What Does a Publisher Need to Distribute Books? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

March 21, 2024

Most small presses use a trade distributor. What do they do? What are the components of a distributor’s function? Can you do them yourself? What does a distributor do? What does a distributor look for? This week we take a look at these things and more, as we unpack distribution! (Metaphorically, although our kickass warehouse team unpacks distribution literally almost every day.)

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Bookstore Solidarity Project: Alibi Bookshop of Vallejo, CA (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

March 14, 2024

Nestled deep in the heart between San Francisco and Sacramento lives the Alibi Bookshop! This week, in the latest of “What makes all of these cool indie bookstores tick?” we present to you, their proprietor, Karen, to unpack what publishers could do better to interface with stores like hers and the funniest things that happen when you bring back the 90s.

You can check out the other interview we did with Karen on the blog here.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How does a book publisher deal with failure? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

March 07, 2024 — by Abby Rice

Not everything that you do will be a great success. It’s a matter of how we navigate these less-than-graceful moments that determine our ability to respond and move on with being reactive. This week on the pod, E & J walk through some of their own failures and how they could have handled them better as well as what they handled well. You are forever judged by the last thing that you’ve done, so make it count!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Why Does Publishing Create So Much Waste (and what can we do)? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

February 29, 2024

Largely due to consumer preference and obstinate legacy behaviors, the world of book publishing still operates on the same model from the 1800s. Mass production creates overprinting, and the ship and return model creates damaged books that don’t have anywhere to go. This week, we take a look at how that happened and what publishers can do about it!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Joe Biel awarded PubWest Innovator 2024 by Andrea Fleck-Nisbet (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

February 22, 2024

In February 2024, in Maricopa, AZ, IBPA’s CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet awarded the PubWest Innovator Award to Microcosm Publishing Founder and CEO Joe Biel for “Reimagining what publishing can or should be” and “Exceptional efforts to develop new skills that expand publishing into the future.” Here is Fleck-Nisbet’s speech and Biel’s Q&A period from the awards ceremony.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Bookstore Solidarity! Josh Christie of Print: A Bookstore (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

February 15, 2024

Print: A Bookstore has been a triumphant, bright light in envisioning what a bookstore could be. Both as a brick and mortar that is a champion for information and reading, but also holding up its staff and creating entertaining skit videos with its staff! This week on the pod, we feature co-owner Josh Christie about the store in our ongoing Bookstore Solidarity project!

Check out Josh’s interview on the blog here.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Which Publishers Grew 12% Over The Past Three Years? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

February 08, 2024

The pandemic was an unexpectedly magical time for the publishing industry. Sales went up when they were expected to go down. Printing slowed to a crawl due to the paper shortage. But four years later, we have some clear, emergent publishers who seemed to have permanently claimed an additional piece of the market share. This week we take a closer look at them!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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What is ONIX and do small publishers need to use it? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

February 01, 2024

How does the entire world get information about what you are publishing? It’s from a feed called ONIX, that propagates every detail about your titles. This week on the pod, we take a deep dive into ONIX and its role for small publishers.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How Should Publishers Create Budgets and Predict Finances? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

January 25, 2024

Many publishers find money to be very unpredictable and scary. So this week we take a look at how to create budgets and predict cash flow as well as how to plan a financial future. It’s not as difficult as it seems!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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Can Book Publishers Vertically Integrate? w/Blackstone’s Anthony Goff (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

January 18, 2024

So much of book publishing is about distributing tasks, so how can publishers take more of these operational aspects in-house? This week on the pod, guest Anthony Goff, President of Blackstone Publishing, walks us through many of their aspects that are vertically integrated, from recording studios to rights sales to printing and distribution—to performing these services for other publishers.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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