Power of the Pen

Author, Podcaster and CEO Zibby Owens Builds Her Brand

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

If any Palisadian is “living the dream” these days, it is Marquez Knolls resident Zibby Owens.

The 45-year-old mother of four wears many hats, and all of them fit her lifestyle perfectly. As an author, podcaster, book whisperer and publisher, Owens shared that she feels called to draw as many people as she can into the literary world using modern media platforms.

For example, on July 16, she curated a six-hour book fair in Palisades Village, where readers of all ages and backgrounds were invited to the Coast Lounge (above the concierge desk) to browse the 200-plus books that she recommended in her new, and deeply personal, memoir, “Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature,” a No. 1 bestseller in Amazon Kindle.

These are books from the 1980s through mid-2021 that Owens loved and have been a key part of all her experiences. Many authors of the books being sold that day were present to sign copies, including bestselling YA author and fellow Palisadian Sarah Mlynowski, who autographed her latest book in the “Whatever After” series.

It was she, in fact, who suggested Owens do a podcast.

“Bookends” was published July 1 and follows her children’s book “Princess Charming,” which came in April and was promoted at multiple LA-area events, including at Village Well Books in Culver City and Pages: A Bookstore in Manhattan Beach. “Bookends” is about finding her voice again, falling in love, motherhood, identity and rediscovering who she was.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing—in fact my first book was published by my grandparents when I was 9,” she described. “My grandfather had a miniature printing press and made me 20 copies. The book consisted of two short stories. One was called ‘Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers’ and the other was from a school assignment in the style of famous English novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling called ‘How the Doughnut Got Its Hole.’ When I was 14 I wrote an article called ‘My Weight, Myself: Do Ten Extra Pounds Make Me a Less Worthy Person?’ which ran in Seventeen magazine two years later.”

Owens is currently working on another book slated to be published in the summer of 2024.

“It’s due in March, and it’s about a mother of two who lives in the Palisades and is a former bestselling author struggling with her second book,” she said. “I don’t work on it every day because my podcast and publishing company take up most of my energy, but I’ll try to devote blocks of time in the evening and on weekends.”

Owens grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, got her undergraduate degree from Yale and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. She has 15-year-old twins, Owen and Phoebe, a 9-year-old daughter Sadie and a 7-year-old son Graham, all of whom attend school in New York City. She still spends most of the year on the East Coast, but is grateful she discovered the Palisades, where she spends her summers.

Perhaps Owens’ pride and joy now is her daily literary podcast “Moms Don’t Have to Read Books,” which has been downloaded millions of times and is a top Art podcast. In February, she will launch her own publishing company titled Zibby Books (for fiction and memoirs), and she has also started a podcast network named ZCast—all under the umbrella of Zibby Owens Media. She is a regular columnist for “Good Morning America,” a frequent guest on TV shows recommending books and a writer of personal essays.

“I feel a sense of energy and excitement because I’m doing what I absolutely love and that’s meeting wonderful authors and helping people bring books into the world,” Owens said. “Of course, I always wanted to be an author but now I’ve expanded to other aspects of the literary field.”

Owens’ husband Kyle, a former tennis pro, is a movie producer. In 2017 he started Morning Moon Productions, an LA-based independent company focused on identifying and developing compelling stories and talent.

“We got our house on Lachman Lane about five years ago,” Owens recalled. “Kyle and I took a trip out there. He had never been to California before but he liked it right away. We didn’t even consider buying … we were looking in new neighborhoods and I stopped at 1-Hour Photo in the Palisades to have a print made for my brother (film producer Teddy Schwarzman). We went to Sweet Rose Creamery and I absolutely fell in love with the Village. So we met with Melanie Goldberger from the Agency, and things fell into place from there.”

Owens is a self-professed “bookworm.” She is constantly reading, and her lifelong hobby has opened other doors in her career.

“I’d been writing parenting essays, and Kyle said to make them into a book,” Owens said. “I thought I’ll make ‘Moms Don’t Have to Read Books’ the title of the book but my agent didn’t like it, so I made it the title of my podcast instead. I only post one per day, but I’ll do eight to 12 every week. It’s always an interview with an author of a book I’m interested in reading.

“At first I had to reach out to everybody myself but since then the process has gotten easier and it’s been amazing. I love the conversations I have. I love connecting with people on Zoom and other video conferencing programs. I enjoy the single-minded focus of looking someone in the eye.”

When asked what she enjoys most about living in the Palisades, Owens said that the weather is great, but it’s the small-town feel in the big city, as well as the people, the stores and the restaurants.

“I love to walk up and down Lachman Lane,” she shared. “I love to walk around the Village. I love to play tennis at the Rec Center. I love reading the Palisadian-Post. I love seeing friends and taking a drive up the coast to Malibu and Santa Barbara. Most of all, I love our home. It’s like a sanctuary. We have a great view. It’s so peaceful looking out over the ocean, the city and the Village. It’s a little slice of heaven.”

Follow Owens on Instagram @zibbyowens; Facebook @momsdonthavetimeto; Twitter @zibbyowens; and YouTube @momsdon’thavetimetoreadbooks. Sign up for her newsletter on her website: zibbyowens.com.