MSI Press Blog

  Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, cancer survivor x5, and prolific author of spiritual books, retired from her duties as full-time Mission cat when covid struck and moved in with her godparents. Since the Mission has reopened, they bring Sula in on Sundays. Some days she walks around the grounds and attends Mass like in the old days. Mostly, though, she "holds court" at the Mission gift shop and welcomes visitors. Last Sunday, one of her visitors brought her a belated Easter present. Everyone loves Sula! Unfortunately, Sula is struggling a bit now, as is probably evident in the picture. As she reaches the special age of 15, she is experiencing arthritis. Most unfortunately, however, the tumors on her leg have returned, and she has trouble walking. Her oncologist says that she is "very worried" about Sula. So, we are asking for prayers for the little cat that has been the answer to prayers for many people. Read posts about Sula and her books HERE ....

  Watch the presentation HERE . For more posts about Dr. Sabzevary, his lectures, and his book, click  HERE .

  From MidWest Book Review: "U nique, exceptional, informative, thought-provoking, "Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain" is highly recommended reading for kids with ADHD and essential reading their parents! Very well organized and presented, "Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, school district, college, and university library Attention Deficit & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Disability Parenting, and collections and Psychology Pathologies, supplemental curriculum studies lists." To read the full review, click HERE . To read more posts on the Wilcoxes and their book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

  Bertha Cooper is a speaker par excellence. She has spoken to many groups and continues to speak to them. Her most recent presentations have been about each of her books, sponsored by the Soroptimist International of Sequim this past month:    One of our favorite presentations by Bertha here at MSI Press was recorded on Youtube by Norwester Rotary. Listen...you will get really good advice (along with information and insights that you might first encounter here). HERE is the link. For more posts about Bertha and her books, click HERE . For more books on aging, click HERE .

  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  addresses advertising, i.e. spending money on getting your book enough attention for it to soar, or at least to fly. There is no end to advertising opportunities. The question becomes then, where do you best spend your money if you have it and what do you do if you are broke. I have money. Good for you!  You have options, depending upon how much you have and want to spend. There are print-based ads that can cost a little or cost a lot. Some (but far from all) include Catalogues: Book World Dealer is one example. Book magazines: Foreword Reviews is an example. If you cannot afford a part-page ad, th...

  With the rumors floating about these days, especially inside Russia, about Putin's health and a visiting oncologist, thyroid cancer is in the news. While I have no inside information (thyroid cancer? Parkinson's, growing old? all in the minds of the rumor mongers?) and therefore will not comment on Putin's state of health, I will note that Carl's Cancer Compendium recently fleshed out a fair amount of information related to thyroid cancer (which just might be helpful to people other than Putin who may be exhibiting some symptoms of one of the more treatable, if caught early, cancers). From the site: Thyroid cancer Definition : A cancer that develops in the cells of thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped gland located just below adam’s apple in the neck. It causes difficulty swallowing hoarseness, lump on the neck, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck.  Types  include Papillary  Thyroid Cancer Follicular  Thyroid Cancer Medullary  Thyroid Cancer Anaplastic ...

  Like movies? Like movie stars? Since the publication of her book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance (a great read, by the way, and winner of two book awards), Joanna Charnas has maintained a blog about movies and stars, much in line with her book, but also somewhat different. In order not to spoil the fun-ness of her blog, nothing is being reprinted in this blog post, but you can get it all with one easy click HERE , which takes you to her blog. Jaonna has authored three other books as well, also award winners. Read more posts about Joanna and all her books HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

  According to the Network for Animals, Polish authorities are not accepting rescued animals into Poland. However, rescue workers are able to get food and water to them in many cases -- and they continue to need donations. HERE is a link to the the NFA for more details. Read more Caturday posts HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

  Watch presentation HERE . For more posts about Dr. Sabzevary, his lectures, and his book, click  HERE .

   Edward Hallowell, M.D.,  Harvard psychologist and  co-author of  Driven to Distraction  and  ADHD 2.0  had this to say about Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His Awesome ADHD Brain : Andrew's Awesome Adventures  is awesome indeed! It is also unique, in that the book combines Andrew's perspective as a child with his mom's perspective both as a mother and as a scientist who's expert on the latest findings on ADHD. Not only unique, this book is also entertaining, well-written, highly informative, and immensely helpful to anyone concerned about ADHD, especially as it occurs in boys who are not disruptive or hyperactive. A superb contribution to the field.  --- For more posts about the Wilcoxes and their books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

Continuing in what seems to be coming a trend -- we keep coming across videos of readers -- teachers and language learners -- who have fallen in love with How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman. The falling in love is not surprising; this book is the darling of diplomats and international journalists, both groups of individuals that Boris spent his life teaching. What is a little more surprising is the number of people who have quietly made videos about the book and its contents -- and which we stumble across upon occasion, such as today. The latest we have found is an entertaining as well as informative video by an English teacher, Charles Wood and editor of Language Tutor Online, who talks about applying the every simple and very effective principles in the books. You can listen to it HERE . For more posts about Boris Shekhtman and his books, click HERE .

  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 a look at the life cycle of books -- how they differ, how do you define "success" and "failure," and what authors can expect over a lifetime. Here at MSI Press, we have seen a variety of paths taken by successful books (and ones that have not fared as well). For lack of better nomenclature, I would say that we have hares, tortoises, dogs, cats, and mountain goats.  Hares As in the fable, the hares start out fast. These books have strong launches, sell hundreds of books in the first few weeks (from a larger press, these might show up as thousands of sales) and then, quite suddenly s...

  One of the most famous people I have ever met -- and a very lovely person at that -- is Shirley Temple Black, who passed in 2014 after making the world better in several areas of using her talents at acting, diplomacy, and just good people skills. She genuinely liked people. I remember her taking time from a busy schedule to spend a break period from language studies to talk to my 10-year-old, a conversation he obviously will never forget, about our planned move to Monterey and about how she loved Monterey so much that she got married there. I bring her up in the Cancer Diary post because her birthday would be this coming Saturday (April 23, 1928), and, more important, because she was a breast cancer survivor. Her openness about cancer may have saved millions of lives. The more survivors, the more doctors learn. The more survivors, the more hope for others with breast cancer. And the more survivors, the more we realize that breast cancer does not take sides or pick victims -- eve...

(Easter 2022 at Old Mission San Juan Bautista ) Excerpt from the beginning chapter of Blest Atheist (a repeat and more from Easter 2017 , never loses its significance...) Siberia on Easter Morning  “ Khristos voskres ” (Christ is risen). One person after another greeted me with these words as I climbed the stairs of the little, wooden church in Akademgorodok, a tiny town at the end of the man-made Ob Sea, bejeweling the Siberian steppe 45 minutes south of the city of Novosibirsk. The intertwining snow-covered birch and kedr (Siberian pine) trees created an illusion of a land of fantasy, made more so in the late evenings by the moon reflecting off the naked silver-white birch bark onto the dark red-brown trunks and evergreen branches of the pines. This was not yet the inhospitable taiga ; it was somewhat south for that, but nonetheless the birch and kedr trees stood closely side-by-side like brothers-in-arms against a hostile white and cold universe.      ...