Tate Publishing - Question about a publisher

So I'm just curious if anyone knows anything or has had any experience with Tate Publishing. I've done a ton of looking into it, and am just curious what those on this site might think. I just received a contract from them and they offered to lower the retainer to sell the deal, but pretty sure its just a self publishing company selling themselves as a traditional publishing house.

 

According to Preditors and Editors, Tate Publishing isn't recommended.

 

A publisher demanding a retainer?

Run. Fast and hard.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, watch season 8 of the Britcom Peep Show.

 

If I am correct, Tate charges the author to publish. If they do, odds are you could do much better just self-publishing.

The problem with a publisher that charges its authors a fee to publish is that their business model is often based around selling services to authors, not selling books to readers.

Absolute Write's Water Cooler: Bewares, Recommendations and Background Checks (in their forum) (google search will turn it up) has a long thread on this publisher that you can read and consider.

 

Here's the website of a company called Tate Publishing: http://www.tatepublishing.com/. Is this the one you're talking about?

They look intensely dodgy, and seem geared towards taking money from an author in exchange for "services" rather than actually publishing anything. They have an interesting way of insisting that they're not a vanity publisher though. Apparently Tate "does not charge a fee for publishing", but does require authors to have "full-time professional book marketing and publicist representation" - something they are happy to provide in exchange for an extortionate fee.

They also cloak themselves in respectability by mentioning a lot of well-known TV networks that they claim broadcast adverts for their books. The fact is, however, that this will only happen if the gullible author Tate is taking advantage of pays for the service.

 

I just had a look over this page and have no idea how to use it... I haven't seen a website like that in ten years.

 

It may be even worse than that. I advise against self publishing, but it's at least a clear business model - you own your work, you're in charge of editing, you can change printers and formats and issue new editions any time you want, etc. With Tate, I wouldn't be sure that you retain all rights.

 

It's a vanity press. No legitimate publishing house wants money from the author. There are now 'self-publishing companies' which do the same thing - charge authors for doing exactly what the author can (and should) do for themselves if they want to self-publish. Many of these are simply the old vanity publishers putting a new spin on their scams.

 

I don't know why they have to go on about how Christian they are - sounds like a massive scam!

haha just came across this - number 10 is quite funny! http://www.thelostogle.com/2012/06/05/10-things-ive-learned-about-tate-publishing-ceo-ryan-tate/

 

Thanks for reinforcing my deleting of their emails guys and gals. Don't need to pay someone to do what I can do myself. At least createspace is free.

 

Not free. They're a printer, and you pay to set up, and to print, just like any printer. They just have low fees which are accessible to most self-publishers.

 

Yes, not free, but great for writers who have limited (or wholly imagined) resources. You can order one copy of your book if you wanted to--other sites I checked out either did not offer paperbacks at all (strictly ebook, which anybody could do) or you had to order in cases. Have at least $2,000 in your pocket before you even call those.

I'm 50. Ebooks are fast, convenient, and environmentally friendly, but sorry, that's not a book. I wanted to hold mine, and CS let me do that.

 

What's a retainer?

I know nothing of Tate Publishing, but 10min on that site is enough to see that it's most probably a scam. You can win an iPad3 if you submit a manuscript? I mean, c'mon, that's just desperate. In a world where authors are vying to get published, you need a cheap gimmick like that just to get the author to *submit* to you? And then the pop-up message when you try to close their page, "You sure you wouldn't like to request some information before leaving? You can win an iPad3!" It just screams SCAM SCAM SCAM to me.

And you got to love the quality of their writing, considering they're a "publisher". "There are requirements that the author is required to meet"? (and how much vaguer can you get?) At a glance, it's not obvious where you'd actually find MS submission guidelines and information of contract terms and royalties etc, or as a matter of fact, what books they've actually published

 

Re: Createspace. It's free. You pay only when you want a book in hand. It's usually recommended that you buy at least one proof copy at your author discount. There are no setup fees. You send them PDFs for your cover and interior file, which you prepare yourself (or have it done). Your book is listed on amazon. Createspace pays royalties when others buy your book. You can buy copies of your own book for a decent discount.

I have four titles published with Createspace. A good way to go for niche books.

 

here, you've at least allowed the warning to be seen without having to go beyond this thread to find it, as one must in your posting of the trafford info...

and the wording intro, 'Daniel submitted a new resource' definitely seems to be an endorsement, with nothing to say otherwise...

if you are going to continue to add these companies' self-touting blurbs to members' threads asking about publishers/agents/whatever, please consider rewording your intro to make it clear to all 'on sight' [without having to leave the page to find it] that you are not recommending them, only providing the company's own promotional material...

better yet would be to not do it at all and let the members find the site on their own...

love and hugs, maia

 

I think what the others are getting at is that it would be better if you, as the site owner, didn't post anything at all because it looks like you (and therefore the site) are endorsing these publishers. Maybe it would be better if you let other members create these threads/resources.

 

i agree with thirdwind...

if you're unsure of the validity of our position, you can run a poll and see if other members feel the same way on this subject...