MSI Press Blog

Excerpt from  Publishing for Smarties  by BL Ham  Appropriate Responses  Instead of feeling and expressing resentment, there are four much more useful things that you can do. These are:  become excited; analyze the letter for educative information;  revise your manuscript, if warranted; and  find another publisher who might be interested in your book. Become Excited  Why should you become excited? Because finding a publisher is a lot like selling a product. Actually, you are selling a product: your book. Just as it usually takes about ten cold calls to sell a product or get a donation for a worthy cause, so, too, it takes many rejections (typically, dozens more than ten) before you will get a nibble from a publisher, especially if you are a first-time author. So, count each of those rejections as an indication that you are getting closer to an acceptance, just like salesmen do.  Analyze the Letter  Analyze any information at all that is in the rejection letter for any enlight

  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

  The following article is provided by Dr. Dennis Ortman, author of Anxiety Anonymous /American Bookfest Best Books Finalist Anger Anonymous /Book of the Year Finalist Depression Anonymous /Book of the Year Finalist Life, Liberty, & Covid The Pandemic and Hope Being Catholic in Troubled Tines (forthcoming) INFIGHTING “How blest are the pure of heart for they shall see God (Truth).” --Matthew 5: 8   “I avoid talking about politics and religion with so many of my family and friends. Our discussions quickly degenerate into arguments. Then we are fighting with each other. I just want to stay away from them.” This is a regular complaint these days. We live in a house divided. The polarization in our society is tearing apart families and friendships. Many of us hold rigid opinions about so many issues. We refuse to compromise, because, in our view, we would be betraying our conscience. The ideological differences in our society have been attributed to an ongoing “culture war” between tra

            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 information through its bl