BOW 073: Shelly Ellis: The Nuts and Bolts of Publishing Novels

Shelly Ellis has built an incredible career out of writing and publishing fiction novels. Contrary to the path many writers take, she actually started with a publishing house, and after several successful books, decided to take off on her own so she could be more creative with her work. 

Now she writes under 2 different pen names across several different fiction dramas. Along the way, she’s won several prestigious awards and learned a lot of lessons about writing, publishing, and marketing books that your audience is hungry to read. 

Join us as we talk about getting an agent, building a thriving career in fiction writing, and recovering from creative burn-out.

• Why Shelly writes under 2 different pen names
• How she comes up with ideas for her many novels
• Why she never writes a story straight from start to finishHow she comes up from ideas for her stories
• Her advice for burned-out writers who’ve lost their love for the craft
• How she gets her books into Barnes and Nobles and other bookstores
• Why she left her publishing house after years of success and decided to self-publish instead
• How to recover when you write something that flops
• Her advice for getting helpful feedback from your readers
• How she takes the “traditional” book tour and moves it online
• Her favorite ways to replenish her creativity when she’s feeling drained

And plenty more along the way. Get the resources mentioned in this episode below.