Writer Beware

Latest Posts

Tate Publishing & Enterprises Slapped with $1.7 Million Lawsuit, Department of Labor Investigation

JUN 16, 2016December 5, 2022338 COMMENTS

A summary of this extremely long post: so-called Christian vanity publisher stiffs authors, staff, and creditors; gets sued for millions of dollars and fails to show up in court; goes bust with no notice; rises from the dead to seek new victims, only for the founder and CEO to get charted with multiple felonies. The tale unfolds in my initial post and the dozens of updates that follow.

Most recent news is at the bottom.

Since putting this post online, I've received dozens of questions about whether there's a class action lawsuit against Tate. To my knowledge, the answer currently is no. I don't think that's the best option, anyway, because given all the complaints by authors and staff of non-payment, not to mention the two multi-million default judgments, I'm guessing that Tate has few resources to tap for restitution.

CONTESTS AND AWARDS

BookLife Prize in Fiction

JUN 9, 2016April 28, 202250 COMMENTS

I've been getting some questions about the BookLife Prize in Fiction, a new award for unpublished and self-published novels. Prizes include a "brief critical assessment" from Publishers Weekly reviewers for all entrants (BookLife is owned by PW), a book blurb from "a bestselling or award-winning author" for semi-finalists, and a grand prize of $5,000 for a single winner.

BookLife claims to "[tap] the experience, integrity, and authority of Publishers Weekly to help indie authors achieve their goals." It offers a free submission portal for writers who want to submit self-published books for review, along with "editorial content—success stories, interviews, author profiles, how-to pieces, news, and features".

There's also a Service Directory, whose DIY entries--some of which are paid ads--are subject to restrictions via BookLife's Terms & Conditions, but otherwise appear to be unvetted. For instance, there are listings for Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency (on Writer Beware's Thumbs Down List and long the subject of an Alert on Writer Beware) as well as SBPRA's "marketing" subsidiary, Author Marketing Ideas. As "endorsed" listings, they receive preferential placement. Problem is, in both cases, the "endorsements" are from SBPRA employees.

PERSONAL

Back From Hiatus: Why I Went Away

JUN 3, 2016January 2, 202344 COMMENTS

I don’t often post about personal stuff here. But I wanted to let you all know why I vanished abruptly at the beginning of May (which is also why, for the past couple of years, this blog has been idle for weeks at a time). My mother, Alice Fellows, died on May 14, after aRead More

WRITER BEWARE

Writer Beware Blog on Hiatus (Again)

MAY 9, 2016April 16, 20223 COMMENTS

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Due to a family medical emergency, the Writer Beware blog will be on hiatus for at least the next few weeks. We’re not going away; we’re just suspending for a while. I had several posts in process, which I probably won’t be completing now since by the timeRead More

CONTESTS AND AWARDS

Spam, Spam, Spam Spam: Inkitt and the Grand Novel Contest

APR 29, 2016February 27, 202475 COMMENTS

If you're a writer and have even a smidgeon of online presence, you've probably been emailed or messaged or tweeted by Inkitt, a Berlin-based company that allows writers to post stories and get reader reviews and votes. A prolific spammer, Inkitt also conducts a lot of contests with titles like Vendetta Thriller/Adventure Contest, along with fanfic contests like Star Wars Sci-Fi Writing Contest (does George Lucas know?). Winning gets you badges on your profile page, and, occasionally, publication.

Tales of Inkitt spam can be seen here or here or here (I've gotten my share, as well). Vote-shilling by contest participants won a temporary ban on Inkitt posts on Reddit a few months ago.

Most recently, Inkitt launched its Grand Novel Contest (for which, no surprise, it is energetically spamming on Twitter):

PUBLISHER COMPLAINTS

Small Press Storm Warnings: Pegasus Books, Realmwalker Publishing Group, Spectral Press, Tickety Boo Press

APR 22, 2016April 16, 20227 COMMENTS

A roundup of publishers about which I've recently received serious complaints (all of them documented).

Complaints include referrals to a paid editing service (Rumpelstiltskin Editorial Services) that's presented as an outside contractor, but is actually owned by Pegasus's publisher, Marcus McGee; poor quality editing/copy editing (one writer reports that editing consisted mostly of "the addition of hundreds of italics, em dashes and commas and correcting a few instances of passive voice"); various fees including fees for cover art (even though Pegasus's website presents the company as "a medium-sized traditional publisher" that does not charge fees to authors); pressure to buy finished books (authors are told that marketing is dependent on how many copies they purchase); missed pub dates; broken marketing promises; and unpaid royalties. Pegasus also offers a contract that's substantially based on the old PublishAmerica contract.

Here's one former Pegasus author's account of his terrible experience. Also, for your amusement, check out Pegasus's convoluted screed on why the bad old days "when savvy literary agents 'gifted' respected book reviewers with box seats at the Met and exotic family vacations in exchange for consideration and favorable quotes in newspapers and magazines" are gone, and it's fine for publishers to push authors into paying for editing.