Ellora’s Cave Sues Borders, Gets the Smackdown from Angry Authors
So, to summarize:
1. Borders may be involved in the practice of “book churning,” or ordering more books than it knows it needs, tearing the covers off the mass-market paperbacks, and sening them back to the publishers for credit, even though they aren’t spending a dime. These orders go through Ingrams and cause the stores to receive credit on their accounts with the publishers. For more information and a really helpful explanatory post on this practice and how it’s affecting the small and large presses, check out “Smacked in the Face by the Long Tail: Business Churn” by LiveJournal blogger Kaigou. This article is well worth the read, as it has a breakdown on the mathematics involved and the profitability issues associated with the practice. It’s worth the read.
2. Ellora’s Cave overspent by buying its own presses and warehousing its own books, and while the profitability of its ebooks remains steady, its print division is suffering because no one wants to work with the company anymore.
3. EC’s executives are suing Borders for screwing EC over, but Borders has only about $40 million in assets, %435 million in debts, and even if EC wins its suit, it will be at the back of the line if Borders liquidates.
4. Allegedly, EC has let its relationships with several authors, both popular and less known, suffer over the last three years because of various unsound, unexplained, or seemingly arbitrary decisions. Some anonymous (and a few not-so-anonymous) authors have aired their complaints in the comments section of the Dear Author thread concerning the lawsuit announcement.
5. Jaid Black and her V.P. have reponded unprofessionally on the thread, and a shitstorm ensued.
…Wow. I am so, so glad I decided not to submit to EC. Not only do these hysterics remind me of past public relations issues that people have had with Ellora’s in the past, but it looks as if the company might end up running itself into the ground from bad business decisions. Why didn’t EC use Ingrams? What gives? And does it really help to issue veiled threats against authors who act as ‘whistleblowers?’ Wouldn’t it have been wiser to simply not respond and let people read the legal summaries?
