MSI Press Blog

    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 post looks at copyright infringement from the point of view of authors who might accidentally infringe upon the copyright of authors. (This is Part 1 of two posts, the second post being about others' violation of authors' copyright.) What constitutes copyright infringement? For text:  Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is used without the permission of the copyright owner. This can include: Reproducing the work. Distributing copies of the work. Performing the work publicly. Displaying the work publicly. Creating derivative works based on the original. Essentially, any unauthorized use of a copyrighted

    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 post looks at social media. The importance of social media is a given. It is the most effective of book promotion and marketing, and authors are expected to have strong platforms. Without a strong platform, a traditional book publishing contract is very difficult to get. So, how does one develop a good social media strategy? Here are suggested components to a good social media strategy: Mission Statement Here is an example: My mission is to empower readers with knowledge and powerful insights, helping them to improve their lives and live successful personal and professional lives. Here is another: I am to provide guidance and en

  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 post looks at the relationship between book marketing plans and book sales. Specifically, book sales can be quirky, which makes it difficult to put together a book marketing plan for self-publishing authors. (Publishers usually have established plans that they apply to all books, and they only accept books that they believe they can market effectively through their established marketing plans. Let's take a look at some favorite marketing barometers and see how they really stack up. Amazon Top 100 If a book lands in the Amazon Top 100, it clearly has scads of sales, right? No, not always. Perhaps even not often. Amazon's t