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
5 comments:
I'm with you 100%, Robin. I did buy my books back in 2015, but support all the other EC authors trying to get justice. And regarding the author you mention who is all pro-EC/TE, even she admits that she'd help with finances if she could. Don't know why she can't. Maybe she's not being paid royalties either? But to me this is an acknowledgment that finances are bad at EC. So, even the pro EC/TE author tells the truth without even realizing she did. Hmmm...
That's the greatest irony of all, isn't it? For 6-12 months and counting, Tina Engler and Ellora's Cave have been withholding royalty payments from hundreds of women, many of whom rely on those royalties to support their families--and blaming it on the women. THAT is misogyny.
Thank you for having the courage to speak up!
rock on, lady. I have one book left and I want it back. Not paying? Not cool
As a former EC author, I managed to get all my books back except for one and I'm fixing to go after that one. The last check I got was in January 2016, same check you got, tho probably less $$. In addition, they're claiming they've paid me through the year of 2015 when the statements I received from EC showed payments up to June 2016. So I'm guessing they're alleging a year is now only 6 months long. Imagine that. TE controls time. So to TE, and all those supporting her malicious, illegal behavior, I would like to say Karma's a bitch, and she will get you when you least expect it. And if you n00bs think you're going to be treated any differently, I ask you, what color is the sky in your world? BTW, I'm glad all you n00bs are happy you're getting paid, but you're getting paid money owed to us. Sleep well.
PS...inadvertently typed 'up to 2016' when it's actually 2015. Gimme a break, the current year is 2016. I do the same thing at the turn of a new year. Hey, maybe we'll get another check at the turn of the new year. As if.....EC just need to die already.
Post a Comment