Microcosm Publishing

Now Kickstarting: Practical Witch's Almanac 2024!

Beatles Blackouts: Trips Around the World in Search of Beatles Monuments

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets a drunken Eat, Pray, Love in this unique tour of global Beatlemania

Did you know that there's a Beatles monument in Kazakhstan? Jack Marriott didn't, and he thought he knew everything there was to know about the storied band from Liverpool, England. He did some investigating and found that there were Beatles monuments, statues, and shrines all around the world, from Brazil to Mongolia, Peru to Japan. Meanwhile, his life in England was quickly deteriorating into drunkenness, the staff of his bar having walked out and his girlfriend having left him. So he did what anyone would do: "borrowed" a press pass and set off on a two-year quest through 23 countries, relying on the kindness of fellow fans to help him find these Beatles monuments and connect with the communities that built them. His goal: to find new stories about the Beatles, win back his girlfriend, and remind an increasingly insular post-Brexit Britain what the Beatles mean to the world. He just needed to push through the hangovers to do it. How hard could it be? Find out in this real-life account of one man's quest to find every Beatles monument.

August Warehouse Sale: Kale 'em All!

From the history of chocolate to declassified government documents, this sale is a feast for the mind AND the body.

Live deliciously with the August Warehouse Sale. Eight books (and a sticker!) all about good, mostly-plant-based eating, all bundled together for over 50% off the original price.

The bundle includes:

Chocolatology: A close look at the chocolate industry and its history, along with some delicious vegan recipes.

Edible Secrets: What do top-secret CIA assassination plots, Black Panther arrests, and Reaganomics have in common? Food, of course! 

So Raw It's Downright Filthy: Tips on all-things raw, raw-related articles, and magical, delicious recipes like Garlic-Sunflower Pate, Cashew Sour Cream, Melon Gazpacho, and Gumbo!

Think! Eat! Act!: A cookbook featuring the vegan food prepared on the Sea Shepherd ships' anti-whaling campaigns, with recipes mixed in with information about vegan nutrition and ocean activism.

Vegan With A Vengeance: A quirky vegan cookbook with relatable stories about the author's life and family.

Paleo For Unicorns: A hilarious, helpful cookbook for people who want to eat what feels right to them without a bunch of macho posturing, pseudoscientific diet mumbo jumbo, or nitpicky recipe policing and maybe wants to eat a more anti-inflammatory, gluten-free, dairy-free, or low-carb diet.

Apple Cider Vinegar Drinks for Health: Discover all the ways you can use apple cider vinegar to boost your health and transform your wellness routine.

The Culinary Cyclist: Anna Brones' love song to the dual pleasures of eating well and getting around by bicycle.

Kale 'em All Vinyl Sticker: When you can no longer kale 'em with kindness, kale 'em all!

A note: While most of the titles included are vegan, a few are not!

Stress Coping Skills Deck

We live in an era when stress is a way of life and can seem inescapable. But stress doesn't have to run our lives, and it can even be our friend, according to Dr. Faith G. Harper, bestselling author of titles like Unfuck Your Brain, Unfuck Your Body,and Unfuck Your Stress. 

This 52-card deck offers exercises, reflections, and conversation starters to help us tackle the stressful situations and relationships in our lives. Two types of cards can be mixed together or used separately: Survive cards provide short-term strategies you can use to find focus and purpose in difficult moments; Thrive cards offer longer-term strategies to change your relationship with stress, helping you shift your perspective, assumptions, habits, and self-talk so that intense feelings can motivate rather than overwhelm you. 

Use these cards on your own or with your partner, a friend, or your therapist to build confidence and trust in your ability to handle whatever the world throws at you.

How to Protect Bookstores and Why

Can bookstores save the world? As bastions of culture, anchors of local retail districts, community gathering places, and sources of new ideas, inspiration, and delight, maybe they can. But only if we protect them and the critical roles they fill in our communities.

Danny Caine, author of the bestselling sensation How to Resist Amazon and Why and co-owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas, makes a compelling case for the power of small, local businesses in this thoughtful examination of the dynamic world of bookstores. At once an urgent call to action and a celebration of everything bookstores can do, Caine's new book features case-study profiles of a dozen of the most interesting and innovative bookstores of today, from Minneapolis to Paris. Through a well-informed analysis of these case studies, Caine offers actionable strategies to promote a sustainable future for bookselling, including policy suggestions, ideas for community-based action, and tips on what consumers can do to help. A captivating read for any lover of books, patron of bookstores, or champion of the survival of these vital institutions, How to Protect Bookstores and Why makes the strongest possible argument for the importance of a resilient, inclusive, and progressive bookstore landscape.

Monster Lovin': Smutty, Spine-Tingling Queer Stories (Queering Consent)

The pleasure of horror

Have you ever considered the erotic possibilities of loving an ancient being of incredibly inhuman power? The monstrous becomes familiar and profoundly pleasurable in S. Park's new collection of m/m queer, consensual erotica. Tentacles find their way into every crevice, a sexy stranger turns out to be part plant, part man, and a powerful demon cuddles up in bed. In these tender, sweaty, high-heat stories, horror turns to delight, the monster always turns out to be worthy of love . . . and sometimes, the monster turns out to be you.

Bang!: Masturbation for People of All Genders and Abilities

Masturbation is one of life’s great pleasures. It helps build self-knowledge, foster body awareness, and expand your sexual repertoire, no partner required. Anyone can use masturbation to explore their relationship to their body, desires, and pleasure. This joyful, unique book centers people of color, queer people, disabled people, sex workers, and other often underrepresented voices to bring an informative and beautiful perspective to self-love. Discover and share the joys of unpartnered sex with this beautifully designed, empathetic, practical, and fun guide. 

Unfuck Your Addiction

We have almost all been addicted to something at some point, or had a habit spiral out of control. But what does that mean? What exactly are addictions and out of control behaviors, why do we get caught up in them, and how do we get our lives back? Bestselling author Dr. Faith Harper helps those of us struggling (or supporting others) with problematic use of alcohol, drugs, gambling, work, food, sex, shopping, screens, gaming, or anything else where we've crossed a line. Their perspective is down to earth, realistic, and refreshing. You'll learn about the brain science behind addiction, how to tell if something is a problem or about to become one, how to find your way out of unhealthy behaviors, and how to avoid passing them down to the next generation. No matter what paths you've taken in life, you can absolutely learn to fulfill your needs in ways that are healthy for yourself and the people around you.

Year of the Witch

Magic is the ever-present energy around us—it’s in the sky, our companion animals, what we eat, where we live, and ourselves—and it can be used to create and manifest the things we want in our lives. By living with our intentions and the moon’s guiding energy, we can align ourselves with this energy and live our best lives, creating our narratives and movement along the way. And with each step we take, we are closer to our authentic selves. If you're new to witchcraft, this guide will walk you through your first year.

The Queer Affirmations Coloring Book

Heteronormative platitudes got you down? Color these joyful queer affirmations instead! Next time someone pulls out an old walnut like, "It's just a phase, they'll grow out of it," you can correct it to, "I love your strong sense of self!" Sick of hearing trite shit like, "It could be worse"? Cross it out with a Sharpie and replace it with, "I'm sorry you're going through this." Not everyone in your life may know how to talk about feelings and affirm your experience, but you can do it for yourself and the community you create. Joe Carlough's thoughtful and humorous revisions of everyday platitudes pair perfectly with Ally Shwed's colorable scenarios of all sorts of queer people bonding with each other, expressing their emotions, and learning to love themselves a little more every day.

Unf*ck Your Sex Toys

Sex toys, sex tools, sexual aids—whatever you call them, they have the potential to revolutionize your sex life. Whether you use them solo, partnered, or in group play, sex tools can bring you to new heights of pleasure, teach you about your body, affirm your identity, and liberate you from physical or emotional constraints. But damn, they can be expensive if you buy them new. Sexologist and therapist Dr. Faith is all about making sure you know how to get off safely and on a budget, and provides instructions for making a variety of do-it-yourself toys without breaking the bank or taking an embarrassing trip to the ER.

Divine Deco Tarot Coloring Book

Glamorous, exuberant, luxurious decorative details suffuse these pages, each bringing to life an archetype of the classic 78-card tarot major and minor arcana. Inspired by the lushness of the early 20th Century Art Deco movement and the Balkan folk art of her native Albania, Gerta Egy's images draw you into a fantasy world, beautiful and rich with meaning and feeling. Sprite-like human figures dance, writhe, and play with swords, wands, cups, and coins against modernist patterned backgrounds in these ornate pages that await your coloring pleasure. These images are drawn from the Divine Tarot Deco deck.

Microcosm In Your Town!

Want to meet us in person, check out our books, or see an author speak? We've got author events and convention events coming up! There's a full calendar at the bottom of the page.

Upcoming Author Events

Interested in having an author at your store or event? Reach out!!

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Upcoming Tabling Events

Where we'll be selling books and zines

• Thursday, August 10th, 4-6pm: laura q will be reading from A Tight Squeeze as part of a special edition of Smut Peddlers at Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto, ON 499 Church Street
  Toronto ON, M4Y 2C6 Canada.
• Wednesday, August 23th-Sunday, August 27th: We'll be at Rollercon in Las Vegas. Come say hello!
• Thursday, November 9th, 6pm. Writer's Block Bookstore will host Marc Campbell as he presents on his book I Love My Queer Kid: A Workbook to Affirm and Support Your LGBTQ+ Child or Teen. Writer's Block Bookstore, 316 N. Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida, 32789
  

Upcoming Trade Shows and Industry Events

Usually not open to the public, these industry events are a chance for store buyers to peruse our books, write orders, and chat about terms. We plan to either attend or exhibit at the following events. If you'll be there too, drop us a line—we'd love to meet you.

• (News coming soon!)

Planning an event and want us to be part of it (speaking, author readings, movie screenings, setting up a book and zine pop-up shop, etc.)? Let us know!!

In the Portland area? We can set up a book fair at your workplace like the ones your school used to have.

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Summoning All Witches

Since 1996, Microcosm has published and distributed books, zines, and other goods that put your power in your hands. Including, lately, an increasing number of pagan, mystical, and othersuch witchy books, zines, and decks.

We've recently updated our submission guidelines to make it extra clear: We're looking to publish and distribute more works of magic, witchcraft, and pagan spirituality. Send us your anarcha-feminist oracle deck, your spellbook for finding queer platonic relationships, your comics journalism about the history of witchcraft, a guide to the magic your grandparents taught you, agricultural tips for witches, adorable drawings of animals on broomsticks, or whatever creative way you've found to help people see beyond the pale of normalcy to change their lives and the world.

We are always, especially, looking for submissions from authors and artists who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, mixed race, disabled, neurodivergent, queer, transgender, nonbinary, or who don't see themselves well represented in mainstream publishing.

What we publish

We're proud to publish Friday Gladheart's annual The Practical Witch's Almanac — an incredible resource and weekly planner.

Francesca Black's Year of the Witch: A Planner and Spellbook for the Novice Witch is a great resource for beginners, and also serves as a weekly planner.

Our first tarot deck, The Gold Lyre Tarot, was funded on Kickstarter in early 2021.

And we have many more books, zines, and stickers in print and on the way, like these:

To submit your work to our publishing program, check out our submission guidelines to assess if we might be a good fit. We aim to work with authors and creators who can work within our processes, so following our guidelines exactly is an important first step when submitting a project.

What we distribute

Microcosm is also a specialty wholesaler, selling thousands of books, zines, and decks from other publishers, big and small primarily to non-book-focused gift stores. We work with Big 5 publishing houses, zinesters cutting and pasting in their closets, and everyone in between. And these folks are putting out more and more books celebrating paganism, crystals, astrology, tarot, the occult, the moon, and more.

If you already have your own publishing program and want to see if our wholesale program is a good fit, check out our distribution info.

WorkingLit: Publishing Software from Microcosm

WorkingLit is cloud-based software developed by Microcosm Publishing that gives independent publishers tools to thrive and grow at their own pace. Our industry is run by billionaires and conglomerates, and we want to give our fellow publishers the freedom to market and sell your books, understand your business, and painlessly pay royalties.

Microcosm built our own software from scratch starting in 2002, and we owe it our survival, success, and continued independence. Now we want to share it with you. 

Get involved and stay in touch!

We're planning to launch our first phase publicly in summer, 2022.

• Take our survey for publishers
• Join our email list
• Are you a programmer? We're looking to grow our team. Email elly at microcosmpublishing dot com with your skillset and why you're interested in being part of WorkingLit
• Take the tour:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uRj8l2paG2Y

Call for Submissions for Neurodiversity zine series

A People's Guide to Publishing Podcast

In 2012, Microcosm founder and CEO Joe Biel started writing blog posts. Biel wanted to share 25 years of experience and how Microcosm sold millions of books to leave a trail of bread crumbs for others to have similar success. Biel has also written a book about the topic, A People's Guide to Publishing.

Joe and Microcosm's marketing director Elly now make the weekly People's Guide to Publishing People's Guide to Publishing podcast. You can listen to it on your preferred app, or watch the video version as a vlogcast.

Got questions about the publishing industry or need help troubleshooting your own process? Submit your question to podcast at microcosmpublishing dot com, and we'll try to address it on an upcoming episode.

Find the series of blog posts that started it all here:

An overview

What a Publisher Does

Paralleling the Dinosaurs

Title Development

For authors: How to Pitch Your Book to a Publisher

Data About Your Book's Details (MetaData)

Profit & Loss Statement

Am I Stealing Your Art?

The Economic Case for Traditional Format Offset Printing

Distribution Question (with infographic)

The Print Run

Working with The Printer

Formatting for Print

How to Pack Books for Shipping

Social Media for Authors

Self-Promotion for Authors

Organizing a book tour

BFF Book Subscription

Be our Book Friend Forever (BFF)! For 6 months you'll receive every new title we publish. The subscription is sliding scale price $15-30/month—check it out here!  Thanks for your support!