MSI Press Blog

  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 deviates from our usual "conversation" topics of pragmatic and technical advice for authors and would-be authors, as well as those trying to be their own publishers. Instead, we want to bring to you information about a new MSI Press program that has the potential to help authors directly in significant ways: MSI Affiliates.  An MSI affiliate is an author whose book(s) the MSI Press editorial staff has accepted for inclusion in its webstore as a "friend" of the press. The high quality books of affiliates benefit in a number of ways: They are listed in the MSI Press webstore. While MSI ...

  On June 4, 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It would take another year for full ratification, but this milestone marked a turning point—a hard-won step toward equality in a society that long denied women basic rights. Today, 106 years later, we at MSI Press honor the women who fought for suffrage and reflect on the progress made—and the work still to be done. While true gender equality remains a work in progress, we are proud to stand on the shoulders of generations of courageous women by fostering an environment where women lead, innovate, create, and influence. Just looking at MSI Press today reveals how far we’ve come. Our publishing house is co-founded and managed by a woman veteran—an unthinkable role for a woman in 1919. Many of our senior staff positions are held by women, including our copyeditors, copywriter, associate publicist, newsletter editor, and marketing assistant. These are not tokens—t...

  Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, Managing Editor of MSI Press, is in Indonesian, helping university lecturers begin their publishing careers. It is just one of the wide variety of activities that one can find MSI Press staff and authors doing. A side benefit for Leaver? Welcoming in Ramadan in Bandung -- standing here beside Jatinangour Hotel's lovely Ramadan display. Ramadan kareem! (Sweet Ramadan) To all who celebrate it, MSI Press wishes you Ramadan mubarak wa kareem. Kul am wa intum behair. For more posts about MSI Press staff in the news, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter 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 . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in ...

  Betty Lou Leaver, editor, and Kris Girrell, author Last week, Betty Lou Leaver, managing editor of MSI Press, had the pleasure of meeting author, Kris Girrell, in person for the first time. MSI Press has published three of Kris's books , the most recent being Spiritually Homeless , currently #6 among Amazon's hot new releases in faith deconstruction. They met in York, Maine, where Betty Lou was visiting family on that "other" coast. Kris, who lives in Andover, Massachusetts, was just minutes away, and they met at a York Landing, a locally loved restaurant. For more MSI Press staff doings, click HERE . To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount, use code FF25 at  MSI Press webstore . Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it? (1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it. (2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed. VISIT OUR  WEBSITE  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES. Sign up for the MSI Press ...

excerpt from Easter at the Mission (Sula) -  Life at the Mission Gift Shop The people I know best, those who take care of me, can be found at the Mission Gift Shop. There, I have quite a big staff. (You have heard that dogs have owners but cats have staff, right?) My staff is a group of wonderful people. Mary Anzar was the first person I met many years ago when I was called to my mission at the Mission. Benito Garcia used to work at the Mission Gift Shop but now works at the parish office; we are still attached to each other so I regularly walk over to the parish office to see my Benny. Stacey Gentry supervises my staff, takes good care of me, and most important, serves as my official photographer; you will see her beautiful pictures in this book. I have known Kaleena Scargill for many years. She used to clean the church, I would follow her around, and she would take pictures of me that ended up in some of my previous books. Marie Reed is very kind to me, and she makes sure that ...

  When Doah finally emerged from those first three dramatic years—doctors trying to gain custody so they could force procedures we knew were dangerous (and his pediatrician’s research confirmed it), stealing him out of the hospital to save him, coping with trachs and plugs and clinical deaths and daily CPR—we finally had a moment to look around and take stock. That winter, eleven other children with tracheotomies at that same hospital had died. Only two survived: Doah, because we fought for him, and Peter, an older child who had already lived with a trach for ten years. We knew, with a cold clarity, that if we had not been tenacious—if we had not researched, questioned, challenged, and sought alternatives—Doah would have been one of the eleven. And we wanted the hospital held responsible. We consulted a lawyer. He listened carefully, then leaned back and said something we did not expect: “A jury will struggle with the medical complexity. Doctors carry authority. They will be believ...