As we get the Spring 2023 season underway, we’re very happy to let everyone know that we’ve begun representing SIU Press and Microcosm Publishing this month. Any of our customers who wish to order (or reorder) books from Microcosm or SIU can send orders to us now, and we’re preparing our markups for their Spring 2023 catalogs now!

Microcosm Publishing

Did you know? In 2022, Publishers Weekly named Microcosm the fastest growing publisher! But their roots are humble and very indie. They’ve long been on our list of “publishers we wish we represented”! It’s hard to describe them any better than their own site does:

Microcosm was started by Joe Biel in a bedroom closet as a distro and record label in 1996 and is now among the oldest independent book publishing houses in Portland, OR. Microcosm focuses on relating the experiences of what it is like to be a marginalized person and strives to be recognized for spirit, creativity, and value. All books are printed in the U.S., and the company doubles the industry average in number of women authors and prioritizes hiring of special needs employees. Microcosm constantly poses the question “How can we remove barriers to success for marginalized people in our industry?
Microcosm emphasizes skill-building, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books and zines about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice.

You’ve probably sold copies of Raven Bookstore co-owner Danny Caine’s How To Resist Amazon And Why, but you may not have gone deeper into their list! Here’s a gallery of some of their recent best-selling and favorite books:

Microcosm distributes their own books, zines, stickers, videos, and other products. We can help you get started ordering with Microcosm quite easily, if you have not ordered from them before!

Handy Edelweiss links:
Spring 2023 frontlist
Fall Winter 2022 frontlist
2022 bestsellers
2022 Zines
All Sidelines (DVDs, Magnets, Pins, Posters, T-shirts, Cards, Patches, and even a Fanny Pack)

Southern Illinois University Press

SIU Press was founded in the mid-1950s and ever since has been publishing books primarily in the humanities and social sciences. They have some really well-done and interesting books about Illinois and Chicago history.

As their own site says:

“The Press has become especially well known for its publications in First Amendment Studies, Restoration and Eighteenth Century Theatre, and Rhetoric and Composition, and for two exceptional multi-volume scholarly works: The Early, Middle, and Later Works of John Dewey, and The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. … In recent years, Southern Illinois University Press has focused its list on a smaller number of areas of publication: American history, poetry, regional studies, rhetoric and composition, and theatre.”

We were immediately struck by the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry and by their Chicago history books! Here’s a gallery of some of their best bookstore-friendly trade books:

SIU Press is distributed by Chicago Distribution Center (CDC), so we can easily send in orders for you as standalone orders, or combining with other CDC-distributed publishers we represent.

Handy Edelweiss links:
Spring 2023 frontlist
Fall 2022 frontlist
Bookstore favorite selections
Chicago-interest books backlist
Crab Orchard Series in Poetry backlist