Posts By: microcosm

How Do I Protect Bookstores? (with Danny Caine) (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Every trip out of the house results in sad looks from strangers about how nobody reads anymore or how the bookstores are all gone. It’s not uncommon for us to tell people about thriving indie bookstores in their own towns and how sales at independents are up with more stores since 2007! This week on the pod, we welcome back Danny Caine to talk about his brand new book How to Protect Bookstores (and Why)!

Order your own copy of How to Protect Bookstores and Why here. (And here are Danny’s other book and zine!)

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How Should You Utilize Profit & Loss Statements? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

For most publishers, profit and loss statements are either an afterthought, something they “don’t have time for,” or a ritualistic capitalistic enterprise that they want nothing to do with. This week on the pod, we feature an extra-long episode about how to learn from them, what they can be best utilized for, and how to sort out the information from success or failure to do it better next time.

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!

Do Smaller Publishers Have Different Economic Models? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Much ink has been spilt over the illusion that big publishers have different economic models. The reality is that larger publishers benefit from scale but the economic models are the same. What does that mean? More books gets more access and streamlines costs and departments, but when it comes down to each book, well…check out this week’s episode!

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!

If Animals Could Talk: An Adult Coloring Book for Adults

From the bestselling book that went viral for traumatizing a 6-year-old and her precious grandmother (google it) comes an equally off-color coloring book. Have a laugh and decompress while coloring your way through the untamed thoughts of your favorite animals. This coloring book features nearly 60 quotes from different animals, all of whom have zero say in how you color them. They’re completely helpless and entirely at the mercy of your coloring utensil of choice (yes, even markers, you sick f*cks). Go wild!

Culpeper’s Complete Astrology: The Lost Art of Astrological Medicine

Delve into the astrological wisdom of Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th-century herbalist and astrologer whose writing about health and herbsmade a mark on medicine that resonates to the present day. His astute eye, keen wit, and encyclopedic knowledge led him to create his definitive English Physician, more commonly known today as Culpeper’s Complete Herbal. Planetary influences were key to his understanding of illness and healing. In his philosophy, each illness is governed by astrology, and the time at which a person takes to their sickbed is significant to their diagnosis and healing. His Semeiotica uranica, or, An astrological judgment of diseases from the decumbiture of the sick was a seminal early work of medical astrology and is published here as a historical document of great fascination to astrologers as well as to historians of herbalism and medicine. This edition includes modernized English spelling and expert guidance on how to decipher the work and consider Culpeper’s influence in modern context.

Also included are a foreword by Alice Sparkly Kat, author of Postcolonial Astrology, and an introduction by Judith Hill, author of Medical Astrology.

How Can Publishers Expand Adult Reading? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

You can read many academic articles about the need to get more people reading and how wonderful this would be for critical thinking and education. But most publishers focus on fighting over the exact same shelf space at the exact same stores. So this week on the pod, we talk about how to reach new people with your books and turn them into readers!

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!

Why make masturbation graphic? An interview with Vic Liu (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Vic Liu’s Bang! delivers a walloping dose of information about masturbation; probably more than most readers have ever thought about it. And we think that considering it in more depth is a good thing. So this week we talk to Vic about what led her to pursue talking about these things in public.

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!

Stress Coping Skills Deck

We live in an era when stress is a way of life and can seem inescapable. But stress doesn’t have to run our lives, and it can even be our friend, according to Dr. Faith G. Harper, bestselling author of titles like Unfuck Your Brain, Unfuck Your Body,and Unfuck Your Stress. 

This 52-card deck offers exercises, reflections, and conversation starters to help us tackle the stressful situations and relationships in our lives. Two types of cards can be mixed together or used separately: Survive cards provide short-term strategies you can use to find focus and purpose in difficult moments; Thrive cards offer longer-term strategies to change your relationship with stress, helping you shift your perspective, assumptions, habits, and self-talk so that intense feelings can motivate rather than overwhelm you. 

Use these cards on your own or with your partner, a friend, or your therapist to build confidence and trust in your ability to handle whatever the world throws at you.

Queer Affirmations (An Interview with Joe Carlough and Ally Schwed) (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

It started as a joke at the kitchen table at 7 AM before AWP. We were looking at the many books of “helpful sayings” that really didn’t say anything at all besides repeating unhelpful wisdom of olde. We realized how heterosexual these platitudes were and before long Joe announced “I’d love to write the queer version of this book!” and here we are, less than two years later!

The Queer Affirmations Coloring Book is in stock now! Get it 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!

How do we solve publishing’s Biggest Problem? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

Last week we presented to you the biggest problem in publishing. So this week, we present the solution. Yes, the industry is very crowded but people are reading more and buying more books than ever and willing to spend more on those books. It’s downright a fantastic time to be a book publisher. This week we look at how to excel!

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!

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