Selling to National Specialty Markets, w/ Angela Engel | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

October 23, 2025

Angela Engel is the founder and CEO of The Collective Book Studio, one of Publisher Weekly’s 2024 fastest-growing publishers. This week on the pod, Angela hangs out with Joe and Elly to talk about how Collective got where they are, how they develop their titles and marketing plans, outreach, bookstore engagement, and so so so much more!

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!

Iconic Images, Information, & Accessibility: Designing Book Covers | A People’s Guide to Publishing

October 16, 2025

Can you really judge a book by its cover? Absolutely, yes. A lot of work goes into planning a book’s cover design— marketing goals, representing the author’s work, making it appealing to the target audience, legibility, and so much more.

This week on the pod, Joe walks us through the things Joe takes into consideration for designing our covers.

Note: For those just listening to audio, there’s an accompanying slideshow in the video where Joe is showcasing varying covers! Still valuable info with just audio, but we recommending trying to catch the video of this as well.

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!

Finding & Reaching Your Customer: Book Marketing w/ Lindsay McKee | A People’s Guide to Publishing

October 09, 2025

Lindsay Sims McKee is a professor and digital marketing expert based in Ohio.

This week on the podcast, Lindsay joins us to talk universal marketing truths and strategies, like determining who your customer is (hint: it’s not you!), their needs, and publishing books that fill those needs.

Buckle in, aspiring marketing pros, for this fun, accessible, and jargon-lite episode!

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!

Taste or Market: Deciding Your Publishing Focus | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

October 02, 2025

Do you publish what YOU want to read, or what the market says people want to read? We’re back with last year’s PNBA trade show talking to publishers about how they decide what they acquire and publish, and the various things that go into it.

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!

The Heart vs The Mind: Tarot, Art, and Books w/ Nic LaRue | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

September 25, 2025

Nicole LaRue is both a queer artist and graphic designer and is widely known for her iconic work on the Women’s March on Washington logo. Her latest work, the HeART Tarot, is a unique deck featuring beautiful, original illustrations incorporating the shape of the human heart and elements of the natural world into each tarot archetype, and reminding us that the heart and mind aren’t working in opposition.

This week on the pod, Nic hangs out with Joe and Elly to talk astrology, intuition vs the brain, publishing, and so much more.

Get The HeART Tarot here: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/decks/51617

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!

Do book reviews matter? | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

September 18, 2025

Trying to get high-profile reviews for your books can feel like a rat race. So many publishers competing for the same space in the same publications (and space in readers’ brains). But do reviews really matter? Are they worth the time publishers put into getting them?

This week on the podcast, we’re back with the booksellers and publishers of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association tradeshow to get their thoughts on the importance of book reviews.

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!

Submitting AI to Publishers w/ Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

September 11, 2025

Can publishers tell if you submit work with A.I.? Does it matter if they can’t even tell?

Jane Freidman of “The Bottom Line” joins Joe and Elly this week to talk about what publishers mean with A.I. disclosures, what presses are looking out for, and how authors can communicate with their publishers about it.

Check out Jane’s articles here: https://janefriedman.com/

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!

Queerness in Horror Movies, w/Joe Carlough & Gina Brandolino | People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

September 04, 2025

Don’t get scared straight! Joe Carlough & Gina Brandolino, authors of the new book QUEER HORROR: FUN AND FREAKY PERSPECTIVES ON MACABRE MEDIA, join Joe and Elly this week to talk about horror, coming out, their favorite movies, and more.

Get “Queer Horror” here.

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!

Does AI help publishing? with Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

August 28, 2025

Ah, AI. We’re hearing about it constantly, and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. From “fair use” in recent court cases to bad advice from Anthropic, Jane Friedman of The Bottom Line is back to talk with Joe and Elly about AI, especially in the publishing world.

Is it useful? WE haven’t found anything that AI does well, have you? Let us know!

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!

Note: There are a few hops, skips, and jumps in the video do to some connection issues. It shouldn’t be too noticeable, but we are aware of it!

Incorporating Zines Into Our Marketing and Production Strategy | A People’s Guide to Publishing

August 21, 2025

Zines are small, often subject-focused booklets that can range in topic from how much you love your cats, to fixing your bike, to protest safety tips. How do we incorporate zines into our regular marketing and production strategy? Joe and Elly tell all this week on the podcast!

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!