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 addresses two distinct and different paths to decent book sales. One is via author's reputation and the other through direct promotion and marketing efforts. The former has a choice of using the latter approach as well, but that does not work in reverse. Authors with well-rcognized names definitely have a leg up in the book sales department for a number of reasons: Readers are pulled to read books by famous people; fame often comes from position in life (social class) or political power -- something about the lives and thoughts of successful people are attractive (well, I think we all know why). Writers who have achieve

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 arises indeed from the fact that 'tis the season for book awards...at least, for the opening of accepting 2022 award entries. The question is whether or not to enter, how many, and which ones. After all, they cost. Are they worth it? Here are some reasons they are worth entering: Attention. The more attention your book receives, generally the better it will sell. Awards are a very positive source of attention. Confirmation. You think your book is good. Your publisher through so when accepting it for publication. Winning a competition, especially the difficult ones, provides confirmation that you are ri

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 publicists. Do you need one?  What can you expect from one? What should you not expect from one? How should you go about finding one?  So, let's take each question separately. Do you need a publicist? Is your book selling?  Yes. You probably do not need a publicist though in some cases a publicist can help your book sell more copies. No. Consider hiring a publicist. Is this your first book? Yes. If you have a mentor or a strong editor to guide you, you may not need a publicist. No, and feel lost about how to go about getting your book noticed. Consider hiring a publicist. Do you have a strong

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 asks a plaintive question--one that i hear often from folks with a good book but no large economic means to promote it -- can they get promotion for free? Yes -- see all these places where that is possible: Certainly, word of mouth is free. Talk up the book with people you meet, friends, families, colleagues, businesses, and other authors. And when you find out that word of mouth has been a part of promoting your book, thank the source. Reviews are generally free; the best ones are; the most trusted (by readers) are. Ask your readers to write reviews. (There are also some inexpensive reviews that are worth it; think $100 or l

(photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to talk 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. While every traditional publisher, such as MSI Press LLC, accomplishes promotion and marketing activities, no press can pay exclusive attention to any one book -- and once a book gets long in the tooth, it often becomes unprofitable for a press to dedicate significant resources to promoting it. So, the question frequently arises, even with traditional presses, as to whether an author should spend the money to hire a publicist. Or, can you, as author, handle the publicity on your own? Some of the MSI Press authors have hired publicists; others have decided to try to make it a go on their own. This is a

excerpt --  Francesca Palazzolo, Researcher, Sydney The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the world we live in. Since city-after-city in country-after-country began to introduce strict social-distancing laws, including stay-at-home directives, most of us have been stuck at home whether we like it or not. One concern attached to this global pandemic is Internet pornography use. Already, prior to the pandemic, the prevalence of Internet porn use was incredibly high. Pornhub, one of the most famous tube sites boasted 42 billion hits in 2019 alone, up from 33.5 billion in 2018. And, in a stroke of publicity genius on March 24, 2020, Pornhub announced it would make its premium offering free for 30 days to help “flatten the curve” of the virus spread. Following this announcement, usage spiked across the world with Italy’s use increasing 61% after the announcement. However, prior to this broadcast, traffic was up anyhow, according to early research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandem

  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 reviews. Why are they important and what they will do for you as an author. And why a lot of reviews do not turn immediately into a lot of increased sales. Why you should care about reviews : Reviews get the news out about your book. Even bad reviews can result in publicity that brings out book sales. Some bookstores (e.g., the Barnes and Noble chain) usually check out book reviews before stocking a book from an independent publisher (which is a hard-to-get agreement to begin with); in my experience, the minimum required is 25 good (4-5 stars) reviews. There are a significant number of pe