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Musa Publishing

Mustafa

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Ah, I read back a number of pages - not all yet, but I will - and I see they swallowed up a number of orphans early on.
 

mscelina

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I'm thinking that our number of AW members is hardly disproportionate, considering that AW has over 10,000 members and Musa has less than 200 authors total. I'd be willing to bet that if you went through and counted how many authors at AW have books that were published or will be published by Carina or Ellora's Cave or Samhain, you'd find that Musa has a significantly smaller number of writers from AW. Being an AW member does not guarantee acceptance.

However, we do encourage our authors to join AW if they are not already members. This is an active and educational community that will benefit almost any writer. A significant number of our AW/Musa connected authors formed the connection in reverse--contracted by us THEN became members of AW.

Hopefully this is the last time we have to ride the AW/Musa connection carousel. Good grief.
 

nkkingston

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I suspect if you count up the number of different people involved in this thread you'll find large proportions of it are the same members posting repeatedly (tracking their submissions statuses, wishing each other luck, communicating with Celina etc), rather than the volume the post count suggests. Any thread with a publisher that's actively engaging in conversation tends to be much, much longer than others.
 

LaneHeymont

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Ah, I read back a number of pages - not all yet, but I will - and I see they swallowed up a number of orphans early on.


Another point and case, I just received a nice R with an invitation to submit other work.

And Celina's right, look how many members of AW there are—a staggering amount, really!
 

mscelina

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I suspect if you count up the number of different people involved in this thread you'll find large proportions of it are the same members posting repeatedly (tracking their submissions statuses, wishing each other luck, communicating with Celina etc), rather than the volume the post count suggests. Any thread with a publisher that's actively engaging in conversation tends to be much, much longer than others.

And let's face it--I DO like to talk.

Another point and case, I just received a nice R with an invitation to submit other work.

I don't send many of those, by the way, so take it seriously.

Musa has tremendous exposure here, so it's no wonder that AWers feel a certain comfort and assurance in submitting to them. I also liked Celina's experience and willingness to pick up stranded authors. I was stranded along with 26 other authors (once) and never picked up.

Tri:)

To be quite frank, I and the other partners at Musa felt an obligation to those authors to help them get their books back on the virtual shelves as quickly as we could. I wish we'd been able to save more than we did. In the end we were only able to save about a hundred books from that disaster.
 

LaneHeymont

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I don't send many of those, by the way, so take it seriously.

Oh, I did, but now it just got multiplied! Thanks! I'm going to get on that! :)
 

richcapo

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Are Musa books stocked in retail outlets? If so, which retail outlets?

Thanks.
 
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Maddie

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Are Musa books stocked in retail outlets? If so, which retail outlets?

Thanks.

Musa books are available on Barnes & Noble (Nook), Amazon (Kindle) and iTunes, alone with the Musa site. But since they are e-books, not p-books, you won't find physical copies on bookstore shelves.
 

Maddie

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Thanks, Maddie.

And I just wanted to add my two cents, that although I tend to be slow about technology (it took me years to finally buy a laptop, and dump the IBM Selectric), I am pleased that e-books offer a "here and now" to readers, which is why I think they're so popular. You make a choice to purchase a book, and you have it available to read within literally seconds--whereas, print books have to travel through the mail or other delivery system. Additionally, some retail outlets actually welcome authors of e-books to give a presentation, without having the requirement of a p-book available.
 

Mustafa

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And I just wanted to add my two cents, that although I tend to be slow about technology (it took me years to finally buy a laptop, and dump the IBM Selectric), I am pleased that e-books offer a "here and now" to readers, which is why I think they're so popular. You make a choice to purchase a book, and you have it available to read within literally seconds--whereas, print books have to travel through the mail or other delivery system. Additionally, some retail outlets actually welcome authors of e-books to give a presentation, without having the requirement of a p-book available.

I bet that's why bookstores are so popular with readers, too. You find a book and blammo, you have it.... ;) (sorry, couldn't resist).
 

ajkjd01

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On the issue of AW writers signing with Musa...

I didn't indicate in my query letter that I was an AW member. I don't think they were aware of it. While I could have mentioned that I was a member of AW, (and that I'd had breakfast with mscelina at a previous conference where we'd talked briefly about writing, about submissions, and about submitting to the publisher she was working for at the time...but I didn't), I listed my other writing credits and did not include this information.

I have no reason to believe that my activity on this board had any connection to the decision on whether or not the publisher decided to pick up my novel. My book is being released by Urania, the speculative fiction imprint, which is headed by someone other than mscelina.

Reality? I don't think it would hurt to include activity on a board like this in a query letter, especially if you know that the publisher is active in the forums in question, but I can't say that being a member of AW had anything to do with the publisher's consideration of my submission...since I didn't include the information, and I never saw mscelina's name on any correspondence during the submission process.
 

WordCount

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Only if you live in a bookstore.

^Gotta echo this. I know my situation differs from most people's, but the closest B&N is nearly an hour and a half from my house.

I can't drive that long every time I want one book.
 

JinxVelox

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Only if you live in a bookstore.

So true. Or if you're an American military family living in a really expensive place, like England or Japan... In that case, if you don't want to spend double the dollar by buying on the economy, you must rely heavily on ordering books online.

Hence ebooks, while not personally my thing (I still purchase paperback and hardcover, which means I'm always pestering my husband to check the post office), are very convenient for service members and their families. We can't rely on our Base Exchanges to carry everything we want, or new releases the day they come out.

As far as Musa, Celina is one of the most forthcoming publishers on this board. She has been very up front and willing to explain, time and again, why Musa does or has XYZ. When people asked the same questions over and over, in different ways, Celina did her best to give the same answer, in different ways. She even communicated and responded to member concerns when she was recovering from major surgery, and should have been resting (naughty bunny).

I have a submission out to their Urania imprint right now and, accepted or rejected, I would not hesitate to recommend them to writers simply based on Celina's candid interactions at AW.
 

Terie

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On the issue of AW writers signing with Musa...

To add to this, I don't think it's a matter of Musa specifically taking on a lot of AW members. I think it's the other way around: a lot of AW members watched the birth of Musa and decided to submit there. I'd be surprised if any AW members mentioned their AW membership in their queries.
 

KTC

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On the issue of AW writers signing with Musa...

I didn't indicate in my query letter that I was an AW member. I don't think they were aware of it. While I could have mentioned that I was a member of AW, (and that I'd had breakfast with mscelina at a previous conference where we'd talked briefly about writing, about submissions, and about submitting to the publisher she was working for at the time...but I didn't), I listed my other writing credits and did not include this information.

I have no reason to believe that my activity on this board had any connection to the decision on whether or not the publisher decided to pick up my novel. My book is being released by Urania, the speculative fiction imprint, which is headed by someone other than mscelina.

Reality? I don't think it would hurt to include activity on a board like this in a query letter, especially if you know that the publisher is active in the forums in question, but I can't say that being a member of AW had anything to do with the publisher's consideration of my submission...since I didn't include the information, and I never saw mscelina's name on any correspondence during the submission process.

I submitted to Musa solely on the basis that mscelina was involved. I have MUCH respect for her...I met her through AW. AW has been a powerhouse of connectivity for me. I wouldn't be where I am today without it. I co-run a writers' conference and I've had several AW connections involved with the conference. I've received tips and freelancing jobs and beta friends and life friends, you name it...so much has happened for me BECAUSE of AW. When I saw a person I respected from the AW community opening a new publishing house, I wanted to jump at the opportunity to be a part of it. I crawled...because of my own insecurities...but I made it. I'm thrilled that one of my own personal favourite books that I wrote (I've written 9 or 10 now, I've lost count) is being published by Musa. Thrilled.

I even got lucky enough to have mscelina as the editor for Sebastian's Poet. That was such a score! I didn't know how lucky I was until I worked with her on the manuscript!
 

ajkjd01

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I completely agree with you, Terie.

I probably would not have been aware of Musa at the time that I queried them about my project had I not been on the boards. I learned about Musa because I was watching the AMP mess unfold, and was highly interested in mscelina's new venture. I went looking for more information and liked what I saw.

So far, I've been very pleased with every step of the process. My book releases next month, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the next step entails.
 

mscelina

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You guys are making me blush.

Now cut it out before someone starts to feel like Musa is getting a free pass again. In actuality, I am a mean, evil, rough so-and-so of an editor and you all hate me.

:roll::roll:
 

JulesJones

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I submitted a short to Musa last week and am about to submit another to Penumbra, purely from having watched the way mscelina dealt with part of the AMP mess and then put together a publishing house based on both her own experience inside publishing, and advice taken from other experienced people on AW.

I know a bit about mscelina's efforts on AMP from other channels, since I have several friends who were caught up in that, but I know about Musa's existence entirely from having seen the discussion on AW. My cover letters do not mention my AW membership, as it did not occur to me that it was relevant in any way. My prior publication history is of rather more interest, I would think.

If either of those stories is accepted, you can add me to the list of authors who submitted because of the AW connection, but were not accepted because of it.