TATE PUBLISHING( CONT’ D)
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was created. Not just because it charges enormous fees( an initial $ 3,990, with the option of paying hundreds or even thousands more for extras such as video trailers, custom websites, self-ordered books, and the like), but because it presents itself as a " mainline publishing organization " and doesn ' t reveal its fees anywhere on its website or in its promotional videos.
In fact, Tate ' s website specifically promises that authors do not have to pay to publish: " Tate Publishing does not charge a fee for publishing and absorbs all the cost of production and distribution of a book." But this is classic vanity publisher doublespeak. Deeper into the submission process, when Tate finally gets around to asking authors to pull out their credit cards, they are told that the money is for a publicist. Clearly, Tate wants authors to assume that it ' s as traditional as traditional can be. And they do. Writer Beware has gotten hundreds of questions and reports from authors who approached Tate in the belief that it was not a vanity publisher.
We ' ve also heard from many Tate authors who don ' t feel their money was well spent--and we aren ' t alone. In 2015, Tate was the second most complained-about company to the Oklahoma attorney general. Many more complaints--not just about Tate Publishing, but about its vanity recording subsidiary, Tate Music Group--can be found online. They make for terrifying reading--bad editing, shoddy production, constant staff turnover, books ordered and paid for but never received, delayed pub dates, non-payment of royalties, " marketing " that mostly consists of urging writers to buy their own books... the list goes on.
The Better Business Bureau, which as of this writing has logged 134 complaints over the past three years, yanked Tate ' s accreditation earlier this year.
That ' s a lot of chickens, and they are now coming home to roost. This past May, Xerox Corporation filed a $ 1.7 million lawsuit( since increased to $ 1.89 million) against Tate, alleging defaults on service agreements and promissory note payments, and seeking re-possession of $ 450,000 in leased equipment. Tate has not had good luck with its attorneys in the case; the first withdrew in September, saying he was retiring, and the second is also seeking to withdraw, in part, apparently, because Tate hasn ' t paid him.( Maybe that ' s why Ryan Tate never got around to filing his promised counter-suit against Xerox.)
Link to the rest at Writer Beware.
WINTER 2017
PAGE 12
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE