We are looking for someone who is excited about books to join our marketing team. If you are a detail-oriented, organized wordsmith who can write sparkling copy, wrangle a spreadsheet, and plan a crowdfunding campaign, please consider applying. The ideal candidate will be able to balance brief bursts of creative brilliance with long, focused bouts of massaging data and timelines. 

Microcosm publishes and distributes reader-oriented, brightly-colored empowering books and zines on a wide range of topics including mental health, punk music, bicycling, gardening, witchcraft, feminism, healthy relationships, travel, cookery, humor, and herbalism. In our marketing department, we combine highly non-traditional methods with publishing industry standards, with successful results—we have grown substantially every year for the past decade. Come grow with us! 

Hours: This is a full-time, 40 hour per week position.

Location: A desk is available in our Portland office if desired, but this position can be fully remote. 

Experience: None required, but some background (professional or otherwise) in writing marketing copy, selling, newsletters, crowdfunding, and/or data management is preferred.

Core job duties: 

• Wrangling data—keeping it correct, up-to-date, and discoverable
• Writing copy
• Building and promoting crowdfunding campaigns
• Creating and sending newsletter campaigns

Requirements:  

• Enthusiasm to speak and write compellingly about our books and mission
• Ability to quickly produce good-quality copy about any book in our catalog
• A nit-picky eye for details and data
• Ability and willingness to work with topics that may be sensitive to some, including trauma, abuse, recovery, religion and spirituality, various marginalized identities, drugs, anatomy, sexual instruction, and erotica
• Ability to meet or exceed deadlines without operating in a state of last-minute urgency
• Ability to stay organized, prioritize between multiple projects, and work independently
• Strong work ethic and desire to continually learn and improve

Preferences/level-ups:

• A history of running successful crowdfunding campaigns
• Experience sending effective newsletter campaigns
• Understanding of how to write for each of our primary market channels, including direct-to-consumer, gift, special sales, and trade sales (e.g., how you would handle a newsletter about the same book for readers vs. for hospital gift store buyers)
• Ability to represent Microcosm at consumer sales events (involves heavy lifting and much extroverting)
• Management and leadership skills and interest

Pay and benefits

Starting wage is $16.50-$20.50 per hour. Starting pay will depend on location, level of responsibility in previous marketing work, ability to work independently, and management/leadership capacity. 

• All company profits are distributed to staff in the form of raises and bonuses
• Paid sick time
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Remote work option
• Flexible work hours and time off
• Employee ownership program after five years
• Transparent compensation and clear metrics for advancement
• Meaningful work at a fast-growing company 

To apply:

• Fill out this application

Application deadline: May 15, 2023

Microcosm Publishing is looking for an early- to mid-career book editor who is excited to work with Microcosm on all stages of editing. If you love the puzzle-solving of developmental editing, relish the challenge of turning a disorganized manuscript into a book that can make a splash and save lives, and want to learn and grow along with us, please consider applying.

Microcosm is a reader-oriented publisher, primarily working with non-literary, nonfiction manuscripts by first-time authors. Our goal is never to craft a beautiful turn of phrase or achieve grammatical perfection, but rather to offer readers valuable, practical tools to change their life and world, while preserving the author’s unique voice and always having the most fun. You can learn more about our editorial program and processes in our department documentation.

Hours: This is a full-time, 40 hour per week position.

Location: A desk is available in our Portland office if desired, but this position can be fully remote. 

Experience: For this position, we are only considering candidates with experience editing books for publication. Other types of editing and coaching skills are valuable, but books require a specific skill set and that’s what we need this time around. The ideal candidate would come to us with one to four years of experience (or equivalent, time-wise—we know life isn’t always so straightforward).

Core job duties: 

• 50% developmental/global edits
• 30% line editing
• 20% copy editing or management/scheduling, depending on the qualifications and interests of the person hired.

Requirements:  

• Experience editing nonfiction books for publication
• Strong developmental and line editing skills
• Adequate copy editing skills 
• Comfortable editing directly in Google Docs
• Flexibility to work with a variety of author writing and communication styles
• Ability and willingness to edit books about topics that may be sensitive to some, including trauma, abuse, and recovery, non-christian religions, various marginalized identities, drugs, sexual instruction, and erotica
• Expertise as a sensitivity reader in at least one domain
• Ability to meet or exceed deadlines without operating in a state of last-minute urgency
• Ability to prioritize between multiple projects and work independently
• Strong work ethic and desire to continually learn and improve

Preferences/level-ups:

• Production editorial experience
• Management and leadership skills and interest

Pay and benefits

Starting wage is $18-$22 per hour, and goes up $1/hour after 90 day trial period. Starting pay will depend on level of responsibility in previous editorial work, ability to work independently, and management/leadership capabilities. 

• All company profits are distributed to staff in the form of raises and bonuses
• Paid sick time
• Health insurance
• Paid time off (coming in early 2023!)
• Fully remote work option
• Flexible work hours and time off
• Employee ownership program after five years
• Transparent compensation and clear metrics for advancement
• Meaningful work at a fast-growing company 

To apply:

1. Fill out this application, and 
2. Submit either a sample of 2-5 manuscript pages you have edited (with suggestions/track changes showing your work) or this editorial test

Application deadline: November 15, 2022

We are seeking a full-time worker to join our growing team of shippers at our warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio’s Lee-Miles neighborhood. This is a warehouse and fulfillment position, helping people get their books and be happy. We practice mask-wearing and are set up for social distancing.  Position closes September 23rd, 2022.

We need someone who can:

• Lift at least 50 pounds

• Demonstrate an exquisite attention to detail (we aim for 99.99% error free shipments)

• Work with minimal supervision once trained

• Believe in what we do but be confident to identify flaws in the system, ask questions, and bring up your own ideas about how things could be better

• Listen, learn from mistakes, and find solutions that work for everyone involved

• Be very comfortable with alphabetizing and similar data sorting

• Show up prepared and work hard for their whole shift

• Locate books and pull and pack orders four to five days per week (90% or more of your time)

• Work 40 hours per week on site

• Start as soon as reasonable and commit to at least two years

Benefits:

• All company profits are distributed to staff in the form of raises and bonuses—we aim for (and have been exceeding) 20% annual raises

• Health insurance after trial period

• Employee ownership program after five years

• Some flexibility in work hours

• Meaningful, career-track work at a fast-growing company

No experience needed. Entry level position. Equal opportunity employer. Starts at $14/hour with 90 day trial then $15/hour. 

Apply by September 23, 2022 by completing this application and this test and submitting it to elly @ microcosmpublishing.com with the subject line “Cleveland warehouse application.” no resume or cover letter necessary unless you believe that additional details would be helpful.

Microcosm is hiring a full-time (40 hours/week) marketing and warehouse assistant at 2752 N Williams Ave, Portland, OR. This is a hybrid position: half physical labor tasks and half computer-related tasks, ultimately serving our purpose of helping people get their books and be happy. We practice mask-wearing and are set up for social distancing. 

We need someone who can:

• Lift at least 50 pounds

• Demonstrate an exquisite attention to detail (we aim for 99.99% error free shipping)

• Work with minimal supervision once trained

• Believe 99% in what we do but is confident to identify flaws in the system, ask questions, and bring up their own ideas about how things could be better

• Listen, learn from mistakes, and find solutions that work for everyone involved

• Show up prepared and work hard for their whole shift

• Do varying manual labor tasks including shipping, shelving, inventory, catalog mailing, making buttons, magnets, patches, and shelving zines and sidelines (50% of their time)

• Enthusiastically write original descriptions of distributed books and populate data fields for them (35% or more of their time) 

• Publicity and outreach functions (15% or more of their time)

• Occasional assistance with data analysis, paperwork, organizational tasks, and accounts payable

Benefits:

• All company profits are distributed to staff in the form of raises and bonuses—we aim for (and have been exceeding) 20% annual raises

• Health insurance after trial period

• Employee ownership program after five years

• Some flexibility in work hours; partial work-from-home if desired

• Meaningful, career-track work at a fast-growing company

Entry-level position. Equal opportunity employer. Preference given to former interns and diverse hires. Starts at $15/hour with 90 day trial then $16/hour.

Apply by filling out this form and this test by September 5th, 2022 and sending both to sidnee@microcosmpublishing.com with the subject line “Portland Application”.