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.  This week's conversation points out the reason why many authors get rejection after rejection with only the note that "it is not a fit for us." Chances are that is really, truly the reason, and it means that the author did not do his/her homework. Authors should only be submitting work where there is an apparent "fit." To do otherwise is a waste of the publisher's time and a waste of the author's time, efforts, hopes, and, often, money. So, how do you know that there is a potential fit? Check out the kinds of books that the author publishes. It is amazing how many fiction submissions we get. We do not publish

  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

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 how you get an acquisition editor to consider your proposal serious. Most have only a few minutes to look at each cover letter/proposal. Will yours get more than a curosry glance?  So, let's look at each item in an authorial contact. The proposal If a publisher has guidelines for the proposal, follow them. Don't assume you know better than the publisher what the publisher needs or should publish. Our submission guidelines  are at our website.  All the categories are important to us (and to any publisher who provides guidelines). If some are missing, we will ask the aut

  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

  (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 the publication process itself. You have a manuscript in hand, now what? There are several stages. So, let's take each stage separately. Stage One. Completion of the Manuscript You have finished writing the manuscript and have carefully proofread it, but you are NOT ready to move to Stage Two. There are a few things you need to do first. If not done, this is the stage that often dooms a manuscript never to move to Stage Two and on into becoming a book. You proofread, right? For what did you proofread? Spelling? Ran it through the spellchecker? Certain your own eyes wil