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Identity

Running An Erotic Publishing Empire

When it comes to cave men strippers and a multi-million-dollar erotic e-book business, Tina Engler and Patty Marks keep it all in the family.

Once a single mom on food stamps, Tina Engler is now the founder of a multi-million-dollar erotic e-book publishing company called Ellora's Cave. Engler started to write her own titillating tales from her home in Tampa, Florida after finding herself dissatisfied with the romance novels on the market that left far too much to the imagination.

When her explicit work was rejected by prominent publishers, she decided to take the DIY approach and self-published her first e-book called The Empress' New Clothes, which she sent out to customers via CD-rom. Engler quickly found a niche in this genre and created a profitable platform for erotic novels, all before anyone had an e-reader. She eventually brought on her mom as CEO and Ellora's Cave grew to support hundreds of authors and a four-day book convention called Eroticon that's hosted by male strippers. Host Michelle DeSwarte meets the women behind Ellora's Cave to find out how the mother-daughter team built an erotic empire.


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