Portland's most colorful, authentic, and empowering publishing house and distributor, Microcosm Publishing is a vertically integrated publishing house that equips readers to make positive changes in their lives and in the world around them. Microcosm emphasizes skill-building, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books and bookettes about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice. The then-distro and record label was started by Joe Biel in his bedroom in 1996 and is now among the oldest independent publishing houses in Portland, OR. Microcosm focuses on relating the experiences of what it's like to be a marginalized person. We constantly strive to be recognized for our spirit, creativity, and value. Our books are printed in the U.S. on post-consumer papers while we double the industry standard in our number of women authors.
Microcosm has lived in milk crates, in closets, in a mud room, in a windowless basement, in a church, and under a desk at a major credit card company. We've brought our brightly colored books to infoshops, zine fests, media summits, bicycle conferences, parks, street corners, house shows, dirty bars, allnight coffeeshops, art museums, and every corner of the mainstream where we can clear away a little space to set up shop. We set out to save ourselves from not caring, but out there in the margins we've found communities worth always doing it better for. Now we have contracts instead of handshakes, a warehouse instead of a fanny pack full of zines. We have a staff, we have relationships in the industry that send our books to places we wouldn't have dreamed we could walk into ourselves. We're not as drunk or dirty as we used to be. But still, at heart, we've got this milk crate strapped to the back of a bike and we're riding wildly across town to hand you the book that might just be the one that saves your life. We refuse to die. Get over it.
Microcosm is distributed worldwide by Legato / Perseus Books Group and by Turnaround in the UK.
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We're on Patreon! You can join our Ebook, Book, or Zine of the Month Club on the Microcosm Patreon page and/or support the feminist bicycle publishing revolution on the Elly Blue Publishing Patreon page.
in Portland?
Microcosm Publishing hQ
2752 N Williams Ave map
Portland, OR 97227
Store: 503-232-3666
Office: 971-277-9435
Open 11–7 Mon thru Sat
an introduction to Microcosm Publishing
another introduction to Microcosm Publishing
Who we are:
Jeri Cain Rossi is our sales director. She left New Orleans after Katrina, landed in San Francisco where she spent ten years at Last Gasp, and then appeared on our door step. We were thrilled to find an avid vegan who meshed with our values and understood our books immediately.
Contact Jeri about ordering books for your store. 503-333-4722
Nathan Lee Thomas is the publisher's assistant: the face behind the counter, a loving assembler of buttons and magnets, digger of metaphorical trenches around the office, receiver of deliveries, his hard work into everything we do makes the stuff that appears in your mailbox that much brighter.
Contact Nathan about general inquiries!
Tomy Huynh is our editorial and marketing monster. He manages our title data, brainstorms, and copyedits manuscripts before they're published. He enjoys reading, gardening, and bike commuting to work.
Contact Tomy about data/spelling errors in our books or on our website!
Cynthia Marts is our publicity director. She handles promotions, publicity, press, and executes our editorial development. She enjoys young adult fiction, the Jessica Jones Netflix adaptation, and Portland's yummy foods.
Contact Cyn if you want to feature us or one of our titles in your publication.
Jeff Hayes organizes our warehouse, packs our orders, services our customers, records and masters our audio, and distributes our catalogs.
Contact Jeff about your order or to make sure things that you sent us have arrived.
Lauren Hage packs our orders, is the den mother and keeps track of everyone's needs, organizes all of our office supplies, and makes sure everything is just right.
Contact Lauren if you want to become our BFF
Rubine Red is our community manager. Constantly forging new relationships with the outside world, she tirelessly meets new people, demands snacks, and excitingly shares our message of self-empowerment!
Contact Ruby if you want to propose a community project with us!
Nate Beaty codes the website. When he peels himself away from the computer he draws the comics like any self-respecting 21st-century human.
Contact Nate about website errors and suggestions.
Sidnee Grubb is our production assistant. She manages odd jobs around the office, organizes data, fixes other people's mistakes, and makes sure that we are as awesome as we can be!
Contact Sidnee if no one else will understand what you're talking about
Elly Blue is our co-owner, marketing director, and events manager. She also manages her own publishing list of feminist bicycling books (EBP).
Contact Elly about crazy ideas.
Joe Biel is the co-owner, publisher, art director, financial officer, and general manager. He manages acquisitions and production.
Contact Joe to propose a publishing project, ask printing questions, or get paid.
Microcosm Publishing presents #BookSpo from Microcosm Publishing on Vimeo.
Microcosm Publishing presents #PunkSpo from Microcosm Publishing on Vimeo.
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