Tuesday, October 14, 2008

WHY TATE PUBLISHING IS THE BEST OPTION IN THE INDUSTRY FOR ASPIRING AUTHORS

I know that this post this morning is a "monster" in length, but I wanted to say some things that I believe are very important about our fine company and staff. There is so much confusion in the world wide web that I hope you will take a few moments to read the following information about Tate Publishing. Enjoy!

As I was sitting in my office I kept thinking, what would I need to know about a publisher to make a decision about my book? What is going through an authors head as they contemplate this industry? I hope you this post will address your questions.

According to the AAP America buys 4.5 million books every day, 1.6 billion per year. America counts for only 5 percent of the world population, yet Americans purchase 35 percent of all books that are sold worldwide. The majority of Americans never see the inside of a bookstore. 75% of all books are bought elsewhere. Less than 1% of all authors who have written a book are allowed free access to the majority of the readers in America. Today, over 270,000 new books are published each year and yet there are 16% fewer bookstores to sell those books.

At Tate Publishing, we want God's perfect will to be accomplished for your dream of publication as well as the goal of our publishing company to succeed with the books of unknown authors. We were thrilled to be named by a national writer's association in 2006 as "The Publisher of the Year." Our focus on helping our authors was one of the reasons we were selected for this honor from many publishers that were under consideration. We proudly hold the highest rating possible by the Better Business Bureau and in 2007 we were named by the Chamber of Commerce as "Business of the Year." In 2008, Oklahoma Business Magazine and the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce named Tate Publishing to the prestigious list of the Top Fifteen Companies in Oklahoma. At the awards dinner held at the Cox Convention Center Ballroom the rankings were announced and out of the fifteen named Tate Publishing was named to the #2 ranking in the entire state.

We receive tens of thousands of manuscripts each year and only accept a tiny fraction for publication and distribution. Our staff is pleased to have you as a part of that elite group of potential authors, and is delighted to have been able to offer you a publishing contract. We want your book and only few ever hear that from us or any publisher.

We accept books in three ways. 1-We look at the book on the basis of it meriting one of our generous author advances. 2-We consider a book on the basis of Tate Publishing absorbing 100% of the financial risk and the author having no personal investment. 3-We absorb 90+% of the risk and the author has an investment of only $3,985.50. The best thing about item 3 is that once the book sells at least 5,000 copies we refund the author investment and on the author's next book we either offer an advance or the author has NO financial investment.

5 VERY IMPORTANT functions for a Tate Publishing author

1- A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER HAS DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS SET UP THAT ARE ESSENTIAL FOR MAKING YOUR BOOK AVAILABLE IN STORES.

Publishers are set up with wholesalers who warehouse their product for them. Book stores order directly through database systems that wholesalers have set-up so orders are done professionally and easily. 99% of all bookstores in the country do not work on consignment. If you want your book to be available in any store, the first question that store manager will ask is, “From whom do we order the book?” If you answer, “From me,” that store is no longer interested. They don’t want to deal directly with authors, because they would be dealing with hundreds and hundreds of authors begging the store to have a copy of their book in that store. Also, publishers have return policies that protect stores from having product that they purchase and couldn’t sell. No store wants to have to deal with 500 individuals at a time. They want to deal with one wholesaler they can contact to buy all the books they want. Tate Publishing works with the largest most dependable wholesaler in the country- Spring Arbor/Ingram. They distribute to every major retail chain and brick and mortar store in North America. All we have to say to any store we talk to is, “That book is available through Spring Arbor/Ingram.” The book store manager lets out a sigh of relief and orders the books.

2- A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER HAS THE ABILITY TO PRINT AS MANY COPIES THAT ANY BOOK STORE, WHOLESALER, OR CHAIN COULD REQUIRE.

As an author, if a major retail chain asks for 10,000 copies of your book, would you be able to fill that order by yourself? Could you print, package and fund that order knowing that you won’t see any return on your cash outlay for at least 120 days? If you answered, “yes,” then you don’t need a publisher. We own and operate a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art printing facility and can print as many copies as needed of your book for distribution. We are also in the large press division with the major book buyers.

3- A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER REPRESENTS YOUR BOOK DIRECTLY TO BUYERS AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS THAT DECIDE WHAT BOOKS A STORE WILL CARRY.

No author can call the buyer for a major chain and say, “I would like to meet with you about this book I wrote.” They don’t have time to sit down with thousands of authors with great books and talk about why he or she believes that book will sell. BUT, as a publisher, we can sit down across from our normal buyers with whom we have relationships with and say, “This is the book, this is the author, this is why you need it and MORE IMPORTANTLY, this is how much money we are spending to promote it.” Our marketing staff does this each month on your behalf and we sell to 26 chains in North America as well as distribute in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. If a buyer for on of these chains of bookstores decides to carry your book, they want to know that a) the order will be filled in a timely fashion b) deadlines will be met c) catalog space (our last feature-book in on major chain store catalog cost a little under $4,000) will be funded promptly and your space will be professionally designed. If they are dealing with a publisher with whom they have worked with before they know these things will occur and they are more likely to buy.

4- A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER KNOWS THE INDUSTRY FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.

Would you rather spend your time and money trying to figure out how this whole publishing thing works, or would you rather have a publisher in your corner backing you financially as well as educating you as you make important decisions about your book? We know the process, we know what needs to be done, and the information you have access to by being a part of Tate Publishing is priceless. You want to know how something works, just ask. We are here to educate our authors, because the more you know the more help you are to us in the success of your book. To have the answers to your questions at the end of a toll free call is a priceless option for an author.

5- A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER DOES ALL THE WORK ON THE ACTUAL BOOK PRODUCTION.

You are assigned your very own editor who will not only do you technical edits, but your conceptual editing as well. You will also work closely with some of the best professional artists, graphic designers, and lay-out designers to have an outstanding product which will be produced at our book production plant.

SO, IF YOU ARE CONVINCED YOU NEED A PUBLISHER,
THEN THE GOOD THING FOR YOU IS YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED BY THE BEST-
TATE PUBLISHING!

With Tate Publishing

1. You maintain all the rights to your book

2. You have complete access to an eager and friendly staff who is here to assist in your success by being available to you at all times

3. We are a Christian based, family owned company, founded on principles that first and foremost further the kingdom of Christ

4. You are not promised the world. We offer you very precise and clear options that we don’t think we can do, but what we know we can do

5. You have final say and approval on what goes to print. It’s your book; you should have final say in what happens!

6. Our books are manufactured with the highest quality product and service standards in the industry at our own plant.

7. Fast turn around times, and realistic production schedules are a common part of our company standard with each book.

8. We are the only company in America that puts the amount of time, effort, and financial resources into unknown authors and pays for the total production of your book in it's audio format.

9. We guarantee a full refund of the author participation investment when your 5,000th book is sold. THIS INCLUDES ANY AND ALL BOOKS PURCHASED BY THE AUTHOR. In addition, we offer advances and special programs for any future books with us once an author hits that 5,000 mark.

10. We create a professional promotion and individual marketing plan for each author. The individual marketing plan and book signing plan is created for every author is AT NO EXPENSE TO YOU. Your book is marketed and promoted to buyers, print media, television media, book review agencies, independent and mainline retail stores all over the world. If you have an idea or suggestion, or a wish for your book we will never let that go unnoticed. We take to heart your vision and your goals, and we develop a realistic approach to penetrate the market the best way possible to benefit everyone involved in this process and ultimately SELL YOUR BOOKS!!

Thank you for allowing me to share this LENGTHY POST with you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to give me a call at the toll free number listed on the blog page or simply email me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great blog, I am glad to read it and keep it coming. My sister is going to publish with Tate and I was doing some research for her, she is in good hands! Thanks Tate and thanks for the Christian FLAVA too!

Dr. Richard Tate said...

Thanks so much. It is our desire and prayer that every author with whom we work believes that Tate Publishing is an answer to their prayers. Your sister is certainly an answer to ours.
Dr. Tate