I'm sure everyone has heard about the letter EC sent out and the waiver that was attached. For those that haven't seen it, I posted it below...
Ellora’s Cave Publishing: Final Announcement – October 3, 2016
My mom and I would like to thank the vast majority of you for 16 incredible years. The first ≈ 13 of them were life-changing and genre-changing for all of us. We made history together, which is a feat most people will never be able to lay claim to. I’m honored and proud to have been a part of this heady accomplishment—a victory for female sexual autonomy that no one can take away from us. For this reason and so many others, it is with a heavy heart that my mother and I have made the decision to begin the process of closing Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
We did everything we could possibly do to turn things around—my mom more so than anyone—but it simply wasn’t meant to be. Between the oversaturation of erotic romance titles available, the financial devaluation of said titles, and being buried in Amazon’s search engines, the prospect of the market once again turning in our favor is grim at best, impossible at worst, and requires government intervention either way. We don’t want to leave you in limbo based on such unfavorable odds. We have gone around and around trying to figure out the least complicated way to get your rights back to you...the best compromise we have to offer follows on page 2.
My mom and I will be closing this chapter of our lives with many fond memories. For every utterance of false gossip hurled our way, we have three times as many happy moments to counter them with. In other words, thank you for being a part of Ellora’s Cave. We are choosing to hold onto the wonderful memories and carry them with us into whatever comes next. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with you and for you.
Warmly,
Tina and Patty
P.S. We realize our announcement, while likely not unexpected, still leaves everyone with questions concerning their books, especially rights reversions. Bear in mind when reading the remainder of this email that EC is now (a) down to a staff of 2 and (b) doesn’t have the people power to continue answering emails, which is why (c) we need a couple of months to accomplish closing down in the most efficient way possible. We don’t want to leave anyone’s rights in limbo—which could definitely happen if we don’t take the time to individually revert them back to you—so please read carefully from this point forward.
My mom and I would like to thank the vast majority of you for 16 incredible years. The first ≈ 13 of them were life-changing and genre-changing for all of us. We made history together, which is a feat most people will never be able to lay claim to. I’m honored and proud to have been a part of this heady accomplishment—a victory for female sexual autonomy that no one can take away from us. For this reason and so many others, it is with a heavy heart that my mother and I have made the decision to begin the process of closing Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
We did everything we could possibly do to turn things around—my mom more so than anyone—but it simply wasn’t meant to be. Between the oversaturation of erotic romance titles available, the financial devaluation of said titles, and being buried in Amazon’s search engines, the prospect of the market once again turning in our favor is grim at best, impossible at worst, and requires government intervention either way. We don’t want to leave you in limbo based on such unfavorable odds. We have gone around and around trying to figure out the least complicated way to get your rights back to you...the best compromise we have to offer follows on page 2.
My mom and I will be closing this chapter of our lives with many fond memories. For every utterance of false gossip hurled our way, we have three times as many happy moments to counter them with. In other words, thank you for being a part of Ellora’s Cave. We are choosing to hold onto the wonderful memories and carry them with us into whatever comes next. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with you and for you.
Warmly,
Tina and Patty
P.S. We realize our announcement, while likely not unexpected, still leaves everyone with questions concerning their books, especially rights reversions. Bear in mind when reading the remainder of this email that EC is now (a) down to a staff of 2 and (b) doesn’t have the people power to continue answering emails, which is why (c) we need a couple of months to accomplish closing down in the most efficient way possible. We don’t want to leave anyone’s rights in limbo—which could definitely happen if we don’t take the time to individually revert them back to you—so please read carefully from this point forward.
1
To expedite an otherwise lengthy process, Ellora’s Cave will revert the rights of all remaining books back
to every author who agrees to the following six terms:
Your Signature: ______________________________________ Today’s Date: ______________________
List of all Titles: ________________________________________________________________________
Please email this completed form to: Ecrevertrights@gmail.com no later than November 1, 2016 in order to have your title/s included in the master list we are creating for each vendor, which notifies them of all books to be taken down from their sites by midnight on December 31, 2016. The proof of rights reversion letter legally required to republish is separate and will be processed in the order they are received, but will arrive via email no later than December 31, 2016.
**
Understandably, most everyone was angry, including myself.
When I was first published with EC well over ten years ago, I was so excited. And over the next couple of years, I gave them several books. 7 in total. It wasn't long after that, probably around 2010, that I started having issues with royalties.
At first it was just me and a very few others who said anything publicly. Surely I wasn't the only one who saw the problems, but if any others were having issues, they weren't talking, except for a tiny few.
Finally, a couple of years ago, more authors began to talk, blogs were written, then the lawsuit against Dear Author happened and everything exploded. We all know what happened next.
I'd been trying for a while to get my rights back, but they always refused. They claimed I sold too many copies, but yet wouldn't pay me. I kept hitting them with emails, and yes, I got nasty. She even posted them on her bullying site, which I think now has been taken down. There's no love loss there between me, Jaid and Patty. I think I've made it pretty clear what I think of them and their business tactics.
I even went with several other authors to see a lawyer. We were told that EC was in breach of contract, not on just one issue, but three. We had a case, unfortunately, we didn't have the money. Six figures was the estimate. We talked about a possible class action, but there just wasn't enough money there for the lawyers to waste their time, not to mention they assumed they would probably never see a dime of it, so our case was not taken on. Once again, EC would get away with their thievery.
I had pretty much given up and could only hope that they would eventually close their doors. Then the waiver arrived.
At first, I was angry. Seriously? They want me to waive my royalties?? Tell me again how you're not a thief, Jaid?
After thinking about it and talking about with my husband, I decided to go ahead and sign the waiver. In truth, I would never see the money that's owed to me anyway and at least this way, I can finally get my books back and early this morning, I received the rights reversion letter in my email.
I will have the rights back to all my books as of January 1st, 2017, but I will not see a dime of any sales between now and the time they take them down. But you know what? As mad as that makes me, I continue to tell myself that it's almost over.
I will re-cover, re-edit those books and starting January 2nd, I will begin self-publishing them on Amazon, not all at once, but as I get them done. I should have them all out by summer 2017.
Even though I had to give up my royalties, I can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel and I can only hope that eventually, Karma will rule.
<<hugs>>
Trista
-
You understand and agree you will receive your reversion letter on or before December 31, 2016
via the email address you return this signed release from. (For those moving their titles to New
York, the reversion letter is all the proof you need that your rights are indeed exclusively yours
again. Even if you do not plan to go the New York route, I highly suggest keeping your reversion
letter accessible; self-publishing is still in its infancy so it’s difficult to guess what will be considered
standard proof to vendors in the near or distant future.)
-
You understand and agree all vendors will be given notice that your books are to be removed from
their sites by midnight on December 31, 2016.
-
You understand and agree you are free to republish your books beginning January 1, 2017 at 12:01
am EST.
-
You understand and agree to waive any claim/s to outstanding royalty monies owed.
-
You understand and agree you are permitted to keep the cover art to your books if you choose
to, but that you are solely responsible for “stripping” the Ellora’s Cave name and logo/s from the
artwork before uploading it to retailers.
-
You understand and agree that ISBNs are publisher-specific and therefore cannot and will not be
transferred to you. (You currently don’t need an ISBN to self-publish through Amazon and New
York houses provide their own ISBNs.)
Your Signature: ______________________________________ Today’s Date: ______________________
List of all Titles: ________________________________________________________________________
Please email this completed form to: Ecrevertrights@gmail.com no later than November 1, 2016 in order to have your title/s included in the master list we are creating for each vendor, which notifies them of all books to be taken down from their sites by midnight on December 31, 2016. The proof of rights reversion letter legally required to republish is separate and will be processed in the order they are received, but will arrive via email no later than December 31, 2016.
**
Understandably, most everyone was angry, including myself.
When I was first published with EC well over ten years ago, I was so excited. And over the next couple of years, I gave them several books. 7 in total. It wasn't long after that, probably around 2010, that I started having issues with royalties.
At first it was just me and a very few others who said anything publicly. Surely I wasn't the only one who saw the problems, but if any others were having issues, they weren't talking, except for a tiny few.
Finally, a couple of years ago, more authors began to talk, blogs were written, then the lawsuit against Dear Author happened and everything exploded. We all know what happened next.
I'd been trying for a while to get my rights back, but they always refused. They claimed I sold too many copies, but yet wouldn't pay me. I kept hitting them with emails, and yes, I got nasty. She even posted them on her bullying site, which I think now has been taken down. There's no love loss there between me, Jaid and Patty. I think I've made it pretty clear what I think of them and their business tactics.
I even went with several other authors to see a lawyer. We were told that EC was in breach of contract, not on just one issue, but three. We had a case, unfortunately, we didn't have the money. Six figures was the estimate. We talked about a possible class action, but there just wasn't enough money there for the lawyers to waste their time, not to mention they assumed they would probably never see a dime of it, so our case was not taken on. Once again, EC would get away with their thievery.
I had pretty much given up and could only hope that they would eventually close their doors. Then the waiver arrived.
At first, I was angry. Seriously? They want me to waive my royalties?? Tell me again how you're not a thief, Jaid?
After thinking about it and talking about with my husband, I decided to go ahead and sign the waiver. In truth, I would never see the money that's owed to me anyway and at least this way, I can finally get my books back and early this morning, I received the rights reversion letter in my email.
I will have the rights back to all my books as of January 1st, 2017, but I will not see a dime of any sales between now and the time they take them down. But you know what? As mad as that makes me, I continue to tell myself that it's almost over.
I will re-cover, re-edit those books and starting January 2nd, I will begin self-publishing them on Amazon, not all at once, but as I get them done. I should have them all out by summer 2017.
Even though I had to give up my royalties, I can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel and I can only hope that eventually, Karma will rule.
<<hugs>>
Trista
1 comment:
I think I'm not alone in saying I will certainly purchase books again that were initially from elloras cave, but are being released again by the authors especially from the last couple of years. It feels wrong to have books from a publisher that undoubtedly did not give the royalties to the author. That, and ec had awful covers. Worth buying again just to archive the original version and not see those...interesting covers. Most expensive books by far, worst covers and customer service by a staggering proportion. Anyway, I think you'll get some of the money back in that sense. Plus, great material for creating bad guys in a book.
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