MSI Press Blog

  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 book consignment. It is a valuable tool for book distribution that few authors know about. Most authors, especially new ones, assume that the distributor will place their books on bookstore shelves, and they (the authors) will sit back and collect royalties through their publisher. Yes, it works that way, but quite poorly for authors without wide name recognition, and many stores will simply not shelve their books. However, they might be willing to take books on consignment; this is when you place books in the store with the understanding that payment will be made when all the books are sold, and if...

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 Continuing with the samples of successful books, in this blog post I am including information of a book in the self-help genre; The Widower's Guide to a New Life by Joanna Romer. The book was recommended by US Review of Books and was selected as a finalist for the Book of the Year Award. How the book came into being: As editor, I proposed the book because I saw a market for it. I proposed the book to Joanna because she had written a similar book for Widows, which had sold well. I knew that Joanna had the writing and research skills to pull off a good book on this topic. Why the book sold: It filled a gap -- most of the ...

  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 What at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic arises from a discussion last week with an author whose cost of book returns brought an otherwise successful book into the negative net income (i.e.) loss realm. Our conversation revolved around several questions that arose from her discussions with her local bookstore.  Why/how do returned books create loss for an otherwise successful book? A large number of returns can eradicate all profit from the book sale and put the book into the loss column on a P&L statement: print costs will not have been recoupled; additional books have now been returned to the publisher's inventory, books that wer...

    Today is Independent Bookstore Day. In lieu of shared posts from one author, as we typically do each day in the blog post, From the Blog Posts of MSI Press Authors, we are presenting tributes from a range of authors in support of their local independent bookstores. From Julia Aziz I adore the independent bookstores in my city of Austin, TX. When I went to BookPeople and told them about the release of Lessons of Labor, they immediately offered to host a book release party and stock my book there. I felt so supported, both as a professional and as a longtime community member. BookPeople continues to be my happy place--a space to rest, read, and discover. Julia Aziz author of  Lessons from Labor blog posts  by and about Julia Julia's blog From Franki Bagdades blog post on the topic: There is no replacement for entering a space filled with books. Running your hands over glossy covers, flipping through the pages. Hearing someone laugh behind you as they read, a child'...

  Kenneth Mogren's most recent blog post is titled "Bew Year's Resolution." It is a good one...we wonder how far he has come with it. It’s late January, and so far, I’m keeping a resolution to write more new sonnets in 2023 than in 2022. My production slowed to a trickle last February when MSI Press offered to publish SPUNKY GRANDMAS….And Other Amusing Characters . Suddenly my efforts went in a different direction. Turning a manuscript into a book involves more work for an author than most people realize. Manuscripts are really just a draft, so there is still an opportunity to make improvements. I went back and looked at every word and made quite a few tweaks. Then comes a final editing process which involves quite a bit of back-and-forth communication with the publisher. While publishers take the lead in publicizing and distributing a book, they expect authors to be active in book promotion, as well. That meant creating and maintaining a website, harnessing social me...

  Today is Independent Bookstore Day. In lieu of shared posts from one author, as we typically do each day in the blog post, From the Blog Posts of MSI Press Authors, we are presenting tributes from a range of authors in support of their local independent bookstores. From Julia Aziz I adore the independent bookstores in my city of Austin, TX. When I went to BookPeople and told them about the release of Lessons of Labor, they immediately offered to host a book release party and stock my book there. I felt so supported, both as a professional and as a longtime community member. BookPeople continues to be my happy place--a space to rest, read, and discover. Julia Aziz author of Lessons from Labor blog posts by and about Julia Julia's blog From Franki Bagdades blog post on the topic: There is no replacement for entering a space filled with books. Running your hands over glossy covers, flipping through the pages. Hearing someone laugh behind you as they read, a child's "oooh...