Focus on the Happy-ometer--veinglory

As a reminder, ERECsite collects not only sales figures but answers to the question: I am satisfied with the performance of my publisher [name of publisher] -- Y/N. The 'Happy-ometer' is the percentage of authors who reply with the "Y". (veinglory at gmail.com).

Happy-omoter figures so far:Amber Quill: 100%
Ellora's Cave: 87%
Liquid Silver Books: 100%
Loose Id: 91%
Samhain: 88%

NEWSFLASH: Liquid Silver Books--veinglory

LSB's website had some trouble yesterday. For more info see here.

All Romance eBooks

Authors these days tend to be very aware of the importance of distribution. All the promotion in the world does you no good if you can't get the actual book in front of readers. With paperbacks that means having a print run, deep discount and returns policy that allows your book to be stocked in chain stores. For ebooks it comes down to websites. Some epublishers have a large readership that hits their own website and webstore. Others depend more heavily on third party distribution.

Ever since Amazon shut out every format other than mobipocket (a move that created a noticeable lack of protest even from authors and publishers), the big dog in ebook distribution has been fictionwise. They have a good customer base (40,000 books sold every month) and can cause a significant spike in sales as well as exposure to readers who are not part of your specific publisher's readership. However, it must be said that the costs of converting to their formats are prohibitive for some small publishers and may well not be worth it even for the larger houses who will make a higher profit per book from selling the books directly. (Authors should be aware that a publisher not using a distributor is not necessarily making a mistake.)

There have always been other ebook distributors out there but they are generally minor players selling only a few copies per book. But I am very impressed by a relative new comer All Romance eBooks. They require no special formats and take 40% of cover price. I am told that a list of the participating e-publisher can be found on the site--but I could not locate it. I saw books from reputable presses listed, including: Samhain, Liquid Silver Books and Phaze.

When I hit their website the very first thing I noticed were these categories on the sidebar "Erotica, Gay/Lesbian, Multiple Partners, BDSM." Thank you, AReB! Let us please call a spade a spade and a gay a gay. Writers may be familar with how we throw around terms like m/m and the dreaded "alternative lifestyles" but in the real word these terms are meaningless or even have radically different meanings from those many publishers seem to give them. My guess is that All Romance eBooks will do very well.

I have a postcard that provides a code to register and get your choice of one of ten ebooks free. I have not used it and will pass it on to the first person to comment here and ask for it--please provide and email address :) (The options are Waxing by Megan Powell, Opposites Attract by Cat Johnson, One Foot Forward by Rose Middleton, One Handsome Devil by Rob Preece, 24/7 bu Susan DiPlacido, Killraven by Arline Chase, The Queen of Cherry Vale by Judith D. Glad, Forbidden by Samatha Sommersby, Once Burned by Jackie Griffey & Double Dare by Leigh Ellwood).

[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?

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