Particularly when one comes from a conservative family and has many conversations where their beliefs are challenged, they tend to assume that the publishing landscape works the same way. This week, we answer a reader question about how to publish safely and sustainably despite one’s political opinions.
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During a recent phone call, we asked her how she defines “independent publisher” and her answer was “we know it when we see it.” “Indie” has grown to mean “dependent on Amazon” and Orwell would be proud. In the past decade, publishing has become overwhelmed by jargon. Well you might say that it goes back much further than that (and we probably wouldn’t disagree), but the jargon that is designed to intentionally obfuscate has grown considerably to the point that we have to define things like “small press publisher.”
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It happens all the time. One of our distributed publishers got in touch, horrified and terrified that MacMillan had just published the same book that she did the week before. She thought it would cannibalize her sales. Many authors and publishers keep this stuff close to the chest. Not us. We follow the Paul Hawken school of being your best, individualized self.
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Shame and guilt are perhaps the most difficult emotions humans experience. They tell us we are fundamentally broken, wrong, and unsalvageable—and then we operate in the world from that self-concept. Dr. Faith G. Harper, bestselling author of Unfuck Your Brain and Unfuck Your Stress, writes that these emotions often result from our sense of “not-enough-ness” and the overwhelming feeling that we need to hide parts of ourselves in order to be loved and accepted. But we don’t need to keep going through life feeling guilty, ashamed, and disconnected from ourselves. With compassion, humor, brain science, and swearing, she guides us through the difficult shadow work of finding and reconnecting with these hidden parts and learning to accept our whole selves to regain our sense of vitality and completeness. Because we each deserve the experience of being a fully alive human.
This solarpunk book of shadows will guide you in surviving and resisting climate crisis and dystopian political systems so you can take radical action towards a positive future. Longtime activist and practicing witch Justine Norton-Kertson introduces a fresh approach to witchcraft at a time when it’s desperately needed.
Drawing on the natural connections between modern paganism and the literary, artistic, and activist movement known as solarpunk, Norton-Kertson provides meditations and correspondences for developing a spiritual practice rooted in nature, the Sun, and a powerful belief in our ability to build a better world. Readers will also find a host of spells to use in the fight against climate change, fascism, and inequality. These politically conscious magickal practices forge a new spiritual praxis to guide us as we work together to envision and create the future we want to see.
Since the mid-1990s, the secretive cell organization calling itself the Earth Liberation Front (ELF, or Elves) has waged a brazen campaign of property damage and arson attacks against entities they hold responsible for environmental destruction, including timber companies, ski resorts, slaughterhouses, and car dealerships.
In Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: The FBI vs. the Earth Liberation Front, former ELF spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh charts the history and ideology of the ELF, as well as the repression strategies the government uses to destroy activist movements—including tactics we continue to see wielded against global liberation movements today. Rosenbraugh himself was the subject of a shocking New York Times article last year detailing the efforts of an informant connected to the FBI and the CIA to draw him into a book contract designed never to reach publication, but which provided authorities the opportunity to comb his drafts for clues that might help them apprehend ELF conspirators. Rosenbraugh, though, only ever transmitted anonymous communiques, and when he made a discovery about the man posing as his “book packager” that he writes “made my heart race, made my breath vanish, and sent me off to gather every weapon I had in my house,” the project came to an uneasy end.
Luckily, Rosenbraugh was still determined to let his story see the light of day after this harrowing ordeal, and the book was originally published in 2004. Twenty years later, Microcosm is proud to release this revised and updated edition, featuring a new foreword from Extinction Rebellion co-founder Tamsin Osmond. Burning Rage remains a valuable and illuminating insider account of the ongoing battle between radical environmentalist movements and the powers of the state; one that offers frank insight into the great personal cost of political action, but also the urgency of collective resistance to capitalist violence.
Publishers often think of booksellers as our frontline marketing force; the people who we outsource our jobs to. This week, Janet Geddis of Avid Bookshop does a great job of outlining the actual role that bookstores play in a daily role. It’s more matchmaking than pushing the newest thing on some poor, unsuspecting browser. It’s a deep game of familiarity that ultimately results in hilarity of two people of disparate backgrounds relating to each other in the store at the same time. Publishers interested in taking her up on her “Hang out in my store and learn what bookselling entails” offer, get in touch!
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Katie Haegele has been passionate about cats for decades. They have been some of the most meaningful relationships in her life. This time around she’s organizing other people to share the most touching, heartwarming, wacky, and unbelievable stories about the behavior and emotional range of cats in her eighth book, Cat Party!
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Much hullaballoo and many predictions have been made about how AI will “disrupt” the publishing industry. Typically, with a new technology the steps are 1) fear the new way 2) figure out how to embrace it in a practical sense. How will AI affect publishers? Is the fear substantiated? What can publishers do?
(Note: We are aware that the video capture is frozen on and off for the first two minutes. Enjoy the listening experience during that time!)
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In the dawn of a young publishers’ life, they focus on their own tastes. Gradually, they see which books are well-received and branch outward. Some publishers quickly find that the most popular books are things that aren’t exactly the reason that they got into publishing! So this week on the pod, we talk about the limits of a press’ curation and why that’s important.
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