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.  This week, we note that many of MSI Press authors receive letters, once their book is published, from all sorts of companies, offering a wide variety of deals: books reviews, book trailers, radio/TV interviews, magazine articles, help with marketing, re-publishing (yes, they do have the temerity to suggest this for a newly published book), and more. Some look fishy; many look good. How do you tell what is a scam? What is phishing? What is a legitimate offer? As At MSI Press, we have knowledge of many of the scams. We run down the legitimacy of offers that our authors forward to us. Authors can do themselves what we do for them, but they...

    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.  This week, we share feedback about offers that authors, particularly self-published ones, who get offers, particularly via email, but sometimes by phone, text, and, rarely, postal mail for services like re-publication, marketing, promotion, awards, and you name it. Most of it sounds too good to be true, but those offers can be enticing. How do you know if they are legitimate? There are ways -- and all offers should be checked out thoroughly, keeping in mind that a legitimate publisher will rarely contact an author for republication of a book seen on Amazon. They have too many good submissions overwhelming them to seek out others....

  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 the problem of scammers trying to take advantage of authors and their desires for better sales and recognition. Sometimes these come by email, sometimes by phone. There are some tip-offs when you are dealing with a scammer -- and typically the phone calls are from scammers. Legitimate marketers and publishers do not have time to make a lot of cold calls, and they are too busy fielding requests for services to go hunting down authors and offering services. Here are some indications that have been discovered by a scammer: You are being offered a publishing contract, but your book is already publi...

            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 response to the question I get from time to time from our authors: "I just got an unbelievably good offer for X in the email; should I take it?" The quick answer is "maybe." Not all unsolicited offers are scams.  How, not all offers are genuine, and some that are genuine might not be good for you and your book.  What you need to do is analyze the offer in light of your own circumstances. You should answer NO when: the offer is a scam (Google it -- or ask your publisher); Science Fiction Writers of America also keeps a list of scams and shares infor...