A People's Guide to Publishing

During a recent phone call, we asked a partner how she defines "independent publisher" and her answer was "we know it when we see it." "Indie" has grown to mean "dependent on Amazon" and Orwell would be proud. In the past decade, publishing has become overwhelmed by jargon. Well you might say that it goes back much further than that (and we probably wouldn't disagree), but the jargon that is desig...

It happens all the time. One of our distributed publishers got in touch, horrified and terrified that MacMillan had just published the same book that she did the week before. She thought it would cannibalize her sales. Many authors and publishers keep this stuff close to the chest. Not us. We follow the Paul Hawken school of being your best, individualized self.   ************ Thank you for watchi...

Publishers often think of booksellers as our frontline marketing force; the people who we outsource our jobs to. This week, Janet Geddis of Avid Bookshop does a great job of outlining the actual role that bookstores play in a daily role. It's more matchmaking than pushing the newest thing on some poor, unsuspecting browser. It's a deep game of familiarity that ultimately results in hilarity of two...

Katie Haegele has been passionate about cats for decades. They have been some of the most meaningful relationships in her life. This time around she's organizing other people to share the most touching, heartwarming, wacky, and unbelievable stories about the behavior and emotional range of cats in her eighth book, Cat Party! ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlog...

Much hullaballoo and many predictions has been made about how AI will "disrupt" the publishing industry. Typically, with a new technology the steps are 1) fear the new way 2) figure out how to embrace it in a practical sense. How will AI affect publishers? Is the fear substantiated? What can publishers do? ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the boo...

In the dawn of a young publishers' life, they focus on their own tastes. Gradually, they see which books are well-received and branch outward. Some publishers quickly find that the most popular books are things that aren't exactly the reason that they got into publishing! So this week on the pod, we talk about the limits of a press' curation and why that's important. ************ Thank you for wat...

What is a regional trade association? What can they do for you as a bookseller or a publisher? This week on the pod, we feature Larry Law, executive director of the Great Lakes Bookseller Association to learn about this ecosystem and how it can work even better. ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/bo...

Corporate publishing has the distinct advantage of scale: they command more sales dollars, they can push customers and vendors around more. This week we take a look at some of the options available for small publishers to band together and share resources, learn from each other, and be stronger together. Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, unpacks it all for us...

You may know King's Coop Bookstore as the winner of our How to Resist Amazon display contest, but they are so much more than that! This week on our continuing Bookstore Solidarity Project, we bring you a deeper dive into the realities of bookselling. From ripping books in half to walking around campus and seeing everyone reading the same book! 

At the release event for this very book, the first question was about making money from audiobooks. The answer? It's complicated. And increasingly so with Spotify joining the fray. This week we tackle best practices, best approaches, and how to sell audiobook content—with special guest Jane Friedman of the Hot Sheet!  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!  ...

Leah Hernandez has a story unlike that of most publishers. With a background in business, she realized that children relate better with younger authors and set out to do the thing that small presses do best: fulfill a need that big publishers cannot even detect. This week on the pod, we interview her about how she built Muse and Young Authors Publishing as well as the creative solutions that she's...

The Funk Brothers, the legendary bestselling band (possibly of all time) and house band of Motown Records, wrote and performed on more tracks than you could possibly guess. This week on the pod, we take a look at how their approach informed our approach to book editing: taking an author's expert views on a topic and expanding them into servicing the reader's interest and needs. ************ Thank...

After the recent news of Small Press Distribution (SPD) closing, we thought it would be prudent to walk through best practices for changing a distributor! A distributor is a publisher's warehouse, sales, and fulfillment arms. It's their to-market force, and it's often the difference between sinking and swimming.  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get...

In 2013, we predicted that the bookstore model would shift to more specialized indie stores that offered a narrower offering around their own curated interests and values, with more books face-out and unabashedly clear messaging about who the store is and is not for. And here are we are in 2024, with Charlie's Queer Books of Seattle, Washington offering a perfect example. This week on the pod, we...

Most small presses use a trade distributor. What do they do? What are the components of a distributor's function? Can you do them yourself? What does a distributor do? What does a distributor look for? This week we take a look at these things and more, as we unpack distribution!  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublish...

Nestled deep in the heart between San Francisco and Sacramento lives the Alibi Bookshop! This week, in the latest of "What makes all of these cool indie bookstores tick?" we present to you, their proprietor, Karen, to unpack what publishers could do better to interface with stores like hers and the funniest things that happen when you bring back the 90s. ************ Thank you for watching the Peo...

Not everything that you do will be a great success. It's a matter of how we navigate these less-than-graceful moments that determine our ability to respond and move on with being reactive. This week on the pod, E&J walk through some of their own failures and how they could have handled them better as well as what they handled well. You are forever judged by the last thing that you've done, so...

Largely due to consumer preference and obstinate legacy behaviors, the world of book publishing still operates on the same model from the 1800s. Mass production creates overprinting, and the ship and return model creates damaged books that don't have anywhere to go. This week, we take a look at how that happened and what publishers can do about it! ************ Thank you for watching the People's...

In February 2024, in Maricopa, AZ, IBPA's CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet awarded the PubWest Innovator Award to Microcosm Publishing Founder and CEO Joe Biel for "Reimagining what publishing can or should be” and “Exceptional efforts to develop new skills that expand publishing into the future.” Here is Fleck-Nisbet's speech and Biel's Q&A period from the awards ceremony. ************ Thank you for w...

Print: A Bookstore has been a triumphant, bright light in envisioning what a bookstore could be. Both as a brick and mortar that is a champion for information and reading, but also holding up its staff and creating entertaining skit videos with its staff! This week on the pod, we feature co-owner Josh Christie about the store in our ongoing Bookstore Solidarity project!  ************ Thank you for...

The pandemic was an unexpectedly magical time for the publishing industry. Sales went up when they were expected to go down. Printing slowed to a crawl due to the paper shortage. But four years later, we have some clear, emergent publishers who seemed to have permanently claimed an additional piece of the market share. This week we take a closer look at them! ************ Thank you for watching th...

How does the entire world get information about what you are publishing? It's from a feed called ONIX, that propagates every detail about your titles. This week on the pod, we take a deep dive into ONIX and its role for small publishers. ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/3663 Get the workbook...

Many publishers find money to be very unpredictable and scary. So this week we take a look at how to create budgets and predict cash flow as well as how to plan a financial future. It's not as difficult as it seems! ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/3663 Get the workbook: https://microcosmpub...

So much of book publishing is about distributing tasks, so how can publishers take more of these operational aspects in-house? This week on the pod, guest Anthony Goff, President of Blackstone Publishing, walks us through many of their aspects that are vertically integrated, from recording studios to rights sales to printing and distribution—to performing these services for other publishers. *****...

What was 2023 like for publishing books? This week on the pod, we review what happened, how our plans shook out, what aspects threw wrenches into our plans, and what worked out magnificently. Also, we sold and shipped many, many tons of books! ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/3663 Get the wo...