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

May 29, 2025

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

May 22, 2025

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!

This is why we don’t use AI: A Story in Screenshots

September 18, 2024 — by Abby Rice

This past week one of the platforms we sell on generously offered to “optimize” some of our product listings, unasked, and gave us the examples below of what they would do.

Our text is on the left, theirs is on the right.

It uh, didn’t go well.

Positive changes! Thought-provoking! Terrible SEO buzzwords!

This next one’s my favorite.

Ah yes, the whimsical world of the Eggplant Eating a Hot Dog Sticker!

I gave them my thoughts.

This was after a few rewrites because “what on EARTH” might have been too harsh.

Mailchimp occasionally offers to rewrite the newsletter using AI as well. It is… not great!

If any of those images are too small or don’t load, you can head over to this thread on Twitter, where I’ve posted them all.

So rest assured, we don’t use AI. It’s bad for the environment, and it can’t keep up with my wit, charm, and bad grammar.

This blog was taken from our weekly newsletter. Want to see more like this? Subscribe!

How to think about platform (with Guy LeCharles Gonzalez)

April 20, 2023 — by Elly Blue

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.

Leveling up your book publicity

December 29, 2022 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about how to take your book publicity effort to the next level in order to get the word out and find the right readers!

On the Podcast – Bringing Your Book To Its Audience

February 15, 2018 — by Cyn

Microcosm owners Joe Biel and Elly Blue bring you a workshop they presented at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association regional trade show, about the importance of connecting your work to an audience and the vitality of putting books in boxes (and all of the various dangers and how to avoid them).

Link