MSI Press Blog

Bertha D. Cooper’s 50-year career as a professional advocate for quality of life and health care of the elderly brings her advocacy and support to her contemporaries. Her book Old and On Hold came out in June. Her next book, Women, We're Only Old Once, will be out soon. Watch for it Read more posts by and about Bertha and her works HERE . 

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Women, We're Only Old Once  by Bertha Cooper. Amazon review by Amazon Customer - Addresses all our worries! The book clarified the normal changes with aging and provided helpful coping mechanisms and positive points to focus on. Geared specifically to women in their 50s and 60s, the book reads easily and is sensitive to issues particularly common to women (i.e. issues related to skin). Gives direction on what to think about and plan for. Great for group disc

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Women, We're Only Old Once  by Bertha Cooper. Amazon review by Pamela Hastings, author of Hot Flash and Beyond - Universally applicable Since the alternative to aging is death, this book serves as a helpful and entertaining guide for women experiencing the inevitable. Stories from Bertha's interviews and suggestions from her long nursing career make interesting reading. Awards Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards/Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Women, We're Only Old Once  by Bertha Cooper. Amazon review by Bonnie Svardal - For elders and also their family! I agree with the great positive reviews before me. This book presents a wide-ranging scope of information for the woman of a certain age. It is well-written, informative, a reference as well as an entertaining read. I enjoyed reading the stories of women who were interviewed for this book, many from different backgrounds and interests. Highly rec

  Bertha Cooper is a speaker par excellence. She has spoken to many groups and continues to speak to them. Her most recent presentations have been about each of her books, sponsored by the Soroptimist International of Sequim this past month:    One of our favorite presentations by Bertha here at MSI Press was recorded on Youtube by Norwester Rotary. Listen...you will get really good advice (along with information and insights that you might first encounter here). HERE is the link. For more posts about Bertha and her books, click HERE . For more books on aging, click HERE .

  San Juan Books is the hybrid division of MSI Press LLC. It allows first-time writers to become published in a traditional way through the reduction of risk by sharing publication costs. All other publishing features are traditional in nature, and most SJB authors go on to be offered traditional contracts for their subsequent books. SJB publications are available as paperback, hard cover, and e-book versions. SJB authors' books very much hold their own against their contemporaries in the traditional publishing division. Indeed, a number of them have outsold their traditional compatriots. Today, San Juan Books presents author Bertha Cooper.  Bertha earned a BSN degree in nursing (University of Washington) and entered the profession the same year as Medicare, a coincidence destined to define her career in non-traditional ways. She began her career in public health and moved into a management position early in her career - the beginning of a long career in management and administrati

  Great review of Bertha Cooper's book, Women We're Only Old Once , from MidWest Book Review: Very highly and unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of all women whatever their age, "Women, We're Only Old Once!" is exceptionally well written and presented, making it a unique and certain to be enduringly popular addition to senior citizen and community library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections for women readers. Read the rest of the review HERE . Read more posts about Bertha and her books HERE

  Congratulations to MSI Press author Bertha Cooper on her book, Women, We're Only Old Once, being selected for the Phoenix Award (Best New Voice) in the category of Health and Fitness. For more posts about Bertha and her book, click HERE .

  Bertha Cooper recently won the Pinnacle Books Achievement Awards' health category for her book, Women, We're Only Old Once . Women, We're Only Old Once  has won numerous awards, including: Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards/ Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in Health and Fitness Best Indie Book Award\ Independent Press Award For more posts about Bertha and her book, click  HERE . For posts about other Pinnacle Book Achievement Award winners, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrent

  The following excerpt comes from Old and On Hold (Cooper) -- (editor's note: while this book -- and a dozen others - - were written for the days of the pandemic, to help with various unique circumstances we all experienced at that time. some of the advice in it is good in general for circumstances that occur as the aging process kicks in, so we have maintained the book for sale at the MSI Press webstore ) Making Up for Missing Religious and Recreational Gatherings We had interests before the pandemic and still have the same interests now except we may not be able to participate in our callings and interests. If we are active in a religion and regularly attend gatherings, we likely experience spiritual solace and a sense of belonging with others. Our plan will include staying in contact with our religious community leaders to help maintain connection, especially around providing explanations and understandings of this world crisis. How many of us are devoted followers of sport

  From Joanna Charnas, the author of A Movie Lover's Search for Romance   I found everything about Henry Cooper completely charming. Erudite and cultured, he’d written about the space program for the New Yorker Magazine. I’d encountered my father’s old high school friend when I was forty-four, during a visit to New York City for a family event, when Dad was staying with him. A few months after the trip, I confessed my thing for Henry to Dad, who was surprisingly supportive. To amuse myself, I later wrote a short essay about my crush, and read it to Dad. His response: “You should get that published.” Dad was the most intellectual person I’ve ever met. Hyper educated at Andover, Harvard, and Harvard Law, he read books on architectural theory and the collected letters of Mozart for fun. Based on my father’s enthusiasm, and trusting his judgement, I continued to write about dating and all things romantic post-divorce. These essays turned into A Movie’s Lover’s Search for Romance. Of th

  Recently, MSI Press received word that three of its authors' books have won their categories in the 2021 Best Indie Book Award competition. Congratulations to the following: Bertha Cooper: Women, We're Only Old Once . Winner, Nonfiction: Self-Help. Bertha also won the 2021 Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in Health and Fitness. Read posts about Bertha and her books HERE . Julie Potter. Harnessing the Power of Grief. Winner, Nonfiction: Grieving & Bereavement. Read posts about Julie and her book HERE . Arthur Yavelberg. A Spirituality for the Rest of Us . Winner, Nonfiction: Theology. Read posts about Arthur and his book HERE .

  Exploring the Dark Side of the Moon Erik Erikson, well-known psychologist (1902-1994), proposed eight stages of human personality development (1993), each having a significant development task to complete in order to successfully go on to the next stage. The eighth and last stage he called maturity and identified it as beginning at age 65. The conflict experienced in maturity he described as ego integrity versus despair and the task as reflection on and acceptance of one’s life. Success, he suggested, is measured by feeling a true sense of oneself and having a fulfilled or fulfilling life. Reflection is a way to strengthen our confidence in transitioning to an aging woman with a sense of self and purpose. Some of the past is occurring in the moment. One of the women I interviewed would be 70 that year and is just now giving up working. “I haven’t had a summer off since I was 14 years old,” she said in a way that caused me to believe that she was astonished by this fact. That’s o

  Happy International Women's Day ! We are taking a different approach today because it is International Women's Day. So, it seems natural to look at the process of women writing books for women, using some examples from our onw publications. Of course, there are no limits to the topics that women are interested in. The range really is as broad as for men. However, there are some books that zone in on areas experienced principally or exclusively by women and sell nearly exclusively to women. Is it worth writing such narrow-niche books? Based on sales, the answer appears to be yes, and don't forget that women make up over half of the world's population, so the unanalyzed market is large. While the topics that women can and do write about for each other are many, the ones we have focused on at our press and that seem to resonate with a large enough part of the population are: aging, health & fitness, and life events. AGING Aging happens to all of us, and it would seem

  Congratulations to MSI Press's many talented authors for a strong showing in the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition . The books and their awards are listed below. We will present each individual over the next couple of weeks so that readers can get to know the books and their authors. Definitely, each book is deserving (in our admittedly partially biased opinion) of its standing in the competition. Here are the 14 MSI books that placed in the competition. Phoenix Award Best New Voice Health and Fitness: Women, We're Only Old Once by Bertha Cooper. Gold Medal, Education: 10 Quick Homework Tips by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. Silver Medal, Science: Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong Honorable Mention, Children's Picture Book: Noah's New Puppy by Vincent Rice with Geri Henderson Honorable Mention, Inspiration/Motivation: Weekly Soul by Dr. Frederic Craigie Honorable Mention, Mind, Body, & Spirit: How to Stay Calm in Chaos b