MSI Press Blog

  Question: What is a precerpt? Answer: A precerpt is a brief excerpt or preview of a book (or other text), used to give readers a taste of the content before they read the full piece. It's like a sneak peek that hooks the reader's interest (or at least, we hope it will hook yours).  This Friday's precerpt is from  Raising Happy Cat Families  by Luna Norwood --  GAINING A CAT'S CONFIDENCE (part 2) So, how did Boulder became Bobolink? How did I gain the confidence of this scared baby? In the following ways that can be generalized to a number of scaredy cats:   LEAVE THE INITIATIVE TO THE CAT; RESPECT THE CAT’S SPACE. I left the initiative to Bobolink. He could join the rest of the family when he was ready and was not forced to do so before he was ready. Bobolink’s cubby on the cat tree was there as his protective fortress; I did not disturb him there—did not feed him there, did not try to pet him there, removed him from there only once a day for his socialization o

  On precerpt Fridays, we share excerpts from forthcoming books. Today, we are sharing an excerpt from Raising Happy Cat Families: the introduction to the chapter, "Alpha, Beta, and Everyone Else." Not all families will have both an alpha (dominating) and a beta (nurturing) cat. We did for many years, and that may have made it easier to keep the family together, bonded, and a receptive place when a new cat came along. Now, all four males—gentle souls all of them—take on the responsibility of welcoming the new cats. A cat rescuer, bringing our latest, Moo, to us, commented, “Your male cats are so gentle and welcoming!” They are, indeed. We expect them to be that way, and we raise them to be that way. Only Happy Cat is a beta cat. Now, because of blindness, he cannot fulfill that role. It seems as if the other three males understand that they are needed to help out, and they do step up to the plate. As a result, Moo was integrated by Bear, but Jack mentors him, as does Happy Ca

  Question: What is a precerpt? Answer: A precerpt is a brief excerpt or preview of a book (or other text), used to give readers a taste of the content before they read the full piece. It's like a sneak peek that hooks the reader's interest (or at least, we hope it will hook yours).  Beginning today, we will offer Friday precerpts from our forthcoming books. Some are closer to being released than others, but you can anticipate that once a month another precerpt from the same book will be presented so that you can get a pretty good taste for the flavor of the book buy the time it is released. At the moment, the four forthcoming books from which we will share precerpts are: Grandma's Ninja Training Diary (Renz and Leaver) on the first Friday of the month Charming Cats, a series of books, the first of which is Raising Happy Cat Families  (Norwood)  The Curse of the Maestro (Walker) on the third Friday of the month Nothing So Broken (Richards) on the fourth Friday of the mon

  Murjan telling a story. Ever wonder what your cat's vocalizations and body language mean? You probably have a lot of it figured out, but if you are like me, some things are elusive. This article does a fab job of delineating all those sounds -- trills, hisses, growls, meows -- and body behaviors -- tail and ear positions, swats, and the like:  I Want It Meow . For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Read more  posts about cats . Watch for Luna Norwood's forthcoming book,  Raising Happy Cat Families . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)   Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC?  We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us? Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author