Jane needs statements from Ellora's Cave authors/editors about non-payment to help her case. If you've missed royalties or payments contact her at jane@dearauthor.com
Also, anything online that's been written by others about EC and their problems... send her links.
She's on the righteous path, my friends. And we're with her!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
An Old Farts Take on Ellora's Cave
We're coming late to the party but seriously, is there any reasonable reaction to what's going on? Ellora's Cave, publishing house of what their founder and CEO calls 'clit lit' is suing Jane Litte of Dear Author for her blog post The Curious Case of Ellora's Cave.
Jane blogged about E.C.'s current business predicament involving the lay-off of editors and cover artists, dropping sales (which EC themselves have addressed) and unpaid royalties, something authors have been complaining about for perhaps the last year.
This is Jaid Black/Tina Engler:
So Jaid was asked about authors being unpaid and this was her response:
Jane blogged about E.C.'s current business predicament involving the lay-off of editors and cover artists, dropping sales (which EC themselves have addressed) and unpaid royalties, something authors have been complaining about for perhaps the last year.
This is Jaid Black/Tina Engler:
What about the dwindling sales, Jaid?
What about the threats against the authors who speak out about non-payments and mismanagement?
What about the shopping sprees and property buying you've bragged about on Facebook while author's go unpaid?
And more than anything Jaid, why are you suing Jane for blogging about it?
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Scattered E-publisher Thoughts
I have a question I haven't seen addressed. It might have been, I just haven't seen it. Perhaps I should ask over at DA or SBTB, but I'm more comfortable in this setting and you never know, someone might answer.
EC isn't the only epublisher to go into meltdown. It's happened to others with just as much scandal and you can be sure it'll happen again. Unfortunately I don't remember their names, a hazard of being a small, dishonest epub, but Absolute Write will have them.
Here's the thing. I've never heard of any legal sequellae because of epub skulduggery. The epubs just go away. No one is arrested for fraud or stealing or bad business practices or anything.
See, my observation is epubs seem to attract crazies who want quick money, or just a lot money period and get it by starting their own publishing house. They'll milk the cow for awhile, do everything they can to keep the left hand from knowing what the right hand is doing such as threatening authors and playing fast and loose with money. Then, after squeezing everything they can from every person they control, they'll declare bankruptcy and slink off into the night. Or start another epub a couple of years later.
Was it Barnum who said there's a sucker born every minute? Well, there's a writer yearning to be published born almost as often and unfortunately many of them are shark bait. If there's anything I've learned from all this, it's BEWARE! Double and triple check your research and read that contract carefully. (Of course contracts don't always matter to a dicey epub, so sign at your own risk. I think it safe to say most epub authors would not choose to sue over a contract dispute because principles can be so expensive!)
I do want to say that the epub who accepted my manuscripts, Lyrical Press, and edited and published them, was a joy to work with. I was lucky because I did no research at all. At all! Beginner's luck. Lyrical is now with Kensington and I wish them well.
So, was anyone ever arrested or is all this perfectly legal?
EC isn't the only epublisher to go into meltdown. It's happened to others with just as much scandal and you can be sure it'll happen again. Unfortunately I don't remember their names, a hazard of being a small, dishonest epub, but Absolute Write will have them.
Here's the thing. I've never heard of any legal sequellae because of epub skulduggery. The epubs just go away. No one is arrested for fraud or stealing or bad business practices or anything.
See, my observation is epubs seem to attract crazies who want quick money, or just a lot money period and get it by starting their own publishing house. They'll milk the cow for awhile, do everything they can to keep the left hand from knowing what the right hand is doing such as threatening authors and playing fast and loose with money. Then, after squeezing everything they can from every person they control, they'll declare bankruptcy and slink off into the night. Or start another epub a couple of years later.
Was it Barnum who said there's a sucker born every minute? Well, there's a writer yearning to be published born almost as often and unfortunately many of them are shark bait. If there's anything I've learned from all this, it's BEWARE! Double and triple check your research and read that contract carefully. (Of course contracts don't always matter to a dicey epub, so sign at your own risk. I think it safe to say most epub authors would not choose to sue over a contract dispute because principles can be so expensive!)
I do want to say that the epub who accepted my manuscripts, Lyrical Press, and edited and published them, was a joy to work with. I was lucky because I did no research at all. At all! Beginner's luck. Lyrical is now with Kensington and I wish them well.
So, was anyone ever arrested or is all this perfectly legal?
Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
The first book I read of SAAs was garden Spells, and it instantly became one of my favorite ever books. I love magic realism and don't find a lot of it in American authors and even less of it done well. Garden Spells was magic realism done brilliantly.
Her other books have been enjoyable but didn't have the same emotional resonance for me and I assumed that SAA would be a one book wonder for me, which was fine. I wouldn't stop reading but I'd never again feel that same deep bond to any of her books.
Lost Lake changed everything.
It's a story of Kate, who lost her husband, and her daughter Devin, reconnecting to Kate's Aunt Eby, to the summer Kate turned 12 at Eby's cabin at Lost Lake and to her own self a year after the death of her husband. It's the story of the people who come to Lost Lake every summer because there's something there they need (love, friendship, fresh chances).
It's breathtaking.
This was the book that came out of Sarah Addison Allen's life after breast cancer (she's been 2 years in remission). This is writing that rooted deep in my heart and eked tears from my eyes as my breath caught.
Unlike other books, the magic is just as prevalent but this time it isn't cutesy or overpowering. Not everybody contains magic but it runs along the bottom of the lake (an alligator with his own history), it runs in Kate and Eby and their line of women who lose their husbands...
There was an ache of loss in the book but even more, there was hope and belief in the future. It isn't romance although romance is important. More than that it's a book about women coming back to life, back to themselves and back to each other. The women are the story and they ebb and flow into each other creating something brilliant.
It was brilliant. I'm going to read it again and again. I hope you might also.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Deacon by Kristen Ashley
Go away if you don't like spoilers.
So Deacon is a big, handsome brute who we've kind of met before in the KA world and his story is like a return to the KA I know and love (at least for 90% of the book).
The heroine is Cassie and she's smart, capable, not a ditz and thankfully isn't all about big hair and make-up. Cassie owns and operates some cabins in the woods (heh) and she works her ass off trying to make them work. Deacon rents Cabin 11 every now and then for a number of years. He doesn't talk to Cassie, he isn't friendly but he keeps coming.
Then for a Christmas he lowers his guard a little when he shows up and all the cabins are rented and he stays with Cassie in her house and they get friendly. Not sexy, friendly.
Then later it gets sexytimes.
So this is very KA the way I like her. Deacon has secrets and Cassie slowly uncovers parts. Deacon, per KA, is an anti-hero because he breaks the law but like all of KA's heroes he doesn't really do bad things. He's an outlaw with a moral code.
So there's a big misunderstanding and then a big reconciliation and honestly, it's a good 90% of a read until the misunderstanding/break-up. Because at that point Cassie gives Deacon a thumb drive with a song on it that expresses her feelings. We don't know the lyrics to the song because KA didn't get authorization to share so if you want to know this important part of the story then you have to go to You Tube or something to look it up.
That annoys me.
Annoys me further when Deacon responds by doing the same damn thing with another song.
Ms Ashley... when you write a book, it makes sense you might want to have the characters say what they feel with their own words instead of forcing your readers to either stop reading your book to go find a song or not bother and not know something important that's being communicated.
I really hated that. Plus I didn't care for the damned songs when I heard 'em so it made the book seem maybe a little less than it was.
BIG ASS FUCKING SPOILER ALERT HERE
So the end of the book after Cassie and Deacon get into a little bondage play goes to this really weird place of matching butt plugs and Deacon liking getting his ass reamed by Cassie and his big butt plug.
Let me say this again: our big, bad, hulking hero likes to get butt fucked by his woman.
Yeah, barf.
So I'd recommend the first 90% of the book. But after the big misunderstanding and Cassie brings out the butt plug: STOP READING! Really.
You'll thank me later.
So Deacon is a big, handsome brute who we've kind of met before in the KA world and his story is like a return to the KA I know and love (at least for 90% of the book).
The heroine is Cassie and she's smart, capable, not a ditz and thankfully isn't all about big hair and make-up. Cassie owns and operates some cabins in the woods (heh) and she works her ass off trying to make them work. Deacon rents Cabin 11 every now and then for a number of years. He doesn't talk to Cassie, he isn't friendly but he keeps coming.
Then for a Christmas he lowers his guard a little when he shows up and all the cabins are rented and he stays with Cassie in her house and they get friendly. Not sexy, friendly.
Then later it gets sexytimes.
So this is very KA the way I like her. Deacon has secrets and Cassie slowly uncovers parts. Deacon, per KA, is an anti-hero because he breaks the law but like all of KA's heroes he doesn't really do bad things. He's an outlaw with a moral code.
So there's a big misunderstanding and then a big reconciliation and honestly, it's a good 90% of a read until the misunderstanding/break-up. Because at that point Cassie gives Deacon a thumb drive with a song on it that expresses her feelings. We don't know the lyrics to the song because KA didn't get authorization to share so if you want to know this important part of the story then you have to go to You Tube or something to look it up.
That annoys me.
Annoys me further when Deacon responds by doing the same damn thing with another song.
Ms Ashley... when you write a book, it makes sense you might want to have the characters say what they feel with their own words instead of forcing your readers to either stop reading your book to go find a song or not bother and not know something important that's being communicated.
I really hated that. Plus I didn't care for the damned songs when I heard 'em so it made the book seem maybe a little less than it was.
BIG ASS FUCKING SPOILER ALERT HERE
So the end of the book after Cassie and Deacon get into a little bondage play goes to this really weird place of matching butt plugs and Deacon liking getting his ass reamed by Cassie and his big butt plug.
Let me say this again: our big, bad, hulking hero likes to get butt fucked by his woman.
So I'd recommend the first 90% of the book. But after the big misunderstanding and Cassie brings out the butt plug: STOP READING! Really.
You'll thank me later.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Surviving America's Sweetheart
My new book is available for pre-order on Amazon.
SURVIVING AMERICA'S SWEETHEART
What would happen if the Bachelorette found herself in the Hunger Games?
Riley Davenport has it all. She’s America’s Sweetheart, the lucky woman seeking her true love from a pool of twenty-five handsome bachelors. All she has to do is survive.
The odds are stacked against her. With Lucifer and God trying to one-up each other using reality television as their new battleground, Riley must fight murderous demons, boring angels and jaded TV hosts for her happily ever after.
As long as the hot tub isn’t filled with molten lava, she might have a fighting chance. If she doesn’t lose her life, she might lose her heart.
It was a First Page on Dear Author:
First Page; Surviving America's Sweetheart
AND...
it releases on my birthday. On Amazon. On B&N. On Smashwords. On Kobo.
But only Amazon has a pre-order.
PREORDER from AMAZON
SURVIVING AMERICA'S SWEETHEART
What would happen if the Bachelorette found herself in the Hunger Games?
Riley Davenport has it all. She’s America’s Sweetheart, the lucky woman seeking her true love from a pool of twenty-five handsome bachelors. All she has to do is survive.
The odds are stacked against her. With Lucifer and God trying to one-up each other using reality television as their new battleground, Riley must fight murderous demons, boring angels and jaded TV hosts for her happily ever after.
As long as the hot tub isn’t filled with molten lava, she might have a fighting chance. If she doesn’t lose her life, she might lose her heart.
It was a First Page on Dear Author:
First Page; Surviving America's Sweetheart
AND...
it releases on my birthday. On Amazon. On B&N. On Smashwords. On Kobo.
But only Amazon has a pre-order.
PREORDER from AMAZON
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh
Carolyn: So I bought this book, Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh. I love her psy-changeling books. She's a really great writer. And who can resist a contemporary with a sexy rock star?
Lori: Not you apparently. Have you read it yet? Because I tried it, especially after you've been telling me to read her.
Carolyn: Well I was telling you to read her series.
Lori: Now you're going to get specific?
Carolyn: It takes you about two years to read something I suggest. Then you read something different.
Lori: Notice how we're fighting to avoid reviewing this book?
Carolyn: Well most of romancelandia seemed to love the book.
Lori: Maybe we live on the outskirts of romancelandia. Or we live on romanceislandia. I did NOT like it. Hell, I couldn't get past the first chapters, it was so ridiculous and sex times as to be uninteresting.
Carolyn: I'm not a big fan of insta-lust either. And these characters were at it so much I expected them to get bladder infections.
Lori: Heh. I might use that.
Carolyn: Bless your heart. Although I did like the secondary characters and their stories. Did you?
Lori: Didn't get far enough in the book to see any. Once Mr. Hottie banged the virgin librarian a million times the first night after not exchanging a single word with her previous to telling her he wanted to bang her, I needed an Advil.
And I most definitely did not want to read a story where a man thinks a hard dick means love and a virgin librarian thinks her first time with a stranger against a wall is perfectly okay. Not for me.
Carolyn: When did we get old?
Lori: When we lost interest in sex for sexs' sake?
Carolyn: Try her other series. Not as much sexy times and you'll like it, I promise.
Lori: Okay, okay. By the way, I have this weird hair growing on my chin...
Carolyn: Let me get the tweezers.
Lori: Not you apparently. Have you read it yet? Because I tried it, especially after you've been telling me to read her.
Carolyn: Well I was telling you to read her series.
Lori: Now you're going to get specific?
Carolyn: It takes you about two years to read something I suggest. Then you read something different.
Lori: Notice how we're fighting to avoid reviewing this book?
Carolyn: Well most of romancelandia seemed to love the book.
Lori: Maybe we live on the outskirts of romancelandia. Or we live on romanceislandia. I did NOT like it. Hell, I couldn't get past the first chapters, it was so ridiculous and sex times as to be uninteresting.
Carolyn: I'm not a big fan of insta-lust either. And these characters were at it so much I expected them to get bladder infections.
Lori: Heh. I might use that.
Carolyn: Bless your heart. Although I did like the secondary characters and their stories. Did you?
Lori: Didn't get far enough in the book to see any. Once Mr. Hottie banged the virgin librarian a million times the first night after not exchanging a single word with her previous to telling her he wanted to bang her, I needed an Advil.
And I most definitely did not want to read a story where a man thinks a hard dick means love and a virgin librarian thinks her first time with a stranger against a wall is perfectly okay. Not for me.
Carolyn: When did we get old?
Lori: When we lost interest in sex for sexs' sake?
Carolyn: Try her other series. Not as much sexy times and you'll like it, I promise.
Lori: Okay, okay. By the way, I have this weird hair growing on my chin...
Carolyn: Let me get the tweezers.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
NEW RELEASE!!! Losing Hope by Lori Green
Whoever said three times a charm wasn't counting on Hunter and Laci. Twice married and twice divorced, getting involved a third time would be the greatest folly of their lives. But Hunter is determined to prove to Laci that he can be her Price Charming while Laci just wants to start her own business and maybe adopt a cat.
They have a hard history behind them but happily ever after doesn't care about what was, only about what can be. And with Laci's brother creating his own chaos, her friends going crazy for her ex and all the Ben and Jerry's she can buy, Laci might finally discover her happiness.
They have a hard history behind them but happily ever after doesn't care about what was, only about what can be. And with Laci's brother creating his own chaos, her friends going crazy for her ex and all the Ben and Jerry's she can buy, Laci might finally discover her happiness.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Night's Honor by Thea Harrison
I love Thea Harrison.
She's a definite autobuy for me and I await each book with impatience. Night's Honor was no exception.
It started out fine. The characterization was excellent and the plot was heating up. Tess was growing and changing and losing her fear (that was the main emphasis of the book) and Xavier was quietly falling in love.
Perhaps my problem with this book was that the conflict was mostly internal. There was one big scene where the bad guys ambush our heroes and that was it. The book sort of petered out after that. In fact, I couldn't believe it was finished when I got to the end. It was like the author couldn't decide whether to write a full length novel or a novella.
Frankly it felt like half a book. Okay, maybe three quarters. I was dissatisfied at the end and therefore in my lowly humble opinion (mlho) this book is not as good as Kinked or Oracle Moon or even Dragon Bound.
I did like the characters, but the storyline left me wanting more. Of course a Thea Harrison book is way above many others, so I can't complain too much. If I gave out stars, I would have to give this one four out of five.
Now I sit and wait (somewhat impatiently because tempus does fugit, you know) for her next one.
She's a definite autobuy for me and I await each book with impatience. Night's Honor was no exception.
It started out fine. The characterization was excellent and the plot was heating up. Tess was growing and changing and losing her fear (that was the main emphasis of the book) and Xavier was quietly falling in love.
Perhaps my problem with this book was that the conflict was mostly internal. There was one big scene where the bad guys ambush our heroes and that was it. The book sort of petered out after that. In fact, I couldn't believe it was finished when I got to the end. It was like the author couldn't decide whether to write a full length novel or a novella.
Frankly it felt like half a book. Okay, maybe three quarters. I was dissatisfied at the end and therefore in my lowly humble opinion (mlho) this book is not as good as Kinked or Oracle Moon or even Dragon Bound.
I did like the characters, but the storyline left me wanting more. Of course a Thea Harrison book is way above many others, so I can't complain too much. If I gave out stars, I would have to give this one four out of five.
Now I sit and wait (somewhat impatiently because tempus does fugit, you know) for her next one.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Nude Photos and Rape Culture
If you're not living under a rock currently, then you've heard about the hacker who hacked into the i-cloud and stole nude pictures of hundreds of women, most notably a number of celebrities.
Should I mention they were all women? That might be too obvious to have to mention.
In what's been interesting in reading about this is that as the usual people show up and say "What were they thinking? Never appear nude anywhere or you'll get what you deserve!" a number of others are saying no. No, women have a right to take photos of themselves. Women have a right to not have their pictures stolen and put online.
Wait a minute. What? Some people are suggesting the women themselves aren't to blame?
That's what's happening. For the first time that I can remember, people are actually pointing out that the hacker(s) is the one who broke the law, stole private property and did the wrong thing. And everyone who posts the pics and passes them around is perpetuating the crime.
It's a crime. It's a sex crime. And a lot of people seem to be insisting that people pay attention and stop blaming the victims.
Adding to that is the news that Cee-Lo Green pled guilty to drugging a woman's drink so he could have sex with her. Yup. She sued him and he plea bargained. But he also took to Twitter to point out that it can't be called rape if a woman is unconscious. According to Cee-Lo, it isn't rape if a woman can't remember it.
(So he drugs her so she passes out then fucks her while she's passed out but it isn't rape because she was passed out. Bet he thinks it isn't a crime in any way.)(I don't understand why he isn't in jail.)
BTW: Cee-Lo had a TV show that got cancelled. He's being called out by everyone alive for his rapey ways.
I know we have a long way to go but can I say that today the responses to these things made me feel happier. Rape isn't okay. Stealing women's photos aren't okay. And finally the world is starting to look at the larger picture and question why anyone might think that this is okay.
Should I mention they were all women? That might be too obvious to have to mention.
In what's been interesting in reading about this is that as the usual people show up and say "What were they thinking? Never appear nude anywhere or you'll get what you deserve!" a number of others are saying no. No, women have a right to take photos of themselves. Women have a right to not have their pictures stolen and put online.
Wait a minute. What? Some people are suggesting the women themselves aren't to blame?
That's what's happening. For the first time that I can remember, people are actually pointing out that the hacker(s) is the one who broke the law, stole private property and did the wrong thing. And everyone who posts the pics and passes them around is perpetuating the crime.
It's a crime. It's a sex crime. And a lot of people seem to be insisting that people pay attention and stop blaming the victims.
Adding to that is the news that Cee-Lo Green pled guilty to drugging a woman's drink so he could have sex with her. Yup. She sued him and he plea bargained. But he also took to Twitter to point out that it can't be called rape if a woman is unconscious. According to Cee-Lo, it isn't rape if a woman can't remember it.
(So he drugs her so she passes out then fucks her while she's passed out but it isn't rape because she was passed out. Bet he thinks it isn't a crime in any way.)(I don't understand why he isn't in jail.)
BTW: Cee-Lo had a TV show that got cancelled. He's being called out by everyone alive for his rapey ways.
I know we have a long way to go but can I say that today the responses to these things made me feel happier. Rape isn't okay. Stealing women's photos aren't okay. And finally the world is starting to look at the larger picture and question why anyone might think that this is okay.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)