Tate Publishing Company?

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hrpayne
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by hrpayne »

I self-published my first book, but decided to go with Tate for my second one. Early on, the experience was great. Lots of communication, asking me for guidance, and so forth. I really felt valued.

It was toward the end that I began to have red flags popping up in my spirit. It became difficult to find someone to communicate with me, and it seemed like quite a number of different individuals were involved instead of one dedicated representative.

All in all, this is what I would say. Tate does offer the service they say they offer. However, the finished product is a mixed bag. All of the books that I purchased at my author cost were good enough quality and I had no problems with them. However, I illustrated a juvenile reader for a friend of mine, who also published with Tate, and the quality became worse with every shipment she ordered. Some copies were so streaked that she felt bad about even selling them. Another friend of mine had a difficult time even getting her royalty statements and royalty checks from them. We all could indeed get our contract money back, but after we sold a certain number of copies. The key is that those copies have to be sold through distribution channels. The copies that we purchased ourselves to sell locally did not count toward that number. We still continue to get reduced purchase offers, meaning that Tate wants to direct sell our own books to us, but there has not been a huge amount of marketing on Tate's part for any of the three of us, and the publicity is allegedly what we were paying for.

I don't regret the experience though. I do have a book in hand and it was a learning experience.

However, it was enough to convince me that I am perfectly comfortable publishing my own work from this point forward. So I started my own subsidy-and-self publishing company, and have begun not only publishing my own work but also the work of others. In my case, one of the things that frustrated me most with Tate was what appeared to be a lack of forthrightness at times. They did not necessarily lie to me, but they were slow to divulge the whole picture. And that's their right to do so. However, I did not enjoy that and I plan to keep that in mind as I work with future clients myself.

So that's my personal experience. Hopefully it will help someone else. All things aside, if a person has the money and simply wants to get the book out there, Tate is certainly capable of getting the job done. You pay them, they print your book, and sell you copies at a reduced cost. They do set up a limited number of book signings and offer other services, but I personally did not see the fruit of much of that marketing. Any additional marketing, such as ads through media channels and smart phone apps will cost extra in most cases. Just be clear that you know what you're getting.
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Shann
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Shann »

Thanks for sharing your experience. So many people are choosing to go through a subsidy press and it's great to have feedback about the different ones available. I think many of them will have a certain amount of happy customers and unhappy ones. It's so important to do your due diligence before signing any contract.

I noticed you said you did illustrations for a friend. I'm looking for a illustrator for my second picture book. The person who did the first one was someone I met on FW, but now she wants to work on her own projects.

I'm curious if Tate offered editing services. I think that's the biggest mistake people maked--not getting a professional editor. If they did provide one, what was the quality of the editing? Did they actually provide editing (like Deb describes on page 1) or just a quick proof?
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Fullheart
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Fullheart »

I've met a few Tate published authors online and I almost went that route myself until the Lord steered me clear. Something seems a little fishy to me, because none of their authors had any sort of critical comments about them. I'm thinking that some sort of deal is struck with their authors to help promote Tate Publishing in exchange for reduced publishing packages? That's just a guess. What they offered sounded like a dream, yet at the time I didn't have the cash to put up, which I think was around $4000.00. They place a value of $35,000 on the services they render which included a comprehensive marketing package, promoters, etc. it was not the way to go for me, at least not for the mini publication I was doing at that time.

:book2 Blessings,

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Deb Porter
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Deb Porter »

Believe me, the services they provide do not come anywhere near $35,000. They don't even come close to the $4,000 the charge.

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itsjoanne
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by itsjoanne »

Just wanted to share an update on Tate. https://lindayezak.com/2016/12/21/tate- ... -troubles/
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Deb Porter
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Deb Porter »

I heard that the other day, Jo. Thanks for sharing the link.
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deejay
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by deejay »

I have to ask why the Christian Writers' Market continues to list so many dubious publishing houses.
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Deb Porter
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Deb Porter »

I don't think they vet them. If they say they are a publisher, and have published books, they include them. Were they still including Tate?
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deejay
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by deejay »

Haven't seen the latest issue. Maybe if I get a chance to swing by Barnes and Noble and I remember, I'll look.
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Deb Porter
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Re: Tate Publishing Company?

Post by Deb Porter »

It is official. Tate Publishing has ceased trading:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-t ... doors.html

This was inevitable. The company had so much bad press (you can only rip off customers for so long before the bad reports outweigh the positive). My only hope is that they will not pop up under another name and do the same thing all over again.

My heart has always broken for the people who have signed with Tate. I've seen way too many of their books to know they are not well edited or produced. This company has preyed on the dreams of new writers, and that makes me angry.

However, now my heart is breaking for those who have lost their money and their books in this closure. If you are a Tate published author, please consider talking to me about self publishing your book--and I mean that in the literal sense. Let me help you take back your baby and make it really shine.
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