This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly are joined by From Dream to Reality author Jessie Kwak to talk about how to write a compelling pitch… for authors pitching a book to publishers, freelance writers pitching an article or project, publicists promoting a book to the media, or for most anything.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we’re joined by publishing pundit Guy LeCharles Gonzalez to discuss that important question: does an author need to already be famous (or have x number of social media followers) to publish a book? Guy walks us through the reality of the situation and turns the tables in a refreshing take—should a publisher also have a platform? Lots of marketing chops and unconventional takes for our loyal readers to noodle on here.
Today on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we welcome guest Jessie Kwak, author of several books from Microcosm, most recently including From Dream to Reality: How to Make a Living as a Freelance Writer. Jessie shares some of her methods and perspectives, shares what it’s actually like to do this work, and tells us about the event she’s organizing for next year, the Author Alchemy Summit.
Our latest publication is a huge, fun coloring book showcasing the wonderous queerness of the natural world: Queer Animals and Plants Coloring Book by Kes Otter Lieffe and illustrated by Anja Van Geert. The finished product just came back from the printer, and it’s gorgeous—and probably going to immediately get banned in 20 states. We’re sure your state congressional leaders would be horrified to learn that beings from bison to herons to lichen are out their living their best lives far outside the gender binary and with sexualities humans can hardly conceive of. All the more reason to learn this science yourself … and color your rage away while you’re at it.
Kes and Anja kindly sent us replies to some questions about how this book came to be and what other queer ecological liberation projects they are up to—safely outside the US for now. Thanks, you two, we need your work now more than ever!
What inspired you to write your book?
We’re both ecologists and have been thinking about the subject of queer ecology for decades. In Kes’s first novel, Margins and Murmurations, there is a scene about a same sex couple of Kestrels (called Bert and Ernie), and a long romantic walk between two characters who are geeking out together about queerness in more-than-human community. That scene inspired several zines, workshops, articles and… Queer Animals and Plants Coloring Book!
Researching, writing (Kes) and illustrating (Anja) for the book has been a huge adventure. We knew there was a lot to learn, but even we were surprised by the sheer beauty of the stories we discovered along the way.
What else have you written?
Kes is a speculative fiction writer and the author of Margins, a trilogy of novels in which marginalised characters take centre stage in powerful resistance movements. She also has a new novel on the way. She has written several short stories and articles and writes from a working-class, chronically ill, transfeminine perspective.
Anja has published some articles on their medium blog on several topics concerning their work as a breathwork practitioner and herbalist.
What’s the best book you read in the last year?
Kes really enjoyed Embassytown, a beautiful and linguistically rich sci fi novel by China Miéville. And of course, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which she can’t recommend enough.
Anja loved exploring the years of experience of no-dig gardener Charles Dowding who shares so abundantly in his books and especially enjoyed Skills for Growing.
What’s next for you?
We are currently deep in the process of writing an accessible science book about queer ecology together. It’s nerdy, political and very exciting! We’re also getting to do some proper science research which is fun.
Kes is putting together a queer ecology podcast, releasing a new novel and a translation of her first one. She also has a lot of seeds to plant before summer arrives.
Anja is setting up a smallholding in the Scottish countryside with their partner Emma, and exploring ways to hold space for queer people as a herbalist and breathwork practitioner.
Where can people find you online?
Kes’s writing, podcast and other projects are at www.otterlieffe.com
Anja’s breathwork and herbalism work is at www.pinprimrose.co.uk and their medium blog is https://medium.com/@avgeert
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about the secret sauce… how publishers can know whether or not a book they’re considering acquiring will sell. We talk about information to collect and strategies and tools that you can use to look into the future and determine if your new book will fly off the shelves or sit gathering dust.
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we interview special guest John Cordero, author of the brand new Microcosm book The History of Miami Hip Hop. John was a teenage hip hop head and graffiti artist who started an underground newspaper, The Cipher, with his friends in the late 90s to chronicle the burgeoning scene around them that was being ignored by mainstream magazines. He drew on his reporting, memories, and interviews with others who were there to bring us this fun and fascinating book, full of photos and vivid events. He joined us for a video interview to talk about the book (and offers some of the best advice about publishing we’ve ever had on the show).
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we were joined by Gwen Olton, co-director of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, to talk about her new book that’s hot off the press from Microcosm, From Conflict to Community: Transforming Conflicts without Authorities. We love this book, which borrows from many different styles of conflict transformation and resolution to bring us the practical tools we need to listen to each other and navigate the conflicts we face every day — without calling the cops or HR.
Check out the video below, and also read the blog interview Gwen wrote for us to talk more about her book and its process of coming into the world!
MCP: What inspired you to write your book?
GO: There were a few things that coalesced to inspire me to write the book. I had finished reading Sarah Schulman’s Conflict Is Not Abuse and her discussions of “bad friend” groups and the influence they have on conflicts stuck with me. At the same time, I was supporting many folks with conflicts that were relatively minor – not the sort of thing you might bring to a mediator but enough that they were disruptive in a person’s life. Meanwhile, whenever I was invited to facilitate a workshop on conflict or attend someone else’s workshops or skillbuilding on conflict we were very rarely talking about how to support others in conflict when you’re not a mediator or the parties aren’t really sitting down together to discuss. And amidst all of this, has been the growing awareness of just how much we escalate conflicts up to authorities instead of working within our circles to try to work things out.
What was it like to publish with Microcosm?
Easy peasy! I don’t have a basis of comparison since this is my first book, but communication and transparency have been excellent, which I really appreciate.
What was the submission/query process like for you?
They were pretty straightforward processes. I had an idea for this book, I fleshed it out a bit and submitted the idea. Then, I exchanged some emails with Microcosm and provided a writing sample or two and that was that!
Do you still have your original query to us? Are you willing to share it?
Sure! See below:
This book would benefit the reader by offering a large array of strategies for transforming conflicts without appeals to punitive authority figures.
Three publications similar to mine would be:
1. How to be Accountable Workbook: Take responsibility to change your behavior
2. Doing it Better: Conflict resolution and accountability after abuse in leftist communities
3. Unfuck Your Boundaries: Build better relationships through consent, communication, and expressing your needs
My book is unique from these and other titles in that it provides the reader with tools for successfully navigating these struggles as both a participant in a conflict and as a 3rd-party intervener without formal training. Folks would be interested in buying this book when they want help keeping community and relationship intact and don’t have access to formal mediators or facilitators, or cannot afford them. I want to offer this book because I see a deep need for collaboration and conflict transformation skills and believe folks can be empowered to work on these practices even without formal training. I want to offer something that is approachable and easy to pick up and brings relief to those who are in conflict and don’t know where to turn. I have a background in transformative mediation, restorative justice and restorative process facilitation, group decision making facilitation, and a number of communication practices including Motivational Interviewing and NVC. I have a MA in conflict resolution. I volunteer as a mediator and conflict consultant for a number of small organizations including a local low-power radio station and roller derby league. I also offer non-court based mediation to folks by referral for free.
I appreciate your consideration and am open to feedback about this pitch if you have time and willingness to share it. Thank you.
What else have you written?
This is the only book I’ve written but I write newsletters for the organization I work at frequently as well as blog posts. I have some things on Medium.
What are you currently reading?
Right now, I’m reading:
What’s the best book you read in the last year?
This is weirdly hard for me to answer because I have an aversion to choosing a favorite or best anything and also because of my poor sense of time but two books I really enjoyed and think I read last year are:
What’s next for you?
Besides living, working, and trying to be part of community generally here in Rochester, NY, I’m working on some projects combining visuals / illustrations and writing. Right now I’m working on a visual guide or workbook or zine on some conflict practices, trying to turn some information into some easier to digest and use illustrations. I’m also in the early stages of collaborating with a friend in the Netherlands on visuals, maybe a book, on collaborative practices.
Where can people find you online?
I’m not in a ton of places / spaces online but here are a few I can think of:
Any in-person events coming up soon?
Not for the book at the moment. I do a lot of in-person events related to conflict with work which you can find at our website. Hoping to do some in-person book events soon!
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we sat down with Jessie L. Kwak to discuss her new book, From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Practice that Brings You Joy. Jessie’s an accomplished and successful writer who knows how to get creative work done. We also talked about her next book, From Dream to Reality, which is all about how to be a freelance writer (and which is funding on Kickstarter right now!).
This week on A People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk answer a reader question about what editorial reference books we use. Ohhhh boy were you not expecting these answers!
Wow! This year, Microcosm was Publishers Weekly’s fastest growing publisher, based on our growth of 207% between 2019 and 2021 (check out our annual reports for 2019, 2020, and 2021 for more on that wild ride)! Then in 2022, we managed to grow a further 21.3% over 2021. Simultaneously, despite this growth we remain financially solvent, currently owing $648k and owed $652k.
We published 41 new books in 2022, with 17 more coming this Spring and 17 more coming this Fall!
We’re excited to resume conventions in a few weeks with PubWest, Winter Institute, and Vegas Market.
Here’s what the last two years have looked like:
This is another way of saying that we’ve been fighting burnout for three years. We opened an additional warehouse in Cleveland about two years ago, which now handles 67% of our shipments and 78% of our receiving. Our staff has tripled in three years. We are aiming to increase warehouse capacity again later this year, as it is clear that inadequate space is our greatest impediment to growth.
As you can see, the “slow months” for most publishers of January and February can be some of our busiest. And our annual returns are a staggeringly low 2.08%.
Our success continues to be based 50% on what we publish and 50% on how we publish. Meaning that we mostly sell to stores who purchase all of their books from us and so our salespeople don’t stick them with hyped books that they cannot sell. 99% of our books are evergreen, so we aren’t fighting a timer to make them burn bright before they fade away. Best of all, the practical skills and values in our books are what the world has wanted for at least the past 27 years. Probably longer. The need remains vast.
In 2022, we added 2,576 more independent stores that now order from us, bringing the total of retailers that stock our books to over 12,000.
We have seven co-owners, though all profits are shared with our entire staff. In 2022 we were able to increase our budget for wages by 32%, which included a round of profit sharing in December. Because of your support, we are also able to offer health insurance and are instituting further worker benefits in 2023.
The books keep arriving from the printer, just about every day—despite these historic supply chain delays, plus labor and paper shortages at the printers! It continues to be a fascinating time to do what we do. And we are excited that this is finally the year where we will release the beta version of our software to empower other publishers!
And if you really want to get into the nitty gritty of publishing, check out our podcast.
But before we get too tired, let’s take a look at the numbers.
Our total sales for the year were $4.2 MILLION DOLLARS, with our own publishing comprising about 57.1% of our sales:
And here are our bestsellers for the year by dollars earned (minus expenses like printing and cover design):
UNF*CK YOUR BRAIN, which we published in 2017, is still outselling the following eighteen (or even 50) books combined by a wide margin—combined. This one title continues to comprise 10.73% of our total sales. Even if you ignore this aberrant title, it was a phenomenal year. We published 41 new books and about twice that many zines. And healthfully, 100% of the titles selling in the top 20 were published prior to 2022, meaning that they will continue to sell for years to come (and we expect our 2022 publications to shine this year).
So where did all those millions go? (We still can’t believe we’re talking about our company sales with all these digits.) As is written into our company bylaws, we invested it all back into the company and into our workforce, including hiring new workers and those profit-sharing employee bonuses mentioned above. Nobody got a yacht, but we all got by. You can see that piece of the pie alongside the rest of our outgoing money below.
Expenses for this year were $4.2M, which notably includes the self-financing of our continued growth (as opposed to, say, a bank loan):
As you can see, our biggest expense is increasing inventory to fill those warehouses, followed by payroll and sales commissions.
What trends are we seeing in our patterns? What kinds of books are popular for us? Here’s a breakdown, descending by dollars, in terms of changes in sales by subject over 2021:
Where are we selling our books? Funny you should ask:
We are now mostly sold in gift shops, a major change from being primarily sold in specialty stores over the past 25 years. Bookstores now comprise about 11% of our sales, about the same as stores and charming individuals who order directly from us.
Remember: when you order directly on our website, the author’s royalties are doubled and everything left over goes into profit sharing for our entire staff!
Thank you for supporting us, our authors, and our team in the last year, whether as a reader, partner, or member of our team. The last three years have been difficult in myriad ways, but it’s been heartening the way our entire culture seems to have turned to books for comfort, meaning, perspective, and a little bit of escape. We’re prouder than ever to get to play a role in bringing people and books together.