Doing the math for publishers since 2002
Excerpted from Microcosm zine Books and Math: A Manifesto On Publishing Tools by Elly Blue, Joe Biel, and Sara Balabanlilar. Take a look at the whole zine and purchase a copy on our website. For the unprepared, every small shift in the publishing industry can feel like a disaster on the horizon. But it doesn’t … Read more
In the great Tariff Measuring Contest where size is, apparently, everything, what are publishers to do? Especially in Canada, where both publishers and booksellers rely on being part of the North American supply chain? Kim Werker of Nine Ten Publications sits down with Joe and Elly to talk about tariffs, USPS’s oft-errant customs charges, and … Read more
This week’s reader question is: “How do I lower information barriers?” So many barriers in publishing have to do with people’s stories. How does an author take a story from the idea to the real product that publishers (and eventually, other people) know about and believe in? And how can a publisher share that story … Read more
Does author marketing make a difference, or is publisher marketing the only way to shift the public and draw hype to your book? Is it cheating if you ask your friends to buy your book? Jane Friedman of The Hot Sheet is back to clear up the huge variety of misconceptions around book marketing and … Read more
Orders and Customers Customer Classes These are different types of accounts with whom your publisher has a sales relationship. They give you money, you give them books. Whether they’re people you meet at your brick-and-mortar, distribution companies who go on to sell your books elsewhere, or something else, these customer classes add up to create … Read more
How do you “make your books get found” (as Joe puts it)? This week it’s a throwback to Joe and Elly chatting about marketing your book, search engine optimization, good description writing, and more. Or, also as Joe puts it: Google. Google. Google! If you like this one, check back soon for a deeper dive … Read more
New feature alert! Do you have creators with different royalty terms depending on the region of the sale? In this video, Ben takes us through WorkingLit’s new regional sale royalty calculations. As always, this feature is available to all accounts regardless of size. It’s easy to hide away/reveal depending on whether your publishing company will … Read more
Every day for 25 years, Ben Snakepit has drawn a simple, 3 panel comic about his day. There’s no overarching plot or theme, just Ben answering the question “what did you do today?” But answering that question daily for half his life (and collecting them in volumes) has led to insights about himself, the world, … Read more
How do you bring your incredible, original idea to an author you want to work with? Should you? Is it worth worrying about the legal ramifications? And lastly, how do you get the darn thing written after you make an agreement? This week on the pod, Joe and Elly share a bit of their experiences … Read more
by Joe Biel, co-founder of WorkingLit A version of this post, “Why we use Math instead of AI,” is included in WorkingLit’s zine, Books and Math: A Manifesto on Publishing Tools, which is available on Microcosm’s website. There’s a lot of hubbub about how AI is going to revolutionize, well, just about everything. The trouble … Read more