Ellora's Cave was a company that published books with adult-themed stories. It started in the year 2000 and first released books only in digital format. Later, it began printing physical copies of its books. The company published stories in several categories, such as adult romance, erotica, erotica for men, non-fiction, and traditional romance.
History
The publisher started in 2000 and first released erotic fiction, which it named and trademarked "romantica," only as e-books. The company's business model was successful, as noted by Fayetteville State University professor Sarah S.G. Frantz, who said the publisher provided material that authors and readers could not find in many other places. Later, Ellora's Cave expanded to print and sold about 200,000 books each month by 2012, with BDSM erotic romance being its most popular category.
In 2013, the publisher saw a decrease in revenue that continued into 2014. The founder, Tina Engler, blamed this decline on Amazon, especially its Kindle Direct Publishing program. Due to falling sales, the company reduced its staff and canceled several projects in 2014. That same year, the book blog Dear Author published an article titled "The Curious Case of Ellora's Cave," which claimed the company had financial problems and that authors were not receiving royalty checks. Ellora's Cave denied these claims, called them false, and filed a defamation lawsuit against the blog, stating the article harmed the company. They also said the royalty checks were delayed due to problems with new accounting software. Dear Author responded by filing a counterclaim. The lawsuit was resolved in 2015, but the details of the settlement remain private. In May 2016, Ellora's Cave threatened the Romance Writers of America with a defamation lawsuit over claims that the company was not paying authors their full royalties.
In October 2016, author Stacia Kane wrote on her website that Ellora's Cave had begun closing its operations. On December 31, 2016, the publisher officially ended its business.
Notable authors from Ellora's Cave
- Jaid Black
- Sylvia Day
- Shoshanna Evers
- Stacia Kane
- Angela Knight
- Lora Leigh
- December Quinn
- Shiloh Walker
- Kord Stone
- Sinful Mead