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 about whether to seek traditional publication, self-publish, or go the hybrid route. Each of these approaches to publications has advantages and disadvantages. - Self-publish (you do everything yourself):      Pro: You can proceed immediately. You have full control over all content and design. You get all the net income.     Con: You have full control over all content and design--meaning, the book is only as good as your own professional skills (or, you can pay for professional services that a traditional publisher would provide for free). You don't know what you don't know. It will take much

  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 looks at how editors view incoming submissions from authors and what you need to do to get past the first cut. In my experience, very few first-time authors do what is needed (or know what it is they need to do, or, in some cases, want to do it), and, hence, only about 10% make it past our first cut at MSI Press LLC.  What authors who want to be taken seriously need to is quite simple and, at least for us, quite clear. Believe it or not, some authors miss the boat on all these not-so-hard things: Individualize the submission. Like many publishers. we accept simultaneous submissions. Duplicate submissions

  Because we work with first-time authors, we are exposed to some "interesting" ideas about how best to promote a book. Reality is often counterintuitive to assumption, perception, and imagination. Let's look, then, at reality. What new authors often expect from promotion--and why they are either unrealistic or undesirable or both:  Book tours from city to city; one new author asked if we would be flying her around the country on a private plane (honest to goodness, she really expected that although she was an unknown person with a first book). Clearly, city book tours do occur--but for people like Dog the Bounty Hunter, not for Joe Blow in Smalltown, America with no platform. The name of the author is what attracts people to these tours, not the title of the book.  Book tours like this -- and we have had some authors do them, usually with the help of a publicist -- are generally a dollar-losing proposition; however, if you can afford the cost, have other things to do in

  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

  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 addresses slow-selling books . Books that look like tortoises. They do not take off upon release. In some cases, you could say that they fail to launch. Generally, in my experience, tortoise books fall into two categories: late discoveries and slow crawlers. Late discoveries are books that sell few, if any books, at launch. Even some years later, they are not selling in any quantity. Authors are likely to move on at this point, defeated. If they persevere, however, sometimes little miracles happen over time.  Our bestselling book of all time, laid low, napping, for TEN years; then it was discovered by an Influencer and over

  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 derives from a series of enote correspondences with a self-possessed, pumped-up-on-his-own-greatness self-published author, simply names James (will leave off the last name to stave off any embarrassment, should he even feel any). The initial note, like many others I receive (no James is not unique), said essentially, I published the greatest book ever, everyone says so, it got some attention from my professional organization, and it has a wonderful review from Kirkus. It just needs a publisher to market it because I am not a marketer; I am an author. When I get those kinds of communications, here is wha

  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