MSI Press Blog

  (photo by Frank Perez) 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 about the publication process itself. You have a manuscript in hand, now what? There are several stages. So, let's take each stage separately. Stage One. Completion of the Manuscript You have finished writing the manuscript and have carefully proofread it, but you are NOT ready to move to Stage Two. There are a few things you need to do first. If not done, this is the stage that often dooms a manuscript never to move to Stage Two and on into becoming a book. You proofread, right? For what did you proofread? Spelling? Ran it through the spellchecker? Certain your own eyes wil

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.  Once again, we pick up the topic of book marketing.  Lisa Angle on a podcast with Bea Bloeser,  Boost Your Book: Social Media Tips from 'Talking Book Publishing , where they were interviewed by Kathleen Kaiser and Adianna Moriarty, Writers and Publishers Network (WPN), talks about the important of author's interpersonal connections with potential readers--and how that is the new expectation for book sales. "Connection," she says, "is the new world of marketing." As has been emphasized in this "publisher's conversation" column on a number of occasions, sales no longer depend exclusively on publisher act

  (photo by Frank Perez) 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 prolific authors as well as authors working on their second book. Who should publish subsequent books by an author -- the publisher of the first book or another publisher? This is not always a simple question, but there are simple ways to make a decision about where your next book gets submitted. Consider the following: What does your contract with your publisher say? Some publishers require authors give them the right of first refusal for any subsequent books. This is more especially true for novels than for nonfiction books. What your contract says you are beholden to d

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 how authors can sell their books. After all, it makes no sense to put all the effort into writing a book, self-publishing it or getting it published, and then having it sit on a shelf for ever, with no opportunity for it to share its message. Unfortunately, many, if not most new authors, in our experience, never think beyond the day their book appears in print (or, in some cases, beyond their first month of book launch activities). They assume that, of course, they did the work of writing the book, and the publisher will do the work of marketing the book. It does not work that way, and marketing

  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 bug-a-bear of every author: the negative review. Some negative reviews are, of course, fair; some point to helpful things for revision; some may not reflect objective reality but honest opinion, and others are just plain mean. So, how should an author react? First, analyze the review -- is it honest or dishonest? (If you cannot make an objective analysis, ask a friend or colleague to analyze the review.) Then, determine a course of action, one course, of course, being to take no action at all.  The honest negative review: Are the points made valid or at least valid within an honest mindset

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.  Today's post is a case that is just the opposite of the author described last week, but with a similar result. Justifying a contract could not be in the cards because the author so deeply distrusted the process and, one would assume by extension, the people involved. The rhetoric The author's words were so fearful that they were almost painful to read. "I am taking a leap of faith here," he wrote, " in trusting you with my book. Yes, that's true. However, if he had done due diligence in researching the history of the publisher, looking at books published the publisher, checking out "thumbs down" lists of un

  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. Today's topic suggests that the two best-kept secrets to effective book marketing, in our experience and opinion, are word of mouth and repetition. Word of mouth.  This is not your (the author's) word of mouth, but, of course, it starts there. And you may need to restart the conversation, again and again. It is everyone else talking about your book, which is why things like media/podcast appearances help – even presentations for your local library or Rotary Club or wherever people in your community gather for whatever. Word of mouth can take some time, and it can move on to other things, if someone (or someones) do not keep the talk g

                                                                                       (photo by Frank Perez) 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. Ever wonder how books get to be accepted for publication? There is often more to any author's story than non-authors and not-yet-published authors would image.  Yes, of course, every publisher has the normal channel of proposal reading and acceptance based on the quality of the proposal, the "fit" of the book, the quality of the writing, and the perceived marketability, typically based on the author's platform. But...some books come into being in some other ways. Here are a few from the MSI Press e