MSI Press Blog

  What do politicians and authors have in common? They each have to reach zillions of people and get them to want their product (the politician himself/herself together with an ideology and the author a book). Here is an interesting insight from a long-term, experienced political pundit, Thom Harmann, that popped up in the scores of articles on the US 2022 midterms, this one from Raw Story , October 25, 2022. It applies to authors just as much as it does to the politicians for which it was written. "While creativity and 'production values' in advertising are important, they’re both subordinate to frequency when it comes to producing results. Even a poorly crafted message for a mediocre product will convince people to act the way you want them to if it’s repeated frequently enough." He goes on to cite supporting evidence accumulated over the past 12 years since the Supreme Court opened the door to dark money and unlimited spending. All the statistics point to his concl

    1.       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 shares information about tracking book sales. In complete frankness, it is a repeat of an explanation I provided to MSI Press LLC authors in one of our monthly newsletters.  An author recently asked (and others have previously asked) how to tell if a particular action results in a specific number of sales. Alas, we have no way to tell unless we are in direct contact with a bookstore making a large order. Book reports from Ingram (distributor) come as total sales. I wish there were a way to tell sources. It would make marketing and promotion a science instead of an art.  Our distributor will

  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 book sales expectations. Most authors, especially first-time authors, expect to sell thousands of copies. Even with large publishers, that does not happen routinely. A few books sell well; most books sell slowly. Booksellers are not very transparent with their figures, but we do "know" some things. At launch The first day, week, month see the most sales. Typical sales are about 100 books the first month. Generally, book signings at high end bookstores will sell 15-20 books; events coordinators will rarely order more than 25 books for a launch and astute small presses will not agree to

  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 book sales that are not meeting an author's hopes. Why are my books not selling? That is the typical question at such times. Perhaps the first question should be, "Why did you write the book?" That will help you answer the question about sales and how you should react to the level of sales in a more helpful way. Let's look at some possible reasons: Self-esteem  You wanted your five minutes of fame and thought you could get it with a book; this is not a negative thing -- it can be a very good thing. Even if your sales are low, you can still have your fame. Your book itself is n

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 dealing with something that can be deceptive. The question is how you should react to something that seems quite positive -- a great launch. Should you consider it a sign of great things to come or a rude landing? Great things to come: Yes, indeed, a book launch can be the start of a very popular book finding its readership. Yes, a highly successful book launch can lead to continuing good sales (but you have to work at it through continuing good promotions).' Yes, a great book launch can bring your book to the attention of groups, organization, and influencers who will increase its popularity

  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

  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. (Much also applies to traditionally published authors whose books have not been on a perfect glide path upward to success.) Today's topic reflects a reality experienced by all but a very few authors who have recognized names, expansive contacts, big pockets (or big publishers with deep pockets), or, for one reason or another luckily found a sweet spot (typically after years of being in bitter places). Most books do not start out as NYT bestsellers and remain there for life. They either start well and fall off (usually quickly), start slowly and remain with slow and then almost no sales, or start very poorly and then ta