Ellora's Cave Protects Their Bottom Line

Currently if you Google "Ellora's Cave" the top link is a Google Adsense paid link to All Romance ebooks. But here's the catch--from now on if you buy the book there it will probably cost you double.

You see, Ellora's Cave is taking a new approach to third party sales. They will not be taking a smaller cut, they be doing what self-publishers like Lulu do--doubling the price.

Consider the difference between the on site and off site cover prices for their new releases (shown below). Will EC they win and distributors will eat the difference. Or will customers who prefer to buy through multi-publisher vendors pay more... or stop buying EC books?

Tiger Eye (Kit Tunstall) EC: $4.45, off site: $8.90
Taking Shape previous (Tielle St.Clare) EC: $5.20, off site $10.40
Erotic Exposure (Paige Tyler) EC: $2.49, off site: $4.98.

Only time will tell, but I will be keeping an eye out to see how these books are priced when they hit ARe and Amazon. I would be more likely to believe that customers would all go to the EC site to get the books at the cheapest price, if the PTB hadn't changed the domain name to "JasmineJade.com", making it that much harder to even work out that it is the homepage for EC..

Rumor Patrol

Ellora's Cave/Cerridwen are sending out a 10% off coupon code, is this a first? Are recent signs of increased activity at JJ incorporated pro-active good marketing or a knee jerk reaction to market downturn?

I hear Red Rose Publishing has a $100 kills fee, which they might need to retain authors if they maintain an output at the level of Ellora's Cave but, I suspect, not with the same readership?

Edited to add:
No Ellora's Cavemen this year?

Ellora's Cave WTF, literally

In the fine tradition of Britney Spears, Ellora's Cave is asking their readers about their favorite sexual positions. But they take it a little further in then attempting to take credit for those top rated nookie maneuvers. The new Ellora's Cave contest requires entrants to answer these questions:

"Prying minds want to know: Have EC books taught you new positions or bedroom games? Given you a new lease on your love life—with yourself or your lover? Taught him or her how to please you better? Given you permission to go for more O’s? Tell us all about it. We’re dying for details…"

The entries on Youtube have to be modestly titled: How Ellora’s Cave Improved My Sex Life: Your Name and are used as content by http://sextalkforwickedwomen.blogspot.com/ and the grand prize is a $100 Ellora's Cave gift voucher (Edited to add, this is the twitter prize only, the main prizes are a considerable more generous pair of netbooks). As efforts to harness the power of social networking go, you could not call this subtle.

See also:
The most important question of the day

Cerridwen on ARe

Some of you may remember the presumably aborted attempts made by to set up Ellora's Cave as a distributor of books from other epublishers.

And Ellora's Cave has long been in/famous for doing things their own way, including not using external distributors.

Which makes it all the more interesting that sister-imprint Cerridwen books have quietly become available on All Romance Ebooks.

Ellora's Cave Delayed Payment--veinglory

Re Karen Scott's post "Financial Problems At Elloras Cave?": I have heard similar reports, but also mixed reports with some payments clearly getting through, and suggestions the problems were being addressed. It is not clear to me yet whether this is a technical glitch or indications of something more serious (or a bit of both).

See also:
Ellora’s Cave: Money Issues?

Adding EC to the mix

Bulletin: Fictionwise issues/Ellora's cave Prin t Woes--veinglory

"It appears that Fictionwise and Overdrive have broken up. This is important because Overdrive supplies over 300,000 books to Fictionwise ... You’ll want to go to Fictionwise and download all those titles." [See Dear Author for more information]

Also the comments on this Dear Author thread seem to explain some of what has been going on with Ellora's cave print books (in that you don't see much of them any more). Edited to Add: More about this on Behler Blog.

Bulletin: Ellora's Cave Website--veinglory

What is with the simultaneous existence of this Ellora's cave website, and this one? I hope the later is just a glitch or test because it doesn't look like an improvement on the tried and true. It does roll all their imprints in together. Maybe some of them, like Lotus Circle, confused the customer base as much as they confused me?

(via Karen Scott)

Ellora's Cave Ebay Store--veinglory

If you visit the Ellora's Cave Ebay store, at least when I did at 2pm GMT, it shows only a link to the Ellora's cave main page and a single 'buy it now' product. Presumably they are undergoing some kind of transition or restocking. However Ebay policy is a rather explicit on this point: "Linking from an eBay Store to Web sites that offer to trade, sell, or purchase goods or services, or including links for any purpose other than those listed above is not permitted."

Adsense for ER E-Publishers--veinglory

There was mention on DearAuthor of Noble House using AdSense, which they certainly are. (A little heavy on the initial capitals, perhaps?).

"Hot Erotic Romance Ebooks
From Today's Most Talented Authors
Download Yours Today"

I would note, however, that they are not the only one. The following is for Ellora's Cave. They are a little less specific about the ebook angle (but then they do offer trade paperbacks) and a little more specific about sub genres.

"Erotic Romance Novels
Fulfill your hottest fantasies
All genres - chick lit to vampires"

And another from our friends at Loose Id. I am not sure about that tag line for cold selling, but what would I know?

"The Hottest Romance
Put a leash on boredom Buy erotic
romance e-books from Loose Id!"

I hadn't noticed the Ellora's Cave or Loose Id ads until recently. I wonder if they idea came from the Noble Romances ads which certainly have been ubiquitous, but probably not cost effective?

I am also am not sure that the wording of these ads, essentially tag lines for e-publishers, are terribly snappy. But I guess they do the most important thing in marketing--that is they say what products is for sale. I guess the AdSense format doesn't give much room to manoeuvre?

If you add the three texts together, and retain any word that appears in at least two out of three, you get the very pithy and to the point message:

"Your hot erotic romance ebooks"

And I think the point of general audience advertising is that we do need more people to be aware of erotic romance ebooks. We want more people who are even able to speak of "their" erotic romance ebooks--rather than having all 60 erotic romance epublishers continue to pit fight for the same small pool of existing readers.

Noble Romance is taking something of a financial gamble, but good on them. Ellora's Cave and Loose Id have shown a willingness to reach out to a wider readership in the past (such as advertising in gay and women's magazines). It is something of a shot in the dark (I imagine) but this kind of strategy is needed to grow the erotic romance ebooks readership as a whole, which will benefit all of us.

Bulletin: correction

Edited to add, this is already old news and the post has been corrected.

For those following Lee Goldberg's blog. One recent entry reads in part

1) Quoting from this site

"Averages are based on at least 5 in print books by at least 3 different authors.
AVERAGE TOTAL SALES FOR BOOK OUT FOR ONE YEAR OR MORE
[updated September 28, 2008]
Ellora's Cave--1206 copies (24 books)
Loose Id--765 copies (49 books)
Amber Quill--832 copies (9 books)

2) Mr Goldberg's interpretation

"If I'm reading these figures correctly (I suck at math), then the average Ellora's Cave author in this sample is selling a mere 50 books a year, an Amber Quill author 92."

3) My correction, pending moderation on Mr. Goldberg's blog:

The figures are, as stated and quoted, averages. Specifically arithmetic means. The average Ellora's Cave author in this sample is selling 796 books in the first year, an Amber Quill author 684. If they have been out for any period of time over one year (all books in the sample out one year or more) the average sales are 1206 and 832 copies per title)

Thanks to those who gave me a heads up. I know these figures are sometimes read incorrectly and would welcome suggestion as to how to make them easier to understand.

See also: Tina Anderson's blog.

Blog-Back -- veinglory

Comments on Ellora's cave and e-tailing. A surprisingly muted response if you ask me. If you know of any other blog reactions please post a comment and link. Is it a lack of interest or is this considered a confidential matter?

"By now most of the epublished world has heard EC (Ellora’s Cave) is looking into selling books by other companies on their site. I don’t see how this helps the already struggling authors whose royalties have been in the toilet for over a year." [Marianne LaCroix, Oct 9 2007]

"This is mostly a win for EC. It takes advantage of its existing readership and the brand it’s built up since 2001. It gets a royalty of 40%. At that rate it’s possible that this royalty, since it’s pure profit, is more than what EC makes from selling one of its own books." [DearAuthor, Oct 7 2008]

"The goss is that Ellora's Cave has begun to approach other smaller epublishers with an offer to distribute vetted books through a joint storefront in return for 40% of receipts." [Here, Oct 6 2008]

At this point an idea that went out to presses as a firm proposal but was discussed on the EC author loop as a "rumor" appears to be up in the air. No presses are coming forwards as definitely signing on and some are definitely not--suggesting that if it does proceed it will not offer the kind of near comprehensive cover provided by existing distributors? But the cross-availability of those exclusive EC books could make up a lot of the difference.

Ellora's Cave, distributor? Pt. II

As it seems that several presses and a good number of authors have heard about Ellora's Cave's plans it seems reasonable to discuss this a little further. The basic deal being offered, fairly widely, seems to be:

* Nonexclusive distribution

* EC and distributed books intermingled but identified and searchable by press

* Charge of 40% of receipts but no fees unless additional services such as formatting are required

* Erotica and Romance only

* The arrangement is being proposed by way of the agent Ethan Ellenberg

* It seems that the majority of epublishers in the genre are receiving this invitation to participate

* It is not clear whether any presses have opted in at this point.

Bulletin: Ellora's Cave, distributor?

The goss is that Ellora's Cave has begun to approach other smaller epublishers with an offer to distribute vetted books through a joint storefront in return for 40% of receipts. [<--edited for accuracy]

On topic, off topic and what topic?--veinglory

Most annoying quote of the week. A man who used 13 minutes of computer time and 12 cent's of electricity to create computer compiled books from internet sources says he might do computer-constructed romance next, because "There are only so many body parts." I hope some of the medical writers scavenged by his algorithms get their teeth into some of his more tender body parts.

Thanks to new archive you can now see Darwin's handwriting here. Do any of you have hand written outlines, manuscripts or character pictures to share? I would love to see them.

Hmmm. "Twenty books later, Holt cracked the New York Times Best Seller list in March and has earned herself the title “Queen of Erotic Romance,”... I have a question, who decided she had that title? Because if I was going to crown anyone the name would probably start with ... well, who would you pick? I mean at least Tina Turner had Beyonce call her the "Queen of Soul" rather than self-coronating (although I'm with Aretha on that one). Am I wrong on the crown being self-bestowed? Please let me know.

At Piers, and by direct report, it seems that Dark Castle Lords don't require artists to buy the Lordy art. But is seems they do sometimes require (rather than permit, or allow) payment for advertising. I remain interested in sales figures for this press as so far it looks like it would take... well, let's just say a long time, to earn a $100 share in a print ad. Meaning that authors might effectively not be paid in terms of net profit?

Finally I must say that after years of skepticism I am starting to be more convinced about the bad ides for Ellora's Cave. I do not think they are in serious trouble as a business. But with 8 releases a week and sales that really do seem to be slipping they look to be in danger of losing their front runner status. Add to that their print books are fast vanishing from stores--go check your local store and count EC books versus say Samhain, you may see what I mean. In fact if you get a chance to do this please let me know the figures.

Some interesting info from EC--veinglory

How many erotic romance books are released each year, I wonder. It would be nice to get together some rough figures. Ellora's Cave are happy to let us know that in 2007 they released 414 new titles and in December they sold 74,000 copies in total. I would guess that would be a rather small proportion of the total number of titles released, but a hefty chunk of the copies sold? They also volunteer that average first month sales are 850-900 copies.

Although our focus at EREC is on getting information from writers (writer-to-writer communication) I am more than happy to hear from publishers and list their own data. Does anyone know if there is equivalent data available from other presses? Specifically, for 2007, number of titles, copies sold and average first month's sales.

Attempting a List of Dropped Publishers

Re: publishers no long qualifying for "official publisher participation" at RWA cons [proxy recognition]. If you have news, please share.

* Ellora's Cave (from Jane, Dearauthor.com, unofficial, and I am only guessing what this terse message means?--also see here)

* Samhain (from Angela, Samhain, posted here unofficial in that it is not confirmed by RWA)

* June Editor Paula Juran suggests that St. Martin's would not qualify.

There are various rumours about the 'vanity' definition and whether it will be applied as literally described. The $1000 advance requirement, however, seems firm. Quite coincidentally ebooks tend to earn only through royalties. Of course I would like to hear whether this is affecting formerly recognised print presses that pay lower advances than this.

Here, for reference, is the list of recognised publishers:

Avalon Books
Avon Books
Baker Book House
Ballantine/Ivy
Bantam Dell Publishing Group
Barbour Publishing, Inc. & Heartsong Pocket Books
BelleBooks [?]
Berkley/Jove
Bethany House
Brilliance Audio
Broadman & Holman
Cook Communications Ministries
Crossings Book Club
Dorchester Publishing
Ellora's Cave [?]
Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books)
Granite Publishing
Harlequin Enterprises
HarperCollins/HarperCollins Children's Books
Harvest House
Hodder Headline Publishing Group
Howard Publishing
Hyperion Books for Children
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Kregel Publications
Llewellyn Worldwide
Loose Id, LLC
Loveland Press
Macmillan
Medallion Press
Multnomah Publishers (Random House)
New American Library (NAL)
Premium Press America
Red Sage Publishing
Revell
Samhain Publishing [?]
Severn House
Sourcebooks, Inc.
St. Martin's Press [?]
Thomas Nelson
Tor/Forge
Triskelion Publishing
Tyndale House Publishers
Virgin Books Ltd.
Zondervan

---

p.s. on the issue of: "After extensive discussion, the Board decided not to add an erotic romance category to the contests due in part to the inherently indefinable nature of erotic romance."

It's a romance with sex scenes. Love + HEA + fornication. Now was that so hard?

---

This post at AbsoulteWrite is gold.

[NEWS] Good News for Loose Id

Rumor has it that Loose Id will soon announce that they have acheived Romance Writers of America (RWA) recognition. This makes them only the second publisher on our list to acheive that status (the other being alpha-epublisher Ellora's Cave) although several others are in the process.

Edited to Add: Actually I see Loose Id is the third, Triskelion is also recognized :) see a full list of RWA recognised publishers here

Behind the Cover: Mark of the Beast

In the first of a new intermittent series I am asking authors to let me know what influence the have had on their covers and how their requests were met by the artist. To see what they asked for and what they got. Our first volunteer is Tawny Taylor, author of Mark of the Beast (Ellora's Cave).

Book: Mark of the Beast
Genre: Genre: shapeshifter erotic romance with a significant suspense subplot (MF)
Author’s Description of the cover: I’d like to suggest “cool” colors for the cover. Perhaps a monochromatic color scheme could be used? There is an element of genetics. Symbols from medical research, for example, a double helix, in some inconspicuous place would be appropriate. Because the stories following this one will be very tightly connected, I’d like for this cover to have a theme that can be carried to the next covers. (Note: the second book, Touch of the Beast does indeed have a similar look)

The website doesn't seem to say who the artist was, perhaps Tawny can let us know? I think he or she did an excellent job of responding to the brief.

[NEWS] From Erotic Romance to Enlightment for the World

I note with interest the arrival of a new epublishing-slash-not so secret society project from the crew at Ellora's Cave. Lotus Circle--"a multi-faceted, internet-based source for metaphysical books, products and services. The basic concept behind the website is that there is an international network of women [...] whose goal is to bring enlightenment to the world."

In reading the origins and submission guidelines I was left temporarily confused as to what is being presented as fact and what was world-building for a line of themed fiction. Fiction will be of paranormally gifted women but the epublisher will also produce non-fiction and host services such as tarot card readings and provide "Additional benefits [...] to those who choose to become members of The Lotus Circle, such as private chat rooms and bulletin boards, extended free readings and unlimited access to workshop libraries."

This has to be one of the coolest promotional vehicles for electronic fiction that I have ever seen. I thought Liquid Silver Books were really pushing out the boat for their Terran Realms, and as a participant I think Loose Id's Collector series is pretty neat, but this is even more lavish! I only wonder if it goes a little too far in blending fantasy and reality?

Is There Something Rotten in the State of Ellora's Cave?

Ellora's Cave must be acknowledged as the tallest poppy in the erotic romance epublishing garden. And there is a saying in New Zealand, that the tallest poppy is the one that tends to get its head cut off. That is, people tend to knock and criticise the most successful companies.

However, I cannot help but notice a trend in reader's blogs such as Karen Scott's mentioning disatisfaction with the content and quality of EC's recent output. Both Karen Scott and Mrs. Giggles have mentioned Liquid Silver Books and the relative newcomer Samhain as favorable by comparision (full disclosure, I am an author with Samhain).

Mrs Giggles says: "I don't care much for Ellora's Cave books anymore due to the overkill of the whole "BDSM alien/furries/vamps" formula."

and Karen Scott: "I have tried the new authors, but most of the newbies that I’ve read, have sucked in a big way..."

And yet Ellora's Cave books continue to sell well and fill the trade paperback shelves. Do they really need to change the way they do things, or just have a website make-over and show some signs of listening to readers? They did (finally) open to m/m submissions and it wouldnt hurt to have more works outside the bondage vampires and so on--although this rather depends on writers submitting quality work in fresh areas? There has been criticism of EC's branding from the beginning and the Ellora's Cave management proved to know what they were doing each time.

While their sales are way ahead of the others I think Ellora's Cave have great cause for complacency, but the pack may just be closing in on them?

.