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!
Whether you’re a seasoned stoner or newly cannabis-curious, we’re happy to help you celebrate this high holiday for all who appreciate the many gifts of Mary Jane.
Whatever way you grind, roll, vape, bake, or smoke it, cannabis is a multifaceted—and increasingly de-stigmatized—substance with a remarkable array of applications. To mark the weed-based holiday touted (and toasted) around the world, here’s a collection of titles that showcase this special plant and how to use it.
Weed is a powerful medicine, and growing your own is as empowering as it gets. Experienced Humboldt farmer Madrone Stewart shares her hard-won knowledge gained from years of growing cannabis, Zen meditation, and surviving as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She walks you through the big picture and details of growing six backyard plants, from selecting seeds to harvesting and processing. Humorous, sage, and with a big heart, each chapter is infused with what she’s learned about equalizing the weed industry, applying mindfulness to pest management, and the importance of owning each step of the process. If you’ve ever wanted to grow your own pot or make hash or kief at home, this book is your wise guide.
No longer relegated to back-alley dealings, the world of cannabis has evolved into a snazzy, appealing business. With striking imagery, high-art photography, and thoughful writing, this book highlights the creators, entrepreneurs, brands, consumers, and designs that have made cannabis what it is today. While the focus is on new trends in the cannabis as a revolutionized industry, High on Design also provides a holistic view of cannabis culture by examining crime, addiction, science, hemp in clothing, and marketing cannabis as a recreational or a medical product. All hail the new en vogue herb!
One of the most asked topic concerning CBD is how it can help improve your sex life. In this all-encompassing, no-hold-barred exploration, you will find a range of recipes, bedroom activities, and tricks for enhancing your sexual experience. With explanations on how cannabis can help increase pleasure and intimacy, you will learn the how-to on everything from dirty talk to erotic massage. For anyone interested in either solo or partnered sex exploration, you are sure to learn something to help cultivate a satisfying sex life.
There’s more to the high life than good kush. Get educated and inspired to live your best smoker life with this zine that includes: Weed 101!—a simple introduction to types of cannabis and what makes it work, from cannabinoids to terpenes to the “entourage effect”; Why I Smoke Weed—explorations of the question so many non-tokers ask with honesty and no judgement; Notes on Race and Stigma—including why the term “marijuana” should probably be avoided (hint: its racist origins!); Tips and Tricks—from how to make a pipe out of a strawberry to the easiest cannabutter recipe around, and a bit more.
As much an art book as a how-to guide, this gorgeously photographed book walks you through the hows, whys, whens, and wheres of growing your own pot in places where it’s legal to do so. It doesn’t have to be terribly complicated, and Johanna offers the basics you need, from choosing and starting seeds and clones through planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, curing, and trimming, and what to do with the finished product. The beautiful pictures throughout illustrate every stage of the process, as well as introducing you to a variety of cannabis growers and their gardens.
This meditative, art-filled adult coloring book is inspired by the beauty of women and gender fluid people who savor the qualities of the cannabis plant. They are empowered, intelligent, motivated humans who pay no mind to judgment, for they’re making their mark in this world no matter their color, shape, size, age, or gender. You’ll enjoy coloring these highly detailed and varied pages, with tattoos, patterned garb, shape-filled backgrounds, marijuana bouquets, and gorgeous faces. While you color, partake in the transcendental qualities of weed and contemplate what empowerment means to you.
The Funk Brothers, the legendary bestselling band (possibly of all time) and house band of Motown Records, wrote and performed on more tracks than you could possibly guess. This week on the pod, we take a look at how their approach informed our approach to book editing: taking an author’s expert views on a topic and expanding them into servicing the reader’s interest and needs.
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!
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 April, we’re featuring King’s Co-op Bookstore, in Halifax!
King’s is a kickass store, which they cheekily claim is “Canada’s hardest to find indie bookstore.” It’s Halifax’s only co-op bookshop, and they’re definitely good friends to the Microcosm community.
Check out our interview with Paul below!
Your name and pronouns? Paul MacKay, he/him
Tell us a little bit about the store and your community! Our store was primarily created in 2006 by students who needed an easy and affordable place to buy their coursebook texts. The Foundation Year Programme at the University of King’s College is about 45 books in very specific editions and translations and it could be incredibly hard to find exactly what you needed. A group of students got together and found a free spot on campus which is quite small but special shelves were created that allowed the bookshelves to open and close and lock up so that common areas could still be usable for the bookstore. (This shows an old video showing how it works, I’ve since updated the fixtures and it looks a lot better)
We’re pretty hard to find at first, being in the basement of a building on campus, so I leaned into it and describe us as Canada’s Hardest to Find Bookstore since even google maps will only put you on campus but not right at the store. Since we’re owned by the students we’re not like usual university bookstores and we’re also a regular indie bookstore with fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, etc. We’re also totally open to the public and do special orders all the time either in store or on our website where we promote ourselves as a friendly and easy amazon alternative. We like to engage with things we think are important in the community and we like to champion books and reading, and work hard to bring authors to town who people might not usually have the chance to see.
Our standing in the community grew a lot as word of mouth got out of what we were doing during covid. Since the university closed we had to stay closed too, but I would run books outside for people and also delivered books on my bike. People really liked that idea and also were looking for ways to support local since so many businesses were struggling. Between that and a more personal approach to social media we’ve really become more of a community bookstore which was always my goal when I took over this place (about 6 years ago)
How did you choose your store’s name? The store name was already chosen by the time I took over the store. I do appreciate it’s specificity, King’s co-op bookstore, a co-op bookstore at King’s. Does what it says on the tin.
What got you into bookselling? This was never something I ever really intended to do. I’ve always loved books and would often cut classes in school to go hang out at the bookstore and learn things I cared about, but my real career plan was to be a musician and music professor. I picked up the guitar when I was around 18 and really took to it, earning a double major degree in music and psychology shortly after, and then went for more schooling in jazz guitar performance. That was my sole reason for being for years and it was all I cared about but eventually the strain and overuse of my arm caused repetitive strain injury that meant I had to quit playing. When I take to something I get kind of obsessive, so I was practising from about 8am to 10pm every day which my body just kind of revolted against.
I moved back home and needed to get a job quickly so I applied at the same chain bookstore i used to hang out at when I cut classes. I got hired there and would shelve books with my one good arm. I got promoted to being one of the managers of that store after a few years and during that time I met a lot of great people who introduced me to amazing books that really changed my life and that I developed a real passion for books that has only grown over the years
What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people? I think the most surprising thing about our store is how we fold up and close down every day like we’re a pop-up shop every day. As far as I know we’re the only bookstore in the world like it, and it’s always something I show people when authors come to visit. I wasn’t around at the time the bookstore was started but I do love that it was a very DIY project with a sort of “whatever, we’ll do it ourselves” punk attitude. Bookselling is getting harder and hard nowadays and there’s a huge financial barrier to opening a bookstore or even buying one that’s for sale, so I take pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish in such a weird space without much in the way of money
What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store? We recently started a program with Books Beyond Bars which is a local group that works to get books to inmates in the women’s prisons here. I asked them to share their book requests with me and I put them on our website with a promo code so people can buy the books to support the program at a 20% discount.
So far we’ve managed to get them close to 100 books and we’re all really happy about it. The people supporting the program get to pay less, we help give the prisoners books they actually want to read, and the money stays the community instead of going you know where. You never know how a certain initiative will land with people and I’ve been really happy with the response this has gotten.
Outside of that, I manage all the social media for the store and people taking the time to make posts about how much they like the store or recommending us to others is always nice. They absolutely don’t need to do anything like that so if they feel the desire to do something like that you know they mean it 🙂
What are two books you can’t wait for people to read, or your current favorite handsells? I’m really stoked for the new Hanif Abdurraqib book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. I read an advanced copy of it and like everything he does it’s just amazing. I’m not a big sports fan at all and even I was taking breaks from reading it to watch slam dunk contents from like 30 years ago because the way he writes about them is so incredible.
Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is easily one of my favourite fiction books in the last year too. It’s his first novel after some poetry collections, and his writing is just beautiful. Another one that I just devoured and want everybody to read.
How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves? Our website kingsbookstore.ca has everything on it that we have in store and we offer a flat $5 fee for shipping whether it’s 1 book or 20 books. we can also order in anything we don’t currently have also, so instead of going to the evil A they can just go to our website instead 🙂
(Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. – James Baldwin)
Anything else you want to share? I won the contest for Danny Caine’s How to Resist Amazon and Why a while back which was great. I sold tons of them and also left copies at busy places in the city for people to find. Danny mentions us in the book which was a nice surprise when I was first reading it 🙂
Be sure to follow King’s Co-Op on their socials, and check back in a few weeks for their podcast episode!
After the recent news of Small Press Distribution (SPD) closing, we thought it would be prudent to walk through best practices for changing a distributor! A distributor is a publisher’s warehouse, sales, and fulfillment arms. It’s their to-market force, and it’s often the difference between sinking and swimming.
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!
