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Ellora's Cave: An Interesting USDOT Finding

September 13, 2015 by deirdre 7 Comments

This was an interesting Google find that you can locate by searching on: USDOT Ellora’s Cave and clicking on the fmcsa.dot.gov link on the first page.

The “OOS” (Out of Service) category column has an entry which states: New Entrant Revoked – Refusal of Audit/No Contact and the “OOS Date” (Out of Service Date) is November 17, 2008.
Per the MSCIP Step Chart, which explains the various possible explanations that appear in the “OOS” category column. While there is no perfect match, this appears to most closely match the description for Step #63.
But what does it mean?
I believe it may be about the Ellora’s Cave bus.

Ellora’s Cave Party Bus. Photo by Cait Miller.

Per the USDOT website:

Apart from federal regulations, some states require commercial motor vehicle registrants to obtain a USDOT Number. These states include:
[…]
• Ohio

Per that, it appears that any commercial registration in Ohio requires a valid USDOT number.
Note that this isn’t a USDOT number for the vehicle, but rather for the carrier. So if Ellora’s Cave had, oh, any commercial vehicle registered to the company, they’d need to have a current, valid USDOT number with no Out of Service Orders.
Like, say, if they owned a bus.
It does seem odd, given that the description for Step 63 says that yes, the carrier’s vehicles would be targeted at roadside, and yes, deny registration, that this situation appears to be unaddressed after almost seven years.
There’s a formal process for issuing an out of service order, detailed here. It just strikes me that it’d be the kind of thing that’d be hard to miss.
It’s not unheard of for government sites to be incorrect, though, so I don’t want to read too much into it.

Letter to FDA re International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation

September 10, 2015 by deirdre 1 Comment

Dear FDA,
Sadly, I can’t attend the meeting in College Park, Maryland today regarding public comments in preparation for the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation conference in November, but I’m emailing my input.

Issue 1: Sunscreen Approval

My first issue: the United States treats new sunscreen UV filtering agents as though they are new drugs, where the industry leaders (meaning: EU, Japan, Australia, and Korea) in sunscreen research and development treat them as cosmetics. Therefore, there is a huge burden in bringing new UV filtering agents to market.
Thus, the United States lags almost two decades behind these other countries in sunscreen agents. In the last ~18 years, we’ve had one UV filtering agent approved for one single SPF 15 (!) sunscreen.
While I can certainly see reason for caution, we’re far more permissive in other things that go directly on a consumer’s skin which may not provide the results alluded to by the marketing hype.
If a UV agent’s already approved in the EU and Japan, how about we allow it to be used in the US?

Issue 2: Allergens

I know the cosmetic industry will never agree to this, but I have to bring it up: it’s easy to label cosmetics for things like hydrolyzed wheat protein and hydrolyzed wheat gluten—because they’re used in almost zero cosmetics. Though, as a celiac, I do appreciate the labeling even though it’s not the limiting factor for me.
What would be hard to do is to label cosmetics for tree nuts, because that would include coconut.
Coconut derivatives are in almost all facets of cosmetic formulations: from the stearic acid that thickens mascara, the sodium laurel and laureth sulfate that comprises one of the first two ingredients of almost all commercial shampoos, and the surfactants, emollients, and emulsifiers that make commercial products look and feel like they do (and stay in solution through several coconut-derived versions of PEG, as well as many that are not coconut-derived).
However, it really would be nice to actually not have to look up ingredients to see if they’re likely to be coconut derived. Then I won’t have to wonder why I suddenly reacted to this one product, as I might actually know if they changed from a palm source to a coconut one.
A surprisingly large number of people react to coconut-derived sulfates and coconut-derived fatty acids, among other things, and that’s not even getting into the palm sources of, say, glycerin.
But please, given how prevalent coconut is, could we possibly consider it an allergen some day? I was married to a soap chemist and had 34 new-to-me brands of shampoo to try (driven in from Canada) to determine what my allergy was. Most people just have the mystery acne, and are given dermatology formulas that, no joke, contain more of the exact same allergens.
Thank you for listening. I’m really looking forward to hearing more of the conference’s progress.
Signed,
Deirdre

Why I Wrote In….

Two years ago, I ran out of sunscreen before arriving in the Maldives. I went to the gift shop, where the only thing they had was something they described as a “total block.” Which, short of a space suit, seemed rather optimistic and improbable.
I didn’t know how to evaluate the ingredients on the label, but I did notice that the two physical sunscreen blocking agents I knew about—zinc dioxide and titanium oxide—were nowhere to be found.
Fortunately, the hotel had another gift shop. I strolled over there, only to find that they had a very reasonable SPF 50 sunscreen.
What I didn’t know at that time was how incomplete my understanding of sunscreen was, nor why my lack of knowledge was so important.

A Quick Primer on UVA and UVB

UVA and UVB penetration. Illustration © edesignua and used with permission.

UVA and UVB penetration. Illustration © edesignua and used under license.

UVB (think “burning”) penetrates the epidermis with rays between 290 and 320 nm.
UVA (think “aging”) was initially thought not to cause skin cancer. Unfortunately, it’s highly associated with cancer. It penetrates down to the bottom of the dermis. Tanning also happens with UVA, so for a long time it was thought that if you blocked UVB, you’d encourage a nice healthy tan while preventing burning and skin cancer. UVA is broken into two wavelength bands: UVA1 (340-400 nm) and UVA2 (320-340 nm).
SPF ratings are only for UVB. There is no rating system, nor any requirement to even mention UVA in American cosmetics. Sure, a product can use the “broad spectrum” phrasing, but there’s still no requirement that it be world-class UVA protection.
Japanese and Korean skin care uses a PA rating system with pluses to rank effectiveness of UVA blocking up to a maximum of four pluses. There are also other methods in use outside the US. Some are better than the Japanese/Korean system

Why US Sunscreen Is So Awful

In the US, sunscreen is considered a drug, thus new blocking agents have to be approved by the FDA. That means a company needs to sponsor the research (which costs millions) and lead the blocking agent through the whole approval process.
Which is fine if you’re a company that is patenting a drug where the exclusivity will, one hopes, pay for the approval process.
In the case of sunscreen blocking agents, however, they aren’t patentable (they’ve been in use too long), so one company would be spending a ton of money to allow other companies to profit equally, but without having spent the cost for approval.
So if a sunscreen agent is past the useful life
Hence, there is zero corporate incentive to get new blocking agents through the approval process, and we all suffer as a result. Yay, capitalism.
Worse, there had been at least eight new (to the US) sunscreen ingredients waiting for approval for more than five years. The ironically named Sunscreen Innovation Act, passed in 2014, was supposed to help us catch up with the rest of the world.

Speaking of Capitalism…

Thus, Americans respond to signs of aging after the fact rather than with prevention. This is a big part of the reason the US share of the global botox market is predicted to reach $2 billion annually by 2018.
While botox is used in non-cosmetic procedures such as stroke rehab and migraine prevention, much of the US market is about wanting to reverse aging signs in skin—aging that could have been prevented, in part, by better sunscreens.

Chemistry: Which Agents Are Approved Where

I’m only going to show US ??, Australia ??, EU ??, Japan ??, and Korea ?? since that will cover most of my readers as well as the products I’m talking about. Heavily borrowed from the Wikipedia Sunscreen page and this skincancer.org page; where they disagree, I’ve used the Skin Cancer site’s answer. Note: I’ll use the French flag ?? instead of EU flag ?? as there is no emoji support in Mac/iOS yet for this emoji.
Korea ?? information is currently incomplete as I’m only listing agents I’ve looked up that are included in Korean sunscreens or which were on a 2008 chart. Also, as there are almost a dozen sunscreen agents on that chart approved only in Japan, I’ve omitted those.

Ingredient	Other Names	Approved In	Protects Against
4-Methylbenzylidene camphor	Enzacamene, Parsol 5000, Eusolex 6300, MBC	?? ?? ?? ?? (may be endocrine disruptor)	UVB
Amiloxate	Isopentyl-4-methoxycinnamate, Isoamyl p-Methoxycinnamate, IMC, Neo Heliopan E1000	?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
Avobenzone	1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(4-tert-butyl phenyl)propane-1,3-dione, Butyl methoxy dibenzoylmethane, BMDBM, Parsol 1789, Eusolex 9020	?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVA1, UVA2 (some sources say UVA1 only)
Cinoxate	2-Ethoxyethyl p-methoxycinnamate	?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
DEA Methoxycinnamate		?? ??	UVB
Dihydroxybenzophenone	Benzophenone-1	?? ??	UVA2, UVB
Dioxybenzone	Benzophenone-8	?? ??	UVA2, UVB
Ecamsule	Mexoryl SX, Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid	?? ?? (limited ?? use via new drug approval, L’Oréal exclusive)	UVA2 only
Homosalate	Homomethyl salicylate, HMS	?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
Menthyl anthranilate	Meradimate	?? ??	UVA2 only
Mexoryl XL	Drometrizole Trisiloxane	?? ??	UVA2
Neo Heliopan AP	Bisdisulizole Disodium, Disodium phenyl dibenzimidazole tetrasulfonate, bisimidazylate, DPDT	?? ?? ??	UVA1
Octocrylene	Eusolex OCR, 2-Cyano-3,3-diphenyl acrylic acid, 2-ethylhexylester	?? ?? ?? ?? ?? (increases ROS)	UVB
Octyl methoxycinnamate	Octinoxate, EMC, OMC, Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, Escalol 557, 2-Ethylhexyl-paramethoxycinnamate, Parsol MCX	?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
Octyl salicylate	Octisalate, 2-Ethylhexyl salicylate, Escalol 587	?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
Oxybenzone	Benzophenone-3, Eusolex 4360, Escalol 567	?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVA2, UVB
p-Aminobenzoic acid	PABA	?? ?? ?? ?? (banned in ?? because of DNA damage)	UVB
Phenylbenzimidazole sulfonic acid	Ensulizole, Eusolex 232, PBSA, Parsol HS	?? ?? ?? ?? ?? (genotoxic in bacteria)	UVB
Padimate A	Pentyl-dimethyl PABA, Amyl p-Dimetyamino PABA	?? ?? (withdrawn from ?? in 1989; never approved in ??)	UVB
Padimate O	OD-PABA, octyldimethyl-PABA, σ-PABA	?? ?? ?? ?? (not currently supported in ?? and may be delisted)	UVB
Parsol SLX	Dimethico-diethylbenzalmalonate, Polysilicone-15	?? ?? ??	UVB
PEG-25 PABA	Uvinul P-25, Ethoxylated ethyl-4-aminobenzoate	?? ??	UVA2, UVB
Sulisobenzone	2-Hydroxy-4-Methoxybenzophenone-5-sulfonic acid, 3-Benzoyl-4-hydroxy-6-methoxybenzenesulfonic acid, Benzophenone-4, Escalol 577	?? ?? ?? ??	UVA2, UVB
Tinosorb A2B	Tris-Biphenyl Triazine	?? (very new)	UVA2, UVB, limited UVA1
Tinosorb M	Bisoctrizole, Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol, MBBT	?? ?? ??	UVA1, UVA2, UVB
Tinosorb S	Bemotrizinol, Bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenol triazine, Bemotrizinol, BEMT, anisotriazine	?? ?? ?? ??	UVA1, UVA2, UVB
Titanium dioxide	CI77891	?? ?? ?? ?? (not approved in ?? as a UV filter, but permitted as a colorant)	UVA2, UVB
Trolamine salicylate	Triethanolamine salicylate	?? ??	UVB
Uvasorb HEB	Iscotrizinol, Diethylhexyl butamido triazone, DBT	?? ??	UVA1, UVB
Uvinul A Plus	Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate	?? ??	UVA2
Uvinul T 150	Octyl triazone, ethylhexyl triazone, EHT	?? ?? ?? ??	UVB
Zinc Oxide		?? ?? ?? ?? ??	UVA1, UVA2, UVB

Even excluding Japan-only sunscreen agents, there are about as many approved only outside the US as approved for the US.

Two Sunscreen Videos

The first video is from British beauty blogger Lisa Eldridge. I mention this because some of what she says is from a very EU-centric viewpoint, specifically when she’s talking about approved sunscreen agents.
YouTuber Lisa Eldridge has a rundown on sunscreens, focusing on European brands.

YouTuber faceturtle has a review of 9 Asian sunscreens.
https://youtu.be/JKAXnwoankU

Random Interesting Things I Found While Writing This

L’Oréal is the top nanotechnology patent holder in the United States.
Rick brought the Jessica Alba Honest Company Sunscreen backlash to my attention. After looking at the ingredients, I agree with much of this Forbes piece. The real problem is one of user psychology: people don’t want to be white all over from their sunscreen. By using only a single physical filter (zinc oxide, famous for lifeguards’ white noses), they aren’t offering protection to people who spread it too thinly. So, an admirable goal that has issues in the real world.
Also, apparently there was a reformulation, then the reformulation led to unexpected drops in effective SPF due to the product settling out of emulsion (it sounds like from my reading of the article, anyway). How many people obey labels to shake the bottle?
My current sunscreen, The Face Shop Natural Eco Sun Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF 40 PA+++ uses only chemical sunscreen agents, four of which are UVB (it does have good UVA coverage through the fifth agent). Huh.

What Sunscreens Do I Use?

I have three.
The Face Shop Natural Sun Eco Sebum Control Moisture Sun SPF40 PA+++ is a Korean Sunscreen also available in US Face Shop stores. It only uses chemical filters.
La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL has some of the L’Oreal patent goodness (and nanotechnology research goodness) in it. Not for sale in the US, but you can import it from overseas; it’s cheaper to import from Europe, IME.
Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++ is also really awesome.

Questions? Comments? Errors?

What sunscreen do you like?

Ellora's Cave: Tina Engler's Legal Update to the Biz Loop

September 3, 2015 by deirdre 80 Comments

I’ll post Tina’s email first, then respond to her points.

From: (Tina Engler)
Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2015 2:39 PM
Subject: [ec_biz] legal update
We will not be responding in a public venue to the “trial by social media” smear campaign being staged by the defendant and her counsel and will instead keep this in the court and on our private business loop. While we cannot respond to most of this, period, we can respond to some of it.

Stating that I destroyed evidence is a complete and total LIE. There was no evidence to destroy. Had the defendant and her counsel truly believed that, they could have subpoenaed Facebook’s records just as they did Twitter’s records.

I have not refused attempts at discovery. On the contrary, defendant’s counsel failed to request discovery in the timeframe set forth by Judge Adams. It is my understanding the defendant’s counsel is filing a motion to extend the discovery period; whether or not the motion is granted is up to the court.

Depositions are never fun and are by their very nature highly intrusive. That said, WE did not release the deposition transcript. I’m assuming the defendant released it to garner sympathy, but that is my conjecture.
I have only read bits and pieces of the deposition so I’m unaware of most questions and accompanying answers, but one of our authors brought to my attention that our lawyer asked the defendant her daughter’s name. Asking her such a question is not a “low blow” as I was asked the same question the last time I was deposed. It’s not as if we’re putting any of this out there on social media anyway; the defendant is the one doing that. As far as “low blows” and children go, my kids have been smeared on social media by your peers, and a couple of you, so don’t go there with me. The defendant herself published my home address on her website for any weirdo to see when my youngest daughter was 11 or 12 years old. (It’s still on her website last I looked.)

The 6-page motion we filed was NOT for summary judgment on our case against the defense, but rather for summary judgment on the defense’s counterclaim. It was short because, per my understanding, the counterclaim was short.

The defense counsel’s most recent legal track record involving ethics violations and breach of fiduciary duty:

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2015/07/09/marc-randazza-must-pay-600k-for-clear-and-serious-breaches-of-fiduciary-duty-against-his-former-client/comment-page-1/
In closing, we will provide you with a bit of our side of the situation within the 30-day time frame provided by the court for response. The bulk of our evidence will be presented at trial in March.
Tina

My Responses

Tina’s statement about subpoenaing facebook assumes that facebook actively keeps old deleted posts and accounts. I’m sure a company as large as facebook does have a retention policy, but it’s not infinite. However, if EC/JJ hadn’t sued about the shopping trip allegation (and I fail to see how the company has standing to do so given that the alleged activities did not take place in Ohio and did not involve a corporate officer acting in her official capacity), then Tina’s facebook postings would not be relevant at all.
Added this paragraph: Commenter Not Really Anonymouse commented with this facebook link that covers their retention and subpoena policy.
Added this paragraph 9/23: Apparently, Tina’s facebook page is back.
I had decided against posting something Tina posted on her FB because it was more about Tina the person than about Tina in her capacity within EC, but it’s relevant tho this point, so I’ve added it in its own section below, and I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
The timeframe was actually agreed upon by both parties (not set by the judge), and discovery is not over per that timeframe. Here’s the actual document. Note that there is no final date for non-preliminary discovery.
(added Sep 11) Also note that per plaintiff’s own filings, what Tina says about discovery is untrue. Note that Randazza asked for a deposition of EC, presumably Tina, on February 26th. Note: PMK = “person most knowledgeable.”
I agree that depositions are intrusive. As I said the other day on Twitter, depositions are the real horror show. Attorneys have wide latitude to uncover discoverable information.
It’s also possible, given how small family-owned businesses work, that a minor child could be involved in operating a small business. For example, in my teens, I worked for my family business making fighter aircraft cable tension regulator bushings. Had there been a lawsuit related to my work, it’d absolutely have been relevant to depose my parents about me.
That said, I do believe that asking specifically name and age is douchebaggery. “Is your child a minor?” “Are they involved in operations of Dear Author?” Those questions would have been fine, and relevant. If the answer to the second question had been yes, then maybe asking a name would be relevant, but it’d still have been possible to use “your child” instead when asking questions.
Tina’s correct. I had intended to get the actual full document title phrasing from the docket, but I apparently didn’t, so my apologies for that accidental omission. I’ve also made a correction in this post.
That said, if discovery’s genuinely over (as EC claims), why didn’t they file for a Motion for Summary Judgment on the entire case?
There are definitely some troubling things mentioned in the interim arbitration award, and an alleged version of that 26-page document can be found here, but it’s also fairly obvious that there was some serious WTFery going on at that job. Here’s an article that mentions some of Randazza’s claims and a few excerpts:
- Those activities, according to the arbitrator’s decision that was widely disseminated just recently through the adult entertainment B2B community, included testimony by Randazza that his office at the studio was used for a porn shoot and that he was upset after he drove two studio officials in the backseat of his car while they proceeded to give blow jobs to each other.
  I’ve worked for a legal department (more than once, most recently as a DBA contractor for Honda North America) and, uh, lawyers don’t like it when you use their offices for anything, let alone a porn shoot.
- Judge Stephen Haberfeld, the arbitrator, however determined that, contrary to Randazza’s central contention in arbitration, the termination of his employment had nothing to do with a sexually charged work environment.
- In response to the lawsuit and a press release distributed to the adult entertainment community by Corbin Fisher last week, Randazza’s publicist, who submitted a press release on behalf of the attorney, noted that Haberfeld’s award is not a “final result.”
There have apparently been over ten thousand hours of work on this, and it’s a big mess. While it looks bad for Mr. Randazza, I’m sure he wouldn’t have filed the suit if he didn’t think he had a better than even chance at getting a resolution in his favor. Interim award is not a final award, so it’s a little early to crow about it, and especially early to troll the #notchilled hashtag with. (Though, in fairness, that may not have been Tina.)

Tina’s Last(?) Facebook Post

I’d previously commented that I didn’t feel right posting this because of the content. However, it’s directly relevant to Tina’s (and my) point #1 above, so I’m posting it.
I received this on August 21st, but it may have been posted on the 20th. Somewhere around there.
Emphasis added.

It’s unfortunate that only hindsight is 20/20. Why can’t foresight work that way? I regret the day I read my first romance novel, but I especially regret the day I published my first book. It was genuinely the biggest mistake of my life.
I should have taken that full scholarship into the phd program I applied to because my life might have turned out so differently. I might never have developed panic disorder. I definitely never would have had to deal with a horde of self-entitled, paranoid, liars… At least not outside of a lab setting. My word, honor, & integrity wouldn’t have been questioned, let alone assaulted, on a daily basis, because I wouldn’t be in a profession that is glutted with conspiracy theorist women who thrive on conflict, gossip, drama, & inflicting pain on others.
Growing up, my biggest fear was living a normal life because it felt like mediocrity; today I would give anything to have that. I used to feel sorry for women who chose unpaid professions like being a housewife; now I envy them.
Point blank: I’ve made countless mistakes in life, but I’ve never cheated anyone. I don’t have a poker face or a filter; people always know where they stand with me and they always know where I stand on every issue that matters to me. I’ve never kept skeletons in the closet because I have no filter and because I never understood the utility in pretending. I might be a handshake kind of bumpkin, but I’m not a swindler.
The past 11 years have been… Not worth this. I realized tonight that I’m constantly throwing good energy after bad by giving a shit about my completely annihilated reputation. The chips are going to have to fall where they may… I just do not care anymore. Even if I wanted to care, I’m too tired to.
Some of you will view me as depressed; some of you will view me as a sympathy seeker. Truthfully? I’m too numb to feel anything at all so view me as you will.
I’m leaving this post up until I wake up and then I’m closing all my social media accounts. That should give plenty of time for friends, family, & gossips alike to read this. I’ll miss the interaction with friends and family, but you know how to find me. To my readers…
I’m sorry I let you down by not finishing the Trek, Viking, & Death Row series. All I ever wanted to do is write, but for the past 11 years it’s been nothing but one thing after the next. (I’m not the type of person who can write while constantly feeling anxious.)
It is for this reason that I am pulling my Trek story out of the “Alien” anthology. I don’t want to hold up Laura, Amy, and Tara by forcing them to wait on me to finish edits that could take me who knows how long. Plus, as I’ve already told my mom, I decided not to chance poisoning the success of these 3 talented authors by having their names tainted by mine.
Laura can & will carry the anthology solo. I wish I had her strength & resilience. A stroke doesn’t stop her, nor do the endless unchilled who threaten her on a daily basis and email her things like “I wish you had died when you had that stroke so EC would go under and I can get my rights back.” (All that just for being a professional who doesn’t trash talk on social media or hatch plots to get out of her contracts.)
At any rate, this post is turning into a biopic dissertation so I’ll end here. I will miss all of you I regularly interact with… And I genuinely mean that. It’s just time for me to do a Kenny Rogers and “know when to walk away, know when to run.”
Take care of yourselves. Hopefully we’ll meet again. xx

Now, did Tina delete the account and/or posts? I don’t know, but people said they could no longer reach her account, and neither could I.
What I do know: generally, deleting (or hiding) anything possibly relevant once one is in litigation isn’t a great idea.
Draw your own conclusions.

One Last Thing: A Pro-EC Twitter Account Trolling #notchilled

I hadn’t realized the @Retireme15 account had posted to #notchilled previously in April, but I don’t catch everything.
I’ll just note two things: this tweet was posted about ten minutes before Tina’s email to the biz loop was posted; it was posted at a time when another pro-EC and pro-STGRB tweeter was purportedly active.

(Click image for full size; troller’s at the bottom.)
And a response from the blogger who posted the article Tina links to in the first place:

@Retireme15 @courtneymilan To be clear, while I have a low opinion on Randazza's ethics, I think as an attorney he is…

— Fight © Trolls (@fightcopytrolls) September 3, 2015

@Retireme15 @courtneymilan …very capable of handling this frivolous case (and @ellorascave deserves to lose miserably). #notchilled

— Fight © Trolls (@fightcopytrolls) September 3, 2015

RWA Notice Regarding Ellora's Cave

September 3, 2015 by deirdre 34 Comments

The Romance Writers of America (RWA), the largest industry group of romance writers, has just forwarded a statement to its chapter leaders (that may in turn be forwarded).
From: Allison Kelley
Sent: Sep 3, 2015 6:21 PM
Subject: [Chapter Leadership] – notice regarding Ellora’s Cave
Permission to forward granted:
I have been in touch with Patty Marks, CEO of Ellora’s Cave regarding complaints about the company. She responded by stating “currently we are not as up to date with royalties as we want to be and will be,” and added that the company is trying to catch up. Failure to pay authors in a timely manner is a violation of RWA’s Code of Ethics for Industry Professionals. Violations of this Industry Professional Code of Ethics may result in loss of privileges such as (but not limited to) listing in Market and Agent Updates, participation in workshops and pitch sessions, and the opportunity to advertise in RWA’s publications.
I notified Ms. Marks that Ellora’s Cave must refrain from contacting members or chapters regarding new submissions and refrain from participation in any RWA or chapter event until the company has achieved satisfactory resolution of the Code of Ethics violation.
RWA makes no warranties regarding business practices or financial strength of any publisher or agency. Each author must evaluate the company, carefully read the individual publisher’s/agency’s contract, and decide if s/he is willing to accept the conditions set forth in the contract.
Allison Kelley, CAE | Executive Director

Ellora's Cave: Defense Pulls a Mic Drop!

September 2, 2015 by deirdre 70 Comments

So Ellora’s Cave finally filed a status report. (boring)
And Ellora’s Cave filed their Motion for Summary Judgment. (yawn) tl;dr: We didn’t do anything wrong, it’s all lies, we don’t owe six figures. Here, have a sworn statement. Clarification: Note that this is an MSJ against Dear Author’s/Jane Litte’s counterclaims, not the whole case.
The really interesting news is the complete mic drop that’s defense’s Motion for Summary Judgment. (or use this link for the 33mb zip file)
Look, I’ve been getting the pieces of this assembled for y’all for over an hour, and I honestly haven’t managed more than a glance here or there. So I’ll just give some comparative numbers so you can understand how qualitatively different the two filings were.
Like you, I’ll probably read them in the morning.

	Ellora’s Cave & Jasmine Jade	Dear Author & Jane Litte
Number of Exhibits	2	54
Longest Exhibit	4 pages	296 pages
Number of Legal Cites	14 cases	55 cases

If you’d rather go through the docs one by one or pick and choose, the docket copy I keep is now up to date and everything’s uploaded with (I hope) all the same descriptions as on the court docs.
The most interesting defense exhibit is the 296-page defense deposition #46-9. A few highlights:

p. 163 One witness has discovered that she’s owed an additional $17,000.

(will add more bullet points soooooooon)

My September Experiment: Coconut-Free Living

August 31, 2015 by deirdre 8 Comments

For many years, I’ve struggled with a coconut-free existence without really being aware coconut itself was the issue. Over the years, I’ve felt sad for people who’ve had to live both gluten-free and corn-free, as that’s quite difficult. However, it may actually be more difficult to avoid coconut in our modern age.
Part of that’s the fault of people like my first husband, so funny story down at the end.
Coconut’s in:

Almost all shampoos, face washes (especially the foaming ones), body washes, and toothpastes;
Many conditioners;
Many deodorants and anti-perspirants;
Some cough syrups;
Many makeup products; and
Some dishwashing detergents (and probably laundry detergents, though they’re cagier about actual identification of ingredients).

Now, I’ve eliminated all the coconut ingredients that I knew bothered me over the years. However, coconut’s in so many, many things that I had no idea for sure if I wasn’t generally feeling worse because of additive exposure. I have a friend who was miserable for two years and got so sick she consulted a cardiologist before it was figured out she was allergic to wheat. I don’t want to be that person because I was being silly.

The Great September Experiment (and the Red Washi Tape of Doom)

I decided, naturally after I’d just ordered some items with coconut (grin), that September was a great time for me to run an experiment: no coconut internally or externally. If I feel better, then I have to eliminate all coconut. I’ve kept track of how I’ve felt during August. If I consider September insufficiently conclusive, then my plan is to extend the experiment through October. At that point, I’ll know whether I can start re-introducing coconut ingredients or not.
If I can, then my plan is to introduce one specific coconut ingredient at a time. Like: Stearic Acid for two weeks (that will probably actually be first because I love Wintergreen Life Savers and they have Stearic Acid in them, as do many hard candies).
I know how I get when I’m tired: I forget things, and make some stupid mistakes. I’m often showering or washing my face at the beginning or ending of my day when I’m at my worst. So, I thought, a simple trip to Staples and less than five bucks should help solve this problem.
To mark the no-coconut things, I got small holographic stars. To mark the coconut things, I got red washi tape. (Not all things in the pic below have been marked yet, and not everything’s turned so you can see the star or tape.)

A Korean and Japanese Skin Care Routine That’s Coconut-Free

Here are the ones I’ve used (except where otherwise noted):

Oil cleanser. Many oil cleansers are coconut-free (probably about a third of the ones at your nearest Sephora, for example). ~~Kosé Softymo Deep Cleansing Oil (gold, not the pink Speedy, which is not coconut-free) runs around $11 for 230ml.~~ I missed a coconut ingredient. 🙁 Please hold.
Second cleanser. So far, I’ve only found one, and I stopped looking when I found it: Innisfree Jeju Bija Anti-Trouble Cleansing Gel. This is more like a pool cleanser, so it can be both a first and a second cleanser. More about pool cleansers in this piece on fanserviced-b.
You can basically assume that anything foaming is not coconut free, which will save you a ton of label disappointment and time. I’ll create a list after a while, but this category’s lower priority than some others.
Exfoliater. Cure Natural Aqua Gel, the most commonly-used exfoliator in Japan, is coconut-free, but many products in this category may be. (Note: I’ve not used any products in this category.)
Toner. I use a toner every 2-3 nights, and use CosRX’s AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. For a hydrating toner, I still have a bottle of Elemis’s Apricot toner (Elemis is a British brand and quite pricey, but I’ve got a mostly full bottle, so it’s a sunk cost).
Serum, Emulsion, Ampoule. I use CosRX’s Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence alternated with CosRX’s Propolis Light Ampule. I hadn’t intended to be all animal product at this stage, nor is that a given. It’s just the way it happened.
Sheet Masks. Many much-loved sheet masks aren’t coconut free. Here are some I’ve happened upon that are.
- Some Skinfood “Beauty in a Food Mask”: Strawberry, Jeju Tangerine, and Ginseng for sure.
- Some Skinfood Everyday: Olive, Lentil, Beauty Berry, and Green Tea definitely are.
- Whamisa Organic Seeds & Rice Fermented Hydrogel Mask with Lactobacillus, so thankfully one company gifted two with an order because I hadn’t thought to buy one. I haven’t tried it yet.
- Benton Snail Bee High Content Mask Pack, also a gift. I haven’t tried it yet.
- Some Sexylook masks, which thankfully have their ingredients printed in English on the back. The (purple) Intensive Firming Duo 3D Lifting Facial Mask has a first ingredient of rose water. The (pink) Super Hydrating Duo 3D Lifting Facial Mask has a first ingredient of rhodochrosite extract.
- Dr. Jart+ hydrogels like the Water-full Hydrogel Mask and Wrinkless Solution, are coconut free and available at Sephora for mind-boggling prices.
- Some Dermal masks, including Q10 Collagen Essence Mask and Acerola Collagen Essence Mask.
Eye Creams. I haven’t found any yet. This is my next project.
Moisturizer. After loving a non-coconut-free Hada Labo product, I went to a local Japanese grocery (Mitsuwa in San Jose) and picked up Hada Labo 3D Anti-Aging Perfect Gel which Mentholatum imports. Mentholatum’s parent company, Rohto, makes Hada Labo. Nature Republic’s Aqua Super Aqua Max Combination Watery Cream is another. Most Asian beauty moisturizers aren’t coconut free, but it was fairly easy to find one.
Sunscreen. I’m going to recommend this, but it may be a mistake, so let me know if it doesn’t work for you. Laur- often translates to coconut or palm origin because they lead to production of long carbon chains. The Biore UV AQUA Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++ contains Lauryl Methacrylate/Sodium Methacrylate crosspolymer. Yet, I see nothing in that linked document that indicates specific origin, let alone coconut. In this case, the further removed from the nut, the better as far as I’m concerned. Also available on Amazon as an import.
If you need alcohol free and that’s a bigger problem for you than coconut is, Mentholatum Sunplay Super Block Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA++++ is the only thing I’ve found so far. This is a Japanese import. It has two laur- ingredients that are not listed on other coconut lists (lauryl PEG-9 polydimethylsiloxyethyl dimethicone and vinyl dimethicone/lauryl dimethicone crosspolymer). Amazon link. Currently $9.48 for 30g (a hair over an ounce).
Sleeping Pack. I really love the Too Cool For School Pumpkin Sleeping Pack. Here are some others I haven’t tried:
- Etude House Collagen Moistfull Sleeping Pack
- Etude House Play Therapy SLEEPING PACK #Moist Up
- Imselene Birds Nest Aqua Sleeping Mask Pack
- Innisfree Aloe Revital Sleeping Pack
- Innisfree Green Tea Sleeping Pack
- Lioele Bee My Honey Sleeping Pack
- Lioele Waterdrop Sleeping Pack (I’d incorrectly marked a sample of this with red washi tape in the photo above, which I’ve since corrected)
- Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Deep Moist Sleeping Pack
- Shara Shara The Veiled Beauty Sleeping Mask
- SNP Diamond Water Moisturizing Sleeping Pack

Other Things

Toothpaste

Most commercial toothpastes have sodium laurel/eth sulfate, which is coconut derived. Even if you’re not avoiding coconut, if you get canker sores, these are correlated with SLS, so you might want to try some SLS-free toothpaste.
I know of two without coconut ingredients that have fluoride: Closys (shown above) and Tom’s of Maine Clean & Easy Gentle Care.

Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant

Many of these have some coconut ingredients. I’ve been using the Mennen stick ones for years, and the non-gel ones all have coconut where the gel ones don’t. However, when I happened to be in a small pharmacy in Oregon, they didn’t have the gel ones, so I picked up an Old Spice stick instead.

Shampoo

Shampoo is the problem child. I’m convinced that shampoo uses higher amounts of (coconut-derived) surfactants, but I haven’t performed the experiment yet.
The only shampoo I know of that’s shampoo like and coconut-free is from Gabriel Cosmetics:

I just got a bottle and it’s nice. Not super lathery, but that’s to be expected. The detangler and hand soap are also coconut free, as is the bath foam. Gabriel Cosmetics is carried by most health food stores that stock personal care, and Whole Foods. If they don’t stock it, as my local store doesn’t, they can probably order it for you.
A number of lines designed for the anti-shampoo movement (no-poo, low-poo, or co-washing) are coconut free. Four of the five shampoos from Morocco Method are coconut free (the exception being the Earth Essence). I’ve only tried a sample of the Heavenly Essence. The Floating Lotus Conditioner and Pearl Essence Creme Rinse are also coconut-free.

A Funny Story and a Book Coming Out

I mentioned in my How I Discovered My Coconut Allergy post, my first husband, Richard Savino, was a soap chemist for Lever Bros (which was what the US division of Unilever was still called until the 90s).
So when I got the shampoo, I obviously couldn’t talk to my late husband about it, so I wrote his ex-wife, Beth Kanell, who also was a chemist and is now a mystery writer. She pointed out that Unilever really got its start with importing palm and coconut oils from afar, investing heavily in overseas plantations. In 1930, British soapmaker Lever Brothers merged with Dutch margarine maker Margarine Unie to form Unilever. The merger made sense because importing palm oil was easier on a larger scale.
So one of my questions had been how coconut became so entrentched in detergents and personal care products, and there I was married to a chemist who’d previously been making that future a reality.
Beth also mentioned that coming out soon—coincidentally on the day my experiment was planned to start—is James R. Benn’s novel The White Ghost, a historical mystery involving the Pacific theatre of WWII and Unilever machinations.
The Solomon Islands, where the book is set, currently produces in excess of 600 million coconuts a year. Just typing that sentence made me itch all over.

In Closing

Coconut allergies (and contact dermatitis) are pretty rare. Unless you know you’re reacting to something that’s a coconut ingredient, there’s no specific reason to avoid coconut. However, if you’re one of the unlucky few, I hope this post helps.
For those of you who suspect a coconut allergy, the last time I checked, there were no specific antigens that allergists had where they could actually test for a coconut allergy. Here is a partial list of coconut ingredients.

Ellora's Cave: Ann Jacobs's Author Counterclaim

August 20, 2015 by deirdre 17 Comments

Ellora’s Cave author Ann Jacobs has filed an Intervening Counterclaim in the Ellora’s Cave v. Dear Author case. (Here, as with other similar situations, I’ll refer to her by her pseudonym.) From page 1 of the counterclaim:

The future value of the specific performance and declaratory judgment is unknown, but the damages incurred from Ellora’s Cave’s breaches are at least $193,000.

For. One. Author. (Ellora’s Cave had, last I checked, over 900.)
From pp. 4-5:

By way of example, §10 of the Mutual Favor Publishing Agreement provides that “In regard to all of Publisher’s royalty provisions as specified below, Publisher shall pay royalties based on cover price.”
Under § 10.1 of the Mutual Favor Publishing Agreement, the applicable royalty rate for digital formats of A Mutual Favor is 37.5% of cover price.
Under § 10.2 of the Mutual Favor Publishing Agreement, the royalty rate for print books of A Mutual Favor is 7.5% of cover price.
Notwithstanding the language in the contracts, Ellora’s Cave has stated that it believes it is entitled to calculate and pay (and has in fact calculated and paid) royalties to Jacobs—and, upon information and belief, other similarly situated authors—based not on cover price, but on the actual sales price of the works. […]
Ellora’s Cave has made similar underpayments for most or all of Jacobs’s works, and upon information and belief has made similar underpayments for many other authors.
After complaints about the improper royalty payments, Ellora’s Cave attempted to modify its publishing contracts with its authors, including Jacobs, by unilaterally informing the authors that Ellora’s Cave would begin paying an increased royalty rate (45% or 40%) but pay the royalty rate based on the sales price, which was often substantially lower than the cover price. The net result was that even with a supposedly higher royalty rate, the royalty payments were below those provided for in the contracts.
Ellora’s Cave’s attempts to change the royalty payment structure by unilateral notice is not permitted under any of the Publishing Agreements, all of which contain provisions requiring any modifications to be made in a writing signed by both Jacobs and Ellora’s Cave. The attempts at modification are, however, indicative of Ellora’s Cave’s knowledge that its prior royalty payments were not consistent with the Publishing Agreements.

Taking the claims as true, I think essentially this would prove the Dear Author claims about authors owed “several thousands, perhaps approaching six figures”. As I joked once, some people could say Dear Author’s statements were untrue with a straight face if seven figures were owed.
There’s also a Motion to Intervene as Counterclaim Defendant filed by Ms. Jacobs.

In the main action the plaintiffs, including Ellora’s Cave, have alleged that the defendants defamed the plaintiffs by stating that the plaintiffs have failed to timely pay royalties to Ellora’s Cave authors. See Complaint at ¶ 12, dkt. 1-1, PAGEID # 8. The intervenor’s claims therefore have not only common questions of fact and law with the main action, but actually substantially identical questions of fact and law with the main action. To put it more simply, if the intervenor prevails on her intervening counterclaims, the claims in the complaint (or at least a portion of them) fail as a matter of law, because the allegedly defamatory statements will have been shown to be true.

So, there you go.

Updated to Add: Link to Courtney Milan’s Piece

Courtney Milan’s blog post is here. She’s actually been to law school and been a clerk for some Very Important Judges and was a law professor. So.

Filing this claim as a motion to intervene was probably not the way to maximize the chances of success. If I had to guess, and this is purely a guess, I would say that this is an exercise in saber rattling. This is the saber I hear being rattled: Revert my titles, now, or you’ll spend well into the six figure mark defending your existence.

My commentary: I didn’t want to say this until I saw Courtney’s take on it, but I agree with her that this is some badass sabre rattling. I also find it really interesting that nothing was filed far earlier, say in December or January at the very latest.
Why? I think she’s seeing the writing on the wall, and she believes this is the best strategy to get paid, in full or in part, and get her rights reverted. Because if they pay her and revert her work, she doesn’t have a cause of action any more.
It’s a way of jumping the queue in front of other authors, and I think we may see more queue jumping coming up.

Ellora's Cave: A Whole Bunch of Biz Emails

August 15, 2015 by deirdre 17 Comments

This post includes the bodies of several emails from Tina Engler to Ellora’s Cave’s business list (hosted on yahoogroups). Note that where there are email addresses listed in the body, I’ve reduced it to the part in the front of the domain name (e.g., website@) to not be a source of spam.

Aug 12: Website & New EC Active Author Group

Date: Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 7:26 PM
Subject: [ec_biz] a new group for active EC authors & site update
After the past couple days I’m starting to feel like the town crier so (hopefully!) this will be my last post for at least a week 🙂

Website

search engine done
author pages done
made “coming soon” section our current priority as of today
new front page after that
series search is next
adjusting book pages so the cover isn’t stretched out

*any errors for points 1 & 2 should be sent to website@ as they are completed

New Group Loop

This week I’m going to be sending out invitations to a private, closed group for active EC authors! The new group is voluntary and participatory; it’s not an announcements-only loop. The group’s main foci are: brainstorming, blurb help, strategizing, maximizing sales, and maintaining communication. If you are an active EC author with a professional reputation (i.e. no history of making private business matters public fodder) then you will receive an invite so long as you meet one of the following criteria:

Had an EC book release within the past 3 months
Have an EC book that hasn’t yet released, but has a scheduled release date
Signed a contract with EC within the past 3 months and are in good standing with your editor by turning in your revisions/edits on or before the agreed upon due date
Are a full time EC employee.

*Please remember this is NOT mandatory. If you receive an invitation but feel you’ve already got too much on your plate to deal with, simply decline it. You will NOT be frowned upon for doing so!! Alternately, you can accept the invite then opt out of individual emails so you can check the loop when time, energy, and desire allows. It’s totally up to you.
And finally, inactive authors who still have books under contract at EC will continue to receive all announcements that pertain to them here on the biz loop. You are not removed from our biz loop (unless you choose to unsubscribe) so long as your books are contracted at EC.
Tina, whose typing fingers are getting sore 🙂
(end email)
Except, of course, quite a few people were silently shoved off of (or never added to) the ec_biz list, so this blog is the place they get those emails. Call it a public service.

August 12th Addendum to Email Contact List

Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 3:38 PM
Subject: [ec_biz] Addendum to Email Contacts
Per Raelene:

The main email for authors to use for anything you hadn’t listed, and actually for anything if they don’t remember the other addresses, is AuthorInfo@. Anything they send there (including stuff for contracts, royalties, whatever) will be routed to the right place for them. So if they can only remember one EC email address, that’s the one to use.
And for rights buybacks, authors should cc contracts@ when emailing patty@.

August 12th A Final Post for Now

Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 4:22 AM
Subject: [ec_biz] a final post (for now) with a thank you
First of all, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding as we get over this hump. I am humbled and sincerely warmed by the outpouring of positivity and graciousness the overwhelming majority of you have sent our way. You make all the hard work and long nights very much worth it 🙂
Secondly, after speaking with an EC author who’s been with us for a while but who I hadn’t met until recently, I realized that we’ve been far too silent this past year. This person pointed out that the majority of EC’s authors are good, professional people and therefore shouldn’t be punished because of a few bad apples. While it was never our intention to punish anyone, we have come to realize that we have indeed been far too silent over the course of the last year. The bad apples are going to do what bad apples do regardless to whether or not we maintain transparency or cloak ourselves under a veil of silence. Gun shy though we may be, s/he is correct. Therefore we will do our very best to be more communicative on a regular basis.
I often wax nostalgic for the old days when I was able to be 100% transparent with our authors and never once have to worry someone would leak private business information onto public forums and social media. While I realize those days can’t be relived due to sheer growth, I would remind those of you who have been with EC for over a decade that I am the same person now who I was back then. What you see is what you get. I have no hidden agendas and rate 0% in the “poker face” arena. I have always kept my life an open book and that will never change. My goal both then and now is to maximize your profits and make you proud to be an EC author. While the current market has turned the publishing world on its heels, we will continue to reinvent ourselves as we’ve done a plethora of times before. We got through the Borders debacle and bounced back stronger than ever thanks to the business acumen of our CEO, Patty Marks, during a time when many publishers went under. Amazon is merely another bump in the road and, as always, we can and will endure and end up stronger because of it.
Those of you who know me are aware of the fact that I (a) don’t bullshit people and (b) never, ever give up. Because of our small but mighty team at EC, we WILL put you back on the map and make sure you rule over it. THAT IS A PROMISE!!
Again, thank you for your kindness, generosity, and belief in EC. I allowed myself to behave reactively toward the negativity for a year, but that is over. I love EC and I love the vast majority of our authors both new and old. Here’s to reclaiming our stronghold.
Warmly,
Tina
(end email)
A few bad apples? That’s how you’re choosing to characterize authors making you money who are upset about (purported) slow/no pay and/or underpayment?

August 11th Contact List

Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 9:41 PM
Subject: [ec_biz] EC emails
I apologize in advance for inundating you with an uncharacteristic amount of notices! I want to make various issues easy to find by having their own subject lines rather than grouping them together in one large email. I’m trying to become more conscientious where that’s concerned, though sometimes I do forget. But I’m digressing…
VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR YOUR BENEFIT
When you need to email EC please email ONLY the appropriate address and nobody else. Otherwise everyone included in the email occasionally assumes someone else addressed the issue. This happened recently which is why I’m addressing it now.
CONTACTS
contracts@ – new contracts, new contract questions, and rights reversion requests that meet the criteria (sold less than 100 copies in time frame specified in contract)
royalties@ – royalty questions that can only be answered by the accounting department, missing statements (you should ALWAYS receive a statement with each check,) and discrepancies between statements and monies received (this is rare, but it does occasionally happen.) For the next couple of months please only email royalties@ for missing statements and discrepancies between statements & monies received. This kindness on your behalf is greatly appreciated as Courtney is working 7 days a week (literally) to catch up.
patty@ – questions pertaining to rights reversion requests wherein the author knows they don’t meet the criteria for free reversions and are asking for a buy-back price. As an FYI, the prices are straightforward and are based on anticipated loss of income over a 3-year period. (I’m pretty sure it’s 3 years, but I’m not 100% on that and I don’t want to wake her up to confirm!) Point being, we don’t hijack the prices. Each and every request is calculated the same way.
website@ – issues with the new site.
jaid@ – when you have exhausted yourself of all proper channels and feel that your question and/or issue hasn’t been sufficiently addressed then I’m the one to contact. (It doesn’t matter which department this pertains to.) I’m also the person to contact for anything that has to do with marketing, creative PR, or just project ideas you have that would require me to give the green light before proceeding. Example: authors X, Y, & Z would like to put together a niche anthology (which we don’t typically do anymore) bc they think it has sales potential based on (insert reason.)
josem@ – social media issues/questions/ideas.
IN CLOSING
It’s important we work together; emailing only the proper address is a vital part of that. It’s especially crucial for general email addresses (contracts, royalties, website) because multiple people access those boxes so never assume you’re reaching one specific staff member.
Thanks in advance!
Tina
(end email)
“We don’t hijack the prices.” I disagree. So does Victoria Strauss:

One last thing: a publisher should not put a price on rights reversion. Charging a fee for reversion or contract termination is a nasty way for a publisher to make a quick buck as a writer goes out the door. A termination fee in a publishing contract is a red flag (for more on why, see my blog post). And attempting to levy a fee that’s not included in the contract is truly disgraceful.

August 11th Updates

Subject: [ec_biz] updates
To: ec_biz@yahoogroups.com
We’re extremely and genuinely sorry for the delays you’re experiencing. I understand and empathize with your needs and worries, but I promise it’s getting better. Please hang in there while we catch back up, which we will and always do.
As an FYI: the fewer emails sent to accounting, the faster we can get royalties processed and mailed. Courtney recently had a family emergency and went to [visit a family member with a hospital emergency], but she is back in Ohio and working feverishly to catch up. I understand this is not your problem, but I hope you can lend your understanding.
Sincerely,
Tina
(end email)
Note that I edited out the specifics of what Courtney’s family emergency was to protect the privacy of that family member.
You know what? Rick and I have both worked as temps for Accountemps. There are plenty of temp/contract agencies that could have covered this.

Tonight, Mountain View: Rick Talking on OpenSprinkler Systems

August 5, 2015 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Rick’s talking at SVLUG (the Silicon Valley User’s Group) tonight on a topic that’s useful for pretty much everyone in California right now who has a garden: OpenSprinkler and Arduino-based systems.
Rick’s done a ton of work on reducing water usage for our garden. (Here’s a super-old post on what we were growing in 2009.)
The talk begins at 7 pm and is at Symantec in Mountain View. Directions in link.

Ellora's Cave: Headquarters for Sale and Lawsuit Update

August 1, 2015 by deirdre 30 Comments

I got word about a week ago that Ellora’s Cave’s headquarters were for sale. This building isn’t owned by EC, but by sister company Brannon-Engler Properties, Ltd. Per Dear Author’s Curious post, one of the things alleged in the Brashear case was that the property was rented to Ellora’s Cave at inflated prices.
I had other things going on, so I’m a little late in reporting on it, but I think you’ll agree it was worth the wait. The other day, I got an anon tip containing Tina Engler’s latest missive:

For the past year we’ve only been releasing information on a need-to-know basis because it feels pointless to make announcements when we know that anything we say will be twisted, redistributed, and broadcast in a false light by a select minority of authors who (a) don’t know what they’re talking about and (b) have agendas. That said, here are my responses to the latest rumors:

Yes, the building EC currently inhabits is up for sale. As we no longer print books and have downsized to boot, it makes no sense to keep such a large facility with 3/4 of it being unused space. When the building sells we will be moving into a commercial area that is zoned for retail; the offices will be in the back and our (upcoming) bookstore will be in the front. We’re actually very excited about this and have been working toward the goal of getting the Home Ave building up for sale for months; it is now (finally) on the market.

No, we did not spend “tons of money” on our new website. It was created in-house by Darrell King who is already on payroll.

We are not filing for bankruptcy. (This rumor is really getting old.) We are further downsizing where we need to, upsizing where we need to, and getting EC back to where we were before… and then some. This process takes time, but it’s definitely happening. We’ve got several irons in the fire and look forward to furthering the careers of our loyal, professional authors. (More to come on that later.)

I think that’s it for now. Have a wonderful week.
Tina

Additionally, there was another followup from Tina:

EC should have informed you that the old links to your books do not work on the new site. I didn’t realize this either until a week ago after spending two hours updating my links. I am truly sorry for the oversight.

So I’m going to respond point-by-point:

First, all authors have agendas. All businesses do too. This is a very us vs. them kind of statement that has no constructive purpose.
On the building sale: good for the most part. Tina basically echoed what I said a few days ago on Twitter: they don’t print their own physical books any more, and thus the building is too large a space for their current needs. My only criticism is that this feels like it’s happening significantly later than it should have. My understanding, which may be in error, is that they stopped printing their own physical books around the time of the POD printer lawsuit, which dates to 2011.
Note that this doesn’t mean EC will stop having print versions of books, just that they will no longer be printing and stocking them in house. Switching to a just-in-time POD production company (e.g., CreateSpace) makes sense. (I’m actually a big fan of just-in-time manufacturing. More on that in a later post.)
On the other hand, a bookstore? When so many are closing? So, they’re selling off their book storage space so they can move into a smaller space where they’ll need book storage space?
Ellora’s Cave is not going to get significant foot traffic unless they’re somewhere with really high retail rents. After all, the space they have right now has a front office space that could be a bookstore. It has window space, though too many divided lights to make it a display window. Also, anywhere with a lot of window space will be expensive to heat in winter.
Also, having worked in a bookstore, I’m pretty sure this will be a huge rude awakening for EC. The US lost ~20% of its indie bookstores between 2002 and 2011. In addition, a bookstore requires continual staffing, and Ellora’s Cave doesn’t have that kind of staffing level right now.
But, you know, romantic ideals about bookstores. Whatevs.
Despite other criticisms about the new website, I think moving to WordPress with WooCommerce on WPEngine is a huge improvement. And, thank God, no more blinding red. Also, they’re using WooCommerce for their shopping cart, and that is what I would have suggested had they asked.
That said, I’ve given it a few weeks to settle in, so I think I can make some real criticisms now.
- The way the migration was done killed Ellora’s Cave’s existing SEO (search engine optimization). All the inbound links from everywhere are now broken. When those links bring up 404 errors (page not found), what happens is they then lose the inbound link as adding to the value of that site. They might as well have bought a brand new domain and started there.
  The right solution is to add a bunch of redirects, one for each author and each book. Unfortunately, the tools for doing so on WPEngine aren’t super great because it doesn’t use Apache’s .htaccess format for it.
  There is exactly zero reason that this should be on authors (or reviewers), though.
- Not migrating customers and their libraries is amateur hour. I can understand libraries taking a while, but then you’d have to shut off e-commerce until you worked the old libraries into the new table structure.
  Here’s my constructive suggestion: if EC can’t migrate people except by hand, migrate people’s libraries in the order they sign up for an account on the new site. It would also be nice if there were some time frame given for when customers’ libraries would be migrated. (And totally unprofessional for them not to be migrated.)
  Over time, that will reduce customer service requests, and it will also give EC a goodwill boost it desperately needs. Plus, many of us—myself included—have bought books off of EC’s website and we’re basically cut off from our libraries. Apparently, this is not the first time EC’s done this; I’m told they also did so when they upgraded to the red site from the previous incarnation.
  Not only that, but Tina was encouraging authors to encourage their readers to buy books directly off EC’s site, so now EC’s throwing those authors and customers under the bus?
  Can you just imagine the outcry if Amazon did this for Kindle books?
  If you want Amazon’s business, Tina, you have to be at least as good as Amazon. Not amateur hour.
- I know default WordPress search isn’t the world’s best, but visit the new EC site and search on, say, Paris. One of the many titles found has Paris in the title, but not all of those books have the search term even in the description. I don’t know how they managed that, but my WordPress searches don’t work that badly. Logic suggests that author matches and/or title matches should be ranked first, though, and they’re not.
- There is no information on the site about how to submit to the publisher. That’s probably a good thing, though.
- Others have noted that there is no physical address. Given that their building is for sale, that may well be temporary, but I’m more likely to do business with a site that actually lists their physical address.
While I’m glad Ellora’s Cave isn’t filing for bankruptcy, part of me wonders how much of this is sheer stubbornness. Several people have reported that they haven’t received a check since May, which paid for royalties due up through January.

Ellora’s Cave v. Dear Author Lawsuit Update

It’s been a quiet few months, and the only thing to happen in the last six weeks is another status update (docket item 39) from the defense. Status reports are supposed to be filed every 45 days by both parties. Only two things happened since the last status report:

On June 15, 2015, Plaintiffs served responses to written discovery.
On July 15, 2015, Plaintiffs and Defendants served their witness lists.

What’s interesting, though is that there’s only been one plaintiff status report (on April 28th, docket item 35) and there have been four defense status reports. Normally, things filed with the court by the parties are a matter of public record, so I’d expect to see them on the docket.
Now, granted, the discovery period is a time when the parties are incredibly busy, but there may not be a lot of court filings. So, from an outsider’s perspective, this can appear to be a very “quiet” period, even though it’s anything but.