DogEar Publishing denounces PA as more expensive than self publishing

Marie Pacha · Jun 29, 2008

For a couple of weeks now the first link to come up when one "googles" Publish America has been: http://www.dogearpublishing.net/why...america.aspx?gclid=COPurIDBmpQCFQo2GgodwzIj7w

JulieB · Jun 29, 2008

Someone's been very busy with the SEO thing...

L.G Bavaro · Jun 29, 2008

I have a book in production with Tate publishing, there is an up front fee. What you really need to know is: Is your book worthy of publication. I suggest you have it critiqued by a reputable Critic. The Critic I hired, was freelance and absolutly loved the book. If they hate it and a publisher loves it there is your sign... If it is good book , you need to invest in your art. If you are a new talent and are not willing to spend what is less than a quarter of what will be the entire investment, you don't want your book published.

Marian Perera · Jun 29, 2008

L.G Bavaro said:
If it is good book , you need to invest in your art.

I've already invested in my art by writing and editing the book.

If you are a new talent and are not willing to spend what is less than a quarter of what will be the entire investment, you don't want your book published.

Nonsense. I don't want my book vanity published, which is why I'm not going to pay anyone to publish it. But I do want it picked up by a commercial publisher. And if that happens, they will pay me for it. Not the other way around.

If vanity publishing works for you, that's fine and I wish you the best of luck. But it doesn't work for everyone.

Christine N. · Jun 29, 2008

If it is a good book, you invest in your art by learning it, doing it well, and having it published by a commercial publisher that pays you. The only thing an author should invest in publication is the time to write the book.

New talent is published by commercial publishers- publishers that pay the author, not the other way around - every day.

MadScientistMatt · Jun 29, 2008

L.G Bavaro said:
I have a book in production with Tate publishing, there is an up front fee. What you really need to know is: Is your book worthy of publication. I suggest you have it critiqued by a reputable Critic. The Critic I hired, was freelance and absolutly loved the book. If they hate it and a publisher loves it there is your sign... If it is good book , you need to invest in your art. If you are a new talent and are not willing to spend what is less than a quarter of what will be the entire investment, you don't want your book published.

If you thought your book was worthy of publication, it would have been a better investment to find a commerical publisher. The investments in a writer's art are time, a computer, postage, time, reading good examples of writing, time, research, time... investments in producing better art pay the best dividends here. A commercial publisher will pay you more up front than you'd pay up front with most POD outfits.

James D. Macdonald · Jun 29, 2008

A book vanity-published with Tate won't sell any better than a book vanity-published with PA.

AC Crispin · Jun 30, 2008

Tate is a vanity press...their books aren't carried on the shelves in bookstores, not even Christian bookstores. I have checked.

Anyone who signs up with Tate expected his or her book to become a bestseller, widely available to the public, is in for a huge disappointment.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com

IceCreamEmpress · Jun 30, 2008

L.G Bavaro said:
I have a book in production with Tate publishing, there is an up front fee. What you really need to know is: Is your book worthy of publication. I suggest you have it critiqued by a reputable Critic.

I don't know what you're talking about here. Do you mean that you paid a critique service for a critique of your book?

The Critic I hired, was freelance and absolutly loved the book. If they hate it and a publisher loves it there is your sign... If it is good book , you need to invest in your art. If you are a new talent and are not willing to spend what is less than a quarter of what will be the entire investment, you don't want your book published.

Gee, when I've had books published, the publisher has paid me. That's worked out fine for me so far.

That said, if you feel like Tate can give you a better-printed book at a lower per-unit price point than PublishAmerica or a true self-publisher like Lulu, then it might be the right choice for you.

Just be aware that vanity/subsidy publishers are, at best, an affordable printing service that is easier to use than a self-publishing service; you'll still have to make every sale yourself, just as you would if you were self-publishing.

And the "at best" scenario is explicitly reserved for those vanity/subsidy presses where the author reserves all rights; tying your rights up with your printing service makes no sense at all.

Christine N. · Jun 30, 2008

Anyone you pay to crit your book starts out with a bias. There's a fear that if they say they don't like it, you'll want your money back. He may not be a dishonest person, but money changes the way people see things.

Same with paying for reviews. Biased from the start.

Gillhoughly · Jun 30, 2008

Tate seems to be up front about being a vanity house.

If PA did the same thing we wouldn't be here.

kullervo · Jun 30, 2008

L.G Bavaro said:
I have a book in production with Tate publishing, there is an up front fee. What you really need to know is: Is your book worthy of publication. I suggest you have it critiqued by a reputable Critic. The Critic I hired, was freelance and absolutly loved the book. If they hate it and a publisher loves it there is your sign... If it is good book , you need to invest in your art. If you are a new talent and are not willing to spend what is less than a quarter of what will be the entire investment, you don't want your book published.

Huh? This is two parts crazy:

1. You don't hire legitimate critics. You do not even know the name of a legit critic until their critique is published. No critic hired by a writer is listened to by anyone else in the world of publishing.

2. The Writer Does Not Pay. In commercial "book-in-bookstores" publishing, the writer pays zero. Not the editing, printing, distributing, marketing, publicity, criticism. Zero.

My investment in my writing has been to write twelve books to learn my craft. Number twelve will be out in October from a small commercial publisher.

IceCreamEmpress · Jun 30, 2008

kullervo said:
Huh? This is two parts crazy:

1. You don't hire legitimate critics.

The poster may have meant "critique service" and simply used the wrong term. I'm dubious about the utility of critique services myself, but that's another thread entirely.

victoriastrauss · Jul 1, 2008

Just to clarify: DogEar Press, to my knowledge, has no connection with Tate.

The confusion here arises from the fact that the page title in the source code for DogEar's PublishAmerica page is "Tate Publishing." My guess is that they recently added the PA page, and did so by using their already-existing page on Tate as a template--but forgot to change the source code. (I've accidentally done the same thing when creating new pages for my websites.)

- Victoria

DogEar Publishing denounces PA as more expensive than self publishing

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW

Marie Pacha

Still a work in progress

JulieB

I grow my own catnip

L.G Bavaro

Marian Perera

starting over

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

AC Crispin

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover

Gillhoughly

Grumpy writer and editor

kullervo

minion

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess