Books that inspired Microcosm
Today on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about some of the books that inspired and motivate our work.
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How to Open a Book Warehouse
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about the various steps involved in opening our new warehouse. (This episode was recorded a year ago, when we were in the midst of doing all these things.)
Check out more episodes in your preferred video or audio format, as well as articles for book publishers on our podcast page.
To ISBN or Not to ISBN?
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly reveal the mysteries of the ISBN, aka the 13-digit International Standard Book Number you see on most books sold to the general public. ISBNs can be costly and a lot of new publishers aren’t sure when they should start using them. We offer some advice about when an ISBN is essential and when it isn’t.
How Do Publishers Manage Growth?
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about one of the scariest topics in publishing: growth and how to manage it. How do you know you’re growing? How fast should you grow? How do you pay for it? What do you do if it stops?
Experiments in Publishing (and podcasting)
Hi all, things got a little wild over the holiday season. We kept posting new episodes of the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, but we stopped posting them to our blog. So here’s a big post to catch up with what you up on what you missed!
We talked about how book publishers can experiment in order to keep their business limber and growing (but without losing tens of thousands of dollars when those experiments don’t pan out):
We answered one of the questions Microcosm is most frequently asked: “Why have I never heard of you?”:
We tackled a reader question about a pretty weird scenario that happens more often than you’d think: What do you do when a publisher pays you for your book and then never publishes it?
We gazed into our crystal ball and made some predictions about how the publishing industry will change in the next five years:
We talked about sidelines! Stickers, buttons, patches, etc. Not very many publishers make this kind of merch to sell alongside their books (unless they’re heavily influenced by punk music culture… ahem) but it’s often a good idea:
And finally, we talked about how publishers can sell translations, foreign rights, and other licensing deals:
What forms a publisher’s point of view?
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly answer a reader question about the heart and soul of every publisher’s operation: what goes into your secret sauce? We all have a point of view, and a big part of your path to success is understanding what yours is, how it affects your publishing, and how to let it be your north star. They also talk about how your POV is different from your taste in books.
The Future of Bookselling (an interview with Bookshop.org)
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we are debuting our first ever live show! Joe and Elly interview Sarah High, Senior Partnerships Manager at Bookshop.org, the online bookselling site that is revolutionizing the industry by partnering with brick and mortar bookstores, supporting rather than disrupting them. We talk about how Bookshop came to be and a little bit about the future of the book industry, our big hopes for the confluence of books and tech, and how we can achieve it by working together and sharing our passion for books.
Also check out our last two episodes, about the failed Penguin Random House acquisition of Simon & Schuster and how publishers can use the powers of math to make better books.
Why isn’t cheap labor working anymore?
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly talk about the Great Resignation as it applies to publishing—specifically to the blue-collar warehouse jobs that our industry relies on yet often doesn’t acknowledge or respect. We brag a little on our own warehouse staff who are currently outperforming our industry fulfillment times by a longshot, and make the case for treating warehouse workers as equal parts of the team.
Self-publishing vs Traditional Publishing
This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly examine the pros and cons of different publishing paths for authors. A listener wrote in to ask the age-old question of whether they should try to find a traditional publisher or go ahead and self-publish. We have an obvious bias, but we did our best to treat the question objectively, because there are a bunch of benefits and pitfalls for both.
What we learned at this year’s PNBA
On this week’s episode of the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly report back from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association’s 2021 trade show. The event was back to being in-person for the first time since 2019 and everyone was excited to see each other! And excited about books! We learned some things and came away with some observations about what’s going on in the publishing industry.
P.S. We’re running a quick Kickstarter right now for Dr. Faith’s newest book: Befriend Your Brain is a de-swear-inated edition of her bestseller Unf*** Your Brain, suitable for humans 10+ who want help freaking out less.