DISCLAIMER: We compete directly with Christian Faith Publishing. However, we reject numerous manuscripts each year. We would NEVER refer any of those authors to Christian Faith Publishing!
I was contacted by an author this week about Christian Faith Publishing. Why do they have A+ rating on bbb.org when are so many complaints?
I explained to him that a company only needs to respond to every complaint to maintain their A+ rating. I suspect that, even if a company copied and pasted gobbledygook, that bbb.org’s servers would see that as a “response,” and still give that company an A+ rating. I saw one company while back that copied and pasted the same response to every complaint and they still had an A+ rating there.
Folks, if one or two people complain about not receiving royalties, it could be confusion for those authors, or even a blip in the publisher’s accounting system. However, if you see multiple complaints about unpaid royalties, as well as other problems, turn on your heels, and run the other way. Some publishers only pay the squeaky wheels. Some don’t pay their authors at all, and see how long they can get away with it.
I had never heard of Christian Faith Publishing before so I did some research.
Here are the red flags:
1. In my opinion, any company that uses Christ to market themselves (i.e. Christian in the company name) should be avoided. I am a Christian myself and I don’t think Jesus wants us using his name to make money. What do you guys and gals think? Please share in the comments box below.
Remember Tate Publishing? While they didn’t use Jesus or Christ in their name, they marketing themselves as a Christian publisher. And, sure enough, after years of ripping authors off, the owners were found guilty of several felonies.
2. I always check bbb.org first. Here are quotes from just a few of the complaints I found about Christian Faith Publishing on that website. If you click on the link, you can read the company’s responses, as well as even more complaints.
“I paid for the company to publish my book and within two years of the book being published I have only received one royalty check for $140. When I tried to contact them with issues pertaining to my book no one answered the phone, and I received no calls back to assist in resolving my issue.”
“They can’t explain whether I sold another book nor if they just gave me wrong revenue. Since the contract ended, they are legally required to pay me, but since January I keep getting told they are examining the amounts.”
“Then they said they had to investigate where the money went. now another quarter has passed. they owe me at least $3291.45 USD according to their records. I’m broke…”
“She apologized for the inconvenience and explained to me that CFP was in the process of modernizing their archaic reporting systems. I did not receive that check either. A couple of weeks later, I called the customer service line again…”
“I needed to buy 600 of my own books to market into the public but when 600 books cost you almost $8000 compared to what they said would be $2,550, that puts my marketing over the top and can’t be done. If they want to do the right thing? Send me 600 hard cover books for the lies they spit out…”
“Generally, they stated that if I waived the copy edit process, they would publish what I submitted. My response: Why would I pay CFP for sloppy, unprofessional work and absolve them of their contractual copy-editing responsibilities? CFP has made it a painful process. I question the ethics of their process and want a refund.”
“In my entire life, I have never dealt with a more useless company. I swallowed their sales pitch and paid thousands of dollars for them to print, publish and help market my book. Up until all the money was paid it was all nice and cooperative. Once the book was published- absolutely nothing.”
“I hired the company to self-publish a book. I purchased the premium package with a cost of over $9,000. The entire process has been a nightmare. Their editing was horrible…”
There are several other complaints about Christian Faith Publishing on bbb.org as well.
SelfPublishing.com gives them only 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Victoria Strauss did a fabulous expose about Christian Faith Publishing and it ain’t pretty! She also compared them to Tate Publishing.
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Those who intend to profit by using Christ’s name have obviously not read Christ’s word. Revelation 22:18 and 19 clearly state if one takes away or adds to this word eternal misery will be their punishment. I can not understand how some can disregard these passages. Ignorance, avarice, licentiousness, whatever. Enjoy their sorry state now, it will not last! They are not going to take their ill gotten gain with them. They should wake up and tremble.
Exactly!! Thank you for weighing in, A. R. 🙂
Angela
What I think about Christian Faith Publishing: I agree that nobody should use Christ’s name to make money. I am also a Christian. But Angela, we both know that people use a name — Christ’s name or some other name — to make money when they have no affiliation at all with that name or group. Who are these people? I’ll never say someone is or is not a Christian because only God knows the heart. But if they are Christians and doing shady business, they should be ashamed and pay restitution. If they aren’t Christians, same thing.
The guy who cuts my lawn said that if you want an A+ rating at BBB, all you have to do is pay the top membership sum, that your rating is based on how much you pay them.
That may be true. However, we have an A+ rating at bbb.org and we’ve never paid them a penny. We refuse to play that game!
Angela
I have published 3 books and never received anything from Xlibris. They priced the books to high to sell, double what I agreed on. I get a lot of other publishers wanting to republish at a high cost. I always check reviews on publishers through sites that is not connected to them. I have found that no publishers can be trusted and that most of them are connected to one bigger fraudulent publishing company.
As for BBB (better business bureau) I would never trust them at all. I use to have a renovation business and when I started out BBB here in Ontario Canada was run by the government. They called me saying a lot of people were calling them asking about me but they had no information. They said they were willing to give me a good name if I pay them a annual fee. I asked if they wanted to check and see what I did or ask my customers about me and they said no, just pay the fee. I would not do that, the government pulled the plug on it a couple of years after because they were caught in fraudulent actions. It started up again some years later under private business. I would it is much more fraudulent now, I would never trust their views on anything.
Xlibris is owned by Author Solutions, which also owns several other “companies.” See:
Lots of Imprints and Lots of Complaints! Could You Unwittingly Crawl into Bed with Author Solutions?
and
“How can I find out which publishers are imprints of Author Solutions? They took me for $15,000.00!”
And for those looking for a publisher:
2024 Self-Publishing Price Comparison
Angela
yes and no
what would you call them? just religious publishing??
that too is misleading wrt other religions and authors doing books on their beliefs.
and would mislead the rare buyer of the books.
hard to believe that their ‘authors’ sold enough to get a royalty check at all!
When a company charges thousands while calling themselves Christian, and then doesn’t follow the contractual obligations, I think that’s a bit different from an author charging a few dollars for a religious book they’ve written. And, buyers of books can always read an excerpt on Amazon (and other sites) before they choose to buy. Unfortunately, so many people will choose not to research a company that is advertising itself as being “Christian.” People automatically assume they’re a good and honest company. I know it sounds dumb but it really happens.
GOD Bless you Angela on this SPECIAL DAY !
And may God bless you, too, Dan! I hope you and your family had a blessed Easter!
Angela
FYI, “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. Christ, in the Greek, means anointing. The word “Christian” was first used in Antioch when, after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, the followers of Jesus began doing the same things that Jesus had done – healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out devils. People began calling Jesus’ followers Christians because they could see “Christ in” them or the “anointing in” them. By the way, thanks for all you do to “cast out the devils” in the book publishing industry.
Thank you so much for sharing that with all of us, Barbara! 🙂
Angela
Angela,
I couldn’t agree more that Jesus would not want His name used for company promotion. It is just incredibly wrong. Adding to that, God will use manmade laws to bring these companies down, although there are days I would prefer a few lightning bolts.
Have a blessed Easter and enjoy your family.
Lightning bolts!!! I agree with you!!!
😉
Angela
Talk about using His name in vain. Yikes already.