MSI Press Blog

  Public policy rarely begins in committee rooms. It begins in living rooms, hospital wards, and veterans’ halls — in the voices of people who refuse to be ignored. The history of Agent Orange policy in the United States is, at its core, the story of individuals whose private suffering became public testimony. 1. From Silence to Advocacy In the years after Vietnam, most veterans faced their illnesses alone. They were told their cancers were coincidental, their neuropathies unexplained, their children’s birth defects unrelated. But silence has limits. As patterns emerged — similar diagnoses, shared experiences — veterans began to connect the dots. The first advocacy came not from institutions but from individuals : A veteran who kept meticulous notes of his symptoms and those of his unit. A widow who wrote letters to Congress after her husband’s death. A small group of veterans who met in a church basement and decided to gather data themselves. Their persistence transformed anecdote...

  One of the most common misunderstandings in the author–publisher relationship is the belief that all activities related to a book’s success fall under one big umbrella called “marketing.” In reality, three distinct processes shape a book’s life in the world: selling , promotion , and marketing . They overlap, but they are not interchangeable. When authors understand the difference, they can see more clearly what the publisher does, what retailers do, and what the author must do. Let’s untangle the three. 1. Book Selling: The Retail Side of the Equation Book selling is the business of making a book available for purchase. It is transactional, logistical, and retailer‑driven. Selling is what happens after awareness already exists. Book selling includes: Listing the book with retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indie stores, Bookshop.org). Ensuring metadata is correct and distributed. Managing inventory and supply chain. Setting wholesale discounts and returnability. ...