Monthly Archives: March 2022

If Animals Could Talk

If animals could talk, what would they say? Certainly nothing polite, according to this hilarious illustrated book. On these pages, you’ll meet over 100 uncensored animals showing the whole range of human emotions and foibles, from sassy to grumpy, arrogant to dejected, glib to nonplused. “How old did you say you were?” asks the cougar. “Rise and shine, assholes,” trills the bird. “Ball is life,” proclaims the hamster. “I have zero interest in seeing you later,” quoth the alligator. Giggle and belly laugh your way through this definitely not-for-kids, probably not-safe-for-work collection of brilliant insights into the filthy animals all around us.

10 reasons why 2021 was our biggest year ever

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly lift the hood on the Microcosm engine to investigate why 2021 was such an unexpectedly successful year, and share some of the lessons learned. From external factors like the booming gift trade to internal factors like our amazing staff’s teamwork and management restructuring, we discuss what we did and why it worked.

Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto

Few artists achieve fame and fortune, but that doesn’t mean your creative life can’t flourish. Writer, illustrator, zinester, and playwright Ayun Halliday interviewed dozens of creative people and shared her own experiences to produce this rallying cry for the “small potato”—someone whose focus is making cool, meaningful work and living a creative life rather than achieving wealth or celebrity. Sections range from the practice of artmaking to wrangling self-doubt to DIY marketing and self-promotion. Along the way, Halliday shows that your art can bring you satisfaction, success, community, and a modest income—without losing sight of your reasons for doing it in the first place. 

Experience Points

Alex Mazor is a transmasculine horror artist struggling to make a living in Toronto. When he invites one of his patrons home to model for his next project, his motives aren’t purely artistic. But Matt Connors, local fantasy geek and perpetual DM-without-a-party, is an unlikely model and an even stranger bedfellow. Follow along as their relationship unfolds, from a steamy modeling session to some exhibitionism at an art exhibit, and a road trip that pushes the pair to bring their trust to a new level. In the midst of exploring one another’s kinks and insecurities, will they be brave enough to find intimacy as well? This series of unapologetically filthy, nerdy, artistic encounters chronicles two lives at a crossroads of healing and self-discovery.

A male/male transgender, high-heat erotic four-part novella is of Microcosm’s Queering Consent series.

How many books should you publish each season?

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast / vlog, Joe and Elly answer a reader question—how many books should a publisher put out every season?

For those new to the game, the traditional publishing industry has two or three seasons—Spring, Fall, and Winter (with Fall and Winter sometimes being combined). In today’s episode, we talk about when those seasons run, why they are important, what it means for your workflow, and, of course, how many books it makes sense to fit into each one—and what kind of books do best in each season.

Queering Consent: Call for Happy Endings

Microcosm Publishing is soliciting submissions for our Queering Consent series of queer erotica stories, novellas, novels, illustrated books, and comics!

Pitch us your work in progress or your completed work—make it sexy, make it hot, make it consensual, and make it queer! Titles that fit this series show complex, healthy, joyful queer relationships, have a happy ending, and feature explicit erotic content forming the core of the work.

Anything queer is great! We are especially (but not exclusively) looking for: 

  • Lesbian erotica
  • Real-world (present or past) settings
  • T4T content
  • Polyamorous content

For books, manuscripts should be no fewer than 2,500 words (for a short story zine) and top out around 40,000 words for a book. Manuscripts can be composed of short stories or one longer narrative. Black and white illustrations are also welcome, and we love graphic novels. We are not able to publish poetry or fan fiction. We will consider previously-published work so long as you own the rights.

We are 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—including (but not exclusively) #OwnVoices content from these writers. 

Here’s a sampling of what we’ve published so far: 

the book cover of Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism, featuring a werewolf holding and licking a laughing man
Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism – A collection of m/m(+) short stories by MJ Lyons with a science fiction theme
Experience Points – An illustrated m/m novella about the evolution of a relationship that is profoundly healing for both people involved
Even Cowbots Get Blue Balls envisions transformative encounters between various beings
A Tight Squeeze shows a rich variety of transfeminine experiences and pairings

We also publish short stories in quickly-read, pocket-sized zine format!

Just a few of our growing collection of Queering Consent zines!

We also are delighted to consider pitches for nonfiction books and zines about queer relationships and sex!

If you have something you think fits, take a look at our full submission guidelines here and drop us a line through the contact form at the top of that page! 

We can’t wait to read the wildest adventures and happiest endings your imagination can produce!