Take a little tour through Microcosm’s Cleveland digs!
What happens at a Microcosm warehouse? Come along for a walkthrough of the Cleveland buildings with us for a behind-the-scenes peek at what running an independent press and distro really looks like.
Pallets of books get delivered to our well-marked dock and are received into our system.
We wait for construction to finish.
We fix leaks using the things we have around.
We put away tons of zines.
We make space for new deliveries…
…and plan ahead for the next several years.
Thanks so much for coming along! As the hustle and bustle of the holiday season sets in and orders are rolling out the door, these spaces and our small crew of dedicated, rad staff in them every day are what keep the books, zines, gifts, and resources flowing. We couldn’t do it without you!
Portland, OR — Microcosm Publishing has launched “The Microcosm Guarantee,” for independent bookstores who place direct orders for Microcosm’s publications designed to ensure print resources swiftly and efficiently reach readers who need them most. Through the Microcosm Guarantee, orders from indie bookstores that come through Microcosm’s website, sales reps, or in-house sales team will now be shipped within 2 business days. Microcosm is so confident in the press’s processes, staff, and new custom shipping boxes that founder and CEO Joe Biel will personally apologize to any retailer who receives damaged goods.
Following discussions with independent booksellers at the 2024 Heartland Fall Forum conference, the Microcosm Guarantee was conceived to streamline the ordering and shipping process, get vital texts into readers’ hands, and strengthen partnerships with independent booksellers on the frontlines of their communities’ needs. In a move that hearkens back to a 2011 initiative offering to accept unwanted Kindles in exchange for books while the industry was spelling doom for print, the Microcosm Guarantee is another investment in the publisher’s mission of equipping readers to make positive change in their lives and in the world around them, despite trends or obstacles.
The Microcosm Guarantee is already being applied to direct orders at Microcosm’s Portland and Cleveland warehouse facilities. Learn more about the Microcosm Guarantee in this video, and in the FAQ below!
Elly and Joe discuss the Microcosm Guarantee, plus box technology
FAQ: The Microcosm Guarantee
What is the Microcosm Guarantee?
It’s simple! Orders placed for our books, zines, and sidelines by independent bookstores through our independent sales reps, our in-house sales reps, or placed on our website will be shipped out within two business days. Stores frequently comment about how well our warehouse workers (some of whom are owners) pack boxes to prevent damages, but if you receive a damaged book, Microcosm CEO Joe Biel will personally apologize for the inconvenience! (What other publishers can say that???)
Why are you doing this?
Independent Booksellers have different needs than other kinds of retailers and we’re here to help. Besides, we’ve got these awesome, cat-tastic boxes that have proven to be great at keeping orders safe. Plus, our warehouse staff rocks, and we’ve got great systems in place to make sure our bookstore customers can get the books they need, when they need them.
What types of stores and orders does the guarantee apply to?
Independent bookstores ordering directly through our sales reps or placed on our website.
Who do I contact if I have questions or an order arrives late or damaged?
If you have a problem with an order, send an email to orders(at)microcosmpublishing.com.
Want recommendations or title suggestions for your store? Contact sales(at)microcosmpublishing.com.
Who are the cats on the boxes?
The one with the dapper tie is Arthur, and the tuxedoed gentleman is Walter!
Being a book editor and an author can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have unique insight into how a book is developed before you even get started. On the other hand, you can end up getting in your own way trying to make it “perfect”. And if you’re an editor for the publisher of your own book, how do you balance that?
We sat down with Disabled Witchcraft author (and Microcosm editor!) Kandi Zeller to talk writing, disability, witchcraft, cookies, and a really cool bookstore.
Microcosm Publishing is founding a new imprint, Yard Dragon Books, focused on titles about plants and herbalism. Acquisitions for the imprint will be led by editor, herbalist, and artist Alexis Orgera.
Orgera (she/they) is the author of the lyric memoir Head Case: My Father, Alzheimer’s & Other Brainstorms (Kore Press, 2021), as well as poetry books How Like Foreign Objects and Dust Jacket, and Agatha (forthcoming) from Jackleg Press. She holds degrees in British & American literature from New College of Florida (before New College was taken over by DeSantis and his goons) and poetry from Emerson College. Orgera is an editor, has taught college writing, co-founded and edited Penny Candy Books, and is was recently executive director of Greensboro Bound literary festival. A student and practitioner of herbal medicine and permaculture in North Carolina’s piedmont, Orgera is currently apprentice to the land on a quarter-acre plot in an urban flood zone and uses ecology, permaculture design principles, regenerative practices, eco-philosophy, ethnobotany, the history of medicine and healing, and herbal studies in both her writing and gardening life.
Alexis Orgera
Of the new imprint, Orgera writes, “I’m a better person because of plants. Herbalism and permaculture have taught me how better to listen to the world around me and to deeply respect balance—in myself, in nature, and in the relationship between people and our landscape. To be able to share the green life with readers, combining my passion for plants with my vocation of book-making and editing, is really a dream come true, and doing so with Microcosm—a publisher that really cares about its readers—is even better.”
More information on submitting work to the imprint can be found here.
Behind the scenes of Bob’s quest to bring two outsider genres together at last
Bob Suren’s new book, Weird Music That Goes On Forever: A Punk’s Guide to Loving Jazzis out now, with art by Brian Walsby and forewords from Lucky Lehrer and Paul Mahern. We chatted with Bob about the writing and publication of the book and the punk-to-jazz pipeline.
Microcosm Publishing: What inspired you to write your book?
Bob Suren: An unsatisfactory experience at a jazz club. When I first got into punk rock as a teenager, some more seasoned punks taught me about how punk rock works. They loaned me records and zines and made mix tapes and invited me to shows. The few jazz clubs I have been to have not been particularly welcoming. After a visit to some snobby club, I thought, jazz isn’t supposed to be like that. Really, nothing should be like that. But jazz was the original outsider music. Granted, I wasn’t kicking around when it was but it sure seems dusty and aloof now. I belong to several jazz groups online, to gather knowledge and read opinions, and there’s very little sense of humor in the groups. There is a lot of what the kids call “gatekeeping” and a lot of jazz experts flexing their credentials. Of course, there’s quite a bit of that now in punk, too, and I plead a little guilty. Anyhow, after being given the third-class treatment at a jazz club, I got the idea to write a book that compares jazz to punk and I started writing it the minute I got home. I sent Microcosm the first thousand words or so that very night.
MCP: What was it like to publish with Microcosm?
BS: This is my second book with Microcosm. I hear that for your seventh they give you a monogrammed smoking jacket. The first book I edited in person with Joe, side by side at his desk in Portland over five or six days. It was very easy and smooth and the finished product was not much different than the rough draft. For this book, I worked remotely by email with Olivia and there were a lot more things to debate and fix in the edit. I think we did three front to back edits over a period of maybe three months. I was starting to get sick of looking at the thing but Olivia made some good suggestions and she caught a few fact errors in her cross-research which made for a better book. And a much longer book. I used to be skeptical of the editing process but I now realize that a second set of eyes is a big help
MCP: What was the submission/query process like for you?
BS: Since I already had a relationship with Microcosm, it was very easy and informal. I sent Joe a three sentence pitch and the first thousand or so words as soon as I wrote them. Maybe like 10 minutes after I wrote them. Joe’s original response was that it might make a good zine. He told me to keep it around 36 pages. I didn’t think I could do the subject any justice at 36 pages so I said, “I’m just going to write it the way it needs to be and send it when I feel like it’s finished,” which is a very fucking jazz approach to writing. At one point, I thought it was going to top out short, at around 100 pages. But I keep finding great info. I couldn’t believe it when the final page count was 256.
MCP: What else have you written?
BS: In 2015 Microcosm published Crate Digger: An Obsession with Punk Records, my memoir of 30 years in punk rock as a fan, a collector, a band member, a record label, a store, a distro, a prolific t-shirt bootlegger, basset hound owner, and more.
MCP: What are you currently reading?
BS: I read a lot of nonfiction. I like pop science books like Mary Roach and Oliver Sacks. I love memoirs. Some of the best memoirs I have read were by Meat Loaf, Paul Stanley, Geezer Butler, John Stamos, Rob Lowe, Chrissie Hynde, Belinda Carslie, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, and a not famous guy from Texas named David Crabb wrote wrote something very funny called Bad Kid. I have given two copies of Bad Kid as gifts. Check it out. I have been dipping into non-fiction, too. I think America’s best non-fiction writer is a guy from Portland named Willy Vlautin. I have read every Willy Vlautin book and I have written him fan mail, just like the fan mail I used to send Kevin Seconds. Except I didn’t ask Willy Vlautin for free stickers.
MCP: What’s the best book you read in the last year?
BS: Willy Vlautin’s latest book, The Night Always Comes. Also a novel called The Lemon, written by three people under the pseudonym S.E. Boyd.
MCP: What’s next for you?
BS: Maybe I will get another idea for a book and maybe I won’t. I have no idea. Once I get the inspiration, I work fast. Crate Digger was written over maybe six weeks. Weird Music took me maybe ten weeks to write. I just need a spark.
Bob Suren spent decades as a professional punk rocker, playing in bands, releasing records, running a store and a distribution company, writing for zines, shooting photos, and booking shows. Now he’s kind of into jazz. Read another interview with Bob on our blog.
Essential titles for understanding who we are, what we do, and why we do it
Some of these books hold the key to the Microcosm ethos; others are books that marked a turning point or opened significant doors for our publishing operation. Each is a damn good read selected by Elly for your reading, learning, and DIY-ing pleasure. Shop the collection or read on to learn more about the role each has played in the life of Microcosm!
Making Stuff and Doing Things: DIY Guides to Just About Everythingby Kyle Bravo When Tree of Knowledge folded their publishing operation in 1996, this was one of the first books we published and still one of our perennial bestsellers. 28 years later, this cut-and-paste zine-style compilation of how-to guides on subjects ranging from crafts to health to community is still capturing imaginations and turning 20-somethings away from consumer culture.
Make a Zine: Start Your Own Underground Publishing Revolutionby Bill Brent and Joe Biel The late, great Bill Brent started this guide to the ultimate, original form of self-publishing. Brent invited a young Joe Biel to be involved with the project as a way to appeal to younger readers. As zine popularity waxes and wanes, so does this little book, now in its fourth edition and almost completely rewritten for modern times. Is there anything more punk than putting out a zine?
Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skillsby Raleigh Briggs This friendly, handwritten book came out in 2007. In 2008, just as the recession hit, it got a bunch of great blog write-ups and sold thousands of copies overnight. It was our bestseller by a mile until Dr. Faith came along.
Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever: Ridiculously Complete Editionby Tom Neely and Friends This little comic began as a joke scribbled by cartoonists on napkins in a bar. We never sought out a lick of publicity for this book, but it quickly went viral and has escalated from there into more comics and much astonished laughter. If you get it, you get it.
Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save the Economyby Elly Blue We’ve long published books about bikes, starting with the iconic Chainbreaker. Elly Blue wrote Bikenomics for Microcosm in 2012 and then got hired three years later, proving that you actually can leverage writing into making a living, sort of. Elly Blue Books and Microcosm merged companies in 2015, and we continue to publish feminist bicycle books and zines today.
Good Trouble: Building a Successful Life and Business with Autismby Joe Biel Joe Biel’s honest, earnest, and sometimes harrowing memoir from 2016 also tells the story of Microcosm. Its publication deliberately marked a transition to new era and new culture for the company, in which we grew up and professionalized a bit while holding on tight to our values and spirit.
Unfuck Your Brain: Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggersby Dr. Faith G. Harper Dr. Faith appeared in our office one day in 2015 with what looked like notes for a powerpoint presentation called “Your Brain Is an Asshole.” Over the course of the next hour and a half, we developed it into the seed of a book (and series, and line of books by other authors about mental health and healthy relationships) that’s changed millions of lives around the world.
A People’s Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up by Joe Biel We made Joe sit down and write notes on everything learned about publishing in over the last quarter century, primarily so we could unlock that knowledge for ourselves. This one caused the book industry to really take notice of the work Microcosm has been doing, and, more important, has helped countless new publishers get their start.
The Practical Witch’s Almanac by Friday Gladheart Around 2017, we had a salesperson on staff who discovered that witchy stores really, really like to buy books, so we started looking for witchy books to publish. Our turning point was meeting Friday Gladheart, who began publishing her almanacs the same year Microcosm started. It only took us 20 years to find each other. We started out distributing her 2018 almanac and became her publisher in 2019—the 2025 edition is now available for preorder!
How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future!by Danny Caine Danny Caine, owner of The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, KS, started publishing this zine during the height of the pandemic. Our publicist at the time found it on social media and reached out to see if Danny wanted a hand with production and distribution. We helped free up his bookstore team from stapling zines in their back office so they could focus on other groundbreaking initiatives, while we were able to help bring this ray of resistance to indie bookstores around the world.
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.
Pre-pandemic, we used to also fit 3 interns in our crowded upstairs office. Working remotely isn’t all bad.
Microcosm has three seasonal internship opportunities per year, each for multiple interns. Due to the pandemic, the current internship is completely virtual! Here’s some info about the newest members of our team: Alana Baldwin-Joiner (she/her), Eli Humphrey (he/they), Ella Mankowski (she/her), and Michael Quinn (they/them).
Where are you from/ where did you grow up?
Alana: Hillsboro, Oregon!
Eli: I grew up in Denver, Colorado.
Ella: Born and raised in Portland, Oregon!
Michael: I grew up all throughout New York.
Alana!
What first got you interested in publishing?
Alana: I was the copyeditor for my high school’s yearbook, and I always enjoyed editing my friends’ writing, so I thought it would be a career I would really enjoy. Plus I’ve always adored the idea of helping authors make their dreams of being published come true!
Eli: I studied writing in middle/highschool and put together a chapbook of my work. The experience got me interested in local zines and the publishing process.
Ella: I’ve always had an affinity for language. I was assistant editor for my high school newspaper for about a year and I really enjoyed the process of publishing that.
Michael: Books are something that changed my life for the better, and I feel like there’s so many important stories that haven’t been told yet!
What’s your favorite Microcosm book/ a Microcosm book you’d really like to read?
Michael: I’ve currently got Scam: The First Four Issues by Erica Dawn Lyle sitting next to me – Scam was extremely influential on both zine culture and punk culture so I’m super excited to dig into it. Next up is Rock and Roll Terrorist: The Graphic Life of Shock Rocker GG Allin – GG Allin is polarizing and undeniably a punk rock anti-hero, but his life and career is fascinating and he made some great music!
Eli!
How’s the pandemic treating you?
Alana: It’s been a wild ride! Because of the pandemic making all but one of my jobs remote, I’ve been able to work 4 jobs while I go to school, which is nifty. But it’s also been stressful, with lots of moving and too much computer screen time. I live with my partner and our monster of a cat, so I’m lucky to not be alone at least!
Eli: I’m living with my partner and a friend, so fortunately I haven’t been entirely on my own through all of this. Over the course of 2020, I also made an effort to reconnect with some of my old creativity (finally shaken off years of writer’s block).
Ella: It’s been crazy. I’m really lucky that I can safely see my girlfriend. I decided to take a gap year, so this internship is a great way for me to keep myself busy and develop new skills while still having a good time.
Michael: It’s been interesting to say the least! The last 10 months have felt like a lifetime – I’ve spent the vast majority of it documenting protests and speaking to people involved. It’s definitely helped keep me motivated, excited and hopeful throughout everything.
Do you have any pets?
Alana: I have a very round and very moody cat named Aurora!
Eli: I have a cat named Ozzy and a fish named Hades. The cat spends hours staring at the fish, but we have yet to have a serious incident.
Ella: I’ve got a cat named Willow, a dog named Rose, and three chickens— Pansy, Roxy, and Semolina.
Michael: I don’t, but my roommates have 2 cats: Moop and Tiny Cat.
Ella! (and Willow)
What do you do in your free time?
Alana: I’ve been trying to watch new Netflix shows lately! I just finished Schitt’s Creek and Sweet Magnolias, which is a big accomplishment for a repeat-binger like me!
Eli: I’ve been watching movies and trying to catch up on books I’ve wanted to read for ages. I don’t know if this necessarily counts as free time, but I’m about to start classes at PNCA!
Ella: Recently I’ve been listening to podcasts— Ologies with Alie Ward is a new favorite of mine. I also like to draw, design houses, and play video games, and I love learning how to make new things!
Michael: Most of the time, I’m either programming, documenting a protest, filing FOIA requests so we can learn more about how the government works, or going on bike rides while blasting some Against Me!
What’s one piece of media you’d recommend to anyone and everyone?
Alana: Schitt’s Creek, for sure! Hilarious, heartwarming, and the first time I’ve had my sexuality represented on screen without homophobia, it’s amazing.
Eli: My favorite film right now is called Down By Law by Jim Jarmusch. It’s a pretty simple story about three men who get arrested and taken to jail. Two of them were framed by the New Orleans Police Department. Tom Waits, the stunning John Lurie, and a surprisingly incredible Roberto Benigni.
Ella:Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt is fantastic. Beautiful art, fantastic storytelling, and tells a powerful story about sexual assault. Also, who doesn’t love a pink coyote-dog cowgirl (who designs and makes her own clothes!)?
Michael: This is a super hard choice, but I think I’d have to go with Nevada by Imogen Binnie. It’s a gritty, relatively dark coming of age story that I think will hit extremely close to home for anyone queer and help educate allies. Bring a box of tissues and be prepared to read it in one sitting though!
Where can people find you online?
Alana: My Instagram is @alana.baldwin.joiner (not frequently updated, but I am on there!)
Eli: My (mostly) writing Instagram is @eli_jhumphrey. Expect occasional photos of my partner and our kitten.
Michael: I’ve never been a social media person really, but you can find me, my writing and research at FallingThruWindows.net whenever I get that back online.
