Shows / A People's Guide to Publishing
A People's Guide to Publishing
Do you find that the traditional methods for book publishing aren't working for you? Are you a publisher or author who wants to innovate, succeed, and expand your audience through time-tested methods? We offer time-tested publishing methods that we know work because we have used them to sell millions of books in a changing industry. We have been inundated with requests for consulting so we created this show to share everything we know. We are the executives of Microcosm Publishing, a Publishers…
Episodes
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 204: How do I publish a book without someone stealing my idea?
Ideas are everywhere. Thus they don't contain a lot of value. The worth is in the execution. So this week on the pod we take a look at the frequent concern…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 203: How do you know if a book will sell?
This week on the pod, we invoke our dark wizardry to predict the future. WE look at tools that publishers can and do use to know which books will be successful…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 202: How Can Publishers Better Work with Libraries? w/ Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
A few years ago, an author tweeted complaints about people checking out his book from libraries, only to be rebuffed by dozens of librarians how he actually…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 201: How Do You Make Lemonade (Out of a Bad Situation)?
Recently, a news story appeared about a customer ordering hundreds of dollars worth of books...and then attempting to return them as no-longer-needed…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 200: Episode 200: How Would We Like Publishing to Change?
This week, for our 200th episode, we take a look towards optimism and utopianism. What would we like to be different about our industry? How can publishers…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 199: Why is Guy LeCharles Gonzalez honest about the industry?
This week on the pod, special guest on the pod, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez walks us through his career in publishing as well as how this was formative to…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 198: The History of Miami Hip Hop: An interview with John Cordero
John Cordero was on the ground floor as Miami reinvented itself with graffiti, hip hop, and 24-hour parties. As Pitbull and DJ Khaled got their starts, Cordero…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 197: How Should publishers respond to callouts and controversy?
This week on the pod, we answer a reader question about how to manage it when we are publicly accused of something. What happens when authors attempt to take…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 196: From Conflict to Community, an interview with Gwen Olton
This week we are joined by Gwen Olton, Executive Co-Director of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and author of From Conflict to Community: Solving…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 195: Reviewing Our Annual Reports: Why 2022 Was Our Best Year Ever (A People's Guide to Publishing)
After posting our annual reports and final numbers for 2022, we take a look back this week at why it was our best year ever in publishing. What strategies…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 194: From Big Idea to Book! w/ an interview with author Jessie Kwak (From Dream to Reality)
For many would-be authors, it's a major struggle to find tools, methods, and time to create. This week on the pod, Jessie Kwak, who writes for a living…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 193: What Editorial References Do You Use?
Another reader question this week, from someone who wants to know how we reinforce and and substantiate our editorial choices. Essentially, what reference…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 192: How Do You Become An Editor?
Reader question this week is how we became editors, specifically Elly, who now runs the department of editors. We trace our career trajectories, job skills…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 191: How Do You Level Up Your Publicity?
Three things we've heard from publishers all year is that 1) There isn't any media anymore 2) It's a lot harder to get publicity without any media 3) When you…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 190: How do you get book publicity?
Back to basics this week! Many publishers get stuck on how to talk about their books so others will listen and can find their own interest. So we offer the…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 188: How do I pack for an event? (with Jess Driscoll)
This week we answer a reader question "How do I know how much to bring to an event and how do I set it up?" Elly and I draw upon our combined 40 years of…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 189: Finding Your Path with Friday Gladheart (Practical Witch's Almanac/WitchAcademy.org)
Back in the wee infancy of the Internet, Friday Gladheart was busy creating WitchAcademy.org, the oldest and one of the most respected teaching libraries of…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 187: "Thanks, it has pockets!" with Jess Driscoll (Magic of Pockets)
This week we feature guest star Jess Driscoll to talk about her brand new book, Magic of Pockets! We discuss the history and politics of pockets, the…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 180: Do Cowbots Get Blue Balls? An interview with S. Park (Queering Consent)
We all write our own stories. And some of those stories are a little racier and saucier than others. The work of S. Park straddles multiple worlds and one of…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 186: An interview with Set Sytes (Born to be Weird)
This week we feature guest star Set Sytes to tell us all about the brand new edition of his book, Born to be Weird! We talk about writing fantasy as a reason…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 185: Where do you get your economics theories?
This week a reader asked us what books we read to understand our economic theories. And that was a bit of a stumper, so we thought about it all week and…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 184: Do Authors Need a Platform? with Ariel Gore (Wayward Writer)
High among common myths repeated about publishers is that "authors need a platform" before someone would consider publishing them. It's not bad to have a…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 183: How did we become Publisher's Weekly's fastest growing publisher in 2022?
Earlier this year, we received some shocking news: Publisher's Weekly determined that Microcosm was the #1 fastest growing publisher! We sat in shock for six…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 182: Is Scientific Accuracy and Liability a Consideration for Publishers?
This week on the pod, we tackle a reader question: How much is scientific and factual accuracy a concern for publishers? Can this lead to liability issues?…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 181: What did we learn about profit & loss statements from PRH/S&S trial?
During the course of the Penguin Random House / Simon & Schuster merger trial with the Department of Justice, the defense claimed that profit and loss…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 179: How Do I Become an Imprint of a Larger Press? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
Before long, it is not difficult to see the limitations of being a small publisher. So this week on the pod, we answer a reader question about how to become an…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 178: A contributor to my anthology says it's a ripoff. Is it fair?
This week, a reader got in touch because they are publishing a values-based anthology with 20 contributors. 19 have signed the agreements but one is concerned…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 177: How do you protect your title and your name?
What's in a name? Why do so many books have the same title? What if another author has the same name as you? What if you change your name or pseudonym? How do…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 176: Did 1/2 of books published in 2021 really sell fewer than 12 copies?
Last week a tweet appeared, interpreting testimony from the Penguin Random House/DOJ trial to mean that half of all books published sell fewer than a dozen…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 174: Could Barnes & Noble's cutbacks on middle reader fiction hardcovers be a good thing for indies?
Twitter lit on fire when Barnes & Noble announced that, due to low sales and high return rates, it would no longer carry as many middle reader fiction…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 174: What did we learn at the Penguin Random House/Simon & Schuster trial?
Lots of news and cold takes about the Penguin Random House / Simon & Schuster attempts at a merger this week, so this week on the pod, we offer some…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 173: What Do Elly and Joe Disagree About?
While we have little things that we've always bickered about, this week on the pod we take a deeper look at fundamental differences and disagreements between…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 172: How do you balance your values while selling books?
Before too long in your publishing quest, you will quickly be dumped into various ethical quagmires. We offer some experience, advice, and tools for tackling…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 171: An Interview with Eric Sandy about his history of Speak In Tongues, the legendary Cleveland venue
On this episode of the People's Guide to Publishing podcast (https://microcosm.pub/podcast), we interview Eric Sandy about his new book Speak In Tongues: An…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 170: How do Publishers Make Good Decisions?
So much time is spent debating the waste, morass, and outdatedness of the publishing industry and so little ink is spent offering practical solutions about how…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 169: Who are your influences?
Most people have educations or backgrounds that influence how they approach their work. Often, these influences cause them to replicate similar power…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 168: How do you bypass publishing gatekeepers?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 161: How do you bypass publishing gatekeepers? (with Ariel Gore)
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 167: How Do You Navigate Gatekeepers?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 166: How do I build a writing career?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 165: What do we think about new, upstart publisher models?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 164: Why are some books canceled? What is censorship? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 163: How do you cancel a book contract?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 162: What do you learn while training others?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 160: What is a Niche Book?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 159: How Do I Receive a Pallet of Books?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 158: Can I be my own agent?
It's a common and seemingly logical question. A would-be author learns that publishers screen manuscript submissions through relationships with agencies and…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 157: How does a publisher leverage?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 154: Why Does It Take Two Years to Publish a Book?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 156: A conversation with Carla Butwin and Josh Cassidy, authors of If Animals Could Talk
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 155: Katie Haegele (Kitchen Witch) and Joe Carlough (Queer Horror)
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 152: Ayun Halliday, author of Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto
Ayun Halliday, playwright turned author/zinester/producer, learned an important lesson early in her career. When told that she could get parts in commercials…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 151: How to Resist Amazon (and Why) with Danny Caine (Raven Bookstore)
Five years ago the conversation about how Amazon undermines not only commerce, publishing, and culture, but also bookselling was limited to inside the…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 150: Microcosm Publishing's Top 10 Goals for 2022
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 149: Top 10 Reasons Why Microcosm's 2021 Was So Successful
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 148: Reviewing our 2021 Annual Money Report
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 People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 147: How many books should you publish per season?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 146: Why is Simon & Schuster making a book that is continually delayed?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 146: How do I design a great book cover?
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…
A People's Guide to PublishingEpisode 145: What books have inspired you?
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…