How do you handle negative book reviews? Should you even handle them? What kinds of criticism do you engage with, and what’s the best way to go about it? Jane Friedman of The Hot Sheet to chat with Joe and Elly about the pros and cons of critical feedback.
You likely pass all kinds of plants and herbs in your day to day. But do you know who they are? Where they come from? Maggie Herskovitz can help! Her new book, “An Urban Field Guide to the Plants, Trees, and Herbs in Your Path” recently released, and this week on the pod she joins Joe and Elly to talk about the book’s story, cover design, and how she got into plant identification.
How do you raise your kids to be functional adults with big hearts, especially in the current timeline?
This week on the podcast, Bonnie Scott and Dr. Faith, authors of Unf*ck Your Parenting, join Joe and Elly to talk about the book’s journey and what’s new, respecting your kid, book bans, and more.
Bugs are everywhere! Humans often think of insects as gross or creepy, but we couldn’t survive without them.
In this love letter to bugs, biologist, linguist, and bug enthusiast Karyn Light-Gibson introduces us to an array of our notable neighbors, from bees to bedbugs, caterpillars to butterflies, ladybugs to katydids, and so, so many more. With informative glee and striking illustrations, she identifies the many bugs we encounter every day and delves into their place in science, history, art, literature, culture, cuisine, and even warfare.
You’ll learn so many cool facts about flies, beetles, moths, aphids, cicadas, bedbugs, crickets, cockroaches, and the other creeping, crawling, and flying critters that make our world go round. For every human, there are 1.4 billion insects in the world, playing a vital part of our ecosystem. A small percentage of bugs can be dangerous or spread disease, but the vast majority are our allies as indicators of environmental health, pollinators of our food, and a key part of the food web we rely on. Even the most wary readers will come away with a new perspective on the tiny creatures around them and a serious appreciation of just how important—and cool—bugs are.
This week on the pod, Elly, Joe, and Bernie are joined by Jelani Memory of A Kids Co, which recently became an imprint of DK. They talk about taking making your press an imprint of a larger publisher instead of just having it distributed, sticking to your mission during the process, and making your business like a cockroach (unkillable!).
Direct ordering for bookstores just got even easier
Hey, this is a fun little piece of news, but it’s going to be most useful and interesting to our industry pals and bookselling buddies, so feel free to keep scrolling if that doesn’t feel like it applies to you! The good news for everyone, though, is thatthis should make it even easier to find Microcosm titles on your local bookstore’s shelves—and easier to order them if you don’t see what you’re looking for. Thanks to everyone on both sides of the bookstore counter keeping this radical publisher afloat in wild times!
In our continuing mission to shore up the independent book world ecosystem, Microcosm Publishing’s in-house and distributed titles are now available on PubStock! PubStock is a Bookmanager tool that allows U.S. bookstores to get a live look at our available inventory—bookstores that use Bookmanager for their website/inventory/point of sale can now browse and purchase Microcosm titles with even greater ease, without having to look through our site and without running into availability issues. Our stock counts are updated daily, so our indie bookselling friends get a clearer picture than ever of what titles we have available, and how many.
Even better for the folks linked up with Batch, since we’re there, too! Ordering, receiving, and record-keeping just got way easier, building Microcosm’s inventory into the tools booksellers have at hand.
Love you, indie bookstores. Thanks for keeping it real! And as always, we’d love to hear from you about what we can do better to keep us all working, organizing, and thriving together.
Publishing changes all the time. Reader tastes shift, markets move, sometimes the memoir you’re reading was actually about Jesus all along. This week on the podcast, Joe and Elly hang out with The Hot Sheet‘s Jane Friedman to talk about the shifts they’re seeing in publishing deals, acquisitions, and tastes.
Joe, Elly, and Bernie sit down with Karen Krebser, author of “Tarot Through the Witch’s Year,” to chat about tarot in dark times, how to reconcile your practice with your privilege, tarot spreads for diving the future of publishing, and a bit of the history of tarot.
We publish new zineseach and every month (you read that right!), and we want to make sure you don’t miss any that could help you change your life and the world around you. So every month this year, we are going to share a roundup of what’s been released, and maybe a few sneak peeks at what’s ahead in the zine pipeline. So let’s dive in!
Unfuck Your Tarot: Using the Cards for Growth and Overcoming Trauma by Dr. Faith G. Harper Starting with Carl Jung’s enthusiasm for tarot’s archetypal power up through contemporary usage as a way to explore symbols and imagery in therapeutic settings, bestselling author Dr. Faith lays out helpful basics about the tarot and its connections to therapy work, alongside activities, prompts, and questions to consider in your own journey toward personal development and healing.
Transition Diaries by Finn Animal Bro An intimate, reflective, and charming personal account of coming out and transitioning, defying transmasc invisibility and enforced cultural norms. Through alter-ego KweerKat, the author celebrates the simple pleasures of becoming, being, and loving one’s self; the satisfaction of weight-lifting; the psycho-spiritual process of transition; and many other smart and tender thoughts depicted through sweet cat illustrations. Remember that no one else can tell you how to be yourself!
How to Pack for a Tripby Joe Biel and Elly Blue Packing for a trip can be overwhelming! Trying to future-cast the weather, how much you’ll walk, whether or not you’re going to dump a coffee on yourself…it’s a lot. Longtime and frequent travelers Joe and Elly have made this fun and friendly little zine to help you break down packing and trip prep into manageable chunks, full of tips and tricks to make it all easier.
Criminal or Hero?: Relatable Crimes of Modern Timesby Joe Biel and Elly Blue From political actions to mistaken thefts, unfortunate miscommunications to gleeful mischief, the most sympathetic person in these stories is usually the one on the wrong side of the law, with choice details and a little art to match. Read to be entertained and consider what we consider criminality in a new light—and you, too, can argue with your friends about your faves and foes within!
To stay on top of the latest Microcosm news, including the zines digest delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter! Also often includes cute pet pics and good puns.
Save money, save the planet, and craft a sustainable domestic life without relying on smelly, toxic, expensive consumer products. This handwritten and hand-drawn book of charming tutorials for natural housekeeping and home repair, organic gardening and food preservation, herbal first aid, and mending clothes is both fun and accessible. It’s full of simple skills that anyone can and should learn.
From creating healthy tinctures and salves to preserving excess food to fixing a leaky faucet, this book is great if you’re looking to live more simply, create a comfortable nest, and truly do it yourself. Combining the power of Raleigh Briggs’s bestselling Make Your Place and Make It Last to form a complete guide to everything you need to consume less and live more in line with your values.
