Posts By: microcosm

Microcosm Kickstarter FAQ’s

January 01, 2024

Got a question about how we use Kickstarter? It might be answered here!

What is Kickstarter and why does Microcosm use it?
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform, where folks can pledge financial support for a project to help offset costs for production. We use Kickstarter as a way to help spread the word about upcoming books, gauge interest with preorders, and help cover the costs of printing and distribution.

Will there be add-ons for the project?
Yes! We’ll launch with a handful of add-ons, and continue adding them on as the project progresses. Keep an eye on the updates to learn more!

The project says you don’t ship to my country, but I want the item!

We can ship almost anywhere! However, Kickstarter requires us to manually add shipping rates for each item for each country, which can take a lot of time. All rewards are set up with shipping estimates for our most commonly ordered-from regions. If you live outside one of those regions, and would like to back the project, reach out to us on the project and we’ll see if we can add your area in!

Why can’t I add physical add-ons to my KS digital tier?
Due to the way Kickstarter is set up, backers of digital-only tiers aren’t able to add physical add-ons to their pledges.

Why didn’t I get my survey?
If you haven’t received your backer survey for a project, check your spam filter! If it’s not hiding there, reach out to squishy(at)microcosmpublishing.com to have a new one sent your way.

Why am I being charged tax/asked to provide an address when I only got an eBook?
We must charge and pay tax for orders placed in California, Ohio, and Washington State.

Where is my reward?
Production on books and decks can take a little while. When rewards are starting to ship out, we will post an update in the Kickstarter. If a few weeks go by and you haven’t gotten confirmation of your order shipping, please reach out to squishy(at)microcosmpublishing.com.

Why didn’t I get my eBook?
If you pledged for an eBook or digital reward, they will be sent to your inbox when the project book starts shipping out! Check your spam folder if you were supposed to get one and haven’t yet, or email us for all other eBook issues.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to email squishy@microcosmpublishing.com, or leave a comment on the project you’re interested in.

<3 Microcosm

Unfuck Your Anger Workbook

December 29, 2023

Anger is a vital emotion for survival, but when it gets out of hand, or if you always bottle it up, it can be disastrous. If you feel irritable all the time, or if your rage is getting the best of you, take a deep breath and open this book. A standalone companion to Unfuck Your Anger by the inimitable Dr. Faith, this workbook is packed with helpful exercises, worksheets, and opportunities for reflection. In these pages, you can build an anger narrative, understand and identify your rage triggers, and figure out where you may avoid acknowledging your anger as well as where your rage may get stuck. You’ll also learn practical skills like meditation, communication, and breathing to help you stop going ballistic when you least want to, and you’ll find a special model for understanding and embracing forgiveness in order to heal old wounds. Let your pent-up frustration go and turn your righteous anger into healthy, helpful fuel for treating yourself and others well, seeking justice, and living the life you want.

How Should Publishers Talk About Current Events? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 28, 2023

We live in an era where Hershey posts perspectives on trans rights and Heinz offers opinions on foreign wars. Naturally, book publishers feel pressure to talk about what’s going on in the world around them. This week on the pod we look at best practices for expressing yourself.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

What is the Value Chain? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 21, 2023

Peter Workman referred to it as “The Three Legged Stool,” meaning that if one stakeholder wasn’t benefiting in some way, a book would fail. And that’s a catchier way to explain the concept that publishing a book has to add value to everyone who touches it at every stage. This week on the pod, we unpack the idea of what makes any organization successful.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

How did we become the distributor for the new Lydia Davis book? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 14, 2023

Popular author Lydia Davis decided that she no longer wanted her books sold on Amazon. So she tasked her agent with finding a publisher who could do this for her. Everyone said that it was impossible. But through a unique partnership between Microcosm and Bookshop.org, we found a way. And it wasn’t even hard. This is how it turned out. Over 10,000 books sold in the first month and growing!

Check out our interview with Sarah High here.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

An Interview with Rick Griffith, owner of The Shop at MATTER in Denver, Colorado.

December 11, 2023

Welcome to the next installment of the Bookstore Solidarity Project! Every month, we’ll be highlighting indie bookstore owners and booksellers across the country.

This month, we’re featuring The Shop at MATTER in Denver! It’s a Black- and woman-owned store that also triples as a design consultancy and letterpress workshop.

Your name and pronouns?
Rick Griffith (He/Him/Them)

Tell us a little bit about the store and your community!
Since 2014 our bookstore has been the only Black- and woman-owned independent, full service (internet and brick) cultural justice bookstore in the United States Mountain Time Zone. We are a haven for fem, queer, non-binary, trans, LatinX, Indigenous, AAPI, and Black persons. We have always respected and invested in the intellectual and creative products of the people who represent our community. We have a print shop with five letterpress printing presses and thousands of pieces of wood type that we employ to print community projects that are pro-democracy, pro-liberation, and pro-freedom. We are political—and we are activists. A bookstore to integrate Art, Design and Cultural Justice for all generations.

What got you into bookselling?
The desire to positively affect the lives of the people we know and love with books and products that acknowledge those of us in the margins.

What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people?
We are working on a lending library for our community so everyone can have access. We have five 19th and early 20th century printing presses. We letterpress print for our community and ask people to pay what they can afford for most of our prints.

What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store?
Besides buying books, buying our prints and posters. Ordering for personal and business book clubs. Having us bring our pop-up to conferences and large gatherings. Getting the word out. Shopping in pairs.

What are two books you can’t wait for people to read, or your current favorite handsells?
Can’t Pay Won’t Pay and There are Places in the World Where Rules are Less Important than Kindness

How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves?
on the internet: shopatmatter.com

Anything else you would like us to know?
We are love, revolution, and abolition.

Be sure to follow The Shop at MATTER on Instagram and Facebook, and check out their interview on our podcast here!

Check out our other Bookstore Solidarity Project posts here!
And click here to check out How to Protect Bookstores and Why.

The Intimacy Conversation Deck by Dr. Faith G. Harper

December 10, 2023

If you’re looking for a way to grow even closer with your partner (or partners!), this new deck from Dr. Faith is a great place to start!

Intimacy isn’t always easy to bring up in a relationship. Vulnerability can be rough, and figuring out where to start or what to say can be tricky. This deck offers approachable, bite-size prompts that you can use to jump-start conversations, gain new insights, and improve your romantic and sexual relationships.

The deck has 52 cards that cover everything from past relationships to romance to what you want in bed (and out!), helping you dive in and open up with your loved one. (Or yourself—the cards make great journaling prompts, too!)

We’re nearing the end of the Kickstarter for Intimacy Conversation Deck, but you still have time to back the project! It could make a great gift for Valentine’s Day, or just as a way to show a partner you care.

How does design build community bookselling? w/ Rick from Shop at MATTER (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 07, 2023

The Shop at MATTER has been an innovative bookseller and design studio for decades. For our featured bookseller of the month we invite Rick Griffith to discuss the intersection of revolutionary bookselling and radical design.

Check out their interview on the blog here!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Check out other Bookstore Solidarity Project Posts here.

Firebrands: Activists You Didn’t Learn About in School

December 05, 2023

This illustrated history celebrates American changemakers and revolutionaries that are often left out of public narratives about our shared past. These firebrands hail from Canada, Chile, and everywhere in between, from the 1500s to today. Instead of focusing on the powerful, rich white folks so often featured in textbooks, these gorgeous portraits with accompanying biographies recognize the work of grassroots organizers, revolutionaries, visionaries, anarchists, workers, and artists. These heroes put their bodies and souls into fighting injustice and making their communities better, and they often gave their lives for the causes they believed in. Each story is vividly illustrated by a member of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and offers a radical glimpse into how individuals can work to change the world. A new introduction by editor Shaun Slifer launches the third edition of this beloved collection, which 15 years later remains a powerful resource for anyone of any age seeking the role models they missed out on in school.

Firebrands include Frida Kahlo, Audre Lorde, Sitting Bull, Gloria Anzaldúa, Pablo Neruda, Nina Simone, Emma Goldman, Fred Hampton, Buckminster Fuller, Paulo Freire, W.E.B. Du Bois, Sojourner Truth, Chico Mendes, Tupac Shakur, Grace Lee Boggs, Muhammad Ali, Yuri Kochiyama, and many more.

Unfuck Your Kink: Using Science to Enjoy Mind-Blowing BDSM, Fetishes, Fantasy, Porn, and Whatever Your Pervy Heart Desires

November 30, 2023

What turns you on? Maybe it’s something vanilla, but chances are good that there’s more to it than that. Dr. Faith G. Harper, sexologist, therapist, and author of bestselling titles like Unfuck Your Intimacy and Unfuck Your Blow Jobs, tackles the whys, whats, and how-tos of the very wide range of human erotic experience—much of which doesn’t involve actual touching. She debunks myths, explains the science behind why we like what we like, and discusses how to engage safely, shamelessly, and satisfyingly in BDSM, pornography, fantasies, role-play, and fetishes both common and rare. Whatever gets you off, there’s a way for you to feel good while feeling good about yourself. Leave shame behind and let the sex positivity resound!