When an article doesn’t include all the facts

Below is an article on Writers Beware about Tate Publishing, my publishing company. The article leaves out facts; that Tate Publishing is also a traditional and a hybrid publisher. This is one of those articles that gives the reader a bad impression about a publishing company because the article only refers to Tate Publishing as a vanity publisher with authors who have had bad experiences. What about us happy Tate authors who haven’t paid for publishing with Tate? Read my comment to the writer at the end of this post.

The following is a re-post from Writers Beware: http://bit.ly/2hj4G1H

 

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

It’s hard times lately for “America’s Top Publisher,” a.k.a. Tate Publishing & Enterprises, a.k.a. one of America’s most prolific vanity publishers.

Tate has been on Writer Beware’s Thumbs Down Publishers List since the list 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.)

The Xerox lawsuit spurred layoffs from Tate’s printing plant, even before Xerox began re-possessing its equipment in late July. And that’s not all. Tate is facing at least four additional legal actions: a lawsuit by an author who claims that she paid over $12,000 for a book that was published full of errors (twice); a petition by a client of Tate Music Group to compel arbitration, due to various alleged breaches of contract, including copyright infringement; an action by memorabilia manufacturer Jostens, which says that Tate owes it more than $13,000; and another by the property company that leases Tate its print shop (possibly vacant now that Xerox has re-possessed its equipment), which claims that Tate owes nearly $20,000 in rent.

If that weren’t enough, Tate’s employment practices are being investigated by the Department of Labor. (Some employees say that they were threatened and “coached on what to say” by CEO Ryan Tate before Labor Department investigators came to interview them; this would not be the first time that Ryan Tate has threatened employees.) And per an (uneverified) comment on one of my previous posts about Tate, Tate may recently have been evicted from its offices.

Are these the straws that broke the camel’s back? Has Tate reached its very own End Times? Either way, it’s not looking good for “America’s Top [Vanity] Publisher.”

Predictably, the honchos at Tate are pretending nothing’s wrong. “There are a lot of issues that probably would be a little more important for you or your news agency or any news agency to deal with,” company founder Richard Tate told local news station KFOR, “other than the fact that our company is doing a great job.”

Hmmm. I think some Tate authors would disagree.

1 comment :

Diane Mae Robinson Multi-Award-Winning Author said…

Hi Victoria. I wanted to inform you that not every author that is published with Tate has to pay a fee, of any sort. I have two traditional contracts with Tate. I have not paid for editing, illustrations, production, video trailer, website, a publicist, or any thing else you can think of that may require a fee. Therefore, I would strongly disagree with you that Tate is a vanity publisher only. They may have a vanity publishing arm to the company, I don’t know what other people’s contracts say. You are giving a wrong impression here.

In regards to the person who had their book published twice with mistakes, I can’t see how that could happen. My books went through three rounds of editing, which I had to approve at the last round, and then a final layout, which, again, I had to approve.

There are a lot of great authors signed with Tate and great books being produced by Tate. For example, in the 2015 Literary Classics Book Awards http://www.literaryclassics.org/AwardsByYear.html there were a number of Tate authors who won Gold and Silver, myself included:

I have had excellent service with Tate who has always gone out of their way to please me as one of their authors.

Many author’s livelihood depends on their books being available through Tate and affiliate links. Maybe, before you bash them as the worst publisher on earth, you should get all your facts straight.

Thank you.

Diane Mae Robinson
Multi-award winning Tate author