Our 100th podcast episode!: Favorite Microcosm Memories

March 19, 2021 — by Elly Blue

Apparently we’ve been doing this podcast for a while, because it’s our 100th episode! We’re not even close to running out of publishing topics to talk about, but we took a break to share some of our favorite memories from the past 25 years. From charming encounters with readers and authors to those book tour moments where we were (literally) on fire, here are some of Joe and Elly’s very best memories.

We hope you enjoy watching or listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it!

How Will COVID Forever Change Publishing?

March 11, 2021 — by Elly Blue

On today’s episode of the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joestradamus makes some predictions about the lasting changes that we’ll see in the publishing industry as a result of the global pandemic of 2020.

Watch or listen to this and 98 other episodes about the art, science, and business of publishing books!

Coming up next week: our 100th episode!

What is a fair book royalty?

March 04, 2021 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly answer a listener question: What is a fair royalty for a publisher to offer to authors for the rights to publish their books? There are a lot of different royalty agreements out there, each one more confusing than the last. Should you pay based on a percent of the cover price? Based on gross sales (ie, the amount the publisher actually gets paid per book sold)? Based on net sales after printing costs? Profit sharing?

Find out how these various options work, the costs and benefits of each, and how certain so-called indie publishing platforms use large numbers to trick you into agreeing to unfair royalty agreements. Listen or watch! And don’t forget to subscribe to hear our newest episode every Thursday.

How Does COVID Continue to Affect Book Publishing?

February 28, 2021 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast, Joe and Elly talk about the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the book publishing industry. Come for the hot takes, stay for Joe’s impression of a printer, and boldly join us as we scrutinize global supply chains and consumer behavior.

Like what you hear? You can watch or listen to new episodes weekly!

Publishers, Do You Know Your Metrics?

February 25, 2021 — by Elly Blue

These days, it seems like every piece of software you use, and every entity that sells your books offer you some kind of metrics. Unit sales, revenue growth, top sheets, bottom lines… it’s possible to tell a lot of stories with numbers. But how do you actually know how your publishing company is doing? How do you measure financial health, growth, sustainability… and how true you are staying to your mission?

In this episode of the A People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle the question of metrics and how to ignore the wrong ones and focus on the right ones so you can build the book publishing company of your dreams.

Find other vlogcasts, podcasts, and blog posts about publishing at microcosm.pub/podcast.

What do publishers do with our data?

February 04, 2021 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast, Joe and Elly follow up last week’s episode about what data publishers collect with some words about what we actually do with it once we have it.

How Does Publishing Data Work?

January 28, 2021 — by Elly Blue

This week on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly tackle the very nerdy, yet all-important question of how data management works for publishers.

How many books do you have? What at their attributes? What is interesting about them? Who are they for? Who has responded well to them in the past? What do they look like? How do we order them? This week, we tackle how to store and deliver that data to everyone you work with!

How do ISBNs work?

January 21, 2021 — by Elly Blue

Today on the People’s Guide to Publishing podcast, we’re going back to basics and answering that burning question: What is an International Standard Book Number (aka an ISBN), how does it work, and where do we get them?

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).

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Podcast Episode 1: An interview with John “Jughead” Pierson

July 17, 2015 — by Joe Biel

Check out this brand new episode of our first ever podcast:

The premiere episode of Microcosm Publishing’s brand new podcast, featuring Johnny “Jughead” Pierson of Screeching Weasel and the Neofuturists about growing up as a musician, an author, and an actor in a chaotic household and how it directed his adult life when these hobbies turned professional.