Ellora's Cave question

I just got a rejection letter from them. (I submitted at the end of july for a december reply) "while we found the writing good and story line very well done, we feel that this story is not right for us..." (sigh) Yeah, EC has a very distinct style. I'm sure there are a lot of really good books that just don't fit with them.

What's the distinct style? So far I've been led to understand their style is sex in two pages or forget it. I call that stroke fiction.

No matter how much sex there is, there is room for a style. Red lace books can have as much but they are way different.

What's the distinct style? So far I've been led to understand their style is sex in two pages or forget it. I call that stroke fiction. Ouch. I can say with confidence that the novella Marguerite and I have coming out with them in May is definitely not stroke fiction, nor is there sex in the first two pages. In fact, it's not even in the first chapter. It's not very kind to paint all EC books with a common brush. If that is what you've been led to believe about EC books, then you've been led wrong. Fae

I don't want to enter what may become the fray with regard to the forum's opinion about EC but I did want to say that I understand they're successful because they know what their readers want. They do seem to have somewhat of a formula but you can't knock what works for them. They're making the big bucks. I think when it comes to the first sex scene it should be when it's right for the story not when it's right for the publisher. Getting back to EC, I think EC has become the holy grail of erotic e publishers. In all honesty, they were the first I came across years and years ago when they were just starting out. I guess that's why I aspired to get with them. This last story was the second thing I'd sent to them and while very encouraging and kind on both counts (one a novel and one a short) no cigar. I'm not going to forget EC but I am going to set my sights on some other reputable erotic e-publishers. I may not sell as many books but it's more important to me to be somewhere that gets me as an author, understands my vision of where I want to go creatively and has time/manpower to treat me like a person rather than just another dollar. Ya know?

What's the distinct style? So far I've been led to understand their style is sex in two pages or forget it. I call that stroke fiction. I've heard this before, but I've not found it to be so true. The novel I just sold them this week does not have sex until well into chapter 4. The first one was a very short novella, 22k. That one had sex early and often, but the story supported it. At least I hope it did.

I apologise if I upset anyone. I've heard nothing definite about Ellora's Cave from anyone before this, so I'm glad some of you spoke up. Would you care to give us some insight, remove more of the mystery? What do you think Ellora's Cave was looking for when accepting your stories?

I apologise if I upset anyone. I've heard nothing definite about Ellora's Cave from anyone before this, so I'm glad some of you spoke up. Would you care to give us some insight, remove more of the mystery? What do you think Ellora's Cave was looking for when accepting your stories? Honestly, I don't really understand why there's this shroud of mystery around EC. :) Why did they accept our book and not someone else's? I think it's no different than why any publishing house rejects a novel and then that novel goes on to be accepted and do well elsewhere. It's a matter, I think, of the right editor and the right story meeting up. For Marguerite and I, we were very lucky that when we first submitted to EC (and were ultimately rejected), we landed on the desk of the right editor for our work. She rejected our first story, yes, but was incredibly supportive and adament that she wanted to see more from us. It took us about 6 months to submit again, and when we emailed her with the proposal she asked for the full on the spot. I realize that's unusual and am so grateful that we made that connection our first time out of the gate. I wish I could give more insight into what EC looks for, but frankly I don't know. I know they liked our style, the rejection on the first sub was extremely complimentary in that the book wasn't right for them as it was but *we* were. It was honestly a good bit of "right time, right place, right editor" and there's really no way to help anyone else get that. Luck had a hell of a lot to do with it. Who knows what would have happened if our first MS had landed on the desk of a different editor who didn't mesh with our style of writing, our way of telling a story? It's one of the reasons I would encourage anyone who has been rejected by EC (or any publishing house for that matter) to try again. We did and it turned out to be the best thing we've done thus far for our writing. Sometimes you just click. Fae

As far as EC's house style goes...I'm not sure exactly what it is. A friend of mine reads a lot their books and she can't quite tell me what's different about it. She can tell there's a difference, but she can't describe it. She said that the books she's purchased through them did have a sex scene in the first chapter and sexual tension started in the first few pages. (I'm not saying that's a bad thing or a good thing. I'm just passing what she told me. I don't know if that just happens to be her selection of books or something that indicates what they like.) I've heard the EC likes a clear top and bottom relationship between the men, my friend said she didn't really get that from their titles. However, my friend is a yaoi fan. (Yaoi's bread and butter is seme/uke dynamics and yaoi fans are kind of numb to such things.) Whatever EC likes, it works for them.

I don't know if this helps in terms of defining EC's style but when Anne and I sold our I Do last year the only real editing we had to do was to make what sex scenes we had more detailed and a bit longer.

From the EC I've read I would say something along the lines of a contemporary prose and themes but with almost old-fashioned 80s type alpha men very common including in the MM.

Ellora's Cave mentioned in Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2007/0618/048.html

To me they are kind of the holy grail...Ellora's and Samhain, one for the exposure and one for the possibility of print. As for style...I suspect there may be one but I am not clever enough to figure out what it is.

Samhain is only just narrowing in on genre, style pending ;)

I did notice from the excerpts that the alpha male was very "established" or, I guess, prominent in each story.

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