MSI Press Blog

    (photo by Frank Perez) 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 taking a self-published book to a traditional publisher in hopes of getting a contract.  At least a couple of times a month, a self-published author approaches MSI Press with a proposal to republish his or her self-published book. They all seem to think that their  poorly selling self-published book would soar to best-seller status if only a traditional publisher would take it on or that their self-published book with modest sales would not thrill a publisher by how many sales had been made or had many polite reviews simply re-stated the content and refrained from sayin

  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 AND SOLSTICE. 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 came to mind as I threw away an author's submission--threw it away without a word, with no intention of responding, not even of letting the author know I had seen it. Why? Because he did not give me a no-cost way to respond to him. Publishers will not pay out of pocket to tell an author that a work is not suitable, and in that case, money put into preparing and mailing samples is money out the window, definitely not money in anyone's pocket. This particular sent only mailing address information and an envelope which would require me to purchase a stamp. Oh, there was a telephone numb

  (photo by Frank Perez 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 an important understanding that many new authors do not have and that can make a huge difference in whether or not their book gets accepted--the proposal. Knowing what to put into a proposal is very important. Taking the time to write a targeted proposal will pay off in dividends. Using a one-size-fits-all proposal will not impress most acquisitions editors, even if that proposal is prepared by a consultant or specialist or sold to you by some company purporting to be very successful at getting proposals accepted by publishers. A standardized proposal will generally work ag

                             One of the fun things that a publisher (or at least, an acquisitions editor) gets to experience is meeting more than one member of a family -- as an author whose work we publish. Today, we introduce the Hucknall sisters, Janice and Nanette.  Janice Hucknall Snyder's book, Survival of the Caregiver , is an older book, but it is a good one, and one that does not really have a parallel for caregivers. The paperback edition is available at the MSI Press webstore on significant discount. Nanette's books have been published before and after Janice (Hucknall) Snyder's book. Nanette's books include The Rose and the Sword (co-authored with Judith Bach) and How to Live from Your Heart   (currently on deep discount on Amazon). How to Live from Your Heart has earned multiple awards:  Pinnacle Achievement Book Award Book of the Year Award finalist Best Books Award finalist Book Excellence Award Readers’ Favorite Book Award finalist Kops-Fetherling Le

  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 effective communication with acquisitions editors. Does it make sense to p it them against each other? To create a sense of competition in order to get one of them to move? Here are the ways in  which authors have tried to tempt me to offer them a contract by alluding to another publisher -- and my reaction and response.  Just a note to say that the book submitted to you is being seriously considered by a United States Publisher. Please let me know how you would like to move forward. My reaction: The author comes across as pushy (trying to take the upper hand), arrogant (assuming that I would e

One of the fun things that a publisher (or at least, an acquisitions editor) gets to experience is meeting more than one member of a family -- as authors whose work we publish. In this series of presenting family authors, we take note of the Leaver writers, who have written books in various combinations and solo. Above pictured is Betty Lou Leaver and Shenan (CB) Leaver, who collaborated on Mommy Our House Guest , a fun book that has gained a number of afficionados and been serialized in a magazine.  Betty Lou, who has written dozens of books, including, for MSI Press, Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star and The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom (with Laura Dabbs) and Carl, who typeset and designed the covers of many MSI Press publications and edited Overcoming the Odds , collaborated on the book,  Intrepid.  who unfortunately passed away in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primary, Carl, unfortunately, passed away suddenly in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primar

  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 the problem of scammers trying to take advantage of authors and their desires for better sales and recognition. Sometimes these come by email, sometimes by phone. There are some tip-offs when you are dealing with a scammer -- and typically the phone calls are from scammers. Legitimate marketers and publishers do not have time to make a lot of cold calls, and they are too busy fielding requests for services to go hunting down authors and offering services. Here are some indications that have been discovered by a scammer: You are being offered a publishing contract, but your book is already publi

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 an author's self-presentation, the look-and-feel of your work and yourself. Here are some things to think about as you go about designing the cover of your book (even if a professional designer does the work, you will need to approve it), putting together a website, deciding what social platforms you will use, designing advertising materials, deciding where and how to promote your book, and more. Who are you?  What are your strengths? If your strengths are in the networking area, then you might set up meetings with local organizations interested in your topic to discuss the topic of your book

  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.  As a follow up to last week's conversation about books long in the tooth, let's talk about sleeping books (a slightly different topic but one that has much in common with last week's conversation. e seen some books come to life after a long period of dormancy. Some approaches that have worked are: a.        Finding an Influencer…wow…the one book that found one came alive after 10 years and has remained one of our bestsellers ever since even though the Influencer is no longer involved. b.       Send to a legacy award competition; if an award is received, the press release can be brushed off and re-distributed—and we get lots of op