It's a great day! After a long emotional rollercoaster ride with Ellora's Cave (Now renamed EC for Books)I received word last night that 9 of my books will be reverted back to me in July 2016.
Why did I want my books returned? Very simple. Regardless of how many times MANY, MANY authors have been called liars or accused of creating conspiracies, the truthful fact of the matter is, owed royalties for books that sold through this publisher were not being paid.
FACT. The last royalties I received were in Jan 2016 for books sold in March 2015, April 2015, May 2015 and June 2015.
FACT: No statements, no royalties have been seen since then. NOT ONE DIME.
FACT: Contracts EC wrote, EC issued and EC enforces clearly states that royalties shall be paid no later than 3 months after sale.
FACT: June 2015 to June 2016 is NOT 3 months. I don't care how hard you twist the numbers.
FACT: Simply because the principals of Ellora's Cave say they are paying their authors DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. They had the opportunity to prove this fact when they sued Dear Author for reporting what authors were claiming. EC took the case all the way up to discovery and settled before the books could be opened. Hmmm.....I'll leave it at that.
Here's the thing. I'm tired of being called a liar, whiner and misogynist by a party who is flat out withholding authors royalties(mostly female authors mind you) while she blames Amazon, authors and anyone or thing else she can for her poor business practices. (Could they even be unethical?)
I'm not even sure she understands what misogyny is. Let's take a look. The definition 1.
a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women.
synonyms: woman-hater; antifeminist, (male) chauvinist, sexist, hater; informalmale chauvinist pig
"he apparently deserved his reputation as a misogynist"
Now, a group of authors says, "HEY, we aren't being paid for the books we wrote. We signed a contract that says you pay us for every book sold. You aren't doing that."
Her response, "You're all misogynists." This from a person who publicly stated she hated romance authors, who the majority are women.
This company is cheating a majority of women authors, publicly doxing them, doing everything she/it can to financially hurt authors and she calls us misogynists. It's time for someone to take a look in the mirror.
And finally, for the that one author who steps out and calls us whiners for publicly stating we aren't being paid, Lady, you may have signed a contract giving EC all your money you've earned, but I didn't. I don't do business like that. If I did, I wouldn't be part owner of a successful business for the last 22 years. You my naïve, desperate, business ignorant fellow author need to return to the children's table and let the grownups deal with business issues. When the snake bites you in the ass, and it will, oh my dear, it will bite hard, you will look back and see you have burned your bridges and the help you need will be no where to be found.
My dealings with this publisher are not over. I still have titles drowning there, but this is a great start.
I want to thank my readers for their support. You can't begin to imagine how important you have been to me. THANK YOU!!!
What comes next? The plan is to rewrite, retitle and get some new book covers and self publish. I'm gun shy of publishers and contracts. Maybe down the road a company will prove trust worthy, who knows. Life lessons are hard and bruising, but important, and I have learned MUCH!
Please, please keep watch for upcoming releases and once again THANK YOU!!
All my appreciation,
Robin Leigh Miller
