Ellora's Cave was an independent

erotic fiction Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelin ...

publisher. It was launched in 2000, and initially published in

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

only format and later moved into print. Ellora's Cave published in several genres, which included but were not limited to adult romance, erotica, erotica for men, non-fiction, and traditional romance.

History

The publisher launched in 2000 and initially published erotic fiction, which they dubbed and trademarked "romantica", in

only format. Their business model was met with success, which

Fayetteville State University Fayetteville State University (FSU) is a public historically black university in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History The second oldest state support ...

professor Sarah S.G. Frantz credited to the publisher offering material that authors and readers would not be able to publish or purchase in many other places. Ellora's Cave later moved into print and in 2012 sold an estimated 200,000 books per month, with their best-selling subgenre stated as

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

erotic romance. In 2013 the publisher began experiencing a drop in revenue, which continued into the following year. Ellora's Cave's founder Tina Engler credited this drop to

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, particularly their

Kindle Direct Publishing Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon.com's e-book publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Originally called Digital Text Platform, the platform allows authors and publishers to publish their b ...

program. Citing a decline in sales, the publisher reduced their staff and eliminated several projects in 2014. That same year the book blog Dear Author published an article about the company's financial issues entitled "The Curious Case of Ellora's Cave", which made several claims, including one that authors were not receiving royalty checks. Ellora's Cave responded to the claims, calling them false and filed a defamation lawsuit against Dear Author, citing that the blog irreparably damaged the company. They also stated that the royalty checks were not sent out due to issues with new accounting software. Dear Author responded by filing a counter claim. The suit was settled in 2015, with the terms confidential. Ellora's Cave threatened the

Romance Writers of America Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by incr ...

in May 2016 with a defamation suit over allegations made by the RWA claiming that Ellora's Cave was not paying their authors their full royalties. In October 2016 author

Stacia Kane Stacia Kane is an American writer of romantic erotica, urban fantasy Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which places imaginary and unreal elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer ...

posted on her website that Ellora's Cave had begun the process of closing and on December 31, 2016 Ellora's Cave shuttered their operations.

Notable authors from Ellora's Cave

Jaid Black Tina Marie Engler (born January 22, 1972), better known under the pen name Jaid Black, is an American author of erotic romance novels. Engler, the founder and majority stock holder of Ellora's Cave publishing, is behind the creation of what Ell ...

Sylvia Day Sylvia June Day (born March 11, 1973) is a Japanese American writer. She also writes under the pseudonyms S.J. Day and Livia Dare. She is a number one bestselling author in 29 countries. Career Day writes genre fiction and literary commentar ...

Shoshanna Evers Shoshanna Evers / Shoshanna Gabriel (April 1980 - September 11, 2021) is an American author of contemporary and erotic romance novels and novellas, and the editor and publisher of non-fiction books on writing and publishing. She is the co-founder o ...

Angela Knight Angela Ann Knight CBE (born Angela Ann Cook, 31 October 1950) was the chair of the Office of Tax Simplification. She was replaced on 18 March 2019. Previously she was the Chief Executive of Energy UK, the trade association for the energy indus ...

Lora Leigh Lora Leigh (born March 6, 1965) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author of erotic romance novels. Leigh started publishing with electronic publisher Ellora's Cave in 2003. Leigh's longest-running series is ''The Breeds''. She won the 2009 RT ...

* December Quinn *

Shiloh Walker Shiloh Walker (born 1976) is an American author of contemporary and erotic romance novels and novellas. She has written under the pen name J.C. Daniels. Biography Walker was born in 1976 in Louisville, Kentucky. Early in her career, Walker worke ...

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References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.ellorascave.com/ Erotic publishers Romance book publishing companies Defunct book publishing companies of the United States

History

Notable authors from Ellora's Cave

See also

References

External links