Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

S.C. Wynne said:

No. Of course I will fulfill my obligation to them. But I'm simply saying the way things are going over there I wonder if they would notice if anyone is or isn't doing that.

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I hear you, but I was able to press Raelene until I got something in writing from her agreeing that, as long as I don't write an sequels or prequels to the story that I have with them, I'm free and clear. That's pretty reassuring to me, and I feel better about submitting my next work to another publisher, knowing that I can back up my claim that they have no hold on me.

EvolvingK said:

I hear you, but I was able to press Raelene until I got something in writing from her agreeing that, as long as I don't write an sequels or prequels to the story that I have with them, I'm free and clear. That's pretty reassuring to me, and I feel better about submitting my next work to another publisher, knowing that I can back up my claim that they have no hold on me.

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That's great, EvolvingK. Since they are TBD it would be difficult to stop you from still submitting things to other publishers. I certainly haven't let it stop me. But at some point I will give them my third and final book and depending on how I've been treated never look back.

January 2015 will mark a new chapter for Ellora's Cave. Remember that. — feeling determined

I absolutely couldn't resist the (obvious) snark on that one.

There is just no adequate emoji for that, I think.

But if I made it into a GIF, it would probably be the epic fiery destruction of the golf course in 'Caddyshack'.

No remand ruling yet.

Getting a couple reports of people receiving July royalties.

"Check recv'd 12/29 dated 11/3 mailed 12/26 for July. Clear they're counting dates to stay just w/in 3 month pay schedule. (link)

"Also fascinating to note check mailed same day I noted breach of contract eff 12/27 due to nonpayment." (link)

So, July royalties paid at end of December only after threat of breach.

My December check was postmarked Dec. 10th, dated Nov. 3. The check covered May and July statements.

At least it's a pocket-change amount and not screwing with my household budget, but my 2014 accounting is a mess at this point.

VoireyLinger said:

My December check was postmarked Dec. 10th, dated Nov. 3. The check covered May and July statements.

At least it's a pocket-change amount and not screwing with my household budget, but my 2014 accounting is a mess at this point.

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Glad to hear you got something.

Also, one of the editors (Carrie) waiting since August received her final check.

I haven't gotten a December cheque, yet. And since that would have really been my NOVEMBER cheque... yikes.

I'm sure it was just lost in the Xmas mail. Or Santa Claus stole it. Or elves. Possibly elves are to blame...

I got a December check last week, dated end of November, for books sold in JULY! It was enough to take my family out for a nice dinner at McDonalds.

So, the remand ruling finally came down. As expected:

DENIED!

I was forwarded, and posted, an EC email here:
http://deirdre.net/elloras-cave-current-status-email/

Also, Julaine commented on that post, offering $500 toward a forensic audit, so if any of you want to chip in.... You can PM me here or email me (address at the bottom of my web pages).

January 5 received an envelope postmarked December 26 containing a cheque dated November 3 for payments EC rec'd in July.

I received a check postmarked Jan 7th, ck dated Jan 5th so that is actually not far off like many others have stated. It is for a book released in September.

Granted my check was small and it is only for sales at the Ellora's Cave website I believe. It's my first ck from them so not sure how to read it for sure.

January 12 received cheque dated December 18, postmarked December 31, for payments rec'd in August.

It seems like maybe they're catching up? (Not that they were ever behind, of course!)

And it should be noted that these are tiny cheques - I only have one novella with EC. I hope the people owed more significant amounts are getting THEIR payments...

January 14 received cheque dated January 5, postmarked January 7, for payments rec'd in September.

That's three royalty cheques received so far this month. Huh.

I got July's royalties at the beginning of January, and August's royalties arrived on January 12.

Welp.

Ellora's Cave now lists Jill Noelle as an editor.

Jill's post exiting Noble Romance Publishing can be found here.

Kelli Collins is no longer at EC.

Glad to hear those royalties are rolling along.

Deirdre said:

Welp.

Ellora's Cave now lists Jill Noelle as an editor.

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Well, on the plus side, she has experience with... this sort of thing...

I can appreciate their apparent efforts to get their house together and carry on. None of those address the suit against Dear Author, and the underlying accounting/financial problems that DA and many others have noted. Tina Engler's ability to lead the company is a separate but valid issue.

At least, with all the developments being documented on forums and blogs, alert authors can make informed decisions on whether or not to submit work to EC at this time.

Kelli took over as editor on my December EC release. So I guess if I were to write anything else for them, I would have yet another new editor...

My last submission to them was rejected, so I'm out of the ROFR clause, at least. And to be honest, as a former Noble author, the new addition to EC does not exactly fill me with confidence. I'm still hopeful that EC will pull itself together, even so... but this has been going on how long now?

Deirdre said:

Welp.

Ellora's Cave now lists Jill Noelle as an editor.

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Sigh.

- Victoria

KimJo said:

Kelli took over as editor on my December EC release. So I guess if I were to write anything else for them, I would have yet another new editor...

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I've heard that authors are no longer assigned editors, and a given work is assigned to an editor at the time the work comes in.

I don't know if that's the case, but it would explain why, for example, Lolita Lopez hadn't been told who her new editor was.

I can't imagine that most mms will get proper editing under this arrangement. Or that diligent new authors will keep coming to EC.

Given all this, and the info from other forums, I cannot fathom why EC hasn't dropped the suit. It's worse publicity than they need, it's draining resources, and it exposes them to even more liability if they lose.

I think they are counting on two sad truisms of romance publishing: that readers don't care who publishes a book, and new writers almost never thoroughly research publishers.

Filigree said:

Given all this, and the info from other forums, I cannot fathom why EC hasn't dropped the suit. It's worse publicity than they need, it's draining resources, and it exposes them to even more liability if they lose.

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Pubnt keeps hinting that there will be other parties sued. Either joined to the existing suit or after the DA suit is over.

Yes, I know Pubnt is full of WTFery on a good day.

Pub Net is just entertaining to watch, in all its sincere stridency. 'EC flush with cash' is not what I'm deducing from all those very late royalty payments (and those tax liens!) But I'm not bothering with the slap-fight on Twitter.

I'm not likely to sub to EC until it shows marked improvement in many areas. I'm not a target reader - no EC books for me right now. Even before this case, I knew EC was not the publisher for me.

I would *like* for it to survive and grow stronger, because the loss of any market is a loss to all of us in the e-rom field.

I just looked over the agenda for this year's RT Booklovers Convention and checked out the listings for the nightly parties. I've gone every year since 2011, and every year EC was one of party sponsors, giving away metric shit tonnes of goody bags and freebies; one year, for their rap/hip hop themed party, everybody got a tote bag with a t-shirt, Cavemen calendar, track pants, baseball cap, and other crap such as decks of cards, plastic beads, and some sort of light-up thingie that looks like a Hugo award (generic item you can buy online and have your logo slapped on free). There were also tables in the back with things like lip balm, lip gloss, banana-flavored condoms (srsly), candy, and a host of other things you can buy 500 for like $10.99 from Oriental Trading Company.

This year? Nothing.

All of the major parties are being sponsored by other publishers (in fact, the usual Harlequin Friday night bash is rolled over to the awards ceremony) (and Heather Graham's crew still has Saturday night. H'ray.) However, that's not to say they won't have a presence at the convention; their authors might be signing at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday and are listed by name on the site and in the program.