Attended Tate Author Book Signing Gig

[AnnWinters]

Yesterday, Saturday the 17th of November 07, I attended a book signing for a fellow Tate author. I found her event dates on the events calendar at the Tate web site. There were, in the few minutes that I was there, 3 books sold.

I Introduced myself and we had dialogue regarding our experiences with Tate. She confirmed that Tate, in fact, did make her book signing dates through their promotions department and that Tate had fulfilled their contract agreements regarding editing, promotion, and catalog distribution to bookstores.

Her next gig, also arranged by Tate, is next Saturday in Sacramento, at a Barnes and Noble store. I don’t see how anyone can find fault with this type of report.

Her book is well written, laid out beautifully, and the cover is one of the most impressive that I’ve seen.

The only difference that I could see in her event and the so-called "traditional" book signing events I’ve attended is that she was obviously selling books. And for reasons that are our business only, we decided to enter into a monetary partnership with Tate, whom we both have found to be trustworthy and a company of integrity.

I understand and appreciate the skepticism and warnings against companies such as PA and others. But people should not be so quick to judge all by a few bad apples. I am here to say that Tate does not deserve to be on any warning list. Those that investigate and decide to go with them are making an informed choice.

If you decided to pursue the popular referred to “traditional” route of submissions and have found a publisher….great! But that does not make you more of an author and writer than those of us who have chosen Tate as a publisher. In some cases, better or worse perhaps, but we are all authors and writers.

I personally have read good and bad novels in both the “traditional” and “non-traditional” market.

A blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to you all--may your day be filled with love and peace.

[Merry]

So Tate is equivalent to a traditional publisher? Cool! How much do they pay for manuscripts?

[rljfl]

Merry, Tate doesn't pay for manuscripts. I have nothing against them, nor any other self-publishing. If you are a good writer, I believe your book is going to sell. I do believe that Tate is one of integrity, but they were too expensive for me. (Of course, self-publishing is too expensive for me no matter who I would think to go with, and I still have to become a good writer.) :)

[Merry]

I'm sure there are some fine self-published books out there. Titles that might not see the light of day any other way. But not being a great self-marketer and frankly not wanting to put the kidn of time into it that a POD requires, I'd rather wait until I can produce a work a publisher would be willing to pay me for, not the other way around.

Hey, rl, do you know any statistics on Tates sales? In other words, how many books does the average client of their's sell? It would be good to know.

[rljfl]

Not a clue. Didn't do much more researching into it after I learned their price.

[Merry]

I understand. But that would be good info for someone to have on hand before they make decision about going that route. I mean, if someone goes with Tate and ends up on the NY Times Best Sellers list, then I say great...but I suspect I won't have to do that any time soon.

[AnnWinters]

... but as a Christian and Moderator of a wonderful sight, Merry, I'm sure that you respect all authors and writers who do go with Tate, and wish them nothing but the best.

Surely, you won't let your personal feelings keep you from wishing me and others who do make a decision to go with Tate, anything but good will. As I said, there are good and bad writers in all venues--but I, personally, would hesitate to judge anyone's success or choices, who do things differently than me, without knowing the reasons behind their choices.

I made an informed report on a topic that has been utmost in some minds. I see no reason not to give a good report if it is available.

[ProfessorAlan]

I personally have read good and bad novels in both the “traditional” and “non-traditional” market.

I have only read maybe a dozen or so self-pubbed novels, as opposed to nearly a thousand traditionally published novels, so maybe the comparisons are not perfect. But I would rate my experience as such:

Traditional: 10% awful, 20% bad, 40% good, 20% really good, 10% excellent

Self-published: 75% awful, 25% bad, 0% good, 0% really good, 0% excellent

but that's just me. YMMV.

[AnnWinters]

Well, Professor Alan, I consider Tate to be above the norm of what you call self-publishing and POD--And thank you for your well wishes. I'm sure you inadvertently left that out.

The book that I bought at the book signing has not one typo or error that I’ve seen so far—and I can’t say that about any of those I've read recently of what you call traditionally published books.

I didn’t post my observations to spark a debate—I thought I was doing an information service. I don’t have to defend my choice to you or anyone—I’m happy.

Above everything, the joy of the Lord is my delight and strength. May the Lord bless your Holiday with peace and joy. We here in the US and those abroad who live free have so much to be thankful for.

[Tamera]

Ann,

Despite our misgivings, I know as for myself and I'm sure the others on this site are praying for your success no matter what route you take to acheive it. I pray blessings upon your project.

[lynnmosher]

I ditto Tamera! We all may have our views, but your decision is your decision. And we still wish you success. !thumbsup!

[Gravity]

Well, mee-oww! :D As I've said, vanity can work, if given the proper parameters. What are those? First off, the book has to be non-fiction, priced low enough to generate sell-through, and high enough to make the author a few benjamins (plus in Tate's case, recovering the initial four grand outlay; that's darn hard). Then, the speaking platform needs to be large and growing (the more regional and national the better), and the writer must be comfortable with hand-selling from the back of the room (or have a volunteer that is; this ain't the time for shyness).

Why won't self-pubbing work for fiction (or only work well enough to sell, on average, around seventy-five copies)? There are lots of factors, but it mainly boils down to this: people don't buy novels from folks they haven't heard of, and can't find on their local bookstore shelf. To prove my point, when's the last time you or anyone you know bought a novel (from amazon or any online source), a novel you'd never heard of, from an author you weren't familiar with? Unless the title was referred to you by someone you trust, I'd say never.

And it gets worse. With vanity fiction pubbing the writer usually gets a tome priced thirty-five to forty per cent above what the market will bear, with no national reviews, no catalog, no sales force, little to no returnabilty (thus little to no regional or national boosktore placement), and so on. Are there exceptions to this scenario? Absolutely. But they're on par with winning the lottery, and most authors consider their work of more worth than that.

Before an author maxes out their Visa to a tune of a few grand to go the vanity route, they may want to first consider a commerical house, where they pay you.

Just sayin'.

[Merry]

Not all, Anne. I hope it works well for you. But over-all, I don't think its a good way to go.

Gravity voiced what most of us have said concerning the basis of that opinion.

[AnnWinters]

Thanks Tamera and Lynn--and you know that I feel the same about you two, too! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

[AnnWinters]

Just sayin'.

Just sayin'-- I haven't maxed out anything--and you have no clue or idea what my platform is. And that is what I was getting at---you're making blanket statements. Some people, believe it or not, are able to make adult informed decisions and while they might not be ones you would make, are not necessarily wrong for them. Just sayin'.

Some members have actually left this site because of the attitude toward those who chose to self publish or co-publish. Like I said before, I have no problem with warnings about those who are actual scams, but not all are in that boat.

Have a nice day, folks. I have some writing to do.

[Gravity]

I never used the word "scam", Ann. I did use the word "hard". And it is. Harder than by rights it needs to be. But since you obviously made your choice after weighing all the factors, then I wish God's bessings on you. Pax.

[quark]

Hello again, Leon here. May I please correct a statement. Tate does pay for manuscripts.
Tate publishing does give advances but its to those authors that have star appeal, they have name recognition. For example: Shane Hamman, two time Olympian and currently the strongest man in the world. He rec’d a $20,000 advance. He has a lot more to offer success for his book then I did with my first book.

Also Tate doesn't know what they'll commit to until they read the manuscript. Which makes sense to me. My second book never cost me a dime. BUT I had to prove that my 2nd book would sell. I did that by the sales figures of the first book.

As stated before, There is good and bad in everything. It all in what you expect.

Blessing Leon

[ProfessorAlan]

Well, Professor Alan, I consider Tate to be above the norm of what you call self-publishing and POD--And thank you for your well wishes. I'm sure you inadvertently left that out.

The post I was responding to was not about your book, but about the book of the author whose signing you attended -- so, no, I did not wish you well on your book. If I were responding to a thread about your book, I certainly would have wished you well. And I do wish you well now.

The book that I bought at the book signing has not one typo or error that I’ve seen so far—and I can’t say that about any of those I've read recently of what you call traditionally published books.

I have literally corrected library books (traditionally published) with red ink when I've found typos, so I appreciate your comments the clean-ness of the manuscript. Although to be fair, though they typos are annoying an unprofessional, lack of typos is not very high on the list how I judge the quality of a novel.

I didn’t post my observations to spark a debate—I thought I was doing an information service. I don’t have to defend my choice to you or anyone—I’m happy.

I detected advocacy and defense in your first post, as well as information. That is what I responded to -- as well your specific comment on your experience as a reader of these books. I was not responding to you as a writer, since I have not read your book, and did not see that the thread was about your book. I apologize that I did not word my resopnse well enough to communicate that.

Above everything, the joy of the Lord is my delight and strength. May the Lord bless your Holiday with peace and joy. We here in the US and those abroad who live free have so much to be thankful for. Amen to that, my sister. God bless you and your writing.

[love2write]

We all wish you well, Ann. We hope you sell tons of books.

I don't believe Gravity was trying to be insulting or judgmental. He is one of those guys that's been there...with a pod, and he knows a great deal about the publishing industry.

It is important that dialog is open here about the industry. ChristianWriters.com gets a lot of new writers logging in, and it's vital that authors that have been around the block give us information to help us make informed decisions. I've talked with new writers that thought they had to pay to be published, that there isn't any other way. It just isn't true.

Gravity opened his comments saying that vanity publishing does work well for some people, but mostly for non-fiction books. Platforms are vital to marketing. We don't know yours, and we would love for you to share with us what it is, what your book is about. You never know, there could be someone here that might help you get some book sales.

Personally, and this is only my opinion and not meant to be judgmental, it saddens me to read about authors paying several thousand dollars to be published. But if it works, and you have sales and your name grows, and you build a readership, that's big!

[AnnWinters]

It's cool everyone. I haven't been offended or anything. Just giving my take on the situation. Time is important to me, so Tate is the way I’ve elected to go. To give advice is one thing, because at times, we all need guidance and advice. But to imply that one is less of a writer or is being deceived by their choice of publisher (I'm not talking about the likes of PA) when you don't know the individual circumstance, is rude. And please don't say that some on this site hasn't implied that at times. I know better.

Thanks for your input---have a blessed evening,

I’m gone.

[Rebecca]

...is rude. And please don't say that some on this site hasn't implied that at times. I know better.

Thanks for your input---have a blessed evening,

I’m gone.

I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to mean, or where this anger is coming from. Maybe my perception of sarcasm here is incorrect, and if that's the case, I apologize.

I feel all the respondents have been very gracious and fair minded. Facts have been stated on both sides, and everyone had their say.

That said, I think this conversation has run its course. Thank you to all who participated.

Rebecca