Tate Publishing, a company I recently just found out is not recommended (read: a scam, most likely), mentions an "author investment" and in another paragraph of the information you get only when you request it by e-mail, they mention "author participation". Is this a sure sign of telling that the publisher is a scam, or is this not at all an indication? I've read that you should not be asked to shell out a DIME, but this stuff is all so confusing to me! Should it not be confusing, though? Does that advice include anything and everything? Does "author investment" = the same "fees" one should watch out for when avoiding scam artists? Basically, will I ever find a legit house that will ever ask for an "author investment"? (In all honesty, I've never heard of this until I found this from Tate's e-mail.) Thanks! -Billy
Billy, If they're asking you to 'participate financially', that shouts RED FLAG! A question to ask is: "How does this publisher make money?" a. From selling books b. Selling services to authors to publish their books? As there are so many publishers out there that don't require author investments in a project, I'd recommend to keep searching for what appears to fit your manuscript. Terry
Terry said it all. Author investment means that they want you to pay to have your book published, not the other way around. Furthermore, ninety nine times out of one hundred, you won't be compensated for your 'investment', and you won't make a profit (at least not a decent one). Stick with publishers that will pay you for buying your work, as it should be. If not, maybe consider finding an agent who can help you become published without being scammed, but then again, agents can be little scam artists themselves. In conclusion, never pay to have you work published or represented (by means of an agent). I know it seems like there are a lot of preditors out there, but there are also a lot of legit publishers / agents if you know where to look. ~ InPieces
A legitimate publisher should never ask for any fee or contribution from the author in exchange for, or to "help cover the cost" of publishing. Some phrase it as "reducing the publisher's risk", but any way you put it, it's bad news for the author. I've had run-ins with these kinds of scams before. Unfortunately inappropriate requests for authors to share the expense or to purchase a certain number of their own books is far from unusual. Too many vanity publishers try to disguise their true practices until they're already well into negotiations with a would-be author, before bringing up hidden expenses. Sadly, many writers get desperate enough to let themselves get sucked into such traps. I'd advice avoiding a deal like this and keeping your goals focused on more reputable means of publication.
this is one of many 'subsidy publishers'... that means you pick up part of the cost of seeing your book in print... it's just another version of vanity publishing...
