EMAIL WE JUST RECEIVED...VERY INTERESTING

I usually ignore these kind of contacts but since Dog Ear Printing (a vanity press) is presenting incorrect information about our company on the internet I felt it would be appropriate to post this item.  If you ever have questions about Tate Publishing, call me personally at 1-888-361-9473.

Dr. Richard Tate

From: Anonymous <noreply-comment@blogger.com>

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What does distribution for your book really mean?":

I wish I had found Tate Publishing before I made the mistake of publishing my book with Dog Ear Publishing. It has been a nightmare experience for me, but my point here is only to report what happened. I am not trying to trash Dog Ear.

I will start with the positive. The book itself is very well made, and the cover is beautiful. The book has received rave reviews on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Powell's Books. This includes a recent five star review by Mid-West Book Review.

One might think that any publisher would be happy to have a book that is receiving rave reviews from total strangers. That is apparently not the case with Dog Ear.

I have been begging Dog Ear to send the book marks and post cards and other marketing materials that I paid for many months ago before they ever started working on the book. The book was published on November 24, 2008 and I still have no marketing materials from Dog Ear.

I had to beg Dog Ear to build the website that I paid for. When they finally got it ready I was so embarrassed by the way it looked that I paid another company to build a website that might actually sell some books.

I have told Dog Ear repeatedly that I have business groups setting up a very large book signing event, complete with press releases and probably TV interviews as well. Nevertheless, I still have not received any of the marketing materials.

I had to go to another source and have book marks made just so I would have something to use to help make people aware of the book. At this point I don't know if I will ever receive the book marks and other marketing materials from Dog Ear.

I also paid Dog Ear to make the book available through Kindle on Amazon, and to allow browsers to look inside the book on Amazon. Despite my constant reminders and begging, that still has not been set up.

Dog Ear told me to expect an 8-12 week timetable from submission to publishing. That also proved not to be true. I started emailing and calling after 8 weeks because I had heard nothing from Dog Ear.

It was about two weeks before I heard back from anyone. I received a huge apology that my book had gotten off the usual track, and promises were made that it would be expedited. These turned out to be empty promises.

Weeks later, with still no visible progress, I received the same apology and same assurances that publication of my book would receive priority attention. These were also empty promises.

With all the great reviews and attention that my book is receiving, I also regret using Dog Ear as a publisher because it does not have distribution and marketing channels for books that it publishes.

Because of all these problems that I had with Dog Ear, I started looking for other alternatives, and that is how I found Tate Publishing. I don't know if Tate Publishing will agree to publish a second edition of my book, but they are at least reading it, and they have been very prompt and courteous in responding to my inquiries.

If you have not made a decision about who to partner with on publishing a book, I recommend that you not make the same mistake that I made.