MSI Press Blog

  Today's book back story provides inside information about  One Simple Text.. . (Shaw & Brown).  From the publisher -  Betty Shaw and Dave Brown brought to the press a great story. One of tragedy that through patient fortitude, medical skill, and great faith turned into triumph. Of a life almost lost because of one simple text while driving. The what and who of that text I will leave readers to discover. A story that had propelled the author and the protagonist of the story, her daughter, to Oprah Winfrey's TV show. They had, however, not yet written a book. (Advice here: if you have the opportunity for world-class publicity, get your book done in advance; it is so  helpful for book promotion to have the publicity come after the book and not afterward.) They needed some help in refining the story into a book that works. That is where MSI Press came in. We do this all the time with first-time authors. We help turn their wonderful but seemingly unmanageable stories into wann

    This week, we   look at look at one of the most difficult tasks an author has, yet one that they belief is easy. Probably most authors know what they want to call their book before they even write it. Often, when an author approaches us with a book title, we feel compelled to discuss other options with the author. Here are some of the reasons (problems). Title Duplicative The title already exists. This is quite problematic when one of the books is better known. The new book will likely be overlooked. It is just a copy cat. It is very problematic when there are multiple books by the same title. One proposed title that had this problem was the book now called One Simple Text... The original proposal was for From Tragedy to Triumph . Take a gander for that title in Amazon -- many titles. How would the first-time author's book stand out among them? It likely would not. And if someone were looking for the author's book, that person would have to parse through a number of books

  The following excerpt comes from One Simple Text.. . (Shaw & Brown) - Preface   I was in a near death car accident on April 7, 2012.   My face was shattered, and I suffered a traumatic brain injury. I was not expected to live, but by some miracle I did.             My journey to recovery and acceptance of the new me was far more difficult than I imagined.             I questioned why God let me live. Begging Him to let me die, I went into a deep depression.             I had more than 16 operations to repair the damage caused to my face, ears, and eyes.   I felt left out and lonely because I lost my friends on my way to recovery.             This all happened to me because I chose to text and drive.             This is my story.   Liz Marks Liz Marks and her mom, Betty Shaw Eric Hoffer Award finalist American Bookfest Best Books Award finalist For more posts about Betty and Dave and their books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsle

  Just in this week -- a new (great) review on Amazon on One Simple Text .  five stars:  This book was a great read and definitely Liz’s story is an inspiration to me and I’m sure everyone else who reads it!! Joining an earlier 5-star review: MUST READ Check them out HERE . Read more posts about this book and its authors HERE .

Great coverage of Shawn & Brown's One Simple Text...The Liz Marks Story by Linda Stein of The Mercury. Take a gander and enjoy.

  Congratulations to Betty Shaw and Dave Brown on her book, One Simple Text... , being selected as the  Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards  legacy award in the category of inspiration/motivation.   “ In One Simple Text , Betty Shaw recounts her daughter’s frightening and arduous but ultimately uplifting and inspirational journey. Betty chronicles Liz’s ordeal from the day of the accident and provides a glimpse of their life on the speaking and television circuit. This is a poignant memoir about a young woman who triumphed over tragedy; a mother and daughter’s love; and the indomitable power of the human spirit .” Read more posts about Betty and Dave and this book  HERE .

Released today! It was every parent’s worst nightmare.  On a sun-drenched morning in April 2012, a Maryland state trooper knocked on Betty Shaw’s front door and delivered the grim news that her 17-year-old daughter, Liz, had been involved in a horrible car accident and was clinging to life.   Liz recovered from her life-threatening injuries but suffered severe and permanent effects from the accident. Texting while driving caused Liz’s crash, and she and her mother went on a mission to educate people about the perils of distracted driving. The pair began to speak before various groups, and as their popularity grew, they launched a video about Liz’s story which went viral, spawning magazine and online articles, as well as several TV appearances, including one on Oprah Winfrey’s  Where Are They Now?  show.  In  One Simple Text , Betty Shaw recounts her daughter’s frightening and arduous but ultimately uplifting and inspirational journey. Betty chronicles Liz’s ordeal from the day

  Excerpt from  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star Tactics and Strategies   Sharpening Your Skills Sharpening your skills means becoming better at reading, writing, listening, and speaking. (For this book, we will leave translation and interpretation out of the equation; those are special skills for individuals who have already gained considerable proficiency in the language, but if your goal is to be a translator or interpreter, yes, indeed, you will have another set of skills to sharpen.) Your strategies for sharpening your skills are going to look differently depending upon your reason for studying your language. Your tactics for reaching your strategic goals, commonly also considered learning strategies, [1] will also differ depending upon your goal.   Strategies Before you can decide how to go about improving your reading, writing, listening, and speaking, you need to identify to what extent you need each of these skills and how well you have to be able t