Red Room, an online community for writers (and editors, and publishers, and readers!) that has been hailed as ‘MySpace for writers’ and counts luminaries like Maya Angelou, Amy Tan and Barack Obama amongst its many members. All this, and she is just 29.”
» Women We Love: Ivory Madison

June 4 , 2008

The Social Networking Weblog saw the benefits Red Room can provide for writers and their careers:
“Post entries to your blog and have your blog entries featured on Red Room. Then other people can comment on your writing. You can comment on their blog posts too. If you are a writer, use Red Room to make connections with other writers and maybe even use Red Room to help advance your writing career.”
» Your Favorite Authors

March 28 , 2008

“Technology, Gadgets, & How Tos” blog geeksugar chose Red Room as their website of the day:
“Enter Redroom, ‘where the writers are,’ and find your favorite living authors blogging, recording podcasts, and chatting online in one place. When you join, you gain access to people like Amy Tan and Tobias Wolff, and can interact with them through the site.”
» Website of the Day: Redroom

February 26, 2008

In an interview with publishing industry blog PersonaNonData, Ivory Madison reveals:
“The platform gives unknown authors a chance to promote themselves and be part of a larger conversation with a larger audience ... we’ll provide the same important service for lesser-known writers that MySpace did for bands.”
» Five Questions with Redroom.com

February 22, 2008

USA Today’s Technology Live blog talks about Red Room’s newest members:
“Maya Angelou, Salman Rushdie, Clive Barker, Amy Tan and Barack Obama all recently joined the same social network ... Red Room, a slick new online enclave of literary types."
» Obama joins social network

February 16, 2008

International arts, media, trends, and lifestyles web magazine Instaplanet sees redroom.com as an “encyclopedic global online community for writers and their readership”:
“Redroom.com is a pragmatic response to the well-established fact that many authors whose primary focus is the printed word are strangers to self-promotion via the Internet. The Red Room site provides a forum for viral marketing on the www."
» Seeing Red at Redroom.com

January 8, 2007

The University of California Press Blog describes how Red Room is the right place at the right time:
“There’s a definitely a niche to be filled in connecting avid readers with books and authors.”
» Roll out the Red Carpet for Authors

December 27, 2007

Technology news blog Profy.com applauds the site’s design and purpose:
“Elegant ... well crafted, both in appearance and its intuitive utility ... It brings the literary landscape – which, for many, is an arena tapped only as an observer through bookstores and public libraries – a touch closer to the reader; and vice versa."
» Red Room, Network for Writers and Readers Alike, Goes Live

December 07, 2007

Venture Beat explains why Red Room has excellent potential for profitability:
“While Facebook, MySpace and their ilk get most of the press, niche social networks are gaining ground ... Red Room is part of this trend, and it seems well positioned to exploit its niche because it’s giving a community without much tech savvy an easy way to start marketing itself."
» Social network for writers attracts celebrity authors, raises $1.25M

Press Releases

CEO by Day, Superhero at Night
Redroom.com CEO Ivory Madison’s Secret Identity is Revealed as the Author of Huntress: Year One by DC Comics

San Francisco, CA – May 19, 2008 – Ivory Madison is the only CEO in America who moonlights as a comic book writer. Part one of Madison’s debut comic book miniseries/graphic novel, Huntress: Year One, published by DC Comics, hits stores this week. It features Batman, Catwoman, Batgirl, and tells the origin story of a strong female superhero, the Huntress.
» Read Full Press Release
» Read More Press Regarding Ivory Madison and Huntress: Year One

Barack Obama Becomes a Red Room Author
Senator Obama Joins New Social Networking Site for Writers and Readers

San Francisco, CA - February 12, 2008 - Today, U.S. Senator, presidential candidate, and author Barack Obama joins a group of the world’s most successful and interesting writers at redroom.com, dubbed “a literary MySpace” by the San Francisco Chronicle.
» Read Full Press Release

Please direct press inquiries regarding Red Room (Red Room Omnimedia Corporation) to:
press@redroom.com
415.822.1922

If your inquiry is regarding a specific Red Room author or member, please use the contact form on his or her Author or Member Page.

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