MSI Press Blog

  From the editor - The story behind the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies is pretty much the story behind MSI Press. When the Coalition for Distinguished Language Centers , a nonprofit organization, began holding their first conferences in 2003, they realized that they needed a publisher to handle their conference proceedings and a planned journal dedicated to helping language learners reach near-native levels of foreign language proficiency. One of the co-founders of the CDLC was the owner of a private consulting business, Mind Solutions International and offered to establish a publishing house within that business. The publishing house took on a simplified version of the name, MSI, and became MSI Press and later MSI Press LLC. (Most MSI Press authors do not know what the initials stand for since, with the closing of both CDLC and MSI in 2010, only the press remained -- and its acronymic name.) --- We have available for individual purchase each of the feature articles from

This week's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind Publishing for Smarties: Finding a Publisher by BL Ham. From the author -  The story behind this book is quite short and easy -- as was writing the book. The topic was one I presented on frequently at workshops for authors. One day, I decided to turn the slide deck into a book. Voila! The book you see here. The plan was to have other books in the series. Indeed, they will appear in due course -- topics such as reading your proposed contract, and more.  Paperback copies of this book can be purchased at the  MSI Press webstore   at 25% discount with coupon code FF25. Currently, it is on sale at a very deep discount. For more posts about this book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)   Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Inter

  Today's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind Content-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education by Stephen Stryker and Betty Lou Leaver. This book is an affiliated (recommended) book by MSI Press and can be purchased through Georgetown University Press or Amazon. From a co-editor: This book was quite a few years in the making. First, CBI was a rare course design back in the 1980s, when Steve brought it into the Spanish classes at the Foreign Service Institute and Betty Lou introduced it into the Russian program there. Rather than write a book about CBI, we wanted to amplify the theory with practical examples of successful CBI in language classes. We never thought it would take from 1989 until 1997 for enough teachers to adopt CBI in their classrooms to have enough examples (roughly a dozen) to comprise a book, but it did.  During the eight years we worked on the book, we sought a publisher. It would be a first-time book for both e

Today's story Literary Titan Book Awards Gold Award Today's story behind the book tells the tale behind   Surviving Cancer, Healing People  by Sula.  From the author --  The book content started from a story that I (Elizabeth Mahlou, amanuensis for Sula, wrote for a Christmas issue of the well-known mag, Guideposts . That story became a local favorite. At the same time, the Mission was under state scrutiny for safety and needed retrofitting that cost much, more than was in Mission coffers. It seemed that a Sula story might bring some attention -- and financial support -- to the Mission (and it has). Told from the viewpoint and in the voice of Sula, the book shared the story of Sula and her struggle with cancer (a slightly different topic from the Guideposts story, but typical in the same spiritually supportive-to-readers way). Sula went on to "write" five more books, one in Spanish (about the Day of the Dead), chronicling her life along with the life of the Church. S