Does AI innovate books or just add noise? w/Yehuda Niv of Spines | A People’s Guide to Publishing

April 17, 2025

AI has been a topic of near-constant debate in publishing the last few years. Is it a great democratizer, making writing, editing, and publishing accessible to everyone? Or is it just adding lower-quality, uncreative slush to the pile? This conversation became even more prominent a few months ago with the launch of Spines, a company that says “harnessing the power of cutting-edge AI, Spines revolutionizes every facet of the publishing journey, including proofreading, formatting, cover design, distribution, and marketing across all major channels and platforms.” Yehuda Niv, founder and CEO of Spines, joins Joe and Elly on the podcast this week for a discussion about AI, traditional publishing vs Spines model, and whether or not data actually supports the argument that AI is the great publishing disruptor.

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!

Unfuck Your Brain Graphic Guide: Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggers

April 14, 2025

A classic made accessible for adults and teens

Your brain has a mind of its own. And sometimes, even when it’s doing its best, it can feel like it’s out to get you. If you’ve ever had a meltdown in class, suffered emotions nobody understands, or found yourself shutting down at the worst time, you know this all too well.

Thankfully, this graphic guide is here to help you understand your brain and retrain it to better respond to serious upheavals as well as everyday indignities. Sit with Dr. Faith as she explains her insights and neuroscientific nerdiness (and swearing) in the form of a nonfiction graphic novel with artwork by Gerta O. Egy. If you’re struggling with trauma, depression, anxiety, anger, grief, or addiction, or if you just want to have a more chill response to life, this guide will help you get your brain back on track so you can take on the world.

Read on for a sneak peek at Unfuck Your Brain Graphic Guide: Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggers by Dr. Faith G. Harper & Gerta Oparaku Egy available for preorder from our site (shipping starts 5/27/25!) or your local bookseller (officially hitting shelves 6/24/25)!

(more…)

The Horrors of Being a Human: A Cola Pop Creemees Comic

April 11, 2025

The band experiences a wide range of emotions

Experience every emotion and endure life’s ups and downs with this series of short comics. Featuring Desmond Reed’s unique style of fluid, cartoony lines, these everyday vignettes strike a variety of emotional chords as they tell the story of the fictional band the Cola Pop Creemees.

This standalone volume follows the adventures of the wacky personalities behind the group, letting us in on their candid thoughts and outsized reactions to experiences ranging from the chaos of the grocery store to memories of heartbreak at religious summer camp to a bona fide zombie apocalypse. Their antics will make you laugh as you reflect on life’s difficult moments and emotions. As one character muses, “Am I a strong person for doing things while feeling sad, or am I a weak person for feeling sad to begin with?” Dramedy has never looked so squiggly . . . or relatable.

Perfect for fans of BoJack Horseman, this collection serves both as an entry point to the popular web comic and as a continuation of its familiar characters and scenarios. Includes “Memories,” winner of a 2022 MICE Mini-Grant.

Read on for a sneak peek at The Horrors of Being a Human: A Cola Pop Creemees Comic by Desmond Reed, available for preorder from our site (shipping starts 5/6/25!) or your local bookseller (officially hitting shelves 6/3/25)!

(more…)

What is the Impact of Book Bans? | A People’s Guide to Publishing

April 10, 2025

Book bans have seen an astronomical increase in the last few years. How are they impacting the book industry, booksellers, and publishers? We had the opportunity to check in with book professionals at a recent conference about what alarms them about book bans, their experiences, what kinds of books are banned, and what we can do to fight bans and challenges

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!

Return to the Snake Pit: Daily Diary Comics 2022-2024, San Francisco–Richmond

April 08, 2025

Outsider art about punk, dogs, and aging parents

In his classic no-frills style, Ben Snakepit documents the daily events of the years 2022 to 2024. Each day since 2001, he’s drawn a three-panel comic about his day, creating a rhythm with subtle humor and genuine feeling that draws you into events both startling and mundane.

This collection starts off in San Francisco, but aging parents and a major family emergency cause Ben to move back in Richmond, VA. After 23 years away, Snakepit returns to the place where it all started. His band breaks up, he turns 50, and the world and his life change dramatically, but Ben keeps bringing us a comic—and a song—every day throughout it all. Grown-up punks, fans of outsider art and diary comics, and anyone with aging parents will get it—and once you get it, much like growing older, there’s no going back.

Read on for a sneak peek at Return to the Snake Pit: Daily Diary Comics 2022-2024, San Francisco-Richmond by Ben Snakepit, available for preorder from our site (shipping starts 5/6/25!) or your local bookseller (officially hitting shelves 6/3/25)!

(more…)

How Should Publishers Manage Overstock? w/ Jelani Memory | A People’s Guide to Publishing

April 03, 2025

Running out of books is a good thing, actually! Jelani Memory of A Kid’s Co is back with Joe and Elly to talk about what to do with excess inventory, donating overstock vs pulping, and how “you can’t sell what you don’t have” usually doesn’t apply to books.

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!

Spring Warehouse Sale: Elly’s Picks!

April 02, 2025

In case you missed it, the Spectacular Spring Warehouse Sale is going on until April 6th! Elly has a few favorites included in the sale that she wanted to make sure you knew about, Check ’em out below, and if you decide to snag one, just use code SPRING2025 at checkout to get 50% off.

Getting Things Done – When I first started at Microcosm ten years ago and could no longer manage my work in an extremely ad hoc and disorganized manner, this book saved my bacon. It’s a classic for a reason. Great for figuring out how to get the shit done you need to in way less time with way fewer tears.

The Silence of Our Friends – A timely and bestselling graphic novel about the Civil Rights Movement, and a playbook for the advocacy skills and alliances we need to rebuild now. Illustrated by the incredible Nate Powell (of March fame, but, fun fact, Microcosm published his first book!)

How to Get Rid of a President – This is exactly what books are for, folks, to learn the skills you need to succeed in life.

Thomas Paine and the Dangerous World – A children’s picture book about the guy who wrote maybe the most famous zine in history.

Head Case is a memoir by Microcosm’s editorial manager Lex Orgera about how she coped with her father’s Alzheimer’s. Lex is a poet and all-around brililant and empathetic writer and this book has resonated so hard with other readers who’ve been there.

Incredible Doom – this comic by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden brings you RIGHT back to the online 90s, when you’d bike to your friend’s house to log into a BBS.

Will It Waffle? – I got a $2 waffle maker at yard sale last year and messing around with weird stuff to waffle-ize has seriously been a highlight of the last year. A very low price for joy. And seriously, there are no limits to what will waffle!

Spectacular Spring Warehouse Sale- 25% Off Over 800 Books & Zines! (EXTENDED through 4/20!)

March 28, 2025

(Updated 4/8 with one more extension and a tweak on the coupon, for the folks that missed it all the first time around.)

We need to clear our a bit of space in the warehouses to make room for new stock, so we figured now’s as good a time as any for a big spring cleaning sale.

From now until April 20th, get 25% off any of the titles tagged Spring Sale when you use coupon code SPRING2025 at checkout.

There are over *800* books included in the sale, so to help, we’ve made a few special toplists with popular subjects to get you started. There are some great picks in kid books, witchy things, and a bunch of Microcosm-published titles!

Plus, you can use the subject search filter at the top of the page to narrow things down by category, like if you want to search for all the books included that are about activism.

The sale runs until April 20th, so you still have a little time to snag yourself a book (or two!) as treat. Or maybe a friend is going through it right now and needs a boost. (Aren’t we all)?

Thanks for support our shenanigans.
<3 Microcosm

Is Print-on-Demand a Class Issue? w/Jane Friedman | A People’s Guide to Publishing

March 27, 2025

Print-on-demand books have been called cheap, low quality, and the publishing equivalent of fast fashion. But is that true? What are the upsides of publishers using POD? How do publishers know if POD is the right call? Jane Friedman of The Hot Sheet is back to talk about 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!

Portland Queer: Stories of LGBTQ+ Life in Portland, Oregon

March 26, 2025

Keep Portland Queer!

Portland, Oregon, is a queer city in the queerest state in the US. It’s also a place where, like anywhere in this country, you can experience bigotry, violence, and discrimination. Out of these contradictions bursts this sparkling collection of first-person stories—a heady mix of fiction and fact—written by contributors from across the queer spectrum and beyond, serving vulnerability, humor, and realness.

Immerse yourself in familiar scenes and landmarks like Washington Park, Caffe Mingo, the Silverado, Powell’s City of Books, Umbra Penumbra, St. Mary’s Academy, the Lloyd Center Mall, Hawthorne Boulevard, Food Front Co-op, Darcelle XV, a ghost bike installation, a backyard barbecue, a call center during third shift, and the many bridges over the Willamette River. Read Gabby Rivera’s original story that became the hit novel Juliet Takes a Breath. Revel in David Ciminello’s tale of a waiter who falls in love with a straight guy from the café next door. Learn Marc Acito’s answer to the question “Where do you find hot men in Portland?” Elevate your vocabulary with Stevie Anntonym’s “Lesbian Lexicon.” Whatever your orientation, these accounts of queer and trans life in the Rose City will make you see the world and your place in it from a different angle.

This new edition of the Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology includes a poem by Nastashia Minto and stories by Christa Orth and Kalimah Abioto, along with a new introduction from editor extraordinaire Ariel Gore.

Read on for an excerpt of Portland Queer: Stories of LGBTQ+ Life in Portland, Oregon edited by Ariel Gore, available for preorder from our site (shipping starts now!) or your local bookseller (officially hitting shelves 5/6/25)!

(more…)