MSI Press Blog

  Dr. Liz Bayardelle was recently interviewed by WBOC in an article called " Parenting, Business, and Doing Both at the Same Time." To see more posts about Liz and her books, click HERE .

  Congratulations to Julie Gentile on her book,  How to Stay Calm in Chaos , being selected as the  Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards  honorable mention in the category of mind-body-spirit.   "Whether you write it out, sweat it out, breathe it out, or let it go, these mind-body-spirit practices can help you cope with the ever-changing landscape we are living in.” Read more posts about Julie, this book, and her other award-winning book, 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas HERE .

  The award-winning book, Travels with Elly (Larry MacDonald), everyone assumes is about a dog. It is, indeed, about a dog. BUT a cat, Buster, comes along on the trip and is part of the story and fun, too. See this paragraph from the introduction to the book: Buster is a Rag Doll breed of cat whose defining characteristic is going limp when he’s picked up. Having grown up with Elly, the slightly older Buster established himself early on as Alpha and maintained that relationship by a swat or nip on Elly’s hindquarters when he decided a playful interlude was over. While Elly was always a great traveler, Buster had some issues, even before our trip began. He occasionally upchucked if a road became too twisty or bumpy for more than 10 or 15 minutes. Buster’s problem behavior stopped suddenly and permanently during our trip, much to our delight. When appropriate, I’ll offer my opinion as to why. Ah, well, at this point, if Buster has caught your fancy, check out the e-book and sear...

  Congratulations to Frederic on his book, Weekly Soul , being selected as the Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards honorable mention in the category of inspiration and motivation.    Read more about the book, its author, and excerpts HERE .

  EmpowerHer interviewed MSI Press author, Julia Aziz about experiences of labor and miscarriage. Read the full interview  HERE .  Read posts about and by Julia and information about and excerpts from her book HERE .

  Congratulations to Richard Rice, Vincent Rice, and Geri Henderson on their book, Noah's New Puppy , being selected as the Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards honorable mention in the category of children's picture books.    Read more about the book, including excerpts, and its authors HERE .

  (photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic continues the discussion from last week about that lure for every first-time author: the  New York Times  Bestseller List. Last week, we talked about the need to sell 5000-10000 books each and every week you want your book to appear on the list, with the understanding that this is not a count of total books sold but an algorithmic approach, using sampling from stores that NYT considers representative of the whole (right or wrong) and might require the number of books sold as a whole to be greater in order to have enough hit the right sampling venues. The traditional and hones...

  The Teaching and Learning Podcast Hosts write that: Educators are natural nurturers, but taking care of themselves often falls to the bottom of the list...if it even makes the list at all. In this conversation with self-care advocate Julie Gentile, we learn how educators can actually have more of themselves to give to their students when they stop to take care of themselves. MSI Press author, Julie Gentile, discusses this topic on their podcast .  Read more about Julie and her award-winning books HERE .

Parenting in a Pandemic  is the book we all needed and for which we never dreamed we would have to search. Bayardelle breaks down a tremendous amount of information in a short, well-organized, and engaging read. I highly recommend Bayardelelle’s guide to any parent looking to navigate the waters of parenting in this pandemic while waiting patiently on a return to what may be our new normal. 5 stars Read the rest of the review on Literary Titan .  Read more posts about Liz Bayardelle and her books HERE .

  Bashir Al-Bani, Orator of the Grand Mosque of Damascus ... Al-Bani’s delicate sensibility often surprised me. This quality could be seen not only in the way in which he seemed to be always worried about people who were suffering but also in his concern for animals, cats in particular. For over seven years, I worked as a Program Officer at the Syrian Office of the United Nations Development Program. In this capacity, I was responsible for a number of development projects supported by UNDP in Syria.  One day I was asked by Al-Bani about the feasibility of initiating a domestic waste recycling program in Damascus. I said I would investigate it but that environment was not one of the areas that I supervised. Little did I know that Al-Bani’s request was destined to be repeated with ever increasing momentum until the question, “What have you done about recycling?” became one that was automatically asked upon my arrival at his home.   “Why?” I finally asked,...

  Colette McNeil, who writes about autism, has an updated website on the topic: Share Perspectives Support. Check it out HERE . Read other posts about Colette and her award-winning books HERE . Choice and Structure for Children with Autism Gold Medal, Education, Reader Views Literary Awards Silver Medal, Parenting & Family, Reader Views Literary Awards Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism Legacy Award, Education, Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards Silver Medal, Adult Classics Nonfiction, Reader Vies Literary Awards

  Congratulations to Renyuan Dong on his book, Rainstorm of Tomorrow , being selected as the Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards silver medal winner in the category of science.   This consistently-five-star, award-winning book on the philosophy of science ablates the boundaries separating quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, neuroscience, epigenetics, evolutionary psychology, and modern art. Read more about it, its author, and excerpts HERE .

  Dr. Frederic Craigie, author of Weekly Soul , discusses spirituality, resilience, and well-being in clinical practices on the SpeakEasy digital website. His contribution contains: 17 Years of Weekly Reflections ✔️ Short, nonsectarian email reflections on spirituality, health and wellness ✔️ Compiled together dating back to 2004 Check it out HERE . For more posts about Dr. Craigie and his book, click HERE . 

  (photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about that lure for every first-time author: the New York Times Bestseller List. Every author wants to know how to make it there. Plotting a place on the list is a complicated matter. To wit, Your book needs to sell 5,000-10,000 copies a week to make the list. Some considerations include  Not every book sale counts, so you would need to exceed that number. A calculation is made by surveying selected bookstores, with an emphasis on independent bookstores, and extrapolating overall sales for that. As such, Tucker Max considers every bestseller list a lie . Large sales through on...

  (Next Quest Podcast) MSI Press author Julia Aziz was recently interviewed on Next Quest Podcast on the topic of Loss and Grief. Click HERE to listen to the podcast. To see other posts by and about Julia and her book, click HERE . To see podcast interviews of other MSI Press authors, click HERE . To see more posts on grief and loss, click HERE .

  Congratulations to MSI Press's many talented authors for a strong showing in the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition . The books and their awards are listed below. We will present each individual over the next couple of weeks so that readers can get to know the books and their authors. Definitely, each book is deserving (in our admittedly partially biased opinion) of its standing in the competition. Here are the 14 MSI books that placed in the competition. Phoenix Award Best New Voice Health and Fitness: Women, We're Only Old Once by Bertha Cooper. Gold Medal, Education: 10 Quick Homework Tips by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. Silver Medal, Science: Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong Honorable Mention, Children's Picture Book: Noah's New Puppy by Vincent Rice with Geri Henderson Honorable Mention, Inspiration/Motivation: Weekly Soul by Dr. Frederic Craigie Honorable Mention, Mind, Body, & Spirit: How to Stay Calm in Chaos b...

  The Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition has selected How My Cat Made Me a Better Man by Jeremy Feig as its legacy award winner in the category of humor, and we are happy to be able to announce it on Caturday! This is the second major award for this book. The book was also selected as a finalist in the Book of the Year competition when it was first published. For more information about Jeremy's book, click HERE . For posts about Jeremy and his book, click HERE .

  Congratulations to Cindy McKinley Alder & Patti Trombly on their book, 10 Quick Homework Tips , being selected as the Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards gold medal winner in the category of education.   For more information on this book, click HERE . For more posts on Cindy and Patti and their books, click HERE .

  Congratulations to MSI Press author Bertha Cooper on her book, Women, We're Only Old Once, being selected for the Phoenix Award (Best New Voice) in the category of Health and Fitness. For more posts about Bertha and her book, click HERE .

  It is with a good deal of sadness that we announce the death of beloved MSI Press author, Dr. Peter Jonas. From his obituary: Peter Mark Jonas, PhD passed away unexpectedly on April 22 at the age of 64. He is survived by his wife Nancy; daughters Katie (Andre) and Melanie (Sean); son Kevin (Katie); grandchildren Elyse, Clara, Davis, Nina, Ian, and Cole; one grandchild-to-be; mother Nancy; sister Sara; and brothers Jack, Tim, and Dan and their spouses. He was preceded in death by his father Jack. Peter was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and professor. His greatest pleasures in life were helping and spending time with his family, the Green Bay Packers, and his Harley motorcycle. Peter was born and raised in Ripon, Wisconsin, before earning a bachelor’s degree from Carthage College and doctorate from Marquette University.  Peter was committed to his career in higher education and loved using humor in his teaching pedagogy. He served in a number of roles during his 41 y...

(photo by  Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about figuring out your book sales. Many authors try to figure out their sales based on some inaccurate thinking or assumptions.  Amazon posts a sales ranking. If you look at your ranking, it can appear that your book is selling more (the number is lower than it was a few minutes ago) or selling less (the number is higher than it was a few minutes ago). Actually, that number does not tell you anything about the number of books sold. A higher number could mean more books were sold, fewer books were sold, or no books were sold. The number is a relative one based on recency of purc...

  Congratulations to Dr./Rev Steven Greenebaum, whose book, One Family: Indivisible , has been selected as a category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Awards competition. To read more information about Steven, his books, and his life, click HERE .  To order Steven's book, visit our webstore: One Family: Indivisible . The code FF25 will get you a 25% discount as a fan or friend of MSI Press. Currently, on sale. (Also available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online sellers as well as many retailers.) Previous Eric Hoffer Award winners among MSI Press authors include Elaine Imady ( Road to Damascus ; first runner up) and Patt Pickett ( The Marriage Whisperer ; honorable mention). 

  The Natural Medicine Journal recently published an interview with MSI Press author. Dr. Frederic Craigie : " Cultivating Resilience in Clinical Practice during Times of Crisis: A conversation with clinical psychologist and educator Frederic Craigie, PhD."  For other posts about Dr. Craigie and his book, Weekly Soul , click HERE .  

Fear  You Can’t Always Hide behind the Toilet  Cat Tale: Shelly lived in a lot of different places: upstate New York, Manhattan, Los Angeles, and even a brief stint in New Mexico. Every time she moved someplace new, she’d be utterly terrified. I signed a lease for a great new apartment in Santa Monica, California. The place seemed ideal for a cat. It had a long layout she could race through, a few steps for jumping fun, and ample sunbeam access. I knew Shelly would love it.  As soon as I got the keys to the empty apartment, I took her over to check it out. I figured she’d enjoy exploring her new digs, especially since there was no pesky furniture to get in the way, but from the moment I turned her loose, she was scared to death, darting out of sight almost immediately.  Of course, it’s easy to find a cat in an apartment with no furniture. She was hiding in the bathroom, wedged behind the toilet. I tried to coax her out with some treats, but she wouldn’t bud...

  To the Reader from the Author The book which you, dear reader, have picked up was written approximately twenty years ago. However, the reasons that brought it to the light of day then remain as important today as ever. The first of these reasons is the survival of foreigners who are living entirely surrounded by native speakers of the foreign language. I came to the United States with a decent level of English, but, naturally, I did not feel myself to be on a par with Americans. I am certain that a great many people are suffering and have suffered from this feeling of “linguistic inferiority.” Some people come to accept this feeling. Others try to improve their foreign language. Still others--and I belong to this group--try to find a set of strategies to help them to use the language that they have acquired more effectively. Back then I had already begun to realize the strategic significance of simplifying thoughts in order to be understood; after all, it is better to ...

  Joining our other volumes of this journal -- as well as our other respected foreign language books -- is Volume 7 of the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies . Volume 7 represents a gap year, as the Journal picks up issuance with a new publisher, MSI Press LLC. The purpose of the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  (ISSN 1547-7819) is to provide a forum for exchanging information about teaching to and reaching near-native foreign language proficiency for teachers, learners, and professional language users. Areas of interest include research, theory, and practical application. The  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  has been published annually since 2003. Issue 7 is an exception to the publication schedule and is intended as a bridge issue between the early years, 2003-2010, and the current years, 2020 and later. In the early years, the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies  was published by the Coalition of Distinguished...

  Dr. Wendy Bruton recently interviewed Julia Aziz, author of Lessons of Labor , on her I Used To Be a Therapist podcast. The topic? " Surrender and Releasing Negative Emotions ." For more posts on Julia and her writings, click HERE .