This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle the seemingly thorny question of how publishers can stay true to our decidedly un-capitalistic values while attempting to, you know, successfully participate in capitalism. Come for the ethical considerations, stay for the practical advice and decided lack of hand-wringing. Yes you can create the world you want to see and sustain your operations financially.
Back in 1996, Microcosm was born in Cleveland, and the ’20s so far have been all about getting back to our roots. First with opening a new warehouse back in Cleveland, managed and partially staffed by people who helped out back when we were brand new. And now we’re thrilled to announce the publication of a pair of new books that honor our roots.
Cleveland’s local NPR affiliate did a really nice in-depth article and video about Microcosm’s return to the city and the two new books:
And the books really shine for themselves (there’ve been more reviews of each than I’m linking to here, but this one in the Akron Beacon Journal is pretty representative):
Hello Cleveland: Things You Should Know About the Most Unique City in the World is an idiosyncratic love letter to the city, buoyantly written by Nick Perry and illustrated by Jason Look. Nick and Joe were recently on the radio talking about the book, the city, and Microcosm.
Speak In Tongues: An Oral History of Cleveland’s Infamous DIY Punk Venue nods to another piece of Microcosm lore—Joe started out selling zines at the bar at this anarchic all-ages club. This book’s been getting some really nice feedback (check out this public media review and Sean Carnage’s interview with Eric), and we had the pleasure of talking with the author, local reporter Eric Sandy, for our podcast:
Thank you, Cleveland, for all you’ve given to us—we hope we can do you justice and keep giving back for years to come.
P.S. Want more Cleveland music history? Last year we published A. Iwasa’s zine Clevo Style about the history of the local hardcore scene.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about decision-making. When should you follow conventional wisdom or do what you see your fellow publishers doing? How do you determine what works for you? When you’re torn between two seemingly equivalent paths, how do you figure out which one to take? We give you some metrics and a flow chart here, because one practical step forward is better than a hundred think pieces about how not to do it.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about some of the influences behind how we got into publishing in the first place and why we do it the way we do. Let’s just say it’s not our grandfathers’ literary canon.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly are joined by Ariel Gore, author of many books including The Wayward Writer, which comes out this fall and offers encouragement and wisdom for writing with the goal of publication. (You can back it on Kickstarter right now!)
In this extra-long episode we dig into the question of gatekeeping in publishing. What is it, is it all bad, how do you get past it or work around it?
Want even more on the topic of gatekeepers? Here’s an older episode Joe and Elly recorded last year covering similar ground.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle the question that many would-be writers have but may not want to ask: What to even write about?
It’s a good follow-up to last week’s episode about how to build a career as a writer.
Sometimes we’re on the sidelines, really looking forward to a book coming out. And then it doesn’t. Why? Is it censorship? Ideological differences? Did the market change? Did the author die? Is it something else? People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly take a look at some of the reasons publishers pull the plug on some books, despite everyone’s intentions and common goals.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle a common, usually fraught question among authors and publishers: If you want out of a book contract, how can you cancel it? The answer depends on the contract itself and we dive right into the hows and whys of it.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we talk about one of the most serious aspects of growth—training new people into the publishing industry and your own company’s processes! We talk about making sure people understand the goals and big picture, investing the time it really takes to train and manage someone, giving people space to make mistakes and learn from them, and what you can learn from your new workers and their fresh view of your processes.
This week’s People’s Guide to Publishing podcast tackles one of the more glamorous and high-class aspects of the publishing industry: receiving pallets! This is the good stuff and we know this is what you’re in it for. Watch or listen and Joe and Elly get into the very basics of freight shipping and walk you through the steps of receiving a pallet of books at your warehouse or in front of your house or apartment or whatever hijinks you are up to. We go through how to prepare, what to expect, negotiating with the driver and your possibly miffed neighbors, and what to do if there’s been damage or a mistake.