MPC Press International

Boyz in the House

MPC Press — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:06:32 +0000

When was the last time a U.S. President’s son lived in the White House? It was about 45 years ago, when JFK and JFK Jr. inhabited America’s number one address. Is it possible that the President truly needs to tuck in a son at night in order for him to make pragmatic decisions? Let’s hope not, but worth thinking about for a few seconds. Barack, W, and Clinton only have daughters. George H. W. Bush has four sons and a daughter but his youngest son was 32 when President Bush moved into the White House in 1988. Reagan’s youngest son was 22 when President Reagan was inaugurated. Carter has three sons and a daughter, and only his daughter lived in the White House. Ford’s youngest son was 17 when Ford became president, but he did not live on Pennsylvania Ave (he was all set to head to college at Duke but instead moved out West to pursue a dream of being a cowboy). Nixon and LBJ each had two daughters and no sons. This brings us to JFK, whose young daughter and son joined him in the White House. The average age of a President on inauguration day is a little over 55 years old, so we cannot expect every President to have young children. But there have been nine presidents who have followed John F. Kennedy, and five bore only daughters, including Clinton, W, and Barack (so it has been 16 years since we’ve had a President with a son). What does this all mean? Really nothing, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Presidents lately.

Child’s Play

MPC Press — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:57:26 +0000

There’s an old saying in the book industry: “Better off are you, with a pre-press review.” If a new book hits the shelves with a comment on the back cover (which will obviously be a positive one), it can only help book sales. “Love the story, 3 Cheers, Couldn’t Put it Down, I was howling!”—Rickey Jacobs, The Skokie Post. Of course, most books are reviewed after publication; many reviewers don’t want to touch an unfinished product. At MPC, we strive to put a review on each cover. We were off to a slow start with “No More Mac and Cheese, a Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking with Ease.” Given that it is a cookbook, we first thought we had hit paydirt when word came out that Julia Child was sending her thoughts ahead of our first print run. Note that we already had a high degree of confidence that a rhyming bachelor’s cookbook would sell. The Chicken Cordon Orange recipe (page 20) had by now achieved cult status in focus groups:

“Chicken Cordon Orange you might never have tried—
A nice breast of chicken, ham and cheese inside.
It’s not Cordon Bleu, the blue you never see.
With Chicken Cordon Orange, cheddar cheese is the key…”

While Ms. Child’s kind comments did arrive (and may she rest in peace), unfortunately she chose simply to mimic the rhyming style of our cookbook and give holiday greetings at the same time, without offering any relevant thoughts that we could print on our cover:

“Thanks for the copy of your No More Mac and Cheese.
It is a book which will surely please!
I wish you well and great success,
And joyous holidays filled with much happiness.
All the best and Bon Appétit!”

So, there is no review on the cover of “No More Mac and Cheese”. For “Lawrence the Laughing Cookie Jar”, we called Mrs. Fields, Mrs. GoodCookie, Otis Spunkmeyer, and others, but no one responded. With our latest title, “Rhyme”, we had no choice. Early signs of a challenging economy made it clear that this book was going to make or break MPC Press. While we were unable to secure a review from any major publication, celebrity, or a politician, we did what any sleazy and deceitful publisher would do. We forged a review…sort of. Note that the back cover of Rhyme shows the following quote from Al Boar: “Rhyme is unbeatable!” Who is Al Boar anyway? We’ll let you in on a little secret—we made up the name, just like we made up the old saying that, “Better off are you, with a pre-press review.” But, the most intelligent of minds will discover that the name, Al Boar, sounds distinctly like the name of a former politician. Aha! Very clever, aren’t we? Rhyme is about politics, so let’s find a politician to review the book (and one who sounds like he could be a character in the story)…and if no one returns our calls, then let’s create a fictional politician, and have him speak nicely of our work. So far it’s paying off; sales are strong, and we haven’t been sued.

Perfect Results Not Guaranteed

MPC Press — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:35:30 +0000

The phone rang at about 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night. It was 1991, and No More Mac and Cheese, A Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking with Ease had just been published, with enormous fanfare in the U.S…really in California…actually Northern California…maybe more specifically San Francisco…ok let’s be completely truthful–the few blocks surrounding my apartment. In all fairness, this was a grassroots effort and we (the author of the book and MPC Press, the publisher) were truly surprised that initial sales of this tome totaled well over 1,000 units after only a couple of months (and I don’t have 1,000 friends and family). Back to the story…while not that interesting, I did receive a call at about 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night, and it was my friend Matt Pear, asking some specifics about A Pretty Good Burger (page 19 of No More Mac and Cheese). Matt was in the middle of cooking a meal for his date, who was in his kitchen with him at the time of the call. My first questions to Matt were, “Why are you making a burger?” and “Do you like this girl?” His response was that he couldn’t cook, period, and that A Pretty Good Burger was a dish he felt he could tackle. Besides, he reminded me that his date had showed up late and that the first line of the recipe was indeed: “It’s not always cool to fix burgers for a date, Unless your guest shows up an hour late.” His question to me was fairly simple, and during the next several months, as the book gained popularity, I received hundreds of similar questions. (Reminder: Be careful where you print your phone number.) Matt asked, “Do I need to add red wine to the burger, as you suggest?” I obviously noted that it wasn’t essential but it simply added flavor. He was relieved because his cellar included exactly zero bottles of wine, and he instead was serving Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to his date. The calls from bachelors like Matt did come in regularly, and the questions were never complex. I conclude that the success of No More Mac and Cheese is due to the need by many for a very simple bachelor’s cookbook. However, as per the phone calls, a bachelor’s cookbook can never be too simple. And, for those wondering, Matt Pear called delighted the next morning, saying that he had made it to second base.

One Word Titles

MPC Press — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:18:04 +0000

“Rhyme” may not have been the best name for our most recent title. (And the cover of our cookbook, “No More Mac & Cheese, A Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking with Ease” was in this color green, maybe not the most appetizing for a cookbook.) But what is wrong with calling a book “Rhyme”? Rhyme is the name of the protagonist in the story, a pig who only speaks in rhyme, so it seems a fitting title. Here is the problem. When I refer people to Amazon to purchase the book, and they type “Rhyme”, our book is #5 on the list. You may first find: “Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young” or “Nursery Rhymes, Mother Goose.” Actually, we are proud to have moved up to #5, but for many months “Rhyme” was nowhere to be found, perhaps listed at about #100, until sales began to kick in a bit. When I asked Amazon why my book would not be listed first, considering it is the only book simply titled “Rhyme”, it was confirmed that the best selling titles on Amazon with the word “Rhyme” as part of the title would appear in order. It is possible that Rhyme becomes a best seller and is indeed #1 on the Amazon list, but for now, one needs to type “Rhyme Will Marks” (title and author) or “Rhyme, A Pig in Politics” (informal name) to find the book quickly. So, prospective authors, think carefully about using one word titles!

Dr. Seuss Dissent

MPC Press — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:36:06 +0000

We didn’t expect to be flooded with feedback after citing the possible imperfection of Dr. Seuss rhymes: Should Rhymes Include Only “Real” Words? December 8, 2009. But opinions there were, and total disagreement…In fact, we did not hear from a single reader who found Dr. Seuss’s rhyming schemes flawed. No one had a problem with rhyming “My throne shall be higher!” his royal voice thundered with “So pile up more turtles! I want ’bout two hundred!” And no one had any issues with manufactured words, many that Dr. Seuss likely created only for the sake of rhyme, and few that have found their way into the dictionary. Perhaps it is time to overhaul Webster’s and add “enormance” and “whuffed“? Truly, we (but not my mother) are defenders of the great Doctor and we were only trying to ask, “What is a rhyme?” and “Should a writer create nonsensical words when he has the opportunity to teach children new vocabulary?” In terms of feedback, one clearly educated reader, from Summit, Mississippi, wrote: “I too believe REAL vocabulary is essential and powerful…but like Seuss, I lam a lover of nonsense….and nonsense can bring wonderful giggles and encourage creativity and stimulate a love for literature of all kinds….Nonsense, I believe, can develop deliciously even when using ”real” words…and adding rhythm.”

Interestingly, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) really was an innovator in terms of expanding the vocabulary of children. According to Wikipedia, Dr. Seuss and his publisher were influenced by a 1954 Life magazine report on illiteracy among school children, “which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring.” The publisher apparently took 348 words he thought important and asked Dr. Seuss to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. The Cat in the Hat used 236 of the 250 words, and was a success to say the least, with its simple vocabulary providing a fun and interesting read for young children.

The Spine is Fine but Be a Lover of the Cover

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:46:37 +0000

Books sell best when more than just the spine is showing. When 5,000 copies of No More Mac and Cheese, A Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking with Ease, landed on our doorstep, we at MPC knew that creativity was in order. With No More Mac and Cheese being our first title, sales of this magnitude were certainly ambitious. Why had MPC Press taken on an inexperienced author who was not a very good cook yet had written a cookbook…and in rhyme? And why would the author of No More Mac and Cheese hire a publisher with no experience? First, it is always challenging for a new publisher to attract a well regarded author, so signing a contract with any author was a good start for MPC. Second, the author of No More Mac and Cheese could not find anyone else to publish his book, so he turned to this young publishing company as a last resort. When one learns that the author of No More Mac and Cheese actually created MPC Press in order to publish his book (that had been rejected by every publisher), the relationship seems to make sense. As for selling the book, we had no problem finding bookstores to carry the title. Shelves were stocked with No More Mac and Cheese, particularly in our Bay Area market. But, it is challenging for the consumer to locate a book (particularly a wire-bound book, but really any book) when only the spine is showing. Placement is key! So, we sought other angles and Nordstrom at the time had a “Gift Gallery” in most of its stores that carried candle holders, plates, picture frames, snow globes, and a small selection of books. Fortunately, MPC had a connection with a Nordstrom employee who introduced us to the Gift Gallery buyer. Similar to the experience with bookstores, we had no problem generating orders from Nordstrom. But unique to Nordstrom’s Gift Gallery, No More Mac and Cheese was placed on tables and shelves with the cover, not the spine, in full view to the customer. Sales exploded, and we can attribute this to the least recognized of the “4 P’s” of marketing: placement (and to a lesser extent the author’s 50 Nordstrom gift cards purchased that Christmas for friends and family). So, we now look for every opportunity to place our books in unique non-bookstore environments.

Managing One’s Time When the Press Comes Calling

MPC Press — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:23:18 +0000

When your new book is published, it is impossible to be overprepared for incoming calls from the press. With No More Mac and Cheese, A Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking with Ease, we heavily publicized the book when it was launched in 1990. Knowing the appeal of a wire-bound, bachelor’s cookbook written in rhyme, our publicist set up a separate phone line (no email in 1990) and braced herself for heavy demand…and then waited, and waited. Believe it or not, we were disappointed. But why? To start, we had not focused enough on local press. The Denver Post didn’t really give a #&*&$# about No More Mac & Cheese, even though plenty of bachelors live in Denver. So, we changed our approach. And then, it really began to click. With a local San Francisco author, it made sense to concentrate efforts on Bay Area television and radio, as well as the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, and the San Jose Mercury. First, a couple of great reviews were published in the Chronicle and the Tribune. Then, the local NBC television affiliate came calling. A newscaster and cameraman showed up on the doorstep of my San Francisco bachelor pad, where I lived with two roommates. They wanted to film me cooking my quesadilla and chocolate mousse recipes (page 28 and page 50, respectively). I alerted my roommates to stay out of the apartment for fear of embarrassment and I cleaned up the kitchen. I hadn’t noticed that a picture of one roommate’s girlfriends and his University of Colorado pennant had been hung behind the stove in his quest for attention sharing. The filming began and I was asked to rap (sing in my cool ghetto voice) the recipes while cooking. Fortunately, I had seen enough Julia Child episodes to know that the meals should be completed first and placed in the refrigerator for future display. So, I donned my cool “Hail to the Chef” apron and did my song and dance with the meal, and then cleverly pulled out the finished result from behind the scenes. I think the reporter was impressed, but I still wonder why most of my show was cut from the final version. Still, the media attention really did work and sales took off, and 1,000 books were sold in a matter of days. And, I still have a copy of the segment on betamax because I knew that would allow people to watch it for years to come. By the way, the word betamax can’t even be spell checked anymore, gone from the dictionary.

Should I Save That Email?

MPC Press — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:34:10 +0000

It is so nice to have an empty inbox. But I have not ended a day achieving that goal in years. How many of us have? And does it count as a clean inbox if you simply create new folders and place your emails in these folders? As with most people, my inbox functions at least partially as a To Do list and I won’t delete an email until I’ve read (at least the subject line), responded to, or acted on the email. I even go through my spam email to make sure I’m not missing an important item. A full inbox does drive me crazy; I keep a written To Do list at my desk which often includes “email Bob Bishop” or “reply to Jackie Jones”. This allows for a cleaner inbox and provides me with a slightly better mindframe when I leave the office or turn out the light.

Should Rhymes Include Only Real Words?

MPC Press — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:04:41 +0000

My mother has never been a Dr. Seuss fan. I don’t think she has a problem with the stories and the pictures. But, she prefers the dictionary as it stands and has no appreciation for made up words, especially when taught to children. I can understand her view, and because of this (and out of respect for her), all of my rhymes in Lawrence the Laughing Cookie Jar and Rhyme pair “real” words (yet some of these words are proper names). One definition of a rhyme is, “a poem or verse having a regular correspondence of sounds, especially at the ends of lines.” So, Dr. Seuss has every right to rhyme “the far-away Island of Sala-ma-Sond” with “king of the pond” and “Gertrude McFuzz” with “That’s all there was” and “Jungle of Nool” with “cool of the pool”; these certainly are corresponding sounds, even if they aren’t truly words. My mother’s opinion, though, is that, when you have an opportunity to teach real vocabulary to children, why make up words? Of course, making up words for the sake of rhyme is often the result of an inability to create a rhyme with real words. But I don’t think Dr. Seuss had this problem, or did he? Taking this a step further, we have all read what are supposed to be rhymes that pair words such as “town” and “ground”. Is this a rhyme? Some argue “yes” because the sounds are similar. I don’t know if there is an official answer. Just as I am not sure if I’m Polish or Austrian, as my ancestors emigrated to the U.S. from Krakow in the mid-19th century when Krakow was part of the Austrian empire.

How to Get Your Book Reviewed by the Times

MPC Press — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:27:46 +0000

We at MPC Press were ecstatic when Rhyme was reviewed by the Times. Assuming the review is somewhat positive, it is quite an achievement to have the Times review your book. With circulation only trailing USA Today and the Wall Street Journal according to a list on Wikipedia , there are few places where an author/publisher would rather be reviewed than the New York Times. Every bookstore buyer reads the NY Times Book Review and certainly millions of readers take notice. Sales undoubtedly rise after a review by the Times. But did I mention that the review of Rhyme was actually by the San Mateo County Times? So, can someone please tell me how I can get my book reviewed by the New York Times? Hundreds of books show up daily on the desk of the editor of the NY Times Book Review, so it isn’t easy, I assure you.