A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Favorite Stories from the Book Publishing Experience - the Bizarre, the Heartwarming, the Surprising
It is Tuesday. 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 digresses -- into the absurd, perhaps. Today, I sent for the third time, ARC labels to wone of our authors. The first time the labels disappeared. The second time, they were inexplicably directed to an IRS office in another state. Totally insane! Fingers crossed for a safe arrival this time.
Today's experience reminded me of other unexpected, funny, and heartwarming experiences that have occurred over the 20 years MSI Press has been publishing. Here are some of my favorite, somewhat inexplicable stories.
- When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism is a great little book, truly great -- simple stories that provoke deep thinking at the same time that they are enjoyable to read. The author, Omar, was a disciple of the famous Suni cleric Al-Bani in Damascus. After the book was ready, to be certain that he had chosen the right publisher, he took it to the cleric, who put his hand on it, closed his eyes, and said, "It is good." Some years later, a Catholic priest from Colombia fell in love with one of the stories and planned to use it in his homily. Told that it was an Islamic story, he replied, "It is a good story."
- A couple of decades ago, in St. Petersburg (newly renamed from Leningrad which had been renamed from St. Petersburg) at the St. Petersburg State University, I fell in with some graduate students in the school of psychology and, through them, I became acquainted with the famous Dr. Ekaterina (Katya) Filatova, who had brought concepts of socionics to Russia. Long story short -- a friendship was developed, and Katya brought the concept of socionics to the English-speaking world, through her popular, MSI-published book, Understanding the People around You. And then, Dmitry Lytov, the translator fell in love with our book by CB Leaver, Mommy Poisoned Our House Guest and though humor is a very difficult concept to translate, he did a fantastic job of rending into Russian cultural appropriateness and humor the American humor of CB's book.
- Books come into being in multiple ways, and even publisher-author contacts can differ, but the story behind Good Blood by Irit Schaffer is one of the most unusual of MSI Press. I was traveling somewhere (don't recall where) and was bumped up to first class. When called to the desk to get my boarding pass, the person bumped up to take my place in business class was also called up. That person was Irit. The plane was delayed, and Irit and I ended up sitting together and talking in the waiting area. She had a book; I was a publisher; and a working relationship was born right there. As they say, connections...and they are formed in so many ways.
Bottom line: All kinds of things can go awry in any business -- and all kinds of wonderful accidentally made connections can lead to great outcomes.
Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Keep a positive attitude, open mind, and sense of humor.
See more Publisher Conversations with authors HERE.
And if you liked these stories, look for authors' posts about the stories behind their books.
Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore.
The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.
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