Welcome to MSA

Marcella Smith Associates is a publishing consultant firm offering experienced expert support to publishers and authors in strategic marketing and business development.

Marcella Smith is the operating principal. Her four decades of experience in both bookselling and publishing give her a unique perspective on the issues authors and publishers face in dealing with the challenges in today’s marketplace. She is able to draw on the savvy of a first class team of freelancers to help you be competitive.

Services for Authors

She will help you:

Assess the work for its likely publication
Determine the appropriate publishing platform
Develop a marketing strategy to promote you as an author

Services for Publishers

Her knowledge and experience can help your company:

Deliver data that meets Industry Standards
Implement Industry Standards & Best Practices in all aspects of your business
Launch marketing information
Maximize sales to non-traditional book outlets
Develop concepts or series
Analyze development plans
Review distribution

For more information about what we can do for you, please write us at info@marcellasmithassociates.com or call 917-325-2694.

Mark Suchomel

Marcella is one of the smartest, most capable and effective people I have worked with in my many years in the book business. She is incredibly efficient, results oriented, dedicated, knowledgeable, and witty. I recommend her unconditionally.

Mark Suchomel

Industry Professional

Kenn Amdahl

Marcella has been a tough but fair advocate for small presses for years. She works hard, remains cheerful, and exudes both wisdom and common sense. Despite the fact that she worked for the largest bookstore chain in the country, and I own perhaps the smallest publishing company, she always treated me with respect and fairness. Whether she was agreeing to buy my books or declining to, she was always civil, honest, and a pleasure to work with.

Kenn Amdahl

Owner, Clearwater Publishing

Tom Clarkson

Marcella is a talented professional who has an unusual breadth of understanding and capability in both publishing and content distribution. She has years of experience in successfully evaluating and selecting both manuscripts and new publications. In the case of promising manuscripts, she knows the steps and contacts necessary to take them to publication. At the same time, she is familiar with, and supportive of, the practical necessities of bar codes and other aspects of physical and electronic distribution. In addition, she is a lively and gregarious colleague; one with whom it is always a pleasure to work.

Tom Clarkson

Distribution Specialist

Mara Purl

Marcella Smith wrote the “code” on how to properly publish a book, and so generously shares her wealth of knowledge throughout the independent publishing world. When I asked for a “reality conversation,” she was stunningly honest and truly supportive. Marcella knows books, believes good books belong in the marketplace, and has had a transformative impact on lifting the standards of indie publishing.

Mara Purl

Author, Speaker & Book Coach, Haven Books

Linda Carlson

Marcella has been so helpful when I needed FACTS, not fluff, fantasy or wishful thinking, about retail book trade operations. She’s someone who has been there, done that—and done it so successfully that her record speaks for itself. Unlike so many I encounter, she can provide specifics and she doesn’t dodge the hard questions.

Linda Carlson

Writer, Independent Book Publishers Assoc