Tagged books

Marketing and Selling Books on Tiktok Shop, w/ Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

There are new forms of ecommerce popping up every day, on every website from Instagram and Tiktok to Pinterest. Is selling online through Tiktok right for your books?

This week, Jane Friedman of the Bottom Line is back to talk to Joe and Elly about the growing popularity of TIktok Shop, and if she thinks it’s worth a publisher’s time.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Selling to National Specialty Markets, w/ Angela Engel | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

Angela Engel is the founder and CEO of The Collective Book Studio, one of Publisher Weekly’s 2024 fastest-growing publishers. This week on the pod, Angela hangs out with Joe and Elly to talk about how Collective got where they are, how they develop their titles and marketing plans, outreach, bookstore engagement, and so so so much more!

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Iconic Images, Information, & Accessibility: Designing Book Covers | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Can you really judge a book by its cover? Absolutely, yes. A lot of work goes into planning a book’s cover design— marketing goals, representing the author’s work, making it appealing to the target audience, legibility, and so much more.

This week on the pod, Joe walks us through the things Joe takes into consideration for designing our covers.

Note: For those just listening to audio, there’s an accompanying slideshow in the video where Joe is showcasing varying covers! Still valuable info with just audio, but we recommending trying to catch the video of this as well.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Finding & Reaching Your Customer: Book Marketing w/ Lindsay McKee | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Lindsay Sims McKee is a professor and digital marketing expert based in Ohio.

This week on the podcast, Lindsay joins us to talk universal marketing truths and strategies, like determining who your customer is (hint: it’s not you!), their needs, and publishing books that fill those needs.

Buckle in, aspiring marketing pros, for this fun, accessible, and jargon-lite episode!

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Taste or Market: Deciding Your Publishing Focus | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

Do you publish what YOU want to read, or what the market says people want to read? We’re back with last year’s PNBA trade show talking to publishers about how they decide what they acquire and publish, and the various things that go into it.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Hot Pants: Do-It-Yourself Gynecology and Herbal Remedies

Get their laws off your reproductive health

Hot Pants, long an underground classic and now available in a gorgeous new edition, offers great basic sexual health information along with tried and true herbal treatments for common gynecological problems. “Patriarchy sucks,” the authors begin. “It’s robbed us of our autonomy and much of our history. We believe it’s integral for women to be aware and in control of our own bodies.”

In that spirit, diagrams and herbal remedies teach you how to diagnose and heal many basic problems, including bladder infections, inducing your period, easing cramps and PMS, aphrodisiacs, and dealing with pregnancy. You’ll learn herbal remedies to ease every stage of your menstrual cycle. This book deserves a place next to your copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

Read on for a peek at the new edition of MCP classic Hot Pants: Do-It-Yourself Gynecology and Herbal Remedies by  Isabelle Gauthier, Lisa Vinebaum, with JJ Pursell and Jennifer Baumgardner, available now from our site now or your local bookseller!

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Do book reviews matter? | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

Trying to get high-profile reviews for your books can feel like a rat race. So many publishers competing for the same space in the same publications (and space in readers’ brains). But do reviews really matter? Are they worth the time publishers put into getting them?

This week on the podcast, we’re back with the booksellers and publishers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association tradeshow to get their thoughts on the importance of book reviews.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Is There a Cult for That? Facts and Activities for Fanatical Fun

Humor for cult survivors and true crime enthusiasts

As this ride called life starts to feel more like a perilously rickety rollercoaster, people are seeking any kind of stability they can grab onto, and—whoops!—suddenly they’re in a cult. In this tongue-in-cheek yet refreshingly generous dive into the contemporary cult craze, Mary Beth Chapman explores what defines a cult and why Americans (and the media) are so fascinated with them. Rather than focus on the foolishness of cult members, Chapman explores the contributing factors like capitalism, isolation, and overwhelm that lead people to seek firmer spiritual footing in the first place.

Served up with humor, self-awareness, and fun charts, the book also includes tips for starting your own cult, including how to choose your idol and how to hire the just the right charismatic cult leader, plus activities like word salad mad libs, red flag bingo, and your very own cult leader paper dolls. Perfect for cult questioners, kool-aid critics, and zealots for fun facts, the quest for the one true path just got a fresh dose of snarky good times.

Read on for an early peek at Is There a Cult for That? Facts and Activities for Fanatical Fun by Mary Beth Chapman, available for preorder from our site or your local bookseller, heading to a shelf near you (available in stores October 7, 2025)!

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Submitting AI to Publishers w/ Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

Can publishers tell if you submit work with A.I.? Does it matter if they can’t even tell?

Jane Freidman of “The Bottom Line” joins Joe and Elly this week to talk about what publishers mean with A.I. disclosures, what presses are looking out for, and how authors can communicate with their publishers about it.

Check out Jane’s articles here: https://janefriedman.com/

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

What Rides at Night: Queer, Feminist, Fantastical Bicycle Halloween Stories

Have a queer and bikey Halloween!

When the veil thins, the bicycle revolution rises—along with thirteen new, original, spooky stories for the thirteenth volume in the series! 

Gather ‘round, ghoulfriends, and peer into this enchanting collection of ghost stories, tall tales, and feminist fictions simmering with cyclist power. This monster mashup of thirteen queer and quirky stories grants us a glimpse into the world beyond this one, where community, creativity, and bike culture reign—a world where DIY zombies start a monster zine collective to fight their oppression by “normals,” time moves backwards as bones are covered again with flesh, cryptids defend fellow outcasts from bullying, and teen crushes take an otherwordly (though not unwelcome!) turn. Whether shared with your feminist book club, passed around the Halloween house show, or read alone on a dark and stormy night, each story is a spell, reanimating the land of the living with more fun, imagination, and bike rides.

Featuring original stories from Elly Bangs, Jessie Kwak, Nell Hanson, Mildred Locke, Kortney Nash, Dawn Vogel, N. Anaar, Erin Cullen, Grace Desmarais, Kay Hanifen, Siri Caldwell, Summer Jewel Keown, and Valerie Hunter.

Read on for a sneak peek at What Rides at Night edited by Summer Jewel Keown and series editor Elly Blue, available for preorder from our site or your local bookseller, heading to a shelf near you!

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