Table Of ContentA PEOPLE’S “Anyone starting a publishing company or just hoping to publish one book will benefit from
[ So, you want to publish books. ]
Joe Biel’s perspective and experience.” —Mark Suchomel, Senior Vice President, Baker & Taylor
GUIDE TO
“Joe Biel has a gift for looking at things a little differently. Anyone starting a publishing A P E O P L E ’ S G U I D E T O
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company or just hoping to publish one book will benefit from his perspective and
experience in building Microcosm. They should read this.”
U P U B L I S H I N G
—Mark Suchomel, Senior Vice President, Baker & Taylor
“Distills decades of industry experience and advice into an approachable guide that
B
encourages innovation, creativity, and connecting directly with your readers. It’s the
most empowering text I’ve read on publishing.”
L Build A Successful, Sustainable,
—Laura Stanfill, Forest Avenue Press
I
“Methodical explanations in plain language of how the commercial book trade—the Meaningful, Book Business
S
Literary Industrial Complex—is structured. Indeed the book is about how he turned his
social and cultural passions—by publishing books on sustainable practices, targeting From The Ground Up
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women and minority consumers (black women buy and read more books than any
demographic), as well as fringe and underground cultural and social issues—into a
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fast-growing business platform open to anyone with the passion to publish.”
—Calvin Reid, Publisher’s Weekly N
• Develop books to connect with readers on a practical and emotional level
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• Choose between offset printed, digitally printed, and ebook formats and
work effectively with printers
• Build an authentic niche so you can reach your audience and sell books Build A
directly Successful,
• Understand if and when you’re ready to work with a distributor or large Sustainable,
Meaningful,
online retailer
Book
• Create a budget and predict the cost and income of each book so your
Business
company stays in the black
From The
• Decide what work you need to do yourself and what can be done by others Ground Up
• Plan for sustainable growth
J O E
$19.95 U.S. / $25.50 CANADA
B I E L
J O E B I E L
Founder and publisher of Microcosm Publishing for
23 years with over three million books sold
“A succinct, readable guide to a complicated and ever-changing industry. While
it is geared toward novice publishers, the clear explanations of how the book
“Won with merit; Biel has succeeded in the book business for
industry works makes this book incredibly useful to authors and book people
decades and has built what he has from the ground up. He
early in their careers. —Davida G. Breier, Johns Hopkins University Press and
knows about community, sustainability, niche markets, and
No Voice Unheard
taking care of your people. This guide is sure to steer you right.”
—Leah Angstman, reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly
A
P E O P L E ’ S
G U I D E
T O
P U B L I S H I N G
A P E O P L E ’ S G U I D E TO
P U B L I S H I N G
Build A Successful, Sustainable,
Meaningful, Book Business
From The Ground Up
J O E B I E L
MICROCOSM PUBLISHING
Portland, OR
A PEOPLE’S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING
Build A Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From The
Ground Up
© Joe Biel, 2018
This edition © Microcosm Publishing, 2018
First edition, first published December 10, 2018
ISBN 978-1-62106-285-1
This is Microcosm #300
Edited by Elly Blue
Cover illustration by Cecilia Granata
Book design by Joe Biel
“Organizing a Bookstore Release Event” (pages 333-339) © Laura Stanfill, 2018
“Working with the Author” and “Social Media” (pages 319-329) were developed from
Elly Blue’s “Business of Publishing” articles.
“Is It Public Domain?” (page 267) is © Erika Schnatz, 2016-2018
For a catalog, write or visit:
Microcosm Publishing
2752 N Williams Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
Microcosm.Pub
To join the ranks of high-class stores that feature Microcosm titles, talk to
your local rep: In the U.S. Como (Atlantic), Fujii (Midwest), Travelers West
(Pacific), Turnaround in Europe, New South in Australia and New Zealand,
and Baker & Taylor Publisher Services in Asia, India, and South Africa.
If you bought this on Amazon, I’m so sorry because you could have gotten
it cheaper and supported a small, independent publisher at Microcosm.Pub
Global labor conditions are bad, and our roots in industrial Cleveland in the
70s and 80s made us appreciate the need to treat workers right. Therefore,
our books are MADE IN THE USA and printed on post-consumer paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2018024076
This book is dedicated to Elly Blue for her endless support of my crazy
ideas and always making them even better. This book feels like the best
distillation to share what I’ve learned over the past 23 years. Aside from
convincing and encouraging me to write this book, Elly’s support and
contributions made it much better than it would have been otherwise.
Microcosm Publishing is Portland’s most diversified
publishing house and distributor with a focus on the colorful,
authentic, and empowering. Our books and zines have put
your power in your hands since 1996, equipping readers to
make positive changes in your life and in the world around
you. Microcosm emphasizes skill-building, showing hidden
histories, and fostering creativity through challenging
conventional publishing wisdom. What was once a distro and
record label was started by Joe Biel in his bedroom and has
become among the oldest independent publishing houses in
Portland, OR. In a world that has inched to the right for 80
years, we are carving out a place in the center with DIY skills,
food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice.
Contents
Foreword: The Underground is Bigger than the Mainstream 10
Publishing Is Movement Building 12
Introduction: What a Publisher Does 17
Think Like a Publisher 19
Know What Kind of Publisher You Are 22
Approach Publishing as a Passionate Hobby 25
Treat It as a Business—Think About Profit Centers and Cost
Centers 26
Understand the Publishing Ecosphere 27
Clear Topic + Reputation = Sales 35
Start Small, Make Mistakes on a Smaller Scale 36
So How Do I Succeed? 41
My “Rules” for Publishing (in Brief) 42
1. Build Your Movement: Make Books that Need to Exist 49
How to Create New Audiences for Books 56
2: Title Development: How To Make Books that Readers Will Find
& Relate To 61
Develop the Nuts and Bolts of Your Book 63
Now for Examples of Less-Successfully Developed Titles 65
Develop Before the Book Has Been Written 68
Find Your Muse 71
Titles, Subtitles, and Cover Details 73
How to Choose Your Format, Size, and Release Date 76
Ebooks, Audiobooks, and Piracy 78
How to Price Your Book 81
What You Need in a Cover 84
Long-Tail Development 87
3: Printing Books: Making the Package Match the Product 91
Deciding How to Print Your Book 92
Traditional-format offset printing 92
Digital printing / print on demand (POD) 94
Why Printing Needs to Function as a Percentage of List Price 97
Ebooks 97
Printing Zines 101
Determining Your Print Run 103
Working with the Printer 106
Choosing your production values 108
Choosing a printer 109
Requesting a printer quote 111
Life Cycle of a Print Job 115
Formatting for Print 117
4. Where to Sell Books: Putting Your Work in Reader’s Hands 129
Get Your Mind Around Selling 135
Who to Sell To 138
Selling Directly to Readers 139
Selling to Bookstores 145
Libraries 148
Non-Bookstore Sales Channels 150
Special sales 152
Gift accounts 155
Mass markets 157
Institutional / corporate sales 159
Trade Distribution 160
5: How to Sell Books: Fulfillment at Every Level 177
Fulfillment at Every Level 178
The Ground Game 180
Make Your Memorable Mark 184
Getting the Books to the Reader 186
How to Decide Your Fulfillment Structure 191
Fulfillment 196
How to pack books 198
Warehousing, Inventory, and Software 202
6. Doing the Labor: Who Is Your Staff? 205
Job Duties 205
Being Your Own Worker and Boss 212
Interns 214
Freelancers 216
Staff 218
Leadership 223
Meetings 225
Administrative Meetings 226
Editorial Meetings 226
Management Meetings 227
Sales Conference 228
7. Acquisitions & Editorial: Connecting with the Right Authors &
Making Their Books Worth Reading 231
Acquisitions 233
Publish a Book Because It’s Right for Your Press 235
What Makes a Good Acquisition? 239
Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) 244
Author Questionnaire 248
Metadata 248
Kinds of Editing 253
Style Guide 255
Publication Schedule 256
8. Ownership & Rights: Legally Setting Yourself Up for Success 261
Copyright 263
Foreign Rights 270
Book Club Rights 273
TV/Film Rights 274
Audio/Other Rights Sales 276
Selling All Rights 277
9. Contracts: Outlining Your Agreements 281
Creating and Negotiating the Contract 284
The Money 288
Obligations 292
Rights 294
After Publication 295
Creating an Exit Plan 297
10: Publicity & Launch: Growing Your Small World 301
Build Your Movement, then Your Catalog 303
Make a Plan 305
Crowdfunding 307
The Ground Game 311
Catalogs 312
Reviews 314
Promoting Beyond Reviews 318
Working with the Author 319
Why do I have to tell people to buy my book? 320
What about people that don’t want to read my book? 320
Won’t people just discover and love my book because of its
