What's in a name? Why do so many books have the same title? What if another author has the same name as you? What if you change your name or pseudonym? How do you protect the names of yourself and your various projects? We tackle all that and more in this week's episode!
Barnes & Noble's cuts to middle reader fiction hardcovers...a good thing?
Twitter lit on fire when Barnes & Noble announced that, due to low sales and high return rates, it would no longer carry as many middle reader fiction hardcovers. What does this mean for authors, publishers, indie stores, and other aspects of the publishing industry? The intrepid Joe and Elly dig deep and come up with a take that you aren't likely to hear elsewhere!
Who are your influences?
Most people have educations or backgrounds that influence how they approach their work. Often, these influences cause them to replicate similar power structures back into publishing. So this week on the pod, we take a look at our own influences and how they have shaped the way that we pursue our craft. Who are your influences?
How Do You Navigate Gatekeepers? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
If you read author forums, you can watch concerns about gatekeeping all day long. "If only the agent/editor/publisher/buyer would READ my book, they'd see how great it is!" so this week on the pod, we take a look at how to manage these characters, why they are good for authors, and how some gatekeeping is old fashioned racism/classism/xenophobia...and what to do about it!
How do you cancel a contract? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
Sometimes it's just not working out for the author or for the publisher or both. Circumstances, trends, and relationships change. Even though publishers and authors are aligned in bringing each book to its audience, sometimes it becomes clear over time that one party's interest is not aligned with another's. So this week on the pod, we take a look at how to end a contract!
How do you bypass publishing gatekeepers? (with Ariel Gore)
So many people have suffered endless rejections and want to know how to get their foot in the door. They think that if they can just get the right editor on the phone or get someone to listen, they can get published. To be fair, much of publishing is gatekept, preserving the experiences of certain people's experiences with certain educations from certain schools. So this week on the pod, we take a look at how to sidestep that and get your foot in the door! Ariel's new book, The Wayward Writer, addresses this point directly!
How does a publisher leverage? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
You may have noticed that we were Publishers Weekly's fastest growing publisher so we've given a lot of thought to leverage over the past few years. So this week on the pod, we talk about that. How do you grow? Where do you grow next? What is the lowest hanging fruit?
Why Does It Take Two Years to Publish a Book? (A People's Guide to Publishing)
The most common request when we create an agreement to publish a new book is that the author wants to publish as soon as possible! So this week on the pod, we cast some exposition about what goes on during those years between signing and books on shelves and why that delay is so important!
A conversation with Carla Butwin and Josh Cassidy, authors of If Animals Could Talk
For this week's episode of the People's Guide to Publishing podcast, Joe and Elly are interviewing (live!) Carla and Josh, authors of our new book, If Animals Could Talk. We'll discuss the hilariously viral first edition, the perils of book development, what it's like to make a heavily illustrated book, and the importance of humor.
Find out more about the podcast here: https://microcosm.pub/podcast
Find If Animals Could Talk here: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/11489
And the accompanying coloring book here: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/13474
Ayun Halliday (Creative, Not Famous: Small Potato Manifesto) (A People's Guide to Publishing)
Most creatives will never be famous, not should that be the aspiration. Ayun Halliday, playwright turned author/zinester/producer, learned an important lesson early in her career. When told that she could get parts in commercials by compromising her values, she didn't even consider the thought. Instead, she doubled down on these values, creating art that was a expression of herself and finding success in that honest reflection. Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto teaches these lessons through an elaborate cast of characters who share what they've learned through a lifetime of creative expression.
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/8966
How to Resist Amazon (and Why) with Danny Caine (Raven Bookstore) (A People's Guide to Publishing)
Five years ago the conversation about how Amazon undermines not only commerce, publishing, and culture, but also bookselling was limited to inside the industry. In 2018, he extended that conversation to the broader world when he arduously enlisted his staff to staple thousands of zines. Today, it's a bestselling book and Danny shares the backstory about why it's been so popular.
