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.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishinghere, and the workbook here! Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!
Publishing a book is both the end, and the start, of a long process of bringing your writing into the world and getting your book into the hands of readers. Promoting your book starts long before publication day, or even before the manuscript is finished, and continues long after your book comes out. As a writer, marketer, and community builder, I know that promoting your book can feel intimidating, burdensome, overwhelming, nerve-wracking, and exhilarating all at once. The exercises in this workbook break down the process into manageable, understandable pieces and make it fun along the way.
The fact of the matter is that whether your book is self-published, published by an independent press, or put out by a major publisher, you as the author are the one who needs to work the hardest to get it out into the world. Whether you are still in the process of writing your book or eagerly waiting for its publication day, working through these exercises will enable you to confidently create a sustainable promotion plan that makes sense for your book, audience, and life.
No one is born knowing how to promote themselves or their work. Marketing and promotion are skills that are learned. As you practice, you will feel more comfortable putting yourself and your work out into the world and will learn what works for you, your writing, and your community of readers. The exercises in this workbook are ones I’ve used myself to promote my books and honed for over a decade through helping creative people develop the business side of their practice and build support for their projects. I’m excited to share them with you so that you can use them to take concrete steps to create a supportive environment for your book to thrive and succeed.
How to use this workbook
This workbook is intended to complement my book Promote Your Book. For deeper context, insight, and advice from a wide variety of authors as well as literary, marketing, and community-building professionals, I suggest you read the book alongside this workbook and do the exercises in order. For those doing these exercises in conjunction with reading the book, I’ve noted the chapter that each exercise corresponds to. But whether you are using this workbook as a companion to the book or as a standalone, it is designed to take you step-by-step through the book promotion process so that you gain a holistic understanding of how to reach your readers. If possible, I recommend working through these exercises before your book comes out and using them to create a full book promotion plan, which is outlined in the last section of this workbook.
While there is no one pathway to success for a book and no proven formula to make your book a smash hit, there are concrete actions you can take to support your book and its trajectory in the world. Consider this workbook your starting place.
Chapter One: Building literary community
While the act of writing is often an isolating one, publishing a book means connecting with the wider world. Being a writer of any kind, whether you are writing in a specific genre or about a specific subject, connects you with a community. The sooner you can start building and deepening connections with communities who can support you as a writer or who would be interested in the subject of your book, the broader the basis of support you will have during and after publication. Community is not a one-way street, but rather an exchange between people with shared interests and values. This is important to keep in mind as you complete the exercises in this section, which will enable you to make a plan to connect with and engage your community.
Reflect and brainstorm. Write down three communities you are already part of:
1.
2.
3.
Now, write down three specific communities your book might speak to:
1.
2.
3.
Reflect: Where is there overlap? If there isn’t overlap, why?
If there’s no overlap between the communities that you are a part of and the communities that your book speaks to, that indicates space to grow and a potential place to prioritize. You may find that you need to focus your energies on building community in places that are interested in what you are writing about. The next set of exercises can help you focus on how to engage, and as you do so, you may find more overlap.
Welcome to the next installment of the Bookstore Solidarity Project! Every month, we’ll be highlighting indie bookstore owners and booksellers across the country(and beyond!)
For May, we’re featuring Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA!
Avid is an iconic indie store who have been up to all kinds of cool things lately, including calling for the University of Georgia to collaborate with local bookstores and businesses for their events, and suing Gwinnett County Jail over their mail policy that prevents Avid and other bookstores from mailing books to incarcerated people.
We spoke to owner and founder Janet Geddis. Check it out below!
Your name and pronouns? Janet Geddis, she/her
Tell us a little bit about the store and your community. In 2004, I moved to Athens, Georgia for what was supposed to be a two-year stint during my graduate program. I had grown up in nearby Atlanta but hadn’t lived in Georgia since I was in high school. Because most Athenians I knew back then were students, I figured there wasn’t much going on if you weren’t affiliated with the university; if I wanted to live in Athens, this was my one chance. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Athens is my forever-town, somewhere I can’t imagine leaving for long. I fell in love with this creative enclave, a little blue dot amid the mostly-red state. Even before announcing my plans to open a bookstore, I felt a strong sense of community. Once I started Avid Bookshop, my connection to the community grew ever stronger.
In 2007, a friend and I decided to begin researching the possibility of opening a bookstore in Athens. In 2008, we announced our plans and immediately garnered lots of encouragement and support from the Athens community, our friends, our family (even if they were trepidatious!), and the then-unfamiliar book world. Those of you who weren’t adults in 2008 (or those of you who’ve blocked out that period) might have forgotten that that was the year of a recession that was devastating for millions. Not the ideal time to ask banks and private lenders for capital to help open an independent bookstore, especially as folks [whose feedback I wasn’t actually asking for] openly said what a bad idea it was to open a bookstore, especially with Amazon’s continued dominance and the growing buzz about these “ebooks” that were going to make paper books totally irrelevant.
Because we’re still open now, in the year 2024, you know that I did manage to open a bookstore. In 2011, I finally opened a small shop on Prince Avenue, an 800 sq ft historic space less than half a mile from where I was living at the time. In 2016, we opened a second location in a different neighborhood of town. And, on the last day of 2019, we voluntarily closed our original store. (Within a few months, the decision to pivot back to a one-store business model proved to be an inadvertently genius move, as keeping one store going amidst a pandemic was hard enough.)
I am so proud of my store and of my staff past and present. My current crew is especially tight, and I love how we share with each other, support each other, ask for help when needed, and hold each other accountable. And yes, the “we” includes me even though I’m ostensibly the one who’s in charge of it all. It’s not always easy to hear, but getting my colleagues’ feedback on is instrumental and I am grateful for how well we communicate with respect and appreciation, no matter if we’re praising one another or asking folks to step up.
We look to our mission statement to guide our decision-making, our buying, our decision to speak out (or not), our relationships with customers, and more. Check it out here.
What got you into bookselling? A lifelong obsession with reading; a BA in English; understanding that, while I was a good teacher, I didn’t feel truly inspired or alive while teaching; my deep love for Athens; the fact that this college town didn’t have the kind of community-focused bookstore it so richly deserved.
How did you choose your store’s name? My friend Amy, who was my original business partner in the early planning stages, thought of it. While I liked the name, I was vying for “Word.” We had thought of tons of options (crowdsourcing from friends during happy hour was always fun), but Avid and Word were the top two contenders. Then, in 2009 or so, I was visiting a dear friend who lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We emerged from the subway and I stopped in my tracks: there, right in front of me, was an eye-catching neighborhood bookstore called WORD. Someone already had the name! “Oh,” my friend said, “This is the bookstore I wanted to show you. Isn’t it cute?” Reader, it was cute. It is cute. And it is the reason I told my friend that we should go with Avid. My one sticking point was that we call it Avid Bookshop, not Avid Bookstore. The emphasis on “shop” conjures a cozier, friendlier, and decidedly indie vibe. (Side note: not long after seeing WORD for the first time, I became buddies with the then-manager and the owner. Fast forward to now, and the founding owner of WORD, Christine Onorati, is one of my dearest friends and confidantes!)
What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people? Depends on which people you mean.
Those in and outside of the book world might be surprised to know that—despite Avid’s being in a state where employees are not legally entitled to as many rights as they should be—I voluntarily and eagerly offer paid time off, sick leave, and a generous family leave policy. In spring 2022, we redefined “full-time” as working 35 hours per week instead of 40 (without a corresponding decrease in pay).
Those not in the publishing-bookselling ecosystem might not realize that a bookstore can do as well we do yet still struggle mightily to pay our bills each month. In spite of our high sales, accolades, community support, and excellent hand selling skills, it’s profoundly difficult to stay in the black (outside of the holiday season, at least). This industry is a notoriously tough one in which to turn a profit, and it’s getting harder. But we’re still here and I have zero plans to give up trying to find a better way.
What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store? I could write a book-length response to this, but I’ll stick with this: I am deeply honored that many in our community share their hearts with us. They come here knowing that this is one place where they will be seen and appreciated by us and by each other.
Amid personal and worldwide crises (post-Election-Day 2016), people feel safe at Avid. In moments of boundless joy (a pregnancy was just confirmed! a marriage proposal went off without a hitch!), they celebrate with us. During hours or months of staggering bewilderment and grief (a life-changing diagnosis; a friend’s death), they know we will welcome them exactly as they are. When significant things happen in their lives, or when they’re dealing with big feelings, Avid is among their first destinations, a place where booksellers and patrons can bear witness to whatever they want to share.
What are two books you can’t wait for people to read, or your current favorite handsells? Briefly Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur; Liars by Sarah Manguso.
How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves and support you? Buy yourself one of our famous subscriptions (a twice-named best gift idea from Wirecutter!), or virtually order just about any book that’s still in print from our website. Check out our staff pages, where you can see what our different booksellers are into. Find a bookseller whose taste jives with yours? Buy a staff pick from their list, or ask if they can be your personal bookseller choosing titles if you do buy one of those subscriptions. You can find us on X & Instagram: @avidbookshop. We’re most active on IG!
Anything else you’d like to share? We <3 Microcosm!
What is a regional trade association? What can they do for you as a bookseller or a publisher? This week on the pod, we feature Larry Law, executive director of the Great Lakes Bookseller Association, to learn more about this ecosystem and how it can work even better.
Corporate publishing has the distinct advantage of scale: they command more sales dollars, so they can push customers and vendors around more. This week, we take a look at options and opportunities for small publishers to band together and share resources, learn from each other, and be stronger together. Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, unpacks it all for us and more!
You may know King’s Coop Bookstore as the winner of our How to Resist Amazondisplay contest a few years back, but they are so much cooler than just that! This week on our continuing Bookstore Solidarity Project, we bring you a deeper dive into the realities of bookselling. From attempting to rip a book in half to walking around campus and seeing everyone reading the same thing, it’s all in here!
For more on King’s Coop Bookstore, check out their Bookstore Solidarity Project interview on the blog.
Have you ever wondered whether your neighborhood has hidden histories or radical roots? Our surroundings are the sites of rich cultural histories, whether or not prevailing systems of power deem them worthy of preservation. In our hometown of Portland, OR, an innovative new digital history project is bringing forth stories of community strength, vibrancy, and resistance—a legacy that even includes Microcosm’s headquarters!
Credit: Oregon Black Pioneers, “Hidden Landmarks of Albina’s Black Community”
“Hidden Landmarks of Albina’s Black Community” is a new, interactive digital exhibit and Storymap created by Oregon Black Pioneers, a Portland-based organization working to illuminate the over 400-year history of African American Oregonians across the state; and Moreland Resource Consulting, a community development firm founded by author and community leader Kimberly Moreland, who was granted an Oregon Heritage Excellence Award earlier this month. Both organizations worked on the project in partnership with Restore Oregon’s Albina Preservation Initiative.
The digital exhibit takes a close look at Albina, a historically Black neighborhood in Portland, documenting the cultural significance of thirty properties around the area. Some remain today, while others have been lost to intentional displacement and so-called development and urban renewal efforts over the past half century. Oregon Black Pioneers write that the exhibit “highlights structures hidden in plain sight, which together reveal the social, political, and entrepreneurial bonds of 20th-century Black Portlanders.”
Explore the map, and you might notice some familiar places, including Microcosm’s Portland office! This building was once the NAACP Credit Union, which provided loans and banking services to Black Portlanders who were denied services at other banks in the city. We love seeing our home base included in this project, and we take seriously the responsibility of our presence in this culturally and historically significant place. We are excited to see this property included in a project that could change the course of how preservation is approached on a much larger scale, and we’re grateful to our neighbors and these organizations for bringing this and other untold stories of our city to light. By celebrating the radical histories of the cities, landscapes, and communities we inhabit, we keep their liberatory spark alive, strengthening our coalitions across generations.
Credit: Oregon Black Pioneers, “Hidden Landmarks of Albina’s Black Community”
At the release event for this very book, the first question was about making money from audiobooks. The answer? It’s complicated. And increasingly so with Spotify joining the fray. This week we tackle best practices, best approaches, and how to sell audiobook content—with special guest Jane Friedman of the Hot Sheet!
It’s almost one of our favorite days of the year— Independent Bookstore Day! To celebrate, here’s a roundup of some of the stores we’ll be visiting, why we love indies, and a big ol’ giveaway we’re doing to help share the love.
Independent Bookstore Day is held the last Saturday in April every year as a way for stores to celebrate their communities (and vice versa!). Some stores do special edition releases, merch, signings, and other fun shenanigans, and we’re really hyped to be celebrating the celebration this year!
We’re going to try and visit some of our local (and not-so-local) stores this Saturday! Kalen, Elly, and Joe are hanging out at IBPA in Denver, but they’re hoping to swing by Shop at MATTER and Munity Information Cafe. Terry and Anna-Lisa are going to try and stop by Spoke & Word and Annie Bloom’s. Abby (me!) is pumped to finally visit Possible Futures on our way to the Connecticut Fiber Festival. Other staff are going to their indies, too! We hope to see you there.
We wish we could check out EVERY STORE because they’re all kickass, but alas, we haven’t invented time travel or perfected our cloning techniques, so you’ll have to go in our stead. Click here to see if an indie near you is joining the party this weekend.
To enter, simply purchase or special order a Microcosm-published title at a US indie on Saturday the 27th. Online orders count, but due to shipping costs the giveaway is only open to folks with an address in the United States.
Then you just upload your receipt or proof of purchase to this Google Form by April 30th to be entered to win. Other details, terms, and conditions about the giveaway can be found on the entry form. Winners will be contacted within the week.
Thanks again for supporting indie publishing and bookstores. We genuinely can’t do any of this without you.
Leah Hernandez has a story unlike that of most publishers. With a background in business, she realized that children relate better with younger authors and set out to do the thing that small presses do best: fulfill a need that big publishers cannot even detect. This week on the pod, we interview her about how she built Muse and Young Authors Publishing as well as the creative solutions that she’s created for distribution!
Get the People’s Guide to Publishinghere, and the workbook here! Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!
