TaTanise M.
Rude and Unprofessional
I saw their ad on FB and reached out to inquire about their marketing plans last week. We spoke briefly via PM about what my book goals were and directly after I sent my message, life happened. After coming back to my messages to respond (it had been 3 days), the person wrote the word ABUSE into the spelling of my name. After I addressed it, they gave an “apology” followed by a message that said “MEAN (my name with the correct spelling).” I hadn’t had ANY interaction with them besides the inquiry and following up with their question. God forbid any emergency arise in anyone’s life. I won’t ever do business with a company that insults their clients or would be clients. I’d be a bit understanding if this was in response to me being a Karen, but it wasn’t. It was uncalled for and unwarranted.
Response from Gray Stone PublishersMay 20, 2026
Hi TaTanise, We are taking a moment to respond to your review to provide full transparency regarding this interaction for anyone visiting our page. Upon reviewing our communication logs, it is clear that your negative experience stems entirely from a simple, unintentional typographical error. One of our chat representatives accidentally misspelled your name during a brief, initial exchange on Facebook Messenger. While we always strive for accuracy in our communications and apologize for the typo, leaving a 1-star review attacking a company's business practices over a misspelled name, especially when no actual consultation, publishing, or transaction of any kind ever took place, is deeply disproportionate & unprofessional. At Graystone Publishers, our teams dedicate their time to complex manuscript editing, production, and a global impact for serious authors. A minor human error in a social media chat box is not a reflection of the high-tier publishing services we provide to our active clientele. We wish you the absolute best of luck in finding a publisher that meets your expectations & pronounces your name right! Hopefully, we pronounced it right this time!