New York, NY (Top40 Charts) "A punk rock publishing manifesto that represents the triumphant ability of the human sprit to rise above devastating loss and crippling obstacles, and find meaning in a weird weird world." -
Brett Warnock, founder of Top Shelf Productions
"So much happens in Good Trouble ... The book is punk autobiography, an indie small business manual, a reason to worry about what urban sprawl does to cut young people off from diversity and culture, and a painful look at what hides in some homes, hurting too many of those kids." - Joyce Brabner, from the introduction
Once upon a time, in Cleveland in the 1990s, a teenager named Joe Biel started going to punk shows and began dreaming about applying the same do-it-yourself, community values of the punk scene around him, to other pursuits in life. He applied all his passion, his intellect, his difference, his weirdness, his prodigal math skills and floundering social skills to build what would become Microcosm Publishing, and a movement along with it.
Twenty years later, Good Trouble is his story and the story of Microcosm. Good Trouble is a tale of screwing up, trying again, and always finding a way to do it better. It's about developing a toolkit for turning your difficulties into superpowers, building the world that you envision, and inspiring others to do the same. This is the story of how, over 20 years, one person turned a litany of continuing mistakes and seemingly wrong turns into a happy, fulfilled life and a thriving publishing business that defies all odds.
The book has a foreword by Sander Hicks, founder of Soft
Skull Press, and an introduction by Joyce Brabner, co-author (with
Harvey Pekar) of Our Cancer Year.
Pre-order: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/5764/
$14.95
256 PAGES
6X9", PAPERBACK (12 OZ)
ISBN 978-1-62106-009-3
"Joe Biel is a part of a legacy-a lineage of independent publishers who scraped up just enough spare change to begin to put new voices into print...After I read Good Trouble my head was buzzing, my ears heard a silent ringing, I suddenly had new eyes to see my own life." - Sander Hicks, founder of Soft
Skull Press
"I could not put this book down. Joe's struggle to run one of the staple businesses of the punk community while negotiating his personal and professional relationships as a man with Asperger's make this story both educational and compelling. It's part self-help book for anyone who has trouble understanding his or her own emotions (which I think is everyone) and part biography. It's a fascinating read." - Brea Grant, actress, Heroes,Friday Night Lights, Dexter
"Shows an alternate American business model-one where vision and dreams trump financial resources and experience, and where DIY becomes the basis for decisions as Biel and the Microcosm staff define their own route to success inside American capitalism. A true American counter-culture story of the 90's to the present,Good Trouble presents one path to ensuring the survival of print. - Lisa Wilde, Yo, Miss
"Good Trouble is a wild and bumpy ride - heartbreaking and heartwarming, raw and intensely personal. Joe Biel's complex relationships with people, punk, and Asperger's make for both a relatable memoir and an appropriate frame for the twenty-year history of Microcosm Publishing, whose readers and writers have tried to create a better future from the heavily burdened trenches of the present." - Dawson Barrett, Teenage Rebels
Good Trouble is good medicine for anyone who's ever daydreamed of running a small business (or running away on a punk rock tour). - Ayun Halliday, author of No Touch Monkey!: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late
