Elle Casey's Blog, page 2

Ever wondered what it’s like to be married to a writer?

Read on to find out! My assistant Noelle recently cornered my husband, Craig, and got him to answer a whole bunch of questions about what it’s like living with me. She’s put together a multi-part blog series with Craig’s replies. I couldn’t stop laughing when I read what Craig had to say, mainly because he knows me so well! I hope you enjoy this little peek behind the scenes.

Craig and Elle, before Craig grew a beard

When and how did you meet Elle?

Craig: That’s an easy one. I offered to clean her bathroom. Yep, I know the path that leads directly to a woman’s heart. Actually, she responded to an ad I posted saying that I would clean her bathroom. Of course it was a lie, but by then it was too late and she was hooked. Elle got the last laugh on that one though.

What’s the most romantic thing Elle has ever done?

Craig: Hummm…how about this one? Some of you may know that I was dumped off a horse last year and was laid up for almost three months. After two weeks in the hospital I was offered the option of going to a rehab facility to stay for six weeks. Elle refused to let me go and insisted on bringing me home so that she could care for me. For two months she tended to my every need, day and night. I don’t need to go into the details, but I’m a very bad patient. Some may not consider it romantic, but the fact that she was willing to put her own life on hold to take care of me showed the depth of her love. I’m a very lucky guy.

When did Elle tell you she wanted to write and publish a book, and what was your reaction?

Craig: It was November 26th, 2011. She began writing Wrecked in her spare time between her teaching commitments and a month later it was published. I said, “I guess that means I’m shopping for dinner.” Really though, if you know her like I do, when she says she wants to do something there is no changing her mind, so I just stood back and watched her fingers fly.

What was your job when Elle first started writing? Or before?

Craig: I was unemployed when she began writing. Prior to moving to France (in 2010 from the US) I was selling businesses. It was sort of like selling real estate except I specialized in selling franchises. I thought I could continue doing it long distance, but that turned out to be more difficult than I imagined, and finding a job in France is tough when you don’t speak the language very well.

 What’s your role in Elle’s self-publishing business?

Craig: I’m her cheerleader mostly. I just keep the day-to-day household things running, delivering kids, shopping, etc. I’ve always been a data guy so I help by monitoring sales, the results of marketing efforts and all the financial stuff.

And how has that role changed in the 4 + years Elle’s been writing full time?

Craig: With over forty titles out things started to fall through the cracks and Elle was taking too much of her writing time to deal with managerial things. You’ve stepped in to take on some of the load so I’d say I’m less involved, but still keep the wheels at home turning as best I can. I continue to watch the numbers, deal with the finances and offer my opinion on marketing plans and results. I think Elle feels I will get bored so she keeps bringing home stray dogs. Literally, we currently have 3 dogs and she keeps bugging me to adopt another one.

In the next part of this series, Craig talks about what it’s like being married to a Romance writer. Stay tuned!

Elle with Poppy Pants, the latest addition to the family.

Big Faerie eBook Giveaway! June 24-July 1

 

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Simon and Garfunkel

For those of you who read my last post about the tragedy that struck my ranch on May 18th, I’m writing this update. That last post was so dark and sad, and I didn’t want you to think I was still in that place three days later. My days are still filled with tears, but sometimes, now, they are the happy kind.

After Luna passed away, my most immediate concern, obviously, was feeding Simon. Baby horses eat a lot and frequently. Our vet gave us temporary baby formula to tide us over until the official foal milk formula came in. We tried to feed him from a bottle as advised, but he wasn’t having any of that nonsense. If he couldn’t have his momma’s boobie, he wasn’t having any boobie at all. So I went to the website for The Last Chance Corral, a wonderful organization that raises orphan foals who are being saved from euthanizing (at the hands of The Jockey Club, shame on them!) They teach all their babies to drink milk out of a bucket, which has all kinds of benefits, including the fact that the baby no longer sees the human as a huge udder. I was all for not being seen as a walking udder by a horse that was getting bigger and stronger by the hour, so we worked our buns off to teach him how to be a bucket drinker. After a full day of frustrating fits and starts, and lots of sticky, sweet milk splashed everywhere, he became a bucket drinking expert! I was so proud of him, I couldn’t stop crying. The stress of starving my mare’s baby had passed.

The next issue was the feeding schedule. He needs to eat about every 2.5 hours. He also can’t be left alone. So we were sleeping in the outdoor stall with him in sleeping bags and then in a tent. My children and I took shifts. None of us were/are getting any real sleep, just a couple hours grabbed here and there. The kitchen and house were a disaster and the dogs basically neglected (they were fed as usual and cuddled at night, but that’s it! They lived outside in the yard, which they didn’t mind, but is not their usual routine.)

On top of all this, we’re still in the middle of a household move. My youngest is finishing up the school year in our old house (supervised by her daddy) and I have the two big kids and all the animals 6.5 hours away in our new house. The day my horse went into labor, my husband threw his back out and delivered his truck to the shop for repairs. So when I called him bawling my eyes out, telling him how we had to put Luna to sleep, he had no way to come help me. So for a day and a half, my two big kids and I were on our own. But then on day two, Husband got his car back, drugged himself up with Advil, and drove up to help out. Having him and my youngest (horse-crazy) daughter here really made a difference. Our spirits lifted and we had renewed energy!

Because I know that the universe has wonderful plans for me, I was not surprised to get a note from my horse trainer (who lives 6 hours away where I used to live) telling me that he was going to be in the area to visit family and could stop by to help out. I jumped at the chance to have him over to solve my last problem with Simon: this foal needed a horsey companion who would teach him how to be a horse. Horses hand-raised by humans alone usually end up being real jerks: biting, kicking, etc. They need to be socialized in a herd. My trainer Carlos suggested we find a really old gelding who would be patient with a silly foal while also strong enough to teach him some manners.

Enter Garfunkel. His real name is Sapphire, but he’s been living with goats for 10 years and he’s a little … shall we say … funky from that experience. So I named him GarFUNKel. Besides, with a foal named Simon, it was just too hard to resist.

Death comes to the Casey ranch

I have some very sad news to share. I’m crying as I write this…

My beautiful mare who gave birth to a very handsome little colt yesterday at 4am had to be euthanized. It was pretty clear she was in distress within the first hours after the foal was born, but the vet wanted to see if she could recover from whatever was ailing her (he had not yet discovered the problem), so we waited all morning and half the day … a very long and stressful time for me and a pain-filled one for Luna. She hung on for 12 HOURS as she fed her baby the colostrum he needed to survive, battling the blood loss and disorientation that comes from a severely torn uterus, to be the very best momma a foal could wish for, often feeding him while lying down and groaning. When the baby would go to the wrong place on her body trying to find his next meal, she’d lift her head and nudge him over to her udder, even as she lay dying. On the vet’s third visit, we discovered a huge tear in her uterus that had filled her abdomen with blood, an inoperable and painful tragedy that no one could have predicted. She was put to sleep immediately after. None of us had time to prepare mentally for losing this beautiful girl, and her baby Simon is now an orphan foal who we must do our very best to raise up big and strong, just like his momma. We owe that to Luna.

I am in AWE of Luna’s strength, loyalty to her baby and to me, and her calm in the face of what was the most difficult battle of her life. MOTHERS ARE AMAZING, OF EVERY SPECIES. I miss her terribly, and now I have an orphan foal to raise. Efforts to find a surrogate mom so far have failed. I am feeding him about every 2-3 hours from a bucket, and my children and I are taking turns sleeping a few hours at a time. I haven’t showered in two days and I’m wearing the same clothes I put on the day before Luna went into labor. Forget my teeth, hair, and eating any kind of meal…

My life is always a little crazy, but it is now officially chaotic. Please pray for me if you do that kind of thing or send me some happy thoughts! I sure could use them right now. And please, please, please, if you have a horse or an animal you love, go hug ’em right now! You never know when these majestic animals will be called home.

Excuses, excuses, excuses!

It’s April 28th and there are thousands of really amazing reader-fans waiting for the release of books 9 and 10 of War of the Fae, which I had scheduled to come out at the end of April. Don’t worry! The books are coming very soon! But they are being delayed again, and I wanted to take a moment to explain why. (Excuses, excuses, excuses! I can hear my mother’s voice in my head right now, and it’s making me cringe.)

Originally, books 9 and 10 were supposed to be released at the end of 2015. Then my husband’s horse riding accident threw my publication schedule into a tailspin and blew that date out of the water. I tried to recover (along with him), but then work I contracted to finish for Montlake Romance took precedence and pushed my indie releases even further back.

The process for writing, editing, and releasing a traditionally published book is completely different than the one I follow for my indie books. Being part of a large publishing team with almost no control over the schedule, a process that has about ten steps can become very time-consuming for me. There are several rounds of developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading with tight deadlines on both sides (for me and the publisher).

The problem is not just the time traditionally published books take away from my indie writing, but the fact that every time I’m asked to edit my manuscript again (or look over their copy editing or proof reading) it pulls me out of the world I’m writing in and thrusts me into a totally different world, with a whole other set of characters and another storyline altogether.

Normally when I write a book, I stay in that world the entire time until I’m done; otherwise, it becomes impossible to keep track of what’s happening with the story. It’s also very difficult to maintain the character voices properly. When I have a traditionally published book calling my attention away, and then go back to my indie book, I have to re-read everything I already wrote so I can re-orient myself in the world and story again. That takes even more time, especially as the book gets longer.

I ended up cancelling a couple projects altogether at the end of 2015, hoping I could fit them in at the end of 2016. Other projects I delayed, which was the case for War of the Fae. I would never drop that project; Jayne and friends are way too important to me and to my readers! However, because of the delays I’ve mentioned and the fact that I am in the process of undertaking a huge household move across France with 3 kids and 3 horses —one who’s pregnant and ready to give birth any day— I will have to delay the release of War of the Fae books 9 and 10.

So, after hearing all my excuses (that you could probably care less about), let’s get down to brass tacks. When can you expect War of the Fae book 9 to be released? I will finish writing the book in May (I have quite a bit of it done already). It will then go into editing. I’m hoping that means we can have the book out to you by June 15th at the latest. Of course I’m going to shoot for sooner, but my schedule will get pushed around by this foal, that’s for sure. It’s my first time attending and managing a horse birth, so I expect it will take up all of my headspace for a week or so, assuming that there are no complications.

I know many of you will be disappointed at this delay, and some won’t be happy about my reasons for being late. There’s nothing I can do but say to all of you that I’m sorry. I truly am. I just hope you will try to understand that the creative process isn’t like a light switch you can turn on and off at will. I am a very disciplined person, and I can do a tremendous amount of work in a short time, even when under pressure, but when things are this crazy (i.e., twice as nuts as usual), it’s very difficult for my brain to quiet down enough to hear the voices of my characters in my head, and if I try to push myself past it, the stress level goes so high, I worry I’m going to give myself a stroke. I’m taking a small step back until this move is over before I dive in head first again, so that I can give you the very best story that all of you faithful readers absolutely deserve to get from me!

My publishing schedule on my website is updated pretty regularly by Noelle, so if you have questions about publication dates, that’s the place to go. And if you’re frustrated by my book release schedule, please leave Noelle out of it; she has no control over my writing process and is just as anxious as you are to see the new books (maybe more so, since she’s the one handling proofreading and administrative tasks associated with them!) You can write me a note and I’ll answer when I can. I have no internet at my new house until mid-May, though, so don’t worry if it takes me a few days to reply. I have to drive to a local bar to get free wifi! (oh, the joys of moving!)

As always, thank you for your faith in me and for your readership. I treasure the gift I’ve been given that allows me to provide you with entertainment that takes you away from your daily lives, and I want nothing more than to share it with you!

Hugs,
Elle

What Does an Author Assistant Do, Exactly?

We had such a great response to my assistant Noelle’s last post, I’ve asked her to write again. Noelle has offered to give readers another behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at Elle Casey HQ. I’ve turned over a lot of the day-to-day operations to her so I can focus even more on my writing and my family, so she is uniquely positioned to tell you about all the nitty-gritty details that need to be managed on a daily basis to keep this machine running smoothly. Enjoy! Hugs, Elle

Hanging out with Noelle at dinner on a Friday night. Because it’s not all hard work all the time!

What Does an Author Assistant Do, Exactly? Guest Post by Noelle Gaussens
In my last post, I wrote that Elle hired me to manage and organize the “non-writing tasks” of her job as a self-published novelist. Some readers and aspiring author assistants have contacted me, asking, “What are all those non-writing tasks?” I’m going to take a stab at answering that question for you in this blog post.

Legendary Author Assistants
When I started working for Elle, she gave me a list of tasks to manage, but a lot of the things on that list were abstract concepts to me. It became clear that I first had to learn more about the relationship between an author and her assistant before I could fully appreciate the work I was going to be doing. Of course I went straight to the Internet looking for examples.

My searches introduced me to several dream-teams: self-publishing superstar Barbara Freethy, whose daughter Kristen worked as her assistant for several years before joining the iBooks team; J.A. Huss and her assistant, Jana Aston (who has since gone on to be a New York Times bestselling author in her own right); Nora Roberts and her personal publicist Laura Reeth; Liliana Hart and her enterprising assistant Mel Jolly; Bella Andre and her right-hand woman Melissa Storm; and Marie Force with her team of not one, but SIX, assistants.

Although they have many similar practices, each team does things their own way. Somehow, they make it all look easy, but I knew even in my first meeting with Elle that there was a lot going on behind the scenes to make it all happen. Instead of being intimidated by the complexity involved and the success of these brilliant women partnerships, I decided I would use their work as examples to teach me how to assist Elle on all fronts. These women have become my role models, and I don’t hesitate to reach out to them for advice whenever I get stuck.

Approach to the to-do list
If you’re thinking of jumping into the fray as an author assistant, but aren’t sure you can do all the tasks I list below, or don’t even know what some of them are, don’t be discouraged. Elle certainly didn’t expect me to be able to do all of these things right off the bat, and I learned a lot on the job.

My approach is three-fold:

Elle shows me how she wants me to complete a task. I take detailed notes on each step of the process so I don’t have to ask a second time how to do something and can work independently.I take the time I need to gain mastery over that task.I find ways to do it even better, and then implement them after gaining approval from Elle. (Authors tend to be opinionated and used to “their” way of doing things, so it’s important to have a conversation before making changes.)

An advantage to working with Elle is that she is happy to discuss the pros and cons of any new ideas or perspectives I bring to the table. It’s extremely motivating for me, and a win-win for both of us. I know that I have a voice in the process, and because writers often find themselves working in a bubble, having a dedicated team member to bounce ideas off is a huge advantage for Elle.

Overview of Day-to-Day Tasks
In no particular order, here’s a list of some of the work I do for Elle:

Marketing

Plan, organize, implement, and track the success of promotionsPlan and implement new release launchesWrite and send newslettersPost on social media and interact with readersRegularly update product pages on all retailer outlets (Amazon, iBooks, GooglePlay, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, OverDrive), also Goodreads, BookBub and Author Central on AmazonStay up-to-date with the latest marketing trends and share discoveries with the teamPitch podcasters, arrange interviews, follow upContact and interact with bloggersOrganize ARC (advance review copy) distributionsOrganize, implement, and follow up on contests and giveaways

Website

Update and maintain (add new books and promotions, maintain printable book lists and publishing schedule, update list of interviews and guest posts)Brainstorm blog ideas for Elle and other guest bloggers

Books

Beta-read, edit, and provide feedback for all new booksRead back catalog (40+ books for Elle)Format Scrivener files for mobi (Amazon) and epub (every other retailer) and paperbacksPiracy monitoring, issue DMCA takedown notices

Publisher relations

Liaise with Elle’s publisher Montlake (they publish the following books: Shine Not Burn, MacKenzie Fire, and The Bourbon Street Boys SeriesMaintain, update, and follow up on shared calendar (including deadlines)

General

Maintain running to-do list, accessible by all team membersManage street team Facebook page and special promotions for the groupMake ad pieces for promotionsRemind Elle about upcoming meetings or commitmentsPlan work-related trips (for example: The London Book Fair or book signing events)

Communication
In an effort to make things run as smoothly as possible, I’m in touch with Elle constantly, usually by email but also in person at our once weekly meetings. This is not only to keep her up to speed with what I’m working on, but also because it’s important to us both that she retains the final say on projects. Elle continues to make decisions, both big and small, about the direction she wants her writing career to go. She doesn’t always answer my emails immediately because she’s often writing, so it’s up to me to organize my time accordingly. Your author will tell you how often and by what means she wants you to communicate about the business, and this might change as the relationship evolves or special circumstances arise, like vacations.

Fostering a unique relationship
Before I came along, Elle managed her writing career pretty much on her own. Her husband Craig helped with the financial aspects, but Elle was used to having complete and total control over every aspect of her writing and publishing business. In order for us to be able to work together, Elle had to get to a place mentally where she was able to relinquish control over some aspects of her business in exchange for more writing time. This was a trade-off she was ready to make. Your author has to be ready to make that deal and understand what it entails. Also, keep in mind that it might be a gradual process. You and your author will have to learn to trust each other over time.

Our relationship is a balancing act based on that trust. It took time for us to learn how to take full advantage of each others’ strengths and compensate for our weaknesses. In an industry that’s constantly changing, this trust is key. Elle, for her part, is kind, understanding, and indulgent whenever I mess up. Mistakes are bound to happen, but as long as both parties are working diligently and learning from those missteps, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Along the way I discovered that being an author assistant is far from simple or rote, but it can be incredibly satisfying and fulfilling. If you’re thinking of approaching an author you’ve built a relationship with about working as her assistant, keep in mind that her first concern is trust, followed by your abilities, and your fee. Be sure to address all these points right from the start. If you’re both willing to take a leap of faith, you’re on the road to a wonderful partnership. Trust me!

Click to tweet: An author / assistant relationship is built first and foremost upon mutual trust. http://ctt.ec/4n7AM+

Which professional teams do you admire? Do you have any questions about how Elle and I work together? Please comment below or contact me: noelle@ellecasey.com.

Scrivener : A helpful tool for authors

I’m a huge fan of working smarter, not harder. Maybe it’s because I’m lazy, I don’t know, but regardless, I’m here today to share my favorite writing tool: Scrivener. And awesome news … I’ve made you a template you can use to write your novel and format it as an ebook, paperback, manuscript for editing, and pretty much anything else you could possibly do with your written word. Yay!

Scrivener often goes on sale, so if you don’t have the scratch for it now (it’s $45), save your pennies and wait for a sale. I always post on my Facebook page when I see it at a special price. You can get it for Mac or PC, but the Mac version is better, or so I hear. I use the Mac version. Here’s the software designer’s website.

I used to use Microsoft Word to write my books, but never again! Ack, it has such garbagy code going on underneath that really interferes in the formatting process later. Scrivener is so much better at visualizing my story and also for compiling into a usable format. For the compile feature alone, it’s worth every bit of headache you might get from learning the software. That’s the bad news; it does have a bit of a learning curve. But in the interest of working smarter, I’ve made you some videos and put them on Youtube to help you through that part. Here’s a link to my Youtube channel that has all my videos, Scrivener or otherwise.

And for the best part … here’s a link to the template I made that you can use to write a fiction novel and then format it for ebook or paperback. If you like it, share it! Readers benefit when more great books make it to market. CLICK ON THIS: Fiction Novel Template – Elle Casey

That’s all for now; I have a TON of writing to do. Thanks to Mike, fellow author who reached out and let me know a template was a good idea.

So, you want to become an author assistant?

I’m hard at work on my next book, and to mark Noelle’s 1-year anniversary of working with me, I’ve turned the blog over to her today. Enjoy! Hugs, Elle

Elle and Noelle at the London Book Fair, 2015

So, you want to become an author assistant? Guest Post by Noelle Gaussens

How I met Elle
Readers often ask how I met Elle, and the answer is that it all started with a mutual love of books. Although we come from the same hometown in Western New York, Elle and I landed in small, neighboring villages in the South of France and didn’t meet until we were living here. Elle started an English-language book club, and I began attending the monthly meetings two years ago. The book club’s members have very different backgrounds, and come from several different countries—the United States, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, South Africa, Wales—but what we all have in common is that we speak and read in English and we’re all bookworms. This is a group of dedicated, committed readers with strong opinions and very unique worldviews who come together once a month to talk about books they might not otherwise pick up off the shelf, were it not for the club.

Discussing books with a published author
When one of the other bookclubbers casually mentioned that our founding member is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, I almost dropped out. I’ve always been a huge reader, but I’d never met an author before. The idea of chatting about books with a widely-published and successful writer was instantly intimidating. I decided right then and there that as tempting as it was, I wouldn’t google Elle. I didn’t want to know anything about her career because I was sure that learning about her success would make me act star-struck and feel awkward at our meetings. I just wanted to get to know her as a fellow reader and book-lover, and as an American living in France. Elle never, ever mentioned her “day job” at our meetings, and I found out later it was because she didn’t want to feel awkward herself! Talk about great minds thinking alike.

The job
Over time, Elle and I got to know each other, and sometimes attended events outside the club with other English speakers. It was during one of those group dinners that I mentioned that my job was part time and I was looking for other work. Elle sent me an email after, asking me if I might be interested in working for her. It turns out that publishing a book a month is a huge undertaking, and she’d realized that she simply didn’t have enough time to keep up with all the non-writing tasks her job as a self-published novelist requires. She’d thought about hiring a VA (virtual assistant), but it was important to her that she be able to train her assistant in person, and have regular face-to-face meetings with someone she could completely trust.

Tasks
To be honest, I knew NOTHING about the publishing industry when Elle first approached me, and I was floored that she’d consider me for the job. At our initial meeting, we were seated at my kitchen table, and my knees shook with excitement as she started in on the details. It sounded like the coolest job in the world for my book-obsessed self. Basically, Elle has a to-do list of approximately 100 items to accomplish every week, and first and foremost on that list is: Write The Next Book. Next up on that list is: Answer Reader Fan Mail. I learned that my job would be to accomplish the 98 other tasks. However, being that I had no experience in the publishing world, I had much to learn.

Research
I can spend hours and hours researching a topic, just because I find it interesting and want to satisfy my curiosity. As I started delving into the publishing world, I learned that there is a huge amount of information available at the click of a mouse. I had to be very discerning so as not to become overwhelmed. Like any field, there’s a lot written about best practices, and it’s essential to distinguish between what’s useful and  relevant, and what’s just noise. Luckily, I was able to bounce a lot of ideas off Elle and Craig, Elle’s husband. Craig also plays an important role on her team and he’s constantly answering my seemingly unending questions and guiding me when I need direction.

Interaction with readers, or why I wrote this post
Since Elle introduced me to her readers, I’ve been getting questions via email and Facebook about how I got the job, what it entails, and how to find one. I’ve also met (virtually!) many other author assistants, and I’ve learned it’s a real up-and-coming career. Authors are publishing more frequently and there are more of them out there, and the amount of work they have to do in addition to writing the next book is mind-boggling. Authors need organized, reader-oriented people on their support teams to help them handle all of their publishing tasks. To manage the details of their careers and author brands, they’re on the lookout for people who “get” them and their genre (or genres), who understand their brands, who are able to work independently and are self-motivated, and who are passionate about reading and connecting with readers.

How to launch a career in author support.
Here are some tidbits I’ve picked up along the way to help you get started:

Review the books you read. It sounds simple, but it’s so important. Books get noticed thanks to the number and quality of reviews they receive. Make sure you review all the books you read. It only takes a few minutes, and you might be surprised how quickly you build up a reputation. Authors may even seek you out and give you a free copy of their work in exchange for an honest review. You don’t have to give 5-star reviews to get noticed, but authors are seeking readers who connect with and appreciate their writing style and voice. Your reviews should be consistent, honest, polished, and as kind as possible. Leaving reviews like these will show an author that you’re someone who understands the value of reviews, that you support authors’ efforts, and that you’re fair and professional. Consider making your reviews all available in one place by compiling them on a blog.Become an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) reader. Many authors, Elle included, invite readers to receive ARCs. The goal is to get honest reviews for a book before it goes live, but authors also appreciate any direct feedback you might give privately. Getting reviews up on retailers’ sites on release day helps a book gain exposure and traction from day one. It’s an essential step to enabling new readers to discover an author’s work.Become a reviewer on NetGalley. NetGalley is a site dedicated to connecting authors and reader-reviewers. This is the place to go if you like giving authors direct feedback on their covers, blurbs, and manuscripts before publication. This is also a great way to build your reputation as a reviewer. Elle’s books published through Montlake Romance (The Bourbon Street Boys series, Shine Not Burn and MacKenzie Fire) were all available on NetGalley prior to publication. In exchange for having the opportunity to read the book before publication, NetGalley members are asked to post their reviews on release day.Join the Street Team of an author you love. Authors rely heavily on Street Teams to help spread the word via social media when they have a new release, a promotion, or any news in general. Authors reach out to their street teams with scoops, and seek out their support when they’re looking for ARC readers or beta readers (first readers of a book, usually before it’s published for help fine tune the plot, characters, or other issues). This is also a place where an author might announce that they’re looking for an assistant or any other kind of support. I know of more than one assistant who was a fan before she/he became an author’s right-hand person. Elle’s Street Team, aka The Ellementals, is a private Facebook group where we chat first and foremost about our book obsession, get scoops from Elle about what she’s working on, have giveaways, contests, polls, and lots of fun. Come join us!Work (maybe for free) as a Podcast Assistant. There are several podcasts that feature episodes exclusively about the publishing world, and more specifically self-publishing, editing, and proofreading. Offer to work as an assistant (this might be for free, at first), of a podcast you love. Your work could include transcribing each episode of the podcast, making graphics for the website it’s on, doing research for the host, or finding topics for the host to talk about. This is a great way to learn about the industry, to connect with an influential or up-and-coming podcaster and his/her author guests, and to get exposure and practice. Simon Whistler, the host I listen to regularly on the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast, recently threw out there, half-jokingly, that he needed a podcasting assistant. Angela McConnell, an aspiring writer and avid listener, took him up on it. From what I hear, this experience has been amazing for both Angela and Simon; it has allowed her to learn a ton about self-publishing, and Simon has gotten the support he needs. In exchange for her efforts, he’s had her on as a guest of his show more than once, which has allowed her to connect with his audience and build her author brand. I recommend listening to an episode they did together (and special bonus–Simon has a to-die-for British accent!). Elle was also a guest on the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast, twice: in 2015 on Episode 102, and a few years back on Episode 16.

Writer? Or Reader?
Many people ask me when I’m going to pen a novel and launch my own writing career, assuming that working for an author would naturally lead to becoming one myself. For me, that’s like asking a lion keeper when she’s going to become a lion tamer. I know I should never say never, but deep down I’m a READER, first and foremost, and I have every intention of staying true to that. Just writing this blog post took a lot of effort that I’m not sure I could or would want to turn into an everyday thing. I honestly have no idea how Elle writes a full-length book every month! Elle asks me this question too, and for now, I’m telling her that I have enough on my plate with managing her portfolio. But one day, maybe I’ll walk into that lion cage with a whip and see where it gets me.

Know of any other ways writers and readers can make meaningful connections that might lead to further collaboration? Please comment below, or feel free to email me at noelle@ellecasey.com with any questions or comments.

Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving, and even though I’m not living in the United States anymore, I still celebrate with a turkey and all the trimmings. Yay, leftovers! It’s so easy in a busy life to forget to stop or at least slow down and think about all the things you’re grateful for. Time goes by so quickly, but Thanksgiving holiday is always there to remind me at least one day a year to stop and think about my life. To pause, reflect, and regroup.

In two months I will be celebrating my fourth year as an indie author. Four years ago on this day, I was writing my first book, Wrecked, a high seas adventure involving four kids who end up stranded on a deserted island together. It’s a story I had in my head for as long as I could remember, and it felt great to finally get it down on paper. Now, here I am, almost 4 years later, and I’ve penned over 40 novels, have thousands of fans all over the world, and enjoy a career that brings me more fulfillment than I could have ever dreamed of. Wow. Pause. Reflect. I’m truly thankful for this gift.

On top of all this wonderful stuff, I have a fabulous family and great friends, who bring me so much joy and satisfaction in my life, I can’t adequately express it. (Pretty pitiful considering I’m a writer, but that’s the way love goes.) Some adjectives I would use to describe these people: fabulous, generous, kind, understanding, forgiving, loving, funny, adventurous, honest, hard-working, trustworthy.

Today, as I give thanks, I will be keeping many things in mind: My family, of course, and my friends. And also the many readers who have purchased my books, read them, and enjoyed them. Even four years into this, with all the writing and the ups and downs that come along with this industry, I still can’t get over how amazing it is to hear from a reader who has enjoyed one of my stories. When I wake up in the morning and turn on my computer, it’s the first thing I look for; messages from fans saying the most extraordinary things — that I’ve changed their lives, made them laugh out loud in public, inspired them to read more, brought them closer to their children as they read together, motivated them to finish the novel they’ve always wanted to write. I must be the luckiest person on earth to have this in my life. Pause. Reflect. Thank you!

I also learned a few things this year about gratitude, when my husband was in a serious accident and I lost a close friendship. These things happened in a blink of an eye and were completely unexpected. It took our family a while to recover. Every painful event brings clarity eventually, and after these things passed, I learned that I should never take life for granted or the relationships that come my way, and that it’s important to keep in mind the things that really matter: primarily (for me), family. The people we choose to have in our lives have a significant impact on our quality of  life. I learned to be sure that the people I surround myself with are the kind who will support me, love me, and share in my joys, not bring me down or cause me to turn my back on things or people I shouldn’t.

I’m looking forward to another fabulous year of wonderful things to be shared with my amazing readers, friends, and family. 2016 is going to be especially awesome, due in no small part to the fact that I have such a great team working with me. I’d like to send a special shout out to those people: my husband Craig, my mother Margaret, and my assistant Noelle. Craig and my mom have been around since Day 1, but Noelle started with me this summer, and I just cannot get over how fabulous she is. She’s made such a difference in my professional life, creating positive effects that have trickled over into my personal life as well, and I thank the universe for her daily. I couldn’t ask for a better team to help deliver my best work to my readers.

I’ve babbled on enough, and I have pies to bake! I will close by saying thank you, Readers, for your continued support. I hope you love all the exciting new things that I’ll be bringing out at the end of this year and next year, too. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

I want to talk about writer’s block today because I received a newsletter in my email inbox the other day… I can’t remember if it was from Goodreads or Kobo maybe … anyway, it included a piece of advice from some author whose name I didn’t recognize, who I assume is an author of note since this big company was quoting his words, and the advice was total crap. It was something to the effect that if you’re experiencing writer’s block you’re probably writing the wrong thing.

Now, most of the time when I see advice on writing and it’s coming from an author who has actually finished writing a book and published it somehow (either as in indie or with a traditional publisher), I agree with it. Our lives as fiction authors are very similar, right? We all sit down with an idea and spin it into a yarn, stay up too many hours, worry that we suck… However in this case I could not disagree more with the advice given, and because it addressed the most frequently asked question during my “Ask Me Anything” session that I just did last week, I figured it’s probably important that I talk about it a little bit more here on my blog where maybe a few more people will see it.

If you’ve tried to write a book, even just one book, you’ve probably experienced writer’s block. And if you have not yet experienced writer’s block as a writer, I’m going to go ahead and predict your future for you right now and tell you that at some point you will. It’s part of the deal, like body hair showing up in weird places. It happens to all of us eventually.

What is writer’s block? I think it can come from many sources, but it manifests in this feeling when you sit down in front of the computer that you have no idea what to write. You stare at a blank screen and start to freak out. Or you don’t even get to the screen; you just imagine yourself writing and suddenly you can think of 20,000 things you’d rather be doing, including ridiculously awful things like laundry and cleaning toilets and scrubbing a weird stain off your baseboard. If you’re a writer, this is the last place you want to be in your life. You can’t hate writing! It’s what you do to pay the bills!

So if everybody who writes experiences writer’s block, and you are or want to be a writer, it’s pretty important that you know how to deal with it when it arises. I want to help you out and make it really easy for you to do that, no fuss no muss. So here it goes:

The best way to get rid of writer’s block is to fucking write.

Sorry for that ‘sentence enhancer’ there, but seriously, y’all, I’m feeling very passionate about this topic. Because of the bad advice in that newsletter, it’s possible we will miss out on whole bunch of really awesome books that will never see the light of day but should! That guy couldn’t have been more misguided in his advice. I’m not going to say he was completely and totally wrong, because I did once not finish a book, but I will say that if you adopt his wisdom, you will more than likely screw yourself.

Here’s why:

I write a new novel every month. There are some detractors out there who say that it’s not possible to write a good book in a month and accuse me of being hack; however, if you look at my book reviews, you’ll see that the majority of readers who read my stuff are pretty happy with it. That’s where I’m coming from, just to give you some perspective (consider the source when listening to advice, that’s what I always say!) You may think based on my output that I can just sit at the computer and hammer out a bunch of words and be done with it, every day, regularly like clockwork. Boom! Book is done! But it’s never that easy, or I should say it is most often not that easy. Okay, I’ll admit … from time to time, it is easy to sit down and hammer out a bunch of words, and it all just flows, and all the stars and planets align; but more often it’s a matter of work. Really hard, really dedicated, really focused work.

I learned pretty early on, and I credit this knowledge with my success, that you have to treat writing like you would any other job. If you want to get paid, you get up, you go to work, you do your job, and you go home. If you get up but don’t go to work, or if you get up and go to work but you don’t actually do your job, you are not going to collect your paycheck, and then you’ll be without your job. I’m sure, even if you’re a writer now, you had some kind of other job before. And if you had a non-writery job before, you probably had to deal with parts of that job that you really hated doing. There is no job on the planet that is awesome all the time. So what did you do in your other jobs with the tasks you didn’t like? Maybe you put them off. Maybe you asked somebody else to help get them done. But in the end, those tasks got done because you forced yourself to push through. And that’s what you have to do with the part of writing that sucks, a.k.a.: writer’s block.

You have to just sit down and force yourself to push through. You should not read about writing, blog about writing (ahem), think about writing, or whine about writing. No, no, no! You should WRITE. Preparing to write is not writing. Practicing writing exercises is not writing. Writing forum posts or Facebook posts or tweeting or instagramming … or all that crap you know what I’m talking about, don’t play … is not writing! That all falls under this heading: “Delaying Writing” People who delay writing do not get books written. They do, however, have really great blogs sometimes.

Now, there are some people who will argue that writing is a creative process [insert frilly finger movements here], and if the creative mind [more frilly fingers] is not in gear or if the muse is not present (so romantic!) there is no form of pushing through that will get your fingers moving. I disagree with this so strongly, I’m getting ready to cuss again. Dammit, people! I know the struggle! I live the struggle! I am blogging, for God’s sake! Need I remind you what heading this activity falls under??

The beauty about creativity is that it feeds on itself. Sometimes it just needs a little kick start, but it always starts rolling once it gets that spark. So, how do we kickstart a brain-dead author? Well, what I do when I sit down at the computer is re-read the last chapter or two (or three) that I wrote previously, so I can get my head back into the world, and then I just start typing. I take those characters who were doing stuff in the previous chapters and I lead them to the next logical scene. I put them in that next logical scene, and I listen to what they’re going to say, and I look at what they’re going to do, and I just take dictation. Characters aren’t going to stand there frozen in time. They’re real in your head. Just listen. They might even just have a conversation about where they’re standing or what they’re doing, but it’s enough to get things going. Every time. This has never failed me, in three and a half years of pumping out over 3 million words. Yeah, you read that right. 3 million. Tell me I don’t know about writer’s block. Pah!

Once you give a channel for your characters’ voices to speak through, their voices will start coming in loud and clear. But if you don’t give them that channel, if you don’t sit down at your computer and start typing, there is no channel. There’s a giant hairball in your showerdrain. Nothing’s going to get through. There will only be the big white screen of doom. Channel blocked. Game over. Go get another job.

I think the worst thing that you can do when you’re experiencing writer’s block is to quit what you’re writing and do something else, meaning work on another project (or do laundry). Because if you do that, you will never finish a book. You will have 85 started books and no completed books. Of course you can get excited about starting a new project rather than pushing through. The first few chapters are always the easiest! It’s the middle ones that make you feel like you’re bleeding from a damn vein. The difference between being a writing professional and being a writing hobbyist is the ability to push through writer’s block … to push through those difficult moments, write anyway, and to finish the damn book.

I think it’s a mistake to get into this woe-is-me attitude, to feel sorry for yourself, to bog yourself down in negative thoughts or the feeling that your book sucks or that the characters are stupid … because honestly, every writer goes through this and it’s a complete waste of time. Every writer has self-doubts, even the great ones. Maybe especially the great ones.  I certainly have self-doubts, even after getting thousands of amazing 5-star reviews, hitting all the bestseller lists,  selling a lot of books, and making a lot of money. It just comes with the territory; creative people are very hard on themselves. You just need to acknowledge that and move on, and not engage in a pity party that overwhelms your life and makes it impossible for you to succeed.

I know I sound like some kind of military drill sergeant, and believe me I know what they sound like because I’m a veteran, but I really believe that when you have a problem with writer’s block, what you need to do is give yourself a kick in the pants. Indulging in those self-defeating thoughts like “I can’t” will only lead you down the path of never finishing anything.

Ignore that guy who said if you have writer’s block you’re working on the wrong book, because I’ve had writer’s block for 40+ books so far, and those books that I did finish because I pushed through have made me a lot of money and found me a lot of really happy readers. It would’ve been a real shame if I’d followed that guy’s advice and moved on to something else. Duh. If I’d done that, I would have moved on to another job … a non-writery one.