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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2023: A Publishing Year in Review (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

January 11, 2024

What happened in 2023? A lot! We were on Publisher’s Weekly’s list of fastest-growing publishers (again), we bought a new warehouse building, improved staff leveling and pay transparency, and a lot of other stuff. In this week’s episode, we look back at 2023.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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What Did We Learn at Frankfurt Book Fair? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

January 04, 2024

Frankfurt Book Fair is now the world’s largest publishing industry show. It’s open to the public, but it’s primarily for industry veterans to pen big business deals. It’s largely to sell foreign rights translations of your books (or buy the same!). And we did! Check out our report from what happened there in 2023 and how it might be useful for you!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How Should Publishers Talk About Current Events? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 28, 2023

We live in an era where Hershey posts perspectives on trans rights and Heinz offers opinions on foreign wars. Naturally, book publishers feel pressure to talk about what’s going on in the world around them. This week on the pod we look at best practices for expressing yourself.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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What is the Value Chain? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 21, 2023

Peter Workman referred to it as “The Three Legged Stool,” meaning that if one stakeholder wasn’t benefiting in some way, a book would fail. And that’s a catchier way to explain the concept that publishing a book has to add value to everyone who touches it at every stage. This week on the pod, we unpack the idea of what makes any organization successful.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How did we become the distributor for the new Lydia Davis book? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

December 14, 2023

Popular author Lydia Davis decided that she no longer wanted her books sold on Amazon. So she tasked her agent with finding a publisher who could do this for her. Everyone said that it was impossible. But through a unique partnership between Microcosm and Bookshop.org, we found a way. And it wasn’t even hard. This is how it turned out. Over 10,000 books sold in the first month and growing!

Check out our interview with Sarah High here.

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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What is a Publishing Sales Conference? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

November 30, 2023

In several previous episodes, we’ve made reference to presenting your books at a “sales conference.” It’s a fundamentally misleading event, since you aren’t actually presenting to buyers. So this week, on the pod, we answer the reader question “What is a sales conference?”

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How Should Publishers Handle Submissions? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

November 23, 2023

How do authors find a publisher? (Or, how can publishers find authors?) How do publishers choose which books to acquire? What does the development and contract negotiation process look like? How can the publishing process be re-shaped to be more inclusive for diversity, equity, and inclusion? What are the best practices? Why do they work?

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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What are the jobs of a publisher? (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

November 16, 2023

When we tell strangers what we do, they either bemoan the death of the publishing industry or assume that we sit around and read books all day. So this week on the pod, we take a look at what a publisher actually does and the outcome of all of this work!

Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
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How Do I Know if My Book is “Good?” (A People’s Guide to Publishing)

November 09, 2023 — by Abby Rice

Taste is subjective and arbitrary, but still, everyone carries a certain amount of imposter syndrome, wondering if their book if any good. So this week on the pod, we take a look at what makes a book good, successful, and resonating with readers!

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