Monthly Archives: October 2021

Unfuck Your Friendships

Friendships might just be the most important relationships of our lives. But unlike romantic relationships, there isn’t a lot of explicit guidance out there about how to look for, find, make, keep, grow, and break up with our friends. Dr. Faith has written a wise, fun, science-filled book about how to be a great friend and find other people to be great friends to you. The first half of the book is intended generally for all of us; the second half of the book is filled with advice columns getting into the very specific situations that tend to come up in our friendships.

Why isn’t cheap labor working anymore?

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about the Great Resignation as it applies to publishing—specifically to the blue-collar warehouse jobs that our industry relies on yet often doesn’t acknowledge or respect. We brag a little on our own warehouse staff who are currently outperforming our industry fulfillment times by a longshot, and make the case for treating warehouse workers as equal parts of the team.

C.A.T.S.: Cycling Across Time and Space

These 11 feminist science fiction and fantasy stories are all about cats… and bicycles. Some are from the perspective of humans, like the bicycle sales rep who is somehow failing to sell product on a planet of bipedal felinoids. Others are from the cat’s perspective, like the adorable sphinx who is trying to learn to fly, or the ship’s cat carefully plotting for universal domination. It’s a playful, fun collection of well-written tales unlike anything else out there!

Radical Sewing

Sew it yourself! Learn to mend your clothes, hem your pants or make new ones that fit you perfectly, copy your favorite dress or t-shirt, add a pocket with a button, and anything else you can dream up. Skills-based rather than project-based, Kate Weiss’s new book teaches you how to think, dream, and act like a sewist, concocting clothes that fit your body, gender expression, and whatever physical needs your usual fast fashion fare isn’t fulfilling.

Self-publishing vs Traditional Publishing

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly examine the pros and cons of different publishing paths for authors. A listener wrote in to ask the age-old question of whether they should try to find a traditional publisher or go ahead and self-publish. We have an obvious bias, but we did our best to treat the question objectively, because there are a bunch of benefits and pitfalls for both.

What we learned at this year’s PNBA

On this week’s episode of the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly report back from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s 2021 trade show. The event was back to being in-person for the first time since 2019 and everyone was excited to see each other! And excited about books! We learned some things and came away with some observations about what’s going on in the publishing industry.

P.S. We’re running a quick Kickstarter right now for Dr. Faith’s newest book: Befriend Your Brain is a de-swear-inated edition of her bestseller Unf*** Your Brain, suitable for humans 10+ who want help freaking out less.

How do you write a book contract for multiple authors?

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle a reader question about the exciting world of contracts! Someone wrote in to ask how to handle a contract for a book with multiple authors collaborating, or an author and illustrator working together on a project like a kids’ book or a graphic novel. We walk through a few different scenarios and how you might handle them with the goal of having a clear, fair, and consistent contract. Also, we say the word “contract” a lot to desensitize you, because these helpful little documents don’t have to be as scary as most people think they are.