“Six years ago a publishing researcher from London came to my office and she was the first person that helped me make sense of the subject. I had to point out repeatedly that books are an emotional purchase and our customers are invested in our long-term success.” This once offended some economists who studied it because they wanted to believe that consumers were rationally self-interested. So in effect, more sales at the same price is the final outcome. But more surprisingly, the average sale ends up being the cover price, because just as many customers turn the price up as people turn it down. The titles are also very reasonably priced, but nonetheless they’ve adopted a “sliding scale” or “pay what you can afford” retail pricing policy.“We implemented it in 2009 and it was in practice since 2010 so I can tell you definitively that we have to turn away fewer customers. It feels like home.”Ī quick look at the Microcosm catalog shows how unique their titles are: Paleo for Unicorns Chocolatology How Not to Kill Yourself and This is Your Brain on Anxiety. It's also an audience that makes us feel good about what we do every day at work. It's a spirited group that will happily tell you how they feel and push us to do better. It's an audience that is mostly ignored - if people even admit it exists at all. I'm a bit more attuned to the struggles that plenty of people face, which probably created the melting pot which is Microcosm's editorial vision-and as a result, audience-which has always skewed mostly female, mostly people of color, mostly queer, and mostly low income. “Perhaps it's groundbreaking that I succeeded by trying to create resources that were lacking for me as a child. Microcosm has the unique company policy of constantly asking the question, “How can we remove barriers to success for marginalized people in our industry?” Soon I'll have lived in Portland longer than I've lived anywhere else.” “I expected to stay for about a year, but a year later it felt more like home than home ever had. Joe Biel started Microcosm Publishing in Portland, Oregon 22 years ago as “a punk rock teenager.” Having grown up during hard times in rust-belt Cleveland, Ohio on a social security income, autistic and poorly educated, he headed west to check out the blossoming arts scene in Portland. Indie Groundbreaking Publisher Microcosm Publishing of Portland Punk Rock Publishing for a Marginalized Audience
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