6/17/2023 0 Comments Microcosm publishing portlandWhat would be your dream setup?īecause we're constantly building out Working Lit to adjust to our needs as a growing company, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to automate various processes, save people hours, or make the software more intuitive. My favorite app is Libby, for reading books from the library - it made me love reading all over again. We also use Google products for editing and any spreadsheets that aren't yet integrated into our CMS, and Slack for office communications - even before the pandemic we had a lot of people work remotely, and someone was nearly always traveling for an event, so it's helped the team stay connected. That keeps getting stalled because of how fast we're growing, though. One long-term project is to spin off parts of it into a software tool that can help other publishers free themselves from reliance on giant corporations. Almost 20 years ago, before e-commerce was a big thing, he was like "there are some cool things you could do with a database." And he's since created a wonderful, complicated behemoth that tracks inventory and ordering, manages royalties and accounting, propagates our metadata, and sells books to customers. Our web developer is a comics artist who we publish. ![]() And what software?Īt Microcosm we use an ever-evolving custom CMS that we call Working Lit. It's only awkward when people assume I have cancer. I was surprised to find that being bald makes me feel most like my true self. I shaved my head last year after my alopecia flared up - it's a weird condition that makes your hair fall out but is otherwise unharmful. Not work related, but the other key piece of technology in my life is my partner's electric shaver for my remaining hair. And we just added a Truck Trike to our fleet - it's an electric tricycle with a cargo box we're going to use it to haul our books to and from local events once those are happening again. Joe has a hand-built front-loader made by an inventor named Tom LaBonty here in Portland. I ride an old mountain bike converted to a longtail Xtracycle. Joe (Microcosm's founder and publisher) and I spend a lot of time riding cargo bikes, picking up boards and hard wood furniture people are throwing away so he can turn it into new shelving for our store, office, and warehouse. I recently started using an external monitor with my laptop, and having two screens is pretty amazing - how did I function without this?īut there is some technology I can get excited about on a daily basis. We outsource our production, so most of our day-to-day work is on computers. I have mixed feelings about it, but it's been 20 years and there's no going back. What hardware do you use?Īpple products, mostly. Before I did this, I was a writer and bicycle activist. My work every day is motivated by remembering what I once needed as a 14-year-old zine-obsessed high school dropout. ![]() We publish delightful, colorful nonfiction books that give readers tools to change their life and then the world, and we are also a distributor and wholesaler for other publishers, large and tiny, whose books are aligned with our mission. I run the marketing, editorial, and software development departments at Microcosm Publishing in Portland, Oregon, where I'm a co-owner.
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