If Animals Could Talk: An Interview with Carla Butwin and Josh Cassidy

April 28, 2022 — by Elly Blue

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 Could Talk. 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.

The Magic of Creative Work: An interview with Katie Haegele and Joe Carlough

April 21, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly sat down (like literally, on their couch in Philadelphia) with Kitchen Witch author Katie Haegele and her husband and fellow small-press publisher Joe Carlough to talk about publishing, writing, creativity, community, zines, their creative histories and future directions, and to get to the heart of why creative work is so meaningful to all of us.

Katie’s written tons of articles and zines and Kitchen Witch is her fourth book with Microcosm. Joe C. is the proprietor of Displaced Snail Publications and This & That Tapes. Together they run the East Falls Zine Reading Room. Their work is beautifully-done, full of heart, and affordable—well worth checking out!

How to Resist Amazon and Why: An interview with Danny Caine

April 07, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week for the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly traveled to Cleveland where we sat at Cafe Avalaun and interviewed Danny Caine, author of the bestselling How to Resist Amazon and Why. Hear about the origin of the viral zine that sparked the book, the second edition in the works, what it’s like to run an independent bookstore, and how readers can tap into the movement away from giant online retailers and towards smaller, independent, community-based businesses… like bookstores.

Microcosm’s Top 10 Goals for 2022

April 01, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk (slightly belatedly) about our publishing goals for the year ahead and how we plan to achieve them. Stabilizing our systems, ever so slightly slowing our roll, and sharing what we know all feature prominently. Watch the video to see them all!

10 reasons why 2021 was our biggest year ever

March 25, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly lift the hood on the Microcosm engine to investigate why 2021 was such an unexpectedly successful year, and share some of the lessons learned. From external factors like the booming gift trade to internal factors like our amazing staff’s teamwork and management restructuring, we discuss what we did and why it worked.

How many books should you publish each season?

March 10, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast / vlog, Joe and Elly answer a reader question—how many books should a publisher put out every season?

For those new to the game, the traditional publishing industry has two or three seasons—Spring, Fall, and Winter (with Fall and Winter sometimes being combined). In today’s episode, we talk about when those seasons run, why they are important, what it means for your workflow, and, of course, how many books it makes sense to fit into each one—and what kind of books do best in each season.

Why does this book keep getting delayed?

March 03, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle a reader question. They noticed that a major publishing house had announced a book that they were interested in… but then years passed, and that book never came out. What happened? We talk about some of the many reasons a book’s publication might be delayed or canceled.