A Resilient life and heart

Today I bring you a story of a fellow author named Dr. Fran White. She wrote her article from her heart. I love her quote "Tate may have stolen my funds but they have not taken my muse, my writing skills and confidence to create stories that touch the lives of readers."

Here is her story in her own words.

A PERSONAL REVELATION OF THE DISHONESTY OF A PUBLISHER

I have had a love affair with the art of writing and creating words and thoughts since childhood. Each story, revelation and book written was comparable to the birth process, a labor of love in producing a precious “child”.

Upon the birth of my first novel, I began the labor of submitting numerous letters to potential traditional and prominent publishing houses but soon realized that this was a daunting task and would require much time to make a connection since I was an unknown author without an agent. Time is a significant issue for me since I am a cancer patient and I treasure each day that God gives to me on this earth.

I was seeking a faster track to travel on with my “literary child” and, upon researching publishing houses on the internet, I did find a “Christian” pub- lishing house” to present my first “child” for consideration. My manuscript was reviewed and accepted for publication with a fee of $4000 upon signing a contract. That fee was to be refunded upon the sale of 1000 books, a feat that a novice author believed was achievable. Unfortunately, this dishonest publisher, did not allow me the time and opportunity to achieve a return on my investment and closed their doors. All promises in my contract were not met along with unreceived royalties and other amenities initially included such as my website, Facebook, promo videos which I was required to reproduce at a prohibitive cost to me. I also invested another $1200 towards an “ Author for Life” contract which was introduced shortly before Tate knowingly ended their representation of authors. I would estimate that Tate has taken over $ 6000 from me in contract violations and has left a cancer patient with very little monetary support to fight this disease and rebuild my opportunities to market and publish my books.

As a survivor, I did immediately find the resources to continue with my writing and publishing. I contracted with Create Space to reprint my three books and remove all traces of Tate personalization and Amazon re-listed my books on their site. I also contracted a web designer to create a new website since Tate did remove or delete my website which was paid for by me. New cards and promotional book videos needed to be reproduced in order to market my books. Of course, all of these services were costly ( over $2500) to me as a result of the damage created by Tate.

One of my greatest support systems besides the Lord, was the “X Tate Authors” Facebook group which connected me to wonderful and compassionate writers who provided information and updates on Tate. Many members are , indeed, good Christians (unlike Tate) and have encouraged me to forgive the pain and suffering inflicted upon all of us by Tate. I am beginning to understand this family’s dysfunctional behavior since I am also a psychologist besides a victim. I do pray that the Tates will monetarily compensate to me all of the funds that I have spent and now continue to need to fight my cancer.

The lesson that I have learned from this unfortunate experience is to scrutinize publishing companies very carefully and not be so gullible in trusting false promises. I am moving forward and struggling to forgive these evil and greedy people. Tate may have stolen my funds but they have not taken my muse, my writing skills and confidence to create stories that touch the lives of readers.

For more infomation about Fran

Dr. Fran White

9199 High Banks Drive Easton, Maryland 21601

fwhite645@gmail.com