I just wanted to pass along some news. A manuscript I have been working on has just recently been picked up and accepted by a publisher and they have extended an offer to me to publish it into a book. I have accepted there offer and I am so excited. I spoke with the Executive Director for Book acquisitions and she absolutely loved the story, the character names, the settings and everything else.

This is a huge moment in my life as I have finally received the validation for my hard work. I'm not saying I'm going to be the next Richard Knaak or J K Rowling or Dan Brown or even Stephen King.. I don't want to be them. I want to be me. I want to blaze my own trail and make my life my own.

The 1st chapter in the book of my life has just begun. Thank you for the kind words and I will see you all in the book store!!!

Sincerely,

D.R. Hawker

Well, I just gave someone hell on YouTube, and I believe I've got some left over. Here's a tip: You chat on YouTube, don't bad-mouth Mark Knopfler, not the least little bit. You'll hear from me. Have I got you smiling? Want to smile some more? Go take a look at my new-posted book. Sly - The Novella.

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OK, here's what I came on here to say. Did you proofread this post? Boo boos, we all make them. But there is the handy-dandy edit button. I use it all the time. Just having a little fun, don't take it the wrong way. I believe we should all put on our best professional face here, everywhere, for that matter. Not only in the writing project itself.

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Think of it this way: If you are the next J.K. Rowling, do you want future grad students writing their thesis on you, digging up a history of comments with easily-caught typos? That's the way I think. That shows you where I'm at. A delusional fool, perhaps, but at least a typo-free one. OK, I do have a problem with commas. Cut me some slack on that.

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--edited by Mimi Speike on 5/6/2015, 7:11 PM--

Ah! That's what I meant to ask, but I was too busy making myself laugh.

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Great! Do you have something here we can read? I'd love to take a look.

The publisher is Tate Publishing. I submitted my short manuscript to them (just a few chapters) and they loved it and made me the offer. 

I'm sorry if I offended you by my grammar and use of commas, but I hardly think a few typos on a message board is going to derail my career. There are TONS of typos on every forum site you go to. 

Here is the link to my manuscript. This is what I sent the publisher that got me accepted by them.

The Immortal Realm

Hi Lucy,

I am VERY excited. This is true validation for my hard work. This has been a childhood dream of mine to write stories and now I may have a chance to do it for a living. This is beyond my wildest dreams, I can't believe it's happened tbh. I have so many stories and adventures going on in my head that I can't wait to get them out for everyone else to enjoy. This is something that I did myself that no one can ever take away from me. This is just the start of things to come. I am thrilled beyond mere words. This is truly an amazing feeling. I wish I could describe it better... I just got married, bought a house and now this!!! I am through the ********** roof!!! LOL!! 

Wow! That is a lot of wonderful things happening for you. Lovely to hear such good news! Thanks for sharing about it.

I hope you will fill out your Book Country profile page and upload an excerpt of your book here on Book Country so that folks in the community can get to know more about you and your writing. Let me know if you need any help!

Hi, dhawker7. I wanted to congratulate you on your upcoming publication.

However, I'm having some misgivings with your publisher. I've done some research, and there seems to be a lot of unsatisfied customers/authors associated with the company. For one, it seems like they have you pay over 3,000 dollars for editing and such, and no reputable publisher--that I know of--makes you pay to get your manuscript published. You could do that yourself for a lot less.

Here's a link you might want to read through regarding unsatisfied customers/authors of Tate Publishing: CustomerAffairs.com/Tate Publishing

I'm not trying to discourage you, but I'd hate to see a fellow Book Country member be scammed. If I'm wrong about this, I apologize profusely to both you and Tate Publishing.

Amber

Thanks Amber,

I have already been made aware of that exact site and I contacted the Executive Director of Book Acquisitions at Tate publishing and she replied to my email regarding all of this and gave me her guarantee, which I have in writing, that she will make sure that I am well taken care of and treated with respect. She said this, in part... 

You have my guarantee that I will always be available if you have any issues arise that you feel I need to be aware of and I will never tolerate anything less than the best for my authors. I'm glad you wrote because it is important to make me aware of concerns, but you are in GREAT hands.

I trust her and I trust them. I have the legal documents that they sent me that I have read over and I know my rights. I have made them aware of these sites and they have assured me that they will not let anything happen to jeopardize my career.

Thanks for the heads up. I appreciate others looking out for me.

D.R. Hawker

You're welcome, dhawker7

To clarify, they don't ask for money, right? Reputable Publishing Companies never do that. They don't get paid unless your book sells. They don't make you pay for editing, cover design, or anything like that. You should stay away from any Publishing Company who ask for you to pay for this stuff.

Tate Publishing doesn't do this, right? That other site with the complaints was wrong?

Hi Amber,

Publishing companies will not do anything "for free." Even self publishing sites that offer free services limit the services you can get. But if you pay some money for that particular package, then you get a lot more within that package.

Tate publishing is not asking for $3,000 or $4,000. I do have to pay something to them to get start (of which, I will not disclose that amount) I don't have to pay that right away. It just has to be paid by the time my book goes to marketing. Once I've paid that fee.. i never have to pay that again no matter how many books I write that they publish. And I get 100% of the royalties.

If they offered everything to me for free with nothing to pay, then I'd be suspicious. They're not trying to make money off of startups and you are correct, they make more $$$ when my books sell a lot. 

The amounts those bloggers were saying on that site are exaggerated and completely false. To me, it's not about the money I have to spend to get started, it's about trust and integrity because I don't plan on getting a new publisher with every book I write. I had a heart to heart with the executive director over the phone about this and I trust her, I trust her company. Her father founded it along with her mother and her brother is the CEO. I have her direct phone # and she said I can call her any time I want. To have that kind of direct access to the publisher means a lot to me.

I have not paid them a dime as of this post...  I am taking everything slowly and being 100% careful along the way and she respects that and would expect that I would want to protect myself and my family. I have done my due diligence and my homework on this company and I trust them completely.

I understand where you're coming from, dhawker. I'm glad you trust your publishers. But that just doesn't sound right.

Publishing Companies don't get paid unless you get paid. They receive a percent of the royalties--that's how they're rewarded for your work. Every site--such as Predators & Editors, as well as real live Literary Agents and SFWA says that publishing companies never ask for a publishing fee. Us authors are advised to run like hellfire's licking at our heels from Publishing Companies who charge reading/editing fees.

Tate Publishing gives you 100% of the royalties after publication? Sounds an awful lot like a Book Packaging company to me, rather than a Publishing Company.

I don't mean to offend. Maybe I'm wrong about this. Could an author who's been Traditionally Published clarify things up for me? Please? Marlin? Lucy Silag? Alex Rosa? ANYONE?

@Robert G. Moons: Thank you so much for responding to my question, and for doing the research--I searched the web for information on them, too, and only came across the customer complaints. I must not have dug deep enough. Now that I think about it, I did see them listed on the SFWA Writer's Beware.

Again, thanks.

@dhawker7: I pray you heed our warnings about Tate Publishing--I understand your wanting to be recognized as an author published by a true Publishing Company, but Tate Publishing is a fraud. I don't want to see you hurt by scammers.

Amber