Decadent Divas: #notchilled

*deep breath*
I've been silent for a long time. More than a year. I've crossed my fingers and wished on stars and continued to have a positive attitude with the train wreck that is Ellora's Cave Publishing.

I sold them 9 books.
They published 9 books.
I was so happy!!!
Then they stopped paying me...........................

In any other business that's considered illegal.
Guess what? It's illegal in this business too but EC for some reason has decided they're immune to actually paying their authors. Have they paid some in recent months? Yep. Have they paid me. Nope.
So before somebody over there gets a bug up their ass this is my information. Mine. I'm not quoting anyone else, though I could. I'm not dragging the horrible treatment others have received into this, though I could. I'm going to tell you my story. All of this is fact. FACT. I'm not defaming liabling name-calling or anything else. I'm simply asking everyone, my fans, my readers and anyone else who finds this post NOT to buy my EC titles. I'll be removing them from my site as well. My books. How sad.

I've been patient. I've been nice. I've sat back and waited for EC to turn around and do what's right by all of the authors who believed in them. I truly no longer believe it's possible. I no longer believe in EC. How incredibly sad.

I haven't received payments for any books sold after the end of February 2015. Not a thing. Not a single penny has been sent to me for 9 books. So that's 11 months worth of sales I haven't seen. ZERO dollars for hundreds of thousands of words. Are you fucking kidding me??
Not even the common courtesy of a royalty statement was sent telling me how many books I sold / money owed me. Just unsigned email after unsigned email saying we don't care and if you don't like it sue us. Wow. Just wow.

So for months I did nothing, hoping it would get back to normal.
It didn't. Not ever. Though the hurtful treatment, the awful name-calling and the abusive treatment coming from a select few at EC has never ceased. Maybe if some people took that time they dedicated to throwing stones and put it back into the company so we could actually get paid I wouldn't be sitting here right now typing this and I could actually be doing something productive. LIKE WRITING!!!

With no payments forth coming no matter how many times there was promises, assurances, excuses and insincere words, my agent and I started officially requesting rights back to all of my books. Yes. All of them. Why? I'M NOT BEING PAID AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY BOOKS I'VE SOLD IN 11 MONTHS. Super simple, right?
Not so much. The emails go unanswered for months and months and months and when we finally do get an answer back it comes from another "unsigned" email account with a yes or no and some other blather about things they can't prove. They say I sold too many copies. How would I know? Seriously? HOW WOULD I KNOW WITH NO ROYALTIES AND NO STATEMENTS??
1. When questioned on specifics we're told the check is in the mail.
Sorry don't believe you.
2. Uhh....we had an accounting software issue.
This would make it #6,291 in the line of accounting software debacles that have caused delays in....everything. Try again.
3. We changed accounting software.
Really? With the same exact accounting issues showing up? That's unlikely.
4. Someone died.
MMkay, but that actually doesn't mean the business locks down and nothing goes in or out like the Willy Wonka Factory.
5. People were sick.
With what? Meningicoccalmoniastreporrhea?
6. You're asking contracts and we don't have access to royalty info.
WTF? But whether my rights are returned to me (contracts) is solely based on how many copies have sold (royalties). So what are the numbers?
We don't have them yet because checks haven't been cut.
*coughbullshitcough* Then how do you know how many copies I've sold in the last 12 months?
.......really...........long............silence..............*dial tone* If you've reached the operator in error please hang up and dial someone who cares.

So we've requested rights back again, and again, and...........you get the picture.

And there you have it. My last straw? When I sent an incredibly personal, heartfelt email beseeching them to do what is right. Pay me what you owe me and give me my books back. I've never once publicly bashed the company (that ship done sailed today) and I've never threatened them with anything. Not a thing. Not my corporate attorney, not with social media dispersment of the truth. Nothing. I've played nice. I've played by the rules.
No. More.

So......what does this mean for my readers? I am specifically asking you not to buy any of my 9 EC books. This includes all of the Members Only books, Buried Permission and Nico's Curse. I have lots of other books out and LOTS more coming this year.

To the new authors at EC - RUN!!!
Not walk, or even speed walk. Grab your shit and leave as fast as you can. They are not a reputable publisher. They've called us bad apples for months because we actually wanted to be paid or we wanted our rights back. Well guess what? At some point you'll want to be paid, too. Do not sign with them. Do not. We are leaving in droves for a reason. Lots of reasons. Thousands of rea$on$... And I'm sorry, you are not a special snowflake when it comes to them. You will get stepped on and thrown aside just as quickly as we were. Learn from us. Please. If even one person reads this post and doesn't pub with them then it will be worth it.

No business on the planet can withstand treating their contractors and customers like this. None. Well. Maybe if they were a Pro-Kink company and people paid them to be degraded and shit on. Oh that's right. You know what kink has that EC doesn't?
FUCKING CONSENT.
And I never once gave EC the right to treat me like shit. Never gave them consent to hold my 9 books hostage while they sent unsigned emails over and over again because they weren't brave enough to own their pile of vomit they were dragging each of us through.

To my EC editors and graphic artists and media gurus and every wonderful person I met at Romanticon - I adore you. Each and everyone one of you. I've learned so much from you and I have no idea when I'll ever be able to repay you. But I will somehow. I am a force to be reckoned with because of you. I am an author because of you and I will forever be grateful.

I am thankfully one of the lucky ones. I didn't let the shit storm that is EC fuck with my joojoo and writing muse. In 2016 I have no less than 15 things being published. 15!!!! From no less than four different publishers and I'm having a story published in the February issue of Penthouse Magazine. Why? Because I can and NO ONE will hold me back any longer.
Never Settle.
It's tattooed on my side for a reason.

Will the Members Only Series die? HELL NO!!!!
I love that series. I love my fans that love that series. I have 7 MORE books to write in it. Will I give one more word to EC? Not in this lifetime or the next. I will get my books back. They've chosen the hard way. OK. Their call. I did my best to play nice and see if they could be the stand up company I fell in love with several years ago. The company I wanted to write books for. They couldn't. And they can't prove me otherwise. Obviously. Since they've had months and months to provide it and they just....can't.
Plus the thought of them actually paying me what they owe me and giving me the rights back on all of my books is less likely than finding a rainbow-haired unicorn named JazzHands who shits skittles and dances to techno music every night at 9.

Why am I writing this now?
Because they no longer have any power over me.
Thanks for reading. You guys all rock some serious kinds of awesomesauce. Now, I'm going to find JazzHands.Toodles!!!

Disheartenly Yours,
Just Another Nameless Faceless Former Author from Ellor---oh no that's actually wrong.
I'm brave enough to actually put my name on this because I own every word of it!
*clears throat*
*grabs mic*
"Jennifer Kacey - peace out..." *drops mic*

Other Novels By Jennifer Kacey you are able to enjoy that I'll actually see money from. YEA!!!

Beneath the Pages

Elite Metal – Book one in the Elite Warriors Series

Elite Ghosts – Book two in the Elite Warriors Series

Final Surrender – The Surrender Series

Violet's Shadow – The Shadow Mates Series

Aslan’s Stranger – Fantasies A-Z Series