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 addresses an issue that comes up a lot in book reviews by amateurs: "This book would have benefitted from better editing." When that happens -- and for a lot of books, it does -- what should be your reaction (assuming that your book was traditionally or hybrid published or was self-published after having been professionally edited)? Should you be mad?  The answer to that can question requires a bit of research. There can be reasons that a reviewer would write this other than that, indeed, the book needs to be better edited. Here are some of those reasons: An insecure reviewer often writes that there are editorial p

  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 addresses the question that often holds potential authors back from telling their stories, either their personal memoirs or the sharing of a lifetime of work knowledge, "Am I too old to publish a book?"  The quick answer is, of course, not. But there are realities behind publishing as an older individual that differ from publishing in the middle of one's career. Here, in this column, I am using "older" to mean individuals who have retired, typically mid-60s and later. There are, equally important, questions that underlie that age question. Let's take those underlying questions one at a time, which

  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 addresses the oft-asked question, "Do book giveaways work to increase sales?"  The quick and easy answer here at MSI Press is "no." We have run giveaways of paperbacks on Goodreads to have the only books "sold" be the free ones earned in the giveaway. We had no additional sales that we could track to that promotion. We have also run freebie e-books on Kindle promotions. Again, lots of takers for the free books; zero additional sales. The Kindle stats are actually quite clear and disappointing. For a broader set of experiences, here is a useful post from BookBub, which does an immense number of g

  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 attempts to answer royalties and the filing of taxes -- yes, it is that time of year! What to File If you received more than $600 in royalties last year (2023), your publisher is required to send you a 1099 with the amount of royalties paid listed. The 1099 is due by January 30. Chances are that your publisher did not take out taxes from your royalties. That is just not "a thing," so you will have to figure out what you owe the IRS from your earnings. If you received less than $600 in royalties last year (2023), your publisher will not send you a 1099. However, you are still required to report all royalties receive

  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 attempts to answer the question about ghost writers. Should you? Should you not? The Case for Using a Ghost Writer When you have a story, you are not a writer, and the story needs to come out in a timely manner. Or, when you do not have the patience to learn how to put a book together or write a grammatically correct essay. AND, when you have the money to pay for ghost writing services; they are not cheap. The Case against Using a Ghost Writer A ghost writer will take care of one book for you. Then, if you have another book "in you," you will have to pay again. Alternatively, you can learn to write well. The old ad

  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 addresses the topic of royalties. I suppose that topic was conditioned by the fact that the first quarter of the year is when MSI Press calculates royalties for the past year and gets ready to pay them out to authors. Of course, royalty issues should have been sorted out before a contract was signed, but if one is still pending, and for the future, perhaps some of the information here will help. Kinds of Royalties Royalties can be calculated on list or net. Royalties calculated on list are pretty easy to figure. It is generally a percentage of the selling price of the book, regardless of costs encountered in producing and ma