MSI Press Blog

  In lieu of our regular column, we want to bring your attention to the many questions from the column that are answered in this book: Recently released - the audiobook for Publishing for Smarties by B L Ham . Having trouble getting your book published? Or are you a new author, wondering how to avoid the long wait through dozens of submissions find an author? This books is for you!  Written from the perspective of an acquisitions editor for a publishing house who has also served as a reader and adviser for acquisitions editors at presses ranging from small to large to the leading presses in her field, the author helps new writers navigate the confusing myriad choices in finding a publisher.  Typical missteps of new authors are presented, along with criteria for making decisions on choosing a publisher - and advice on how to approach the publisher. Of potentially great assistance, the author, an acquisitions editor, shares real-life stories of manuscripts she turned down ...

Excerpt from  Publishing for Smarties  by BL Ham  Appropriate Responses  Instead of feeling and expressing resentment, there are four much more useful things that you can do. These are:  become excited; analyze the letter for educative information;  revise your manuscript, if warranted; and  find another publisher who might be interested in your book. Become Excited  Why should you become excited? Because finding a publisher is a lot like selling a product. Actually, you are selling a product: your book. Just as it usually takes about ten cold calls to sell a product or get a donation for a worthy cause, so, too, it takes many rejections (typically, dozens more than ten) before you will get a nibble from a publisher, especially if you are a first-time author. So, count each of those rejections as an indication that you are getting closer to an acceptance, just like salesmen do.  Analyze the Letter  Analyze any information at all...

  Types of Publishers and Choosing among Them Excerpt from Publishing for Smarties Publishers differ in size and readership. Some of the ways in which size and readership cause publishers to differ include the following:   advances;   royalties;  financial investment;  author discounts and complimentary copies;  editing of books;  Books in Print (Bowker/ISBN);  Library of Congress (LOC): copyright and the LOC number;   book reviews;  wholesaling & distribution; bookstores;  advertising;  marketing & sales; and  keeping books in print.  Small presses will handle many of these items differently from large presses. Vanity publishers take a very different approach; of course, with self-publishing much does not apply because you are on your own.  The question as to how long it will take from the time you contact a publisher, get a contract, go through the preproduction and production proce...

  It is Tuesday AND SOLSTICE. 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 came to mind as I threw away an author's submission--threw it away without a word, with no intention of responding, not even of letting the author know I had seen it. Why? Because he did not give me a no-cost way to respond to him. Publishers will not pay out of pocket to tell an author that a work is not suitable, and in that case, money put into preparing and mailing samples is money out the window, definitely not money in anyone's pocket. This particular sent only mailing address information and an envelope which would require me to purchase a stamp. Oh, there was a telephone numb...

  While helping a first-time author, I quite coincidentally came across an old 5-star review for Publishing for Smarties: How to Find a Publisher on Amazon. Review from Amazon: Van W. Wolverton 5.0 out of 5 stars  Kickstart your book’s journey to the marketplace Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2014 Verified Purchase The path from “I’m going to write a book about that” to seeing your work in print (whether on paper or screen) is winding, sometimes steep, and sports more than a few hidden potholes. Here’s your shortcut past some of those first blind curves and potholes, a detailed and thorough guide to the various ways you can usher your creation from your computer into the marketplace. “Publishing for Smarties: Finding a Publisher” guides you through understanding the pros and cons of all the current publishing techniques, from the traditional publishing house that takes your manuscript and does as much or as little as it believes necessary to make it market-worthy—whi...

Sometimes a book title flies into an author's mind, and from there begins the writing of a story or  a book. More often, though, an author agonizes over the title of a book, and that agony can slow down or even preclude the writing of the book. Does not having a title mean not having a book? No. Just put nearly anything as a working title (only because you will need to file your documents under some title), and write the book. Focus on the theme of the book and the goal that you want to reach. Why are you writing the book? Let the words for that play out in your story. What is the story about? Develop it. Who are the characters? Develop them. What is the takeaway you want for readers? Make sure that is clear. Along the way, the title will likely become obvious. If it does not, stay with your working title. Make it short (less than 8 words). Make it clearly connected with the theme/message of your book. Make it your 8-second elevator speech about the book. Then, send ...

There was a time, not all that long ago, when small ads would sell new books, when large ads would sell large numbers of new books, and when catalogues were the media to which librarians and bookstores looked for stocking books. Books in Print was an essential tool for everyone -- researchers, reviewers, writers, booksellers. Times have changed. Two revolutions have taken book marketing into very different directions. First, the accessibility to self-publishing for authors struggling to be picked up by a major (or any) house resulted in an explosion of books. Some of these have been as good as those published by traditional publishers; many, if not, most have not because authors lack the full range of expertise and resources available from a traditional publisher. Nonetheless, these books make it onto the shelves of bookstores or at least onto the virtual shelves of online stores in droves, droves being thousands every single day. Given relative steady and limited opportunities for...