Q –

Hi Angela,

1) Is Tate Publishing back in business–my book was published through them (I did not participate in the legal issue however)?

2) There is a gentleman claiming to be a literary agent (Peter Johnson with Stellar Literary / StellarLiterary.com) with a claimed ten years experience who has spent much time with me on the phone asking for me to send him my manuscript for his literary review in order to properly prepare it for selling to a mainstream publishing house.

He told me there are many positive reviews for my book (of which I have no knowledge) which is why he has interest in it. As far as I know it hasn’t sold any books to speak of. I do not feel at ease with this man.

Have you any knowledge regarding Peter?

Thank you for the prompt response. Following is all the information I have:
peter.johnson@stellarliterary.com

A –

1. Tate Publishing is not back in business.

2. What a coincidence! I was just checking out Stellar Literary earlier today!! Another author was suspicious. Here is what I found:

• “Scam Alert: Stellar Literary Press & Media. Identical solicitation emails with ludicrous errors (there’s no such thing as “Penguin and Harper”), and an illiterate website...”
• Stellar Literary Press and Media is listed on Writer Beware’s Attack of the Fake Literary Agencies.
• The Better Business Bureau has several complaints posted by authors about Stellar Literary on their website. Remember that a “B” rating on bbb.org simply means the company has responded to most of the complaints. It does NOT mean they appeased the authors who complained! What is bizarre is this is part of one of their replies: “First, Stellar Literary Press and Media is not a company and we can prove our legitimacy.”
• And, there are several one-star reviews about them on TrustPilot.
• Lee Goldberg even made a YouTube video about them called “Lee Goldberg’s call with the ‘Stellar Literary California’ Scammers.” You can read his article about that (just posted last week!) RIGHT HERE.
• The San Pedro, CA address is suspicious. A company rents “virtual office space” to others at that address. This may indicate that the company is NOT located in the U.S.
• Their Laguna Beach, CA address may also be virtual. There is a mailbox rental place at that address as well.

All of this seems to follow the pattern of scam publishers overseas that we’ve been telling authors about in our recent series of Extreme Author Warnings.

If you want to republish your book through BookLocker (we have republished many Tate books), we’ll give you and other victims of scam publishers our disgruntled author discount. 🙂

Step 1 for the publishing process for black and white interior books is right here.

The packages and prices are listed on that page. That is the same special price we give to authors who are publishing their second or subsequent books through us.

Please send any questions to me that you have. Always happy to help!! 🙂

RELATED

• Read Part I: EXTREME AUTHOR ALERT – PART I: This International Scam is Fooling THOUSANDS of Authors Across the Globe!
• Read Part II: EXTREME AUTHOR ALERT – PART II: 19 Signs You’re About to Get Scammed By a Foreign “Book Publisher”
• Read Part III: EXTREME AUTHOR ALERT – PART III: How WritersWeekly Communicates Directly with Deceitful “Publishers” to Expose Their Appalling Practices
• Read Part IV: EXTREME AUTHOR ALERT – PART IV: WARNINGS about TheGhostWriting.org, Book Publishing HQ, Author Book Creators, Author Books Publisher, AMZ Publishing Firm, and McMillan Book Publishers (the fake one), AND MORE!
• COMPLAINTS about Publishing Mojo / PublishingMojo.com – by James M. Walsh, Esq.

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