Brandon Ellis interview with David Alan Binder
Bio from his website and Amazon: Hi. I’m Brandon, the author of the award winning book, The PureLights of Ohm Totem, which I’m now offering free on Amazon. Amazon Best Selling author, Brandon Ellis, was an All State Baseball and All League Basketball player, then he obtained his state and federal Therapeutic Massage License to become a successful Sports Massage Therapist & Instructor. During his life adventures so far, he has become a father of three and a successful author.
After his family, Brandon has two great loves in his life - writing and helping people to regain their optimal health.
Website: http://brandon-ellis.com/
Blog: http://brandon-ellis.com/category/blog/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brandon-Ellis/e/B00BLVIYNW
1. Where are you currently living? Washougal, Washington, though I just moved here and consider myself a Portland, Oregonian because that’s where I was born and raised.
2. What is the most important thing that you have learned in your writing experience, so far? Don’t take myself too seriously. I get too wrapped up in negative reviews and thankfully, I don’t get many of them. To spend countless months, days, and hours on a book, pouring my heart out, putting together a marketing plan, hiring editors and proof readers, gathering professional artists for a book cover, and having my book description scoured by blurb professionals, only to receive a 1 star review, saying, “Didn’t like the book...” really gets me down. Ha ha… I know. Get over it, right? I’m working on that!
3. What would you say is your most interesting writing, publishing, editing or illustrating quirk? I tend to have “fun” when I write. I just let the fingers flow on the computer keyboard, enjoying every aspect of my imagination as I can. So, my quirk? Simple: having fun.
4. Tell us your insights on self-publish or use a publisher? None of my books has ever been accepted by a traditional publisher, no matter how hard I try. So, I have to do it all. Self-publishing, if you want to be legit, requires that you get everything right, just like a traditional publisher does. You can’t have any mistakes in your book, you need to create your own subscriber base, you have to hire your own editor and cover artist, and use launch strategies when you release your book. If self-publishing wasn’t around, I’d still be writing and submitting my books to publishers, relentlessly. I’m so very lucky and glad that my books do well and are loved by many.
5. Any insights eBooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing? I’m a print
book fan, but tend to read more eBooks, because they are less expensive and I
get them immediately. Other than that, I still love the eBook experience. It’s
amazing to have a device that can hold countless books.
6. Do you have any suggestions or helps for new writers (please be specific and informational as possible)? Write as much as possible. Not every author is a hit out of the gate. You must find subscribers and create a newsletter, so your subscribers can receive emails from you once or twice a month. In that way, they’ll know you’re still around and relevant, plus the more subscribers you have, the more know about your next book release. Subscribers isn’t everything, either. You must get a good editor. Without one, and unless you’re a great editor yourself, you’ll have a hard time with self-publishing. Also, devour as many books as you can. That will help you become a better writer. 7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned with your creative process with your books, editing, publishing or illustrating? That I like to cuss. Of all things, I never would have imagined that. I don’t cuss in person – rarely – so why in some of my books? Because I think it changes the way I am, meaning, I can be a different character, a different person, when I write without worrying about what other people think. 8. How many books have you written? 8
9. Do you have any tricks or tips to help others become a better writer (please be as specific and information as you possibly can)? Read as many well-written and best-selling books as you can get your hands on. Success has clues and you’ll find clues in those books.
10. Do you have any suggestions for providing twists in a good story? Always have a twist. It pulls the readers along. It’s more engaging. So how do you create a twist? Think of the most ridiculous thing or outrageous thing and figure out how to get to that outrageousness. 11. What makes your or any book stand out from the crowd? My energy within the book. It’s quirky. It’s fun. It’s entertaining. I also am a big time researcher and will spend months researching my book before I even start writing it.
12. What are some ways in which you promote your work? Newsletter swaps with other authors. Find an author in your genre and figure out a date they can promote your book to their email list and you do the same for them. It’s best to do 5 – 10 newsletter swaps around the time you release a new book. That will really help get your book off the ground.
13. What is the one thing you would do differently now (concerning writing or editing or publishing or illustrating) and why? Write four books in a series before releasing them to the public. In that way, you release book 1, then book 2 a week later, book 3 a week later, and book 4 two weeks later, putting book 2, 3, and 4 on pre-order, so you can get more readers who are interested in only reading your book if it’s a trilogy or longer. You’ll have a lot more interested readers if you do that.
14. What saying or mantra do you live by? Constantly envision your goal or your dream, and as you go along striving for that dream, don’t give up. Learn as much as you can in the process and improve, improve, improve.
15. Anything else you would like to say? Thank you very much for interviewing me. :)
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