MPC Press International

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.

Tags: Bay Area, Christmas, Cookbook, Nordstrom

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.

Tags: bachelor's cookbook, chocolate mousse, Julia Child, NBC, Oakland Tribune, quesadilla, San Francisco Chronicle, University of Colorado

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.

Tags: email, inbox

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.

Tags: Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who, rhyme, Yertle the Turtle

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.

Tags: New York Times, San Mateo County Times