A People's Guide to Publishing

What are International Standard Book Numbers? How and why do publishers use them? When do you need them? What information is contained? What is useful about them? When do you not need them?

Every year—like a nonprofit—we publicly post our financials with some analysis and comparison to previous years. What's changed? What's exciting? What's difficult? And now we'll also review it on the pod every year.

With lightning precision and relentless candlelight editing, we publish a handful of new zines every month. So in our latest pod feature, we are going to add a monthly roundup of them!

Harvey Pekar's American Splendor showed the world that comics didn't have to be restricted to superheroes in tights embroiled in epic battles. And in Joyce Brabner's latest book in the new American Splendor Family series, they show that one epic battle can be rebuilding our children after a sexual assault and that comics can be an effective format for teaching this.

Barnes & Noble was recently purchased by a new parent company invested in brick and mortar retail during a year of COVID closures. They cleverly used this time to shift layout and planograms in their stores, change inventory management, buying habits, and what is centralized versus localized. What does this mean for publishers? What do we think about all of this?

In publishing you make plans and try and stick to them. Then everything in the world insists on sticking a screwdriver into your front spokes. We discuss how that impacts us, how we respond, and how we need to pivot on a double nickel.

Penguin Random House has negotiated the purchase of Simon & Schuster for over $2B. Sterling Publishers has been for sale, on and off, for years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's profitable trade division is for sale. Why are all of these corporate giants merging?

Due to the difficult year, we've had many publishers ask us for advice on how to find a buyer for their publishing company. Essentially, this is a prospect for some small and medium presses, so this week we look at the things to do in order to make that happen and some unforeseen consequences!

Improve your relationships, get better at boundaries, and end toxic cycles
Accountability means accepting responsibility for your actions and repairing any harm you have done. This book can be used by anyone who is ready to do the work to change toxic behaviors and patterns, from quitting smoking to atoning for abuse or crimes. At its heart, accountability is understanding that your actions do not always have the impact that you intend. Sometimes this is as simple as getting to know yourself and apologizing. Sometimes it’s a years-long process to recognize the motivations and behaviors that you see inside yourself and feel like you have no control over. Ultimately, accountability is something we each must choose for ourselves; nobody else can do it for us. The results can be unexpected and transformative, and improve your friendships, relationships, work, and community; most of all it's about coming to peace with yourself. The authors share tough lessons learned through many years of personal and professional experience. This book will walk you through your own head to understand your own patterns and behaviors, untangle them, and live the kind of life you want. Event on Nov 29, 2 PM: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8415953613507/WN_FWCIWjXmSgSFfzWgXtQZxQ

GG Allin, the scumfuck king, set out to make music dangerous. He died 27 years ago from a heroin overdose. So why did we make two books about him? Well, because no prior books actually told his story, preferring to lay out a red carpet of glorification in his wake.