Ask the Author: Ellen L. Ekstrom
Answered Questions (15)
Ellen L. Ekstrom
The Shire - I'd sit under the window in my study and write; go to The Green Dragon for supper and a pint.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
No one expected the Devil to rise. He stood on the podium before the people and took the oath of office, and the people wept.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
World Without End, Some Touch of Pity and Fortune's Wheel.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
The mystery was partially solved when I had a DNA test done last year for my birthday - I'm more Scandinavian/British than Italian, and I was raised to believe I was half Italian. I certainly don't look Italian. The mystery would be to find out who our relatives were in East Anglia and the Danelaw. Otherwise, my life has been one bad Jane Austen novel.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Other than my very own Quinn Radcliffe and Alice Martin, that would be Elisabeth Bennet and Mr. D'Arcy. They are oil and water, and yet can find a common, intimate, ground and find similarities that attract one another. I believe that their strengths strengthen one another, and excuse the cliche, complete the other insofar as their relationship is concerned.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
I couldn't tell you, but I was surprised when I saw Carquinez Bridge, since I grew up in Rodeo, and went to school in Crockett. Sounds like the premise of your book, Paul!
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Good morning, Matt.
The marketing I receive from Select is minimal, but it's all I have time for. Select allows giveaways, 'count-down deals' where you lower the price in increments, and just the exposure of being available at Amazon. If you're enrolled in Select you still receive a royalty when someone borrows the book or downloads it through Kindle Unlimited for free. With the 'pages read' rule being in place, I don't know what that will do to my royalties.
Good, bad or worth it? It's good in that it's available if you don't mind the limited channels - I was at a networking party for my secular job last Thursday and the consistent response to being introduced as a published author was "Can I get your books at Amazon?" No one mentioned Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Powell's. Bad in that it is only one vendor and if you want to have your book available everywhere. Not so bad if everyone is shopping at Amazon.
It's worth it for me. I like the convenience of Createspace for trade paperbacks. My traditional publisher wouldn't publish in paper because the sales aren't as good in paper and bookstores won't carry a lot of indie authors because they can't return the remainders. I've stopped fretting over that. I purchase my own ISBN numbers - $10.00 each - so that my imprint can be listed in the Books In Print registry. The templates offered for the book interior are idiot-proof.
The only bad: Amazon is a huge corporate gorilla. But then, so are Doubleday, Random House, Harper Collins, and authors have no control over their work or marketing - in fact, you don't get marketing from big publishers. You have to do it yourself. So, I figured, if I have to do it all myself, I might as well have a big name behind me. I've bent my politics a little. Amazon has been very helpful, professional and friendly. I get treated as a professional and with respect. Perhaps that's because I approach them that way and treat Amazon the same way.
Despite the increase in quality of self-published books, particularly the writing and finished product, there are many people who are snobs about it and won't read indie authors because there are still a few authors who do not take time to edit, produce a professional product, and have public temper tantrums when they get three-star reviews (3 stars are good. Trust me.) There is a lack of professionalism that shows through their work. And then there are those who write series without bothering to see if the first book is selling. The field is now saturated by people writing series - quick reads of 100 pages or less - and the reading audience is getting weary of that.
The marketing I receive from Select is minimal, but it's all I have time for. Select allows giveaways, 'count-down deals' where you lower the price in increments, and just the exposure of being available at Amazon. If you're enrolled in Select you still receive a royalty when someone borrows the book or downloads it through Kindle Unlimited for free. With the 'pages read' rule being in place, I don't know what that will do to my royalties.
Good, bad or worth it? It's good in that it's available if you don't mind the limited channels - I was at a networking party for my secular job last Thursday and the consistent response to being introduced as a published author was "Can I get your books at Amazon?" No one mentioned Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Powell's. Bad in that it is only one vendor and if you want to have your book available everywhere. Not so bad if everyone is shopping at Amazon.
It's worth it for me. I like the convenience of Createspace for trade paperbacks. My traditional publisher wouldn't publish in paper because the sales aren't as good in paper and bookstores won't carry a lot of indie authors because they can't return the remainders. I've stopped fretting over that. I purchase my own ISBN numbers - $10.00 each - so that my imprint can be listed in the Books In Print registry. The templates offered for the book interior are idiot-proof.
The only bad: Amazon is a huge corporate gorilla. But then, so are Doubleday, Random House, Harper Collins, and authors have no control over their work or marketing - in fact, you don't get marketing from big publishers. You have to do it yourself. So, I figured, if I have to do it all myself, I might as well have a big name behind me. I've bent my politics a little. Amazon has been very helpful, professional and friendly. I get treated as a professional and with respect. Perhaps that's because I approach them that way and treat Amazon the same way.
Despite the increase in quality of self-published books, particularly the writing and finished product, there are many people who are snobs about it and won't read indie authors because there are still a few authors who do not take time to edit, produce a professional product, and have public temper tantrums when they get three-star reviews (3 stars are good. Trust me.) There is a lack of professionalism that shows through their work. And then there are those who write series without bothering to see if the first book is selling. The field is now saturated by people writing series - quick reads of 100 pages or less - and the reading audience is getting weary of that.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Hi, Alice: Finding time to write has been the most challenging. I have a family, a secular job as a legal secretary/paralegal, and then there's the vocation in the Episcopal Church. I've managed to eke out time before work and after and when everyone is asleep. Being taken seriously for my craft is another challenge.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Hi, Kevin!
I'm not at the old Facebook page any longer - my account was hacked by a well-meaning friend who forwarded something to me and his account was corrupted. All is well. The next book is coming out in 28 days!
I'm not at the old Facebook page any longer - my account was hacked by a well-meaning friend who forwarded something to me and his account was corrupted. All is well. The next book is coming out in 28 days!
Ellen L. Ekstrom
YES! Writer's Block DOES exist! I've heard it said that it doesn't exist and if you can't write then you shouldn't be writing. Uhhhh, no. Sometimes we're tired, anxious, ill, and the muse walks out of the room for a bit. Eventually, it comes back. When that happens to me, I knit. I knit some more. People get soft and woolly gifts when I can't write.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
The amazing journeys I take into my somewhat interesting, strange, mind; being able to create something from nothing, or take one of the 7 original plot lines and make it unique.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Just write. Write. Get inspired by your favorite authors, but don't copy them - make the work your own. Vampires, S&M, and Zombies have already been done. Find something new and challenging that YOU like. Never say never.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Three projects - the sequel to "Armor of Light," which is "Ascalon," the re-write of "Scarborough" for its re-issue this winter, and as yet untitled work on the days following the Battle of Senlac, e.g., Hastings in 1066. I'm doing the research for 1066 now.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
Just looking out the window gives me inspiration, but watching people interact, daily life, does the trick.
Ellen L. Ekstrom
I was struggling with my own issues of faith and mortality and my daughter was clinging to life in a hospital. I wrote the story while I sat by her bedside.
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