Information:
info@msipress.com

Prepaid/bulk Orders:

MSI Press
1760-F Airline Hwy., # 203
Hollister, CA 95023
TEL/FAX (831) 886-2486
orders@msipress.com (purchase orders and queries)
order at our webstore (www.msipress.com/shop) with appropriate coupon codes

Want to interview one of our authors?
Contact us at info@msipress.com

AUTHORS LOOKING FOR A PUBLISHER

If you are currently working on a book, chances are we can help you with your publishing needs. Due to unusual circumstances, we are currently limiting acceptance of manuscripts to those with flexible requirements.

Authors with a strong publishing history and ready-made platforms:

To submit a book proposal, read our information for authors document and then, if you would like to explore working with us, fill out our book proposal template — do not omit information — and submit to editor@msipress.com.

First-time authors and authors without a strong publishing history or without a ready-made platform — or whose books do not fall within the lines that we publish (see our catalogue):

To submit a book proposal to San Juan Books, our division that functions as a compromise between traditional publishing and assisted publication, read through the information provided, and then, if you want to explore working with us, fill out our book proposal template — do not omit information — and submit to editor@msipress.com, noting that this is a submission for San Juan Books.

With a few exceptions, the works of authors who have not published with us before are only accepted through our SJB division. However, any author is welcome to make a pitch to our traditional publishing staff.

Some facts and statistics:

  • We accept unagented books, and the majority of our books have come directly from author proposals.
  • 86% of our authors hold traditional contracts with us.
  • 14% of our authors hold hybrid contracts; we are very happy to expand the number of hybrid authors who publish with us, but we do hold them to the same quality-of-writing standard that we expect from all of our authors, many of whom have won more than one award for their writing; 50% of authors holding hybrid contracts also hold one or more traditional contracts with us, concluded subsequently to the publication of their hybrid books.
  • Of the proposals made to us, whether for a traditional contract of or for San Juan Books, our acceptance rate for any given year varies from 10% to 25%. The most common reasons for non-acceptance have to do with poor homework on the part of the author: overly optimistic representation of the potential market (i.e. has not done the research to provide an accurate picture), poor writing (often grammatically accurate but simply flat, not able to pull in a reader), and, in a very few cases, a misunderstanding of the publishing field (unresearched and unrealistic expectations of the book market today, the role of the publisher, and the role of the author).
  • In some cases, the book is good, but we are the wrong publisher; take a look at the lines we publish, and please do not send us novels, poetry, erotica, or other topics that you cannot find in our catalogue.
  • See B. L. Ham’s book, Publishing for Smarties: Finding a Publisher, for an inside look on how acquisitions editors think. (This book has been highly recommended by MidWest Book Review.)

 

SOME BASICS FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

  1. Multiple submissions. We accept these, reluctantly, because we know authors cannot afford to do one single submission after another and hope to see their book in print this decade. However, we will not get into a bidding war. If you have a better deal from another publisher, take it. If we know that you are making multiple submissions (ethically, you should disclose this, and there are often dead giveaways, anyway), we may ask you to come back and talk to us about publication as a San Juan Book if you do not find another publisher. (SJB is not a guarantee of acceptance. We accept about 20% of the proposals for San Juan Books, but that is more than double of our acceptance for traditional publication.)
  2. Formatting/writing specs. (Ask for our spec sheet.) We use APA style, the Harvard comma, American punctuation (punctuation inside quotations, not outside), and footnotes (rather than endnotes). We expect references to be complete (in accordance with expectations of the APA Style Manual) and websites cited to be currently available.
  3. Good writing. We require writing that uses active voice, avoids overuse of linking verbs, takes the shortest route to making a statement (hard-hitting, dramatic, not discursive and hard to follow), and focuses on what the reader needs to hear (rather than what the writer wants to hear from himself or herself).
  4. Platform. A solid platform is as important as a solid book. If you do not know what is meant by platform, do some research on your own; our book proposal template (see link above) provides some information in this regard.

Don’t quite understand the publishing process?

Check out this detailed list of stages through which our books pass in going from manuscript to widely available published book.
STAGES OF BOOK PROCESSING.