Mustang’s Tate Publishing winds down its business
A Mustang publisher facing a lawsuit from one of its printing equipment providers that seeks about $2 million, plus interest, for nonpayment is winding down his business, he said on Thursday.
Ryan Tate, president and CEO of Tate Publishing & Enterprises, said he expects the company will only operate long enough to help its currently contracted authors and artists conclude their projects with his firm.
“We don’t have many staff there,” Tate said Thursday. “But we are going to help authors transition to different publishers, different imprinters, to make sure they all have got good homes. We want to give them as many options as possible.
“The main thing is, we won’t be signing on any new clients, or anything like that.”
Tate confirmed he recently had planned to close his overseas operation in the Philippines and bring staff back to the U.S. and his corporate headquarters in Mustang.
But now, Tate said that’s no longer the case.
“We have done this for about 17 years. We have been very blessed to represent great people, and we want to make sure we take care of everybody as best we can.”
Xerox Corp. filed a lawsuit last year seeking about $2 million from the company and Tate for unpaid printing services. Another print services provider, Lightning Source LLC, filed a $1.845 million suit this week in federal court against Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC.
Lightning Source, based in La Vergne, Tennessee, seeks repayment of $722,000 it paid to Tate Publishing in June 2016 to get the exclusive rights to print and distribute at least 5.5 million books during the next five years.
Lightning Source asserts that Tate Publishing also owed about $1,123,725, plus interest, for ongoing printing services when Lightning Source terminated the agreement.
Lightning Source seeks to collect that money either from the company or from Ryan Tate, who it asserts signed a personal guarantee as part of the deal.
Releases offered
On Wednesday, Tate Publishing deleted its website's routine content, replacing it with a statement that the site was undergoing maintenance.
On Thursday, it reactivated the site with a logo and a statement that said the company is experiencing a transition period, and that it no longer was accepting new authors or artists.
The statement said the
company plans to contact under-contract authors and artists during the next few weeks to give them the status of their projects and what options might be pursued to complete them.
Authors and artists also were notified by email that they have the option of terminating their agreements with Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC now, if they desire, regardless of whether or not their work has been released.
The release ends with this statement: “I understand that termination of these agreements does not entitle me to any refund or monetary compensation whatsoever.”
That’s not likely going to fly with the thousands of authors and artists who have agreements with the company, one said Thursday.
Jeffrey Dillingham, the broker and owner of Dillingham & Toone Real Estate in San Antonio, Texas, said he has an initial contract and a lifetime contract with Tate Publishing for two books.
Initially, Dillingham paid the firm $4,000 to edit and produce his first book, with a guarantee that if it sold at least 1,000 copies, his initial cost would be refunded.
He made that benchmark, and since did a second book with them where he paid Tate Publishing $1,500 to produce and deliver to him 100 hardcover books that Dillingham says he never received.
While Dillingham said royalties he received from his first book were not robust, they were still meaningful because he donated those to Morgan’s Wonderland, an amusement park for special-needs children in San Antonio.
Dillingham said he wrote those books, which are about Bella the Bumblebee, as a legacy for a young, special-needs child he knew.
Recently, he said he had been having difficulties dealing with Tate Publishing.
“They were really good at giving you the runaround.”
He also said he encourages Tate’s authors to not sign a release, and added he is considering legal action.
Hearing Friday on one case
Xerox brought its suit against Tate Publishing, claiming the company failed to pay what it owed on leases for digital presses and related equipment. Xerox repossessed the equipment, and now is pushing for a summary judgment against Tate Publishing and its CEO.
In a November filing, Tate Publishing agreed it defaulted, but also asserted it doesn’t owe Xerox any money because it says the equipment the company provided was defective, and that Xerox misrepresented to Tate Publishing that it could meet its publishing needs.
The Xerox suit seeks $1.446 million from Tate Publishing and another $450,308 from Ryan Tate, plus interest.
Ryan Tate said Thursday he really couldn’t discuss the pending litigation, other than to say that he looked forward to an opportunity for his side of the story to be told.
“We feel confident about where we are, and that we will get the chance to walk everyone through it and get it to end favorably,” he said.