Posts By: microcosm

How do you manage book inventory and reprints? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)


Too much or too little inventory is almost always a publisher’s biggest problem. These are the two biggest problems facing the industry. So this week on the pod, we cast some ideas for how to wrap your head around these issues, how to manage your inventory, and how to start small and grow incrementally.


Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Our Strangers: Stories

“An overflowing treasure chest of jewel-like stories . . . A collection that you’ll want to keep on your bedside table by one of America’s most original short story writers.” –Kirkus Review, starred review

From one of the most accomplished writers of our time comes another brilliant collection of short fiction. Artful, deft, and inventive, Lydia Davis’ newest collection of stories delves into topics ranging from marriage to tiny insects. These stories are a celebration of language and careful observation that once again confirms Davis’ sincere love and mastery of the form.

This title is NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON.COM. Only available at independent bookstores and libraries, by request of the author.

An Interview with Meg Wasmer, co-owner of Copper Dog Books in Beverly, Massachusetts.

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

For October, we got to chat with Meg Wasmer, one of the co-owners of Copper Dog Books in Beverly, Massachusetts. It’s a great little store, with a strong focus on genre fiction. Horror and sci-fi fans would love their selection! (Plus, they have a slew of MIcrocosm titles.)

Your Name and Pronouns
Meg Wasmer, she/they

Tell us a little bit about the store and your community!
Beverly is the best. It’s right by Salem, but doesn’t suffer under the crush of spooky tourism in October. Our customers let me hurl tons of SFF and horror and witchy books at them but also, there are three colleges within five miles of us, so also lots of neat nonfiction.

What got you into bookselling?
The video store I worked at was closing and Borders was hiring and I knew I was good at alphabetically shelving rectangular entertainment media

What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people?
There is both a secret plushie collection and a very nice whiskey selection in the back office.

What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store?
My favorite way that our customers support us is when they bring their friends who are visiting from out of town to see the store like they’re showing off the Crown Jewels.

What’s your current favorite book to sell customers?
The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe is stupidly good!

How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves?
At Copperdogbooks.com!

Be sure to follow Copper Dog Books on Instagram and Facebook! (And check out their Bonfire store for sweet merch, including this shirt with the “best” review they got last year)

Check out Meg’s podcast interview with Joe and Elly here!

What Does It Mean to Have Distributed Client Publishers? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Once upon a time, we were a client publisher of Independent Publisher’s Group (IPG). Then, as we continued to grow, we embarked out on our own and now handle our own distribution in the U.S. Today, after that quintupled our sales, we began taking on our own client publishers that we distribute alongside our books. We take a look at what that means this week on the pod.

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!

Who is your reader? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

The first step of writing a book is figuring out who will read it. What else are they interested in? What attracts them to those things? What implicit assumptions are operating in how you think about people that will read your book? How are they harming you? How will they serve to determine the demographics of your reader? This week, we tackle all of this and more.

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!

Bookstore Solidarity Project: The Raven of Lawrence Kansas (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Each month we’re featuring a new indie bookstore that we operate in solidarity with. This month it’s the Raven, a classical bookstore of many reboots, owners, and iterations. The Raven is now worker-owned and specializes in supporting its local community, while providing a safe space for people in risk and a series of local and national marketing initiatives. We talk to co-owner Chris this week on the pod!

Visit The Raven Book Store’s website here!

For more from the Bookstore Solidarity Project, check out our interview about The Raven with co-owner Danny Caine here, and our podcast interview with Danny here! And snag a copy of How to Protect Bookstores and Why while you’re at it.

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!

I Love My Queer Kid: A Workbook to Affirm and Support Your LGBTQ+ Child or Teen

Create a loving, accepting home for your queer kid

This workbook is for parents and other caretakers whose child or young adult has come out as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, or any other queer identity. It includes nine weeks of accessible, thoughtful exercises designed to help you gain perspective, challenge your assumptions and fears, and better understand and connect with your kid. Drawing on his experience as a licensed mental health counselor working with queer youth and their families, Marc Campbell provides resources and real help for parents. The world may not always be kind to queer kids, but your home and family can be, and that makes all the difference. Whether you’re on board but confused or struggling deeply with learning about your kid’s identity, these exercises can help you do right by your child. By embarking on this workbook, you’ll increase your understanding of sexuality and gender, improve your connection with your kid, and learn to support them with love and acceptance as they navigate their unique path to adulthood.

How Do You Get A Job in Book Publishing? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

This is the question that just about everyone actually wants the answer to, beneath all of their qualifying questions: where are the jobs in publishing? Where is my job in publishing? So this week on the pod, we unpack the leverage of jobs, how to prepare yourself with job skills, and making yourself attractive in the workforce.

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!

Divine Deco Tarot

Glamorous, exuberant, luxurious decorative details suffuse this 78-card tarot deck. Inspired by the lushness of the early 20th-century Art Deco movement and the Balkan folk art of her native Albania, Gerta Egy’s images draw you into a fantasy world, beautiful and rich with meaning and feeling. Sprite-like human figures dance, writhe, and play with swords, wands, cups, and pentacles against modernist patterned backgrounds. Use these cards, based on the Rider-Waite system, for inspiration, reflection, and divination.

Practical Witch’s Almanac 2024: Grow Your Craft

A daily companion for exploring your spiritual path with weekly lessons in herbalism, divination, magic, and Witchcraft.

Enrich your spiritual and magical journey with The Practical Witch’s Almanac. This almanac provides more than Moon phases, Sabbats, and astronomical and astrological information. Every week you’ll explore lessons in herbalism, magic, divination, and more.

This practical guide gives you recipes, DIY projects, tips, and advice to keep you motivated and engaged as you grow your craft. You’ll explore tarot cards, runes, tea leaves, and other forms of divination. The herbal studies mentor you through basic teas, tinctures, foods, ointments, incense, and lotions while emphasizing the synergistic union of science and magic. The magic lessons help you hone your spell casting, and the spiritual studies assist you in exploring your beliefs.

Weekly bonus material is available at http://PracticalWitch.com/My2024. The Practical Witch Talk podcast expands on each week’s lessons.

Missed the Kickstarter? Rewards and add-ons are still available on our PledgeManager page!

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