Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Portland, Oregon. Microcosm describes itself as having "a reputation for teaching self-empowerment, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom, influencing other publishers large and small with books and bookettes about DIY skills, food, zines, and art."
History
Beginning in 1996 with only Joe Biel, an autistic, self-taught teenager, doing part-time mail order out of a bedroom in Cleveland, Ohio, Microcosm moved to Portland, Oregon in 1998. Microcosm Publishing was originally run partly as a record label, which continues to inform its approach to bookselling. Microcosm released records by Flotation Walls, Bedford, Organic, Cripple Kid, The Unknown, The Roswells, Little Dipper, Rock, Star. The operation grew significantly over the first six years, was picked up for distribution by National Book Network in 2002 when Microcosm shifted focus to primarily becoming a book publisher. In 2006, the Utne Reader described Microcosm as an "esteemed Portland, Oregon-based publisher and distributor of zines, books, pamphlets, DVDs, and other fun stuff." Microcosm is known for works about DIY lifestyles, 1970s aesthetics of instructional books for self-empowerment, a tongue-in- cheek sense of humor, and images and artwork celebrating bicycles and radical politics. Many of the items offered are not available easily elsewhere on the web or otherwise. Microcosm is also known for incorporating the tactics of early punk record labels, a DIY approach, and guerrilla-style tactics for promoting their titles. Microcosm is now worker-owned and continues to operate as a non-profit, dividing all money beyond production expenses into the wages of all staff to maintain living wages in Portland, Oregon for its staff. Microcosm claims to have double the industry standard in the number of authors who are women. In September 2008, Microcosm opened a new retail store in the Buckman neighborhood of southeast Portland. There was a noticeable shift in the type of reading material offered, since most stock is "hurts" and "remainders" sold at half retail price or less. In January 2014 the store grew for a fourth time, moving to a new location on Williams Avenue in Portland, a few blocks from its former longtime location in Liberty Hall. Starting in 2006, before signing distribution deals with Independent Publisher's Group and later Publisher's Group West, Microcosm struggled to find affordable warehousing for the volume of publishing it was now doing inside inner-Portland. Unable to do so, it opened a mailorder warehouse in Bloomington, Indiana in March 2007. However, because of complications of managing across state lines, this location was closed in July 2011 and a new location replaced it in Lansing, Kansas. One month later, Lansing staffer Jessie Duquette, an employee since 2006, became co-owner of Microcosm. In August 2012, the organization split into two separate businesses: one that focused primarily on zine distribution, run by Jessie Duke in rural Kansas; and Microcosm Publishing, which focused on the book publishing operation, run by Joe Biel in Oregon. On December 12, 2014 Microcosm merged with Taking the Lane Omnimedia and Elly Blue Publishing to strengthen their respective catalogs with more feminist bicycling titles and added Elly Blue as co-owner and marketing director. Microcosm grew considerably once all operations were consolidated back in Oregon. After paying off the remaining debts from former management, Microcosm was finally able to purchase a former Black credit union building a few blocks from its former location. Over the next eight years sales increased by over 450% and wages were increased by 241%. In 2019, Microcosm resumed distributing its own books from its own building and sales immediately increased 55.77%, sustained for the year, and continued to climb in 2020.
