Sigh... yet another read of a backlist of an author I like but their Ellora's Cave stuff is just SO bad. Obviously these ladies can write- Jaci Burton, Lacey Alexander and so on. Why are the EC books all written so horribly?

I've read a few good EC books but some are pretty bad.  I notice a lot of the older ones turn up for free for a bit.

Yeah- thank god this one was a freebie

Well, I have to say that editing does make a difference.  Some of the EC books really could have used another run through. 

Some good authors got their start at Ellora's Cave (Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, etc.) But the quality seems to be deteriorating.

A big failing of the e-book industry, is  lack of quality editing

I think it's because they start off at Ellorascave and then when they get good and develope a following they get picked up by bigger publishing houses.  The EC books of some of the bigger names are probably their early stuff that just isn't as good.