Dog Ear Publishing
reviews and complaints

I am a former publisher of Dog Ear publishing since 2010. I was not notified of them going out of business and not given the original print ready production files of my book titled A Sense of Comfort for You and Your Loved Ones. My name is Frank Nelson. My email is [protected]@yahoo.com. I would like to obtain my production files.

My last successful order was in March of 2020. I'm now trying to re-order more books but the website says "this book is no longer available". It also said that in March so I had to e-mail a Chris Robinson to place an order. When I got my last order I was surprised that Dog Ear was NOT the publisher but Book Plate. I tried looking at Book Plate's website but the website has been disabled! Thank God I saved all of my book files and I'm now creating a 2nd edition of my book on Kindle Publishing.

After publishing five books with Dog Ear, I have finally been bilked out of all profit payments due me for 2019. It is impossible to get a hold of anyone for explanation, particularly Ray Robinson, the company's owner, who has refused to respond to numerous emails and phone calls. I have also spoken to other company representatives who merely refer me back to Mr. Robinson. This refusal to pay royalties and failure to respond to complaints has affected many other Dog Ear authors, resulting in its "F" rating by the Indiana Better Business Bureau and the revocation of its accredidation. I have also registered a complaint with the Indiana Better Business Bureau.

Dog Ear Publishing has excellent intake information, and the product it produces looks very good. That's the upside. Now for the downside.

Dog Ear has not delivered book orders on time almost ever in the several years I worked with them. They say "can be printed within 24 hours", but usually is within a week. I paid over $100 for an expedited order, but the guy who was supposed to get the book shipment got a note the shipment would take an extra week - what did I pay for? Oh, and... Dog Ear did not send me the same notice. So I did not know the $100 expedited shipment would be late until a possible client called me furious I did not deliver books.

Worse is how the staff is. I have months and months of emails where they were like the keystone cops - sending me the wrong files to review (someone else's cover, someone else's file), sending me an old file when I had already sent back edits. I would respectfully return, work it out, but eventually they started to get testy with me. There was no one to raise the issue with because they are all friends there, really unprofessional, and the guy ended up defending the woman whose crazy emails I produced for him to see - he refused to read them. Acted as if he was above that sort of thing.

Their 888 number on the website sent me to a woman who acted annoyed and said I was supposed to select one of the number options, but there were no number options, and when I told her she was annoyed - not helpful. Again, a bunch of juveniles.

It's too bad. There are things they do right, but they are cynical about their clients' right to expect good service and clear commitments. I wouldn't suggest them to anyone ever.

Options include Create Space which is very good finally, or other groups.