For this week’s edition of the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Elly and Joe decided to pick a (friendly) fight . . . with each other. Watch or listen on as we try with only middling success to find publishing issues we disagree about and hash them out. In the first half we discuss our acquisitions process, an area where we often disagree about the merits of book proposals (and Joe elucidates how we ultimately make those calls), and in the second half of the episode we talk about the line between fiction and nonfiction.
We’re seeking your feminist science fiction and fantasy stories for the 12th anthology in the Bikes in Space series of books!
Please submit your original short fiction (in written or comics form) about bicycling from a feminist perspective. Stories should feature gardens, plants, or other products of photosynthesis. All three of these elements (bicycles, feminism, greenery) should be intrinsic to the narrative. Send your most creative imaginings of organic bicycle design materials, green witches delivering remedies by bike, time traveling wheels embedded in trees, hydroponics experiences in a carbon-neutral future, horticulturists going for a new pedal-powered land speed record, or whatever green and growing scenarios your brain can produce.
The genre can be anything fantastical—from hard sci fi to comedic fantasy to horror to slipstream or anything in that constellation—despite the series title, stories need not be be set in space. No fanfic, poetry, or erotica for this series, please.
I welcome submissions from marginalized authors and first-time authors.
Word count: 500 – 6,000 words
Format: Google doc, MS word, Pages, text document, or PDF. Comics submissions of up to 6 pages can be submitted in thumbnails.
Payment: A portion of profits after expenses from the Kickstarter project used to fund this book is split between contributors, with a guaranteed minimum of $50 each, plus copies of the book.
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.
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):
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 answer a frequently asked author question: What is up with that 2+ year timeline in our contract? Once the book is written, why does it take so dang long to get it in bookstores and in front of readers? We tackle this topic with gusto and possibly a tortoise and hare metaphor—watch or listen and find out!
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Cassidy and Carla Butwin, the intrepid creators of brand-new Microcosm publication If Animals CouldTalk. Hear their amazing story, which spans entire eras of viral social media, two very different publishing houses, and countless foul-mouthed, frank, all-too-human animals. Get into the details of producing a highly-visual book, and contemplate the merits of various editorial styles. This book is a publishing parable of our times. And it’s hilarious.
