James
I am really surprised by your latest post about Tate being liars. Up until this point I had thought that you wanted to have an open and honest conversation about Tate. In particular, your previous post to me where you had stated that if Tate is able to help me sell more books through channels other than myself that you would eat whatever hat I might specify. That led me to believe that you were sincere in engaging in this discussion but at this point, I am starting to question your intent.
I think that other than the reference to Yog (which from what I understand is a nickname of sorts created off of a fictional character?), the post by Dr. Tate actually proves your point about money always flowing to the author. The fault in Yog's Law is that it does not provide for a set point in time at which one should take stock of his or her net gains or losses. See, if at the end of the day, my $4K gets refunded to me and I end up netting a profit on top of that, well, technically that should meet your definition of money always flowing towards the author. Perhaps your statement is oversimplistic but written as is, could be left open to many interpretations. Which as you know, when dealing with writers, is bound to happen.
I read the history and your story of the origin of your plight to inform other writers to be aware of unscrupulous business practices. I couldn't agree with you more because there are many scam artists out there. Tate, however, as hard as you or Victoria may try to prove it, just aren't part of that bunch.
I had previously suggested that Victoria reach out to her readers to see if they would view it as her accepting a gift for being reimbursed by Tate to travel to their offices to which I received no response. If she is not interested in allowing Tate to reimburse her, then why not go on her own dime and write it off as a business expense? As writers, if we are to be objective, we should look at all sides of a story and try to gather as much reaearch as possible. I guess I'm not sure as to why she wouldn't go. The only conclusion that I can possibly come to is that perhaps she is afraid that she might actually like what she sees and that might be too much to deal with after all of these years of writing such negative things about Tate.
James, I, like you, believe in providing the general public with all of the facts so they can make informed decisions that best meet their specific needs which is why I came her in the first place. I believe that is what your original intent was in writing Yog's law. I also believe that is what Anne's and Victoria's original intents were. However, I'm starting to get the feeling that you are all just writing to defend your point of view and not really to seek the truth.
To be honest, at the end of the day, I don't really care where Dr. Tate got his PhD from. It could be from the school of hard knocks or it could be some honorary degree given to him. I don't know and to me, that is besides the point. At the end of the day, what is important to me as an author is that he has been smart enough to hire the right people to work with him that will give me and my book our best possible chance for success. Sorry, but to me, that is more of a personal attack and is immaterial to the issues being discussed here.
I find it surprising that very few responded to my recent posts about Tate securing me a spot (however short it may be) on the most watched news channel in the Philadelphia market which happens to be the 4th largest media market in the United States. Like I stated previously, I'm not aware of any vanity presses that provide that type of marketing and publicity support. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Just one last observation on your post. I find it interesting that you got so upset about Tate writing about you and your beliefs on one of their blogs when this has been commonplace for you to do over the years through the forums you frequent. Please believe me when I tell you that I don't say that in an argumentative way, rather, it's simply an observation.
One final question...am I correct to assume that none of you have ever paid a dime out of your pockets (beyond the necessary writing tools) for illustrations, editing, layout design, marketing, or publicists? I'm just curious.
As always, all the best!
Happy writing and happy selling!!
Jen