Tagged business of publishing

How Should Authors Market Their Books? w/ Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Does author marketing have an impact on sales? Can you move the needle yourself, or do you need to rely on your publisher for all of your marketing and outreach? There is a lot of conflicting information out there, and Jane Friedman of the Hot Sheet is back on the pod this week to talk it out with us.

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!

Marketing Your Book | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

How do you “make your books get found” (as Joe puts it)? This week it’s a throwback to Joe and Elly chatting about marketing your book, search engine optimization, good description writing, and more. If you like this one, check back soon for a deeper dive into marketing talk!

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!

Ben Snakepit Returns to the Snake Pit in 2025 | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Every day for 25 years, Ben Snakepit has drawn a simple, 3 panel comic about his day. There’s no overarching plot or theme, just Ben answering the question “what did you do today?” But answering that question daily for half his life (and collecting them in volumes) has led to insights about himself, the world, and what it means to live each day.

This week on the podcast, Ben joins Joe and Elly to talk about the comic, punk life, and how the scene has changed.

Check out all the Snake Pit comics here.

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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May Zine Blast

When we said Year of Zines we meant it!

We publish new zines each 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 sharing a roundup of what’s been released, and maybe a few sneak peeks at what’s ahead in the zine pipeline. Let’s dive in!

Queer Mediations for Dark Times by Rosśa Crean
Trauma specialist, multidimensional artist, and magickal practitioner Rosśa Crean draws upon their work with clients and their own experience with abuse and recovery in this powerful selection of reflections, prompts, and musings to support others navigating dark times.

Resist Monopolies: How to Fight Corporate Control and Support an Economy that Matters by Ron Knox
What can we do to resist monopolies in a world that tells us they’re too big to fail and too strong to fight? We take them on anyway! Written by a worker for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, this zine documents the battles and triumphs of the growing antimonopoly movement, and shows how you, too, can fight against corporate control where you live and work.

Queer Platonic Relationships: A Guide to the Aro/Ace Spectrum, Friendships, Zucchinis, and Other Terms by Athens Webster
What happens when you leave the relationship mold of romance and sexuality—or when you try to negotiate boundaries, expectations, and intimacy platonically? This zine is your guide to learning more about the history of Queer Platonic Relationships, what it means to be in a QPR, and other commonly used terms (glossary included!).

The Sexual Assault Survivor’s Guide to the Legal Process by Emma Alice Johnson
This step-by-step zine is designed to be a written companion to the legal process following incidents of sexual violence, because while helpful resources may be offered (such as a victim advocate), progress and updates are often communicated quickly and verbally, leaving survivors little time to process or make deliberate decisions about their cases.

Books and Math: A Manifesto on Publishing Tools by Joe BielElly Blue, and Sara Balabanlilar
Learn what you need to succeed in book publishing—and more importantly, how to determine what success means for you. For fellow publishers, future publishers, book industry comrades, systems nerds, and other kindred spirits, this zine is packed with what you need to know about distribution, automation, data analysis, and how to blaze your own bookish path—without making our same mistakes.

Dangerous Gifts: Using Internal Family Systems to Channel Your Madness and Transform Your Life by Sascha Altman DuBrul
For the sensitives, the imaginatives, for anyone who has struggled to fit in or see the world in the normative way, this compassionate zine offers new pathways for thinking about—and treating—different kinds of psychological distress through the lens of Internal Family Systems, and through recognizing the connections between individuals’ mental wellbeing and the health of their communities, families, environments, and social structures.

Ticks and How to Love Them by Emma Alice Johnson
From identifying their markings to cool trivia (fossilized ticks have been found on dinosaur feathers in amber?!), Emma Alice Johnson shares her diverse array of tick-based knowledge, and busts some tick memes and myths along the way. Even if love is too tall an order, this zine will fill you in on useful tick facts, features, and types, which will help keep you stay safe and attuned to your surroundings.

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 (bad) puns.

How do I publish thematically? w/ Jelani Memory of A Kids Co | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Readers love knowing what to expect from a publisher. Having consistent theming in your titles can help with discovery, trust, and bringing readers back for more.

But how do you find your theme? And what happens if you want to diverge from your theme? Jelani Memory of A Kids Co is back on the pod this week to talk about 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!

How do you market a book publisher? w/Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing

How do you market your press? It’s not just social media and newsletters. Everything from your cover design, format choices, to who is on your marketing team tells the story of your publisher. Jane Friedman is back to talk to Joe and Elly about staying true to your brand and representing your press.

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!

Does AI innovate books or just add noise? w/Yehuda Niv of Spines | A People’s Guide to Publishing

AI has been a topic of near-constant debate in publishing the last few years. Is it a great democratizer, making writing, editing, and publishing accessible to everyone? Or is it just adding lower-quality, uncreative slush to the pile? This conversation became even more prominent a few months ago with the launch of Spines, a company that says “harnessing the power of cutting-edge AI, Spines revolutionizes every facet of the publishing journey, including proofreading, formatting, cover design, distribution, and marketing across all major channels and platforms.” Yehuda Niv, founder and CEO of Spines, joins Joe and Elly on the podcast this week for a discussion about AI, traditional publishing vs Spines model, and whether or not data actually supports the argument that AI is the great publishing disruptor.

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!

How Should Publishers Manage Overstock? w/ Jelani Memory | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Running out of books is a good thing, actually! Jelani Memory of A Kid’s Co is back with Joe and Elly to talk about what to do with excess inventory, donating overstock vs pulping, and how “you can’t sell what you don’t have” usually doesn’t apply to books.

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 Print-on-Demand a Class Issue? w/Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing

Print-on-demand books have been called cheap, low quality, and the publishing equivalent of fast fashion. But is that true? What are the upsides of publishers using POD? How do publishers know if POD is the right call? Jane Friedman of The Hot Sheet is back to talk about 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!

Spread the Zine Revolution

Unbannable. Unbeatable. Distributed out of a backpack!

In this Year of Zines, we’re exploring all kinds of ways to dig into our DIY roots in the ever-expanding underground, where art and ideas to flourish beyond the clutches of the mainstream—and the powers that enforce it.

In this spirit of kicking it old school and under the radar, we made this flyer that you can print and distribute yourself in and around your community. Print and copy, grab a stapler, and head out into your small world armed with resources to empower your kindred, comrades, and neighbors!

From library bulletin boards to lamps posts to the local infoshop, reclaim the commons while spreading the zinester spirit. This flyer features cool stuff we proudly publish, but we want to be just one piece of a thriving autonomous network of zine creators crafting passionate pocket publications about what they love and why. You can help make it happen. So pick up your tools, invite a friend, and join the cause—zines forever!

If you have a zine you think makes a good fit with Microcosm, give our submissions guidelines another look and get in touch!

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