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. 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. 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 compares sales by genre and genre-related categories, using 2023 statistics.  Rank-order of sales by genre romance novels/general fiction self-help science fiction memoir business psychology  humor religion/inspiration fitness parenting travel Rank-order of sales by author type politically famous author socially famous author experienced/well published, i.e. established, author author with 2-5 published books first-time author Rank order by author age 21-50 (this group dominates the book scene) 50-70 (this group benefits from their experience and name recognition) under 21 (this is a small group for obvious reason...

  Excerpt from  Healing from Incest   by Geri Henderson and Seanne Emerton: Child Sexual Abuse Statistics [1] The prevalence of child sexual abuse is difficult to determine because it is often not reported; experts agree that the incidence is far greater than what is reported to authorities. Child sex abuse (CSA) is also not uniformly defined, so statistics may vary. Statistics below represent some of the research done on child sexual abuse. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report Child Maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted (page 24). Studies by David Finkelhor [2] , Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center [3] , show that: ●       1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse; ●       Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexua...