MSI Press Blog

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 takes a look (again) at book sales. Unfortunately, get accurate accountings of book sales across the book industry is very difficult. Book Scan is not accurate. Amazon bestselling rankings have quirks. Publishers do not like to share their sales figures with other publishers, let alone authors. The range that can be found online is wild.  When reading sales figures, it is critical to read them with a jaundiced eye because often these "statistics" come from author groups with great hopes for best sellers among their members. Generally, in my experience, the reports of sales are vastly exaggerated, often because of

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 looks at the difference between book marketing and book promotion, two terms that are frequently confused. Leading to the confusion is that some of the same activities are needed for both. In fact, good marketing is dependent upon good promotion. Perhaps the essential difference is that marketing focuses on sales, and promotion focuses on awareness --  noting that without awareness, sales generally do not happen. Book Marketing Book marketing includes promotion, sales, and increasing awareness of the availability of the book. It generally starts with a marketing plan that identifies the target audiences and selects marketing t

  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 real conversation that I had this morning with one of our authors, but I have changed the numbers and other information to keep identities private. It is not unusual; I have this discussion often with new authors, concerned with low volume of sales who are certain that the distributor's numbers are not right. The discussion in this case is about paperback book sales. E-book sales would take a separate column. Author: I asked you for my sales stats for the year, and you told me that I had sold no books last week, but my friend bought a book and sent me a copy of the Amazon packaging.  A book pur

  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 book sales that are not meeting an author's hopes. Why are my books not selling? That is the typical question at such times. Perhaps the first question should be, "Why did you write the book?" That will help you answer the question about sales and how you should react to the level of sales in a more helpful way. Let's look at some possible reasons: Self-esteem  You wanted your five minutes of fame and thought you could get it with a book; this is not a negative thing -- it can be a very good thing. Even if your sales are low, you can still have your fame. Your book itself is n

  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 republishing self-published books. Can you get a traditional contract from a traditional publishing house for a book you have self-published?  Well, that depends. As the acquisitions editor for a traditional press that also offers hybrid publishing contracts for untested writers, the answer is an across-the-board no, but there are some publishers who might. Let's look at the reasons for and against republishing a self-published book, from a publisher's point of view. Why a publisher would not want to re-publish a self-published book -- Typically, an author thinks that he or she has exhau

  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 look at the life cycle of books -- how they differ, how do you define "success" and "failure," and what authors can expect over a lifetime. Here at MSI Press, we have seen a variety of paths taken by successful books (and ones that have not fared as well). For lack of better nomenclature, I would say that we have hares, tortoises, dogs, cats, and mountain goats.  Hares As in the fable, the hares start out fast. These books have strong launches, sell hundreds of books in the first few weeks (from a larger press, these might show up as thousands of sales) and then, quite suddenly s

  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 book sales expectations. Most authors, especially first-time authors, expect to sell thousands of copies. Even with large publishers, that does not happen routinely. A few books sell well; most books sell slowly. Booksellers are not very transparent with their figures, but we do "know" some things. At launch The first day, week, month see the most sales. Typical sales are about 100 books the first month. Generally, book signings at high end bookstores will sell 15-20 books; events coordinators will rarely order more than 25 books for a launch and astute small presses will not agree to