Microcosm Factsheet

[Bree Adorn]

I have searched the forum before deciding to post this thread and did not find exactly what I was looking for. And that would be:

Three or more sentences from zine, book, button, patch, sticker, etc. creators who have had a definitively positive or negative experience with Microcosm. I have begun working at a radical bookstore that exclusively uses Microcosm for their zine orders, and I would like to provide the other co-op members with accurate and legitimate information instead of a smear (or cheer for that matter) campaign that is simply based on rumors.  I am looking for direct statements, not something that "happened to a friend of a friend of a friend." Please just let me know briefly what your experiences have been with them, how any matters were handled, anything you feel is pertinent information for how you'd like people to know about your dealings with Microcosm.

Please feel to repost this anywhere that may be relevant or helpful. Thank you.

[Bree Adorn]

To anyone that contributed/contributes to this discussion: could you please let me know if you'd like your comments to remain anonymous or public when I present this information? I will keep all of them anonymous unless otherwise noted by that person.

[Jenna Freedman]

Whether or not people love or hate Microcosm, I think it's important to use a variety of distros, otherwise the zine stock of alternative and radical bookstores will all begin to look alike. Distros all have their own tastes and attract (or repel) different flavors of zines. If you only use Microcosm (or any other single distro), you're missing out on some great zines. I hope people will make an effort to check out other distros. The Zine World list of zine stores and distros is a great place to look. Also, zine librarians reviewed several distros on the Library Journal site.

[Dan 10things]

NicoleIntrovert said:

Dan... when have you ordered from other distros? What distros are taking that long? I send packages within a day or two, and it has never taken weeks to get packages from any other distros I've ordered from....

Of course, I've ordered zines from 50+ distros and ran a distro myself. That's awesome that you are that fast, many people are not. I sure wasn't when I did a distro, I only mailed stuff out once a week. (Sorry to diverge of the thread's subject of Microcosm experiences)

[Dan 10things]

Jenna Freedman said:

Whether or not people love or hate Microcosm, I think it's important to use a variety of distros, otherwise the zine stock of alternative and radical bookstores will all begin to look alike. Distros all have their own tastes and attract (or repel) different flavors of zines. If you only use Microcosm (or any other single distro), you're missing out on some great zines. I hope people will make an effort to check out other distros. The Zine World list of zine stores and distros is a great place to look. Also, zine librarians reviewed several distros on the Library Journal site.

Absolutely! And while this is way off topic for this thread, I'd also encourage people to order zines directly from the publisher, rather than through distros. Generally the publisher will make more money off of a direct sale, cutting out the middleman and all. From a reader's point of view, it's cool to often get notes from the publisher about the issue or a personal thank you for ordering. And from the publisher's point of view, it gives you more of a direct connection with your reader. It's nice to get a feel of who is reading your zine and where they heard about it. And with repeat orders you often build up a correspondence with a reader, those reader and writer/publisher connections are just something you don't get with the mainstream press and something very unique and cool about underground publishing.

[Derek Neuland]

my comments are 100% public


Bree Adorn said:

To anyone that contributed/contributes to this discussion: could you please let me know if you'd like your comments to remain anonymous or public when I present this information? I will keep all of them anonymous unless otherwise noted by that person.

[Jenna Freedman]

Oh yeah. Mine, too.

[Serah-Marie]

Microcosm has distroed my publication for almost 3 years. I've never had a problem with them and have not had any negative experiences. (sorry for copying pony's wording, but you said it so simply and accurately)