Tate Publishing - Never Settle For Second Best

I am often asked how it is that we have built a publishing house from nothing almost a decade ago and built it to the size and market share that Tate Publishing experiences today.  For us the answer is obvious.  Be The Best!!!   In the 90's my family and I had a desire to create a publishing company that put the author first, helped first-time authors experience traditional or large publishing production and distribution, but most importantly was looked to as the best.   We spent years looking at every publishing option there was in the world and began to develop a model and company that incorporated all of the best parts of the publishing industry and mixed in a lot of creativity and hard work.

Today I am proud of what our authors and staff have built.  Tate Publishing is one of the largest publishers in the world and has the production, distribution, marketing and publicity that leads the industry for our authors.  None of this was just luck, all of it was God's provision and a resolve to never give up.   Our authors are amazing, talented and extremely hard working folks that share our same passion to work hard and succeed.  We are leaders in every major category in the industry and will continue to press forward and push to stay on top and provide services, product, distribution and publicity that sets our authors apart in this incredibly competitive industry.  

They say that imitation is one of the greatest forms of flattery.  If that is true, then we certainly are flattered.  As we watch competitors or other publishing houses try to compete it never ceases to amaze me that people will try to imitate what we do at Tate Publishing for authors.  The problem is that others in this industry can only talk a good game.  It is important that you do your research as an author when searching for a publisher.  Many new companies have come  and gone in the past decade and self-publishers seem to be everywhere now.  Be careful and don't fall for tricks or promises that aren't in writing.  My favorite is publishers that tell you if you sign with them or if you pay them to be published they will give your book to larger publishers to see if they want to sign you in the future.  There is even a large traditional publisher that started a self-publishing company to try and get authors to feel like they will someday be hanging out with Beth Moore or Mark Victor Hansen if there book does well.  Why would any author settle?  Go for the best!  

Tate Publishing is a large publisher that delivers what no one else does.  We are selective and can only sign around 3% of the manuscripts submitted to us, but when you become a member of the Tate Publishing family you truly join the elite.  It is funny, authors always ask me at conferences or even CEO's of other publishing houses what we guarantee or what can I promise an author.  Besides the fact that we offer more services, true-distribution, publicity and marketing in our contract, there is a quality that sets us apart.  HARD WORK!  There is no substitute, we enter into a true partnership with our authors and fight beside them.  If an authors call us and wants more or is even frustrated that an event or a book signing didn't go well, we take it to the next level.  We are always eager to look into new niche markets, and fight for success.  We have never believed in luck, only hard work, planning and preparation.  That is the difference.  Authors should never be a number, I hate that self-publishers just sell services, list books for sell and don't care whether an author succeeds or not.  As an author what do you do, who do you call in that publishing situation?  As a Tate Publishing author you call us, your publishing home and we will work to fix your problem, set-up new events, promote an opportunity and sell your book.  We believe in our authors and want our authors to believe in their partnership with our publishing house.

Authors deserve the best opportunities possible, without authors there would be no books.  We are a publishing house birthed from authors that wanted to make a difference for authors.  That is how it should be.  

As always thank you for reading and if you have any questions or need anything at all please fell free to contact us or send you questions my way.

Have a blessed week!

In Him,

Ryan Tate

Dog Ear Publishing Compared To Tate Publishing?

I pose this as a questions because a self-publisher is trying to compare their services to what we do at Tate Publishing and that is strange to us. There is no comparison, Tate Publishing is not a self-publisher by any definition and we provide more services, products and distribution that any other publisher. We offer advances, pay royalties, sell product that is 100% returnable, have direct sales with every major retailer and if an author is asked to make an investment with us, we even offer a contract where that investment is refundable. There is no comparison, but to help with anyone that may have questions here you go.

I do want to state that Dog Ear has done a great thing and changed their website to encourage people to contact us first and they have removed several erroneous comments. I believe they are a reputable self-publisher and serve a certain area of our industry very well. While we still disagree with most of their comparisons, we also understand that they are trying to compete in a difficult industry and the comparisons to Tate Publishing are a must for any publisher.


1. Dog Ear claims they checked 9 out of 10 titles and they couldn't find them for sale. They state they did a check on Amazon, but they also won't provide us with a list of the titles. To say that Tate Publishing books aren't for sale in bookstores is completely untrue, ALL Tate Publishing titles are for sale in bookstores everywhere. Our titles are also warehoused and stocked in every major distributors and retail chains warehouses. Remember, Tate Publishing distributes books as a traditional publisher and we are in the Large Press Division with Barnes & Noble.

2. Dog Ear claims we don't have the highest royalties. We do, every Tate authors receive the highest royalties in the industry, depending on how or where the book is sold (bookstore, website,wholesaler, etc.). For example, our authors receive 15% royalties off of books sold traditionally in a bookstore, 40% royalties on books sold directly from us or our website, and 60% royalties on books sold through deeply discounted retailers like Sam's Wholesale or Costco. Compare our royalties to traditional royalty publishers, not self-publishers like Dog Ear. For more information contact our office and we can provide more details. Self-publishers like Dog Ear don't actually let authors set their own retail prices. That is never a good idea, you need your publisher to be established and distribute product appropriately.

3. Dog Ear claims that Tate Publishing is a self -publisher. We are not a self-publisher by any definition. If Tate Publishing accepts your manuscript for production you will have one of three options provided to you, First is a royalty advance, second is no advance but Tate covers all production, marketing, manufacturing and distribution expenses, third, you will be asked to make a refundable author investment. Also, 100% of Tate Publishing books are distributed traditionally and 100% of Tate Publishing books are returnable. Finally, we are selective in who we publish, self-publishers like Dog Ear take everyone, we don't.

4. Dog Ear claims the amount of resources we put into each of our authors books is extraordinary and we agree. Tate Publishing provides between $16,000 and $22,000 dollars in services, products, marketing, cash and other resources into each title. Once again, Tate authors receive the following:

1. Editing - Copyediting, Technical Editing and Conceptual Editing
2. Custom Cover Design - Our in house design team will work with you to create the perfect cover, and back-matter that helps your book stand out on any shelf.
3. Custom Interior Layout - Your layout artist will once again work with you to make sure that the inside of the book is just as beutiful and attractive as the outside.
4. Ebook Creation and distribution - Every title is available to download as an ebook from our website and other online retailers for ease and instant use.
5. Audiobook creation and distribution - Tate Publishing produces our books as audiobooks as well, we are the largest provider of audiobooks to Apple iTunes and audible.com and have created another opportunity that no other publisher can for our authors to succeed and this gives a Tate author one more advantage over the competition.
6. Website design and hosting - What better way to promote than through your own website, while this can be difficult and confusing on your own we create the website for you and host it so it never costs you a dime. Plus it gives a constant online presence for promoting and selling your work.
7. Video book trailers and commercials - These commercials have become an amazing opportunity and tool for our marketing department and authors. The commercials are streaming from YouTube to our website bookstore, news reports and televisions worldwide. We have more books sold and recognized from these videos than could have every been expected.
8. Marketing - You are assigned an actual marketing rep that manages distribution, availability and sets up events for you worldwide.
9. Publicity - Every event and book is promoted to local and national media for the life of the work. We use several different publicity firms to promote you and your events, but our favorite is Key Marketing Group Communications.
10. Distribution - Tate Publishing product is all 100% returnable and warehoused and not simply made available for order or on a list. We have direct relationships with every major retailer, distributor and wholesaler and provide product directly to their warehouses and are even in the large publishing division with Barnes & Noble, no one else comes close!

As you can see, no one can compare to what Tate Publishing offers, many can publish books, but NO ONE provides the services, products and support that Tate Publishing provides. As you begin your journey ask a lot of questions, ask what other services other than simply book printing or creation a publisher can provide and make sure that you will have a partner that helps create opportunity for you.

As always our staff is here to serve and answer your questions and thanks for your time. God Bless and we are praying for your success.

Ryan Tate

Do you really want to go with a Self-Publisher?

This is a great post from our Director of Production at Tate Publishing. He discusses POD or Print-On-Demand publishers and what you get with them. Check out his blog: Is Your Publisher "Print-On Demand?"

Print on Demand or self-publishers are very tricky to figure out. This is why we have created a situation at Tate Publishing that if your book is accepted for publication, you don't have to worry about anything. You will have the best service, production, distribution and marketing and more products to release to the marketplace than you could get from anywhere else. I personally hate how self-publishers will tell you that you can publish a book for next to nothing!!! Then when you decide you want layout, cover design, editing, and marketing you realize that this "you can publish for nothing" publisher has turned into a $10,000 dollar expense. In addition, please don't ever publish a book without professional assistance, it is the only way to guarantee your product can even have a chance.

This time last year several of my executive staff and I visited a large self-publisher in North Carolina, LULU Press, I was shocked to see that they don't even have one editor on staff. Now, they claim to be a do-it-yourself publisher, but editors should just be part of a publishers core staff.

Tate Publishing offers the best in the industry and we would never leave our authors to go it alone, it just isn't right. Here is my post about why Tate is so different! Finally, we would never offer a choose your package style of publishing, an author should not have to decide what they need, an author should have confidence that their publisher will take care of them and their book will be beautiful in the end and be supported from beginning to bookstore! That is our desire and that is the environment we have created. Tate Publishing has the highest sales volumes out of any publisher because of our selectivity and the professionalism behind the finished product. I thank God everyday that we have such great authors in our family. Once again, check out Dave's post, I think you will like it!

Ryan Tate