I'm an author who's been scammed before, or who is concerned about scams. How do I know you're legit? First of all, allow us to express our sincere sympathy if you are an author who lost precious time, money, and trust because of a publishing scam. Sadly, this is the world we live in today. Old-fashioned ethics are rare, and there's very little integrity or honor in the world. With A.I. and other intelligent software and apps, it's easy for someone to imitate a real business when they're actually just a sophisticated scam whose sole intention is to take your money. Unfortunately, since the self-publishing industry has exploded exponentially in recent years, scammers see authors as a prime target, especially those who aren't very tech savvy. They take advantage of your desire to fulfill a dream, and the effects of such a scam can be devastating. We've had numerous conversations with clients who lost money to such scams. Rest assured we will do all we can to help you feel comfortable with the legitimacy of our services.

​

We offer several options to verify our authenticity. First, we have a referral list of verifiable published authors who have worked with us in some capacity, using White Pine Publishing & Consultants for one or more services. You are welcome to request this list from us so that you can reach out and get their personal recommendation. All of these references are established authors that can be found on Amazon, and/or have personal websites of their own. Second, all of us here at White Pine have established personal social media accounts (including LinkedIn), websites, resumes, etc. You can also find Gunner's 1010 AM Atlanta Metro area author radio show here at this link and listen to past interviews we've had with numerous authors. Finally, we would be more than happy to have a phone call or virtual Zoom meeting with you so that you can see we are real people who care about real authors. We've heard far too many horror stories about authors paying insane sums of money to get their book published, only to have their funds taken with very little work done to the manuscript. In many cases scammers will actually publish the book, but there will be improper registration, very little editing or proofreading, and no plans to work with you on sales and marketing.

​

At the end of the day, our biggest proof of authentic, genuine, and ethical business practices is the ichthys symbol (or "Jesus fish" as its more commonly known) down in our website footer. Our company was founded on ethical Christian principles of honesty, integrity, and treating everyone with respect, and with no hidden agenda. We know that our integrity means your success, and your success means our growth. Referrals from satisfied authors are the biggest generator of new clients, and that list continues to grow.

​

Why don't you allow customers to post reviews? Sadly, as even Amazon has discovered over the years, reviews are an extremely easy method of spamming and faking. When we have an author client that is so pleased with our work that they want to give us a great review, we ask them for a testimonial instead, which you can find on our home page. If we have a customer who isn't happy with our services (and we haven't had one yet!) then we will continue to work with them until we get things right. If you're a current or former client of ours who would love to give us some kudos, please let us know!

​

Why do you require that payment be made up front for services? Most of the work we do is intensive in both time and effort. We are a small business that has very tight overhead. We do not have a collections department or the resources to outsource collections for those invoices that have gone unpaid, even after services were rendered. We'd also prefer to spend our time on our authors' projects rather than managing complex invoicing cycles and payments. That being said, we do offer payment plans with certain conditions on a case-by-case basis. If you're interested in a custom quote to determine exactly what the cost will be for the services you need, please contact us. 

​

Is there ever an instance where White Pine will keep royalties or make claims to rights and intellectual property? Never. Your royalties earned via Amazon KDP or ACX (Audible) will always be yours. There will never be a situation where we have any claim whatsoever to your rights in any way, nor will we ever make claim to any photos, blurbs, websites, reviews, or anything else that belongs to you. In certain instances, like with our marketing and social media campaigns, we will ask for those things with your permission to use them to help you sell your books. Yet in every way we are only a services company here to help you do the cumbersome and often time-consuming work of self-publishing. We never make claims of ownership or rights to anything our authors entrust to us.

​

Does White Pine make any guarantees? The simplest way to put it is that we guarantee your satisfaction. If there's ever anything you're not happy with, we'll continue working on it until we get it right... at no extra cost to you. Unfortunately, we do not offer refunds once work is underway or if an author changes his or her mind.

​

What if I'm an author with no technical skills or understanding of how to register my book with Amazon, or how to upload my manuscript for approval? That is exactly why we're here. Many authors aren't tech savvy or have the skills to format their manuscript to specs. That's one of the many services we offer. We'll do that part for you, and once Amazon approves your book with a "go-live" date, we hand it all off to you. All you need to do from there is check your royalty reports each month.

​

Do authors have to utilize all your services? Not at all! Feel free to pick and choose whatever you need help with. We've even had some authors come to us with specialty requests for help with various projects like research, email campaigns, logo design, creating custom merch, and more. If you have a special request for us that you'd like help with, please get in touch.

​

Have additional questions? Don't hesitate to contact us.

We'll get back to you as soon as we can!