A People's Guide to Publishing

So many people have suffered endless rejections and want to know how to get their foot in the door. They think that if they can just get the right editor on the phone or get someone to listen, they can get published. To be fair, much of publishing is gatekept, preserving the experiences of certain people's experiences with certain educations from certain schools. So this week on the pod, we take a...

So many people have suffered endless rejections and want to know how to get their foot in the door. They think that if they can just get the right editor on the phone or get someone to listen, they can get published. To be fair, much of publishing is gatekept, preserving the experiences of certain people's experiences with certain educations from certain schools. So this week on the pod, we take a...

If you read author forums, you can watch them complain about gatekeeping all day long. "If only the agent/editor/publisher/buyer would READ my book, they'd see how great it is!" so this week on the pod, we take a look at how to manage these characters, why they are good for authors, and how some gatekeeping is old fashioned racism/classism/xenophobia. 

It's entirely too typical to be told by a new author that there is no way to get their foot in the door. It's easy to only look at and see the hardships and roadblocks. So this weed on the pod, we construct a path to success as a writer. And even making a living. ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal......

Every few months there's a news story about a new, "innovative" publishing model. These are typically variations on funding or author compensation. This week on the pod, we take a look at these models, how different they really are, and more importantly, how effective they are and how long they last.  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: ht...

Sometimes we're on the sidelines, really excited for a book to come out. And then it doesn't. Why? This week on the pod we take a look at those reasons, despite everyone's intentions and common goals.  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... Get the workbook: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... Mor...

Sometimes it's just not working out for the author or for the publisher or both. Circumstances, trends, and relationships change. Even though publishers and authors are aligned in bringing each book to its audience, sometimes it becomes clear over time that one party's interest is not aligned with another's. So this week on the pod, we take a look at how to end a contract!  ************ Thank you...

Often, walking through the many complexities of publishing and all of its contexts, you will have revelations about how to simplify and streamline things. This week we take a peek at that!  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... Get the workbook: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... More from Micro...

Most inquiries seem to believe that the most successful titles are the ones with the broadest appeal, like "anyone could love this book!" but in reality, those books are mythological. To have any appeal, a book must have a concerted audience. When we try to be for everybody, it's hard for anybody to be excited about it. This week, we look at our most specific titles and how they are bestsellers. *...

Back to basics this week! We are looking at everything that you need to think about when a pallet of books arrives at your door! ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... Get the workbook: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catal... More from Microcosm: http://microcosmpublishing.com More by Joe Biel: http:/...

It's a common and seemingly logical question. A would-be author learns that publishers screen manuscript submissions through relationships with agencies and decides that they can begin pitching their own work as their own agent. How well does this work? Does this solve any problems?  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://microcosmpub...

You may have noticed that we were Publishers Weekly's fastest growing publisher so we've given a lot of thought to leverage over the past few years. So this week on the pod, we talk about that. How do you grow? Where do you grow next? What is the lowest hanging fruit?

The most common request when we create an agreement to publish a new book is that the author wants to publish as soon as possible! So this week on the pod, we cast some exposition about what goes on during those years between signing and books on shelves and why that delay is so important!  ************ Thank you for watching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!   Get the book: https://micro...

For this week's episode of the People's Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly are interviewing (live!) Carla and Josh, authors of our new book, If Animals Could Talk. We'll discuss the hilariously viral first edition, the perils of book development, what it's like to make a heavily illustrated book, and the importance of humor. Find out more about the podcast here: https://microcosm.pub/podcas...

After a long week at the AWP conference, we sat down with Katie and Joe for a discussion on zines, their paths to success, the implications of creative work, what they are most excited about, and what they are planning next! Katie and Joe (Biel) have worked together for nearly 20 years, and it's been a fascinating journey to watch the growth and development of her work as an author. ************ T...

Ayun Halliday, playwright turned author/zinester/producer, learned an important lesson early in her career. When told that she could get parts in commercials by compromising her values, she didn't even consider the thought. Instead, she doubled down on these values, creating art that was a expression of herself and finding success in that honest reflection. Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato M...

Five years ago the conversation about how Amazon undermines not only commerce, publishing, and culture, but also bookselling was limited to inside the industry. In 2018, he extended that conversation to the broader world when he arduously enlisted his staff to staple thousands of zines. Today, it's a bestselling book and Danny shares the backstory about why it's been so popular.

After a blistering year of 119% growth, we took some time to reassess and think of what's next for Microcosm. And then we made a list and reviewed it with our staff. What will it mean when we are five times this size within the next ten years? The revelations are staggering and planning gets us there. https://microcosmpublishing.com/blog/2022/01/microcosms-2021-annual-mony-report-with-infographics...

2021 was our busiest year ever—by a wide margin. We sold $3.449M in books and grew 119% while we heard a lot of publishers worrying, grumbling, freezing budgets, and experiencing different outcomes. So this week on the pod, we spend some time looking at why our experience was so different and how it can be replicated by others!  https://microcosmpublishing.com/blog/2022/01/microcosms-2021-annual-m...

The dust has finally settled and we've got our numbers for 2021. Wow! This marks the end of a year of more than doubling our previous “busiest year ever” with a growth of 119.24% over 2020. We believe that publishing our annual financial and business recap is a vital part of our vales—financial transparency helps everyone! And this year, it’s extra nice to be able to show that all the news is good...

We've constantly heard falsehoods thrown around like "There's no way to know how many books to publish per season" or "There's no science for how to figure out how many books to publish" so this week on the pod, we cast that science. It's remarkably simple with math and a little bit of critical thinking! 

Reader question this week focuses on a book that's had publication thrice delayed. Why do books get delayed, sometimes for years? We walk through this general and specific example, as a way to understand the logic of publishing schedules and how they are used to leverage the desired results.

One of our first ten episodes remains one of our most popular, about the fundamentals of designing a book cover. Fans of the program have routinely continued asking for more information about clarification about covers, so we thought that we'd give you the sequel: about making your cover great!

For every publisher, their motivation arrived because of a pivotal work discovered at an earlier age. We all know the magical, transformative nature of a good book! So this week, we take a look at what those were, why they were so influential, and how we channel that into our work today! 

A year ago, this week, we opened an additional book warehouse in Cleveland, OH (not so coincidentally, this is also where Microcosm was founded). Wow! What an adventure. From turning on the electricity to occupancy permits to setting up sales tax exposure in a new state, we learned a lot. And we've laid it all out here!