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Ellora's Cave: Double Entry Divas

February 25, 2015 by deirdre 27 Comments

elloras-cave-blog-header
I love the Internet.
Two days ago, I asked if anyone saved this Ellora’s Cave video that was tweeted by @CaveChaos on July 30th.
As with many “disappeared” videos from YouTube, it has found its way onto the Russian site Rutube. However, you needn’t know any Russian to understand the meaning of this video….

  • A riding crop.
  • Fanning themselves with Monopoly money.
  • Deciding to pay the electric bill.
  • Mocking the electric bill.
  • Crying when the books don’t balance.


It’s pretty clear that Courtney is Courtney Thomas, Ellora’s Cave’s CFO.
However, it’s not clear if “Sammy” is Sherry Herchek, the Assistant Controller? Or someone else?

Filed Under: Ellora's Cave Tagged With: ellorascave

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Comments

  1. tejas says

    February 25, 2015 at 3:18 am

    You FOUND it! The Net is forever. 🙂

    Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 25, 2015 at 3:23 am

      Sometimes it’s nice to be able to ask and receive. 🙂
      I’m reminded of Linus Torvalds, who said the definition of fame (or, I suppose, infamy) was that the Net could offer a complete backup.

      Reply
      • tejas says

        February 25, 2015 at 4:20 am

        LOL

        Reply
  2. Mercy says

    February 25, 2015 at 3:31 am

    So the monopoly to pick a bill… was “what our boss thinks we do”?

    Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 1:57 pm

      So they claim. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Anonymouse says

    February 25, 2015 at 4:13 am

    If you check their Leadership and Staff page, that appears to be Sherry H or someone who looks a lot like her: http://www.ellorascave.com/editors-and-artists/leadership/

    Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 1:58 pm

      It does. I’m just wondering because Sherry and Sammy are different names, so I wasn’t assuming it was the same person.

      Reply
  4. BJ says

    February 25, 2015 at 4:18 am

    Okay, let me understand this. Freelancers (editors, cover artists) had delayed payment at this juncture. Disclaimer: not me. I’d had a quiet spell as many books were in the almost completion stage, but my colleagues experienced delayed pay at this juncture.
    And yet. Yet. gestures. There was someone who thought it was a good idea to make a mockery of paying bills when people’s hard work wasn’t being paid out. The level of fail here is only challenged by the pure nerve and disrespect.
    Every time I think my lack of respect for the company and individuals involved couldn’t go any lower, it does. I think I’m approaching the inner core of our planet at high speed, the way things are going.
    A year ago, I couldn’t fathom saying this. Thank god I’m not associated with this group of people. Thank GOD!

    Reply
    • tejas says

      February 25, 2015 at 4:20 am

      The silver lining in all this is you escaped with your skin.

      Reply
      • BJ says

        February 25, 2015 at 4:20 am

        And self respect…

        Reply
        • Deirdre says

          February 28, 2015 at 2:00 pm

          Also very important. 🙂

          Reply
      • Deirdre says

        February 28, 2015 at 2:00 pm

        And we’re all glad she did. Very glad.
        I can’t even imagine working there.

        Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 1:59 pm

      I…can’t understand this either. Obviously Courtney was up for this (and it’s been my opinion for some time that she’s going to get thrown under the bus in this whole lawsuit thing), but it had buy-in from even higher ups.

      Reply
  5. Mitzi Reinbold w/a Mitzi Flyte says

    February 25, 2015 at 5:51 am

    I am so glad EC rejected my manuscript (later accepted by Wild Rose Press). I’ve worked for several organizations, one a very large company, and although we could say things among ourselves, we would NEVER put something like this out to the public. This just shows how out of touch they are with how to manage a company. Someone with common sense should take over. But it may be too late.

    Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 2:08 pm

      I’m glad you escaped that.
      When I was fairly new in Scientology (’79-80), the mission I was staff at had an event every Friday: Friday Night Jive, which included skits and live music. It was always packed. Depending on our schedule (Friday night was very big for accounting folks), I went as often as I could.
      Some time between then and when they became a full Church, Friday Night Jive was deemed to be “joking and degrading,” (a pet Scn catchphrase) and was banned. Note: “joking and degrading” is a specific phrase about making fun of Scientology. Scientology doesn’t actually prohibit a sense of humor. My favorite skit from Friday Night Jive was how Susan B. Anthony dollars caused cancer in laboratory rats (poking fun at both weird scientific studies and the insipidness of newscasts). Nothing to do with Scientology.
      Graduation numbers never recovered, not even when the org was far more successful.
      So part of me, having seen this kind of lesson, realizes that comedy sells even when comedy does occasionally go to far. But it only sells if you keep doing it, too. It has to be a habit.

      Reply
      • Julaine says

        February 28, 2015 at 8:20 pm

        Comedy always help. Humor creates a bond between the most strange bedfellows. However; Scientology seems to have lost their sense of humor as well as the plot.
        On a positive note….PNut seems to have finally realized it is in deep kimchi. Blissful silence. Wonderful how long it will last?

        Reply
        • Deirdre says

          March 1, 2015 at 2:38 pm

          Either that or Jaid’s still moving….

          Reply
  6. azteclady says

    February 25, 2015 at 6:22 am

    The lack of respect for all the contractors waiting to be paid money they have earned…
    No words.
    And please note: this was posted to Jaid Black’s youtube channel, so whether or not the CFO has no common sense or taste is not as relevant as the fact that the ‘charming’ CEO and effin’ face of the company thinks this is funny enough to make and share online.

    Reply
    • Anonymouse says

      February 25, 2015 at 7:11 am

      Don’t forget that authors’ royalties had been late or missing for months (allegedly cough) at this point, too. Can you imagine being an author whose checks came later every month, or not at all, and who was hearing all kinds of rumors about the state of the company–at this point, I’m pretty sure the cover artists had been let go and one of them had posted about it on FB, so everyone knew–and then seeing this video?
      It’s like having their fears and concerns turned into a punchline.

      Reply
      • azteclady says

        February 25, 2015 at 7:54 am

        Exactly.
        Disrespect barely begins to cover what’s going on here–from the TOP of the company to the lowest minion, no one gives a flying fig about the authors, the editors, the artists or the customers.

        Reply
      • Deirdre says

        February 28, 2015 at 2:16 pm

        Speaking of allegedly, I was contacted by an author who said that she’s never received any royalties for an EC title. The book had been out far longer than one would expect to wait for royalties.
        Correction: hadn’t received royalties in over a year.

        Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 2:13 pm

      Well, Jaid’s the main owner, not the CEO. I mean, p’nut says she’s the CEO, but mom’s the face of the company, not Jaid.

      Reply
  7. Julaine says

    February 25, 2015 at 7:17 am

    IMO, another nail in the coffin, if not the final nail.
    In review:
    In the same timeframe Patty Marks’ makes official comments to PW that Amazon revenue has taking a huge dive for unknown reasons and that the majority of their books are costing, not making, them money.
    In the same general timeframe EC lays off their entire freelance staff of editors & cover artists and at least 2 of their key management also quits/leaves EC.
    Also, it became apparent that something has gone awry with EC’s bill paying/royalty/accounting system that caused repeated delays and accuracies in meeting their financial obligations. Backdated checks, slippage from historical payment schedules, inaccurate statements, missing statements and inaccurate tax documents. Questions are ignored or answers not forthcoming when the Financial dept. is queried. A number of authors begin requesting rights revisions for poor selling books.
    Official records indicate that that tax obligations are not being meet in a timely manner and liens & fines have been imposed. (And No; PNut, a tax lien is not a government sponsored loan granted to favored corps. It means the government wants their money and they intend of getting it by any means necessary. Up to and including seizure of assets & real property.) Tax liens means poor credit ratings and I don’t care how big your mythical “surplus of cash” (TM pending) is, a bad credit rating has a serious impact on a company’s ability to conduct business.
    Now we find out that officers of that company filmed a little skit about how lightly they take concerns that bills are going unpaid and how poor their record keeping is. And they post it on a public forum!
    Explain to me again how the conclusions reached by Jane Litte could be considered reckless or defaming? Inconvenient truths are just that, truths. Regardless if one wants them to come to light or not.

    Reply
    • azteclady says

      February 25, 2015 at 7:58 am

      You forgot: they post it on a public forum under the CEO’s account.

      Reply
  8. Archivist says

    February 25, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    MP4 backup in case anyone wants to download a copy for preservation: http://www.filedropper.com/doubleentrydivasaccounting-whatwereallydo-5054d12e7d687f4161e2c6e859a6af4a

    Reply
    • Deirdre says

      February 28, 2015 at 2:12 pm

      Thank you so much! I’d been meaning to look for a place to suggest it go, but wasn’t familiar with the various anon file sharing services.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Karen Knows Best says:
    February 25, 2015 at 5:14 am

    […] out Double Entry Divas and The Sunken Queen for […]

    Reply

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