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About Anna Elliott

Anna Elliott is an author of historical fiction and fantasy. Her first series, the Twilight of Avalon trilogy, is a retelling of the Trystan and Isolde legend. She wrote her second series, the Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, chiefly to satisfy her own curiosity about what might have happened to Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and all the other wonderful cast of characters after the official end of Jane Austen's classic work. She enjoys stories about strong women, and loves exploring the multitude of ways women can find their unique strengths. Anna lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and three children.

Recent Posts by this author:

  • Audiobooks 101: a Beginner’s Look at the Process of Getting an Audiobook Made
  • When The Spark is Gone: 4 Ways to Bring Back the Joy of Writing
  • There’s No Wrong Way
  • For the Love
  • This is Your Brain on Brain FM
  • The Do’s and Don’ts of Editing
  • Story Glue
  • Be Your Own Biggest Fan
  • When Your Scene is Dragging: 6 Ways to Add Tension
  • Your One Wild and Precious Life
  • In Praise of Quitting
  • On Reviews and How (Not) to Take Them

    • Audiobooks 101: a Beginner’s Look at the Process of Getting an Audiobook Made

    By

    321px-faust-f2By now, most writers are at least somewhat familiar with the basic logistics of indie publishing. Today, though, I wanted to talk about another venue that indies have for sharing their stories that may not be as widely known and thought about: audiobooks. If you’ve published an indie novel or are planning on publishing one– or like some authors I know, retain the audio rights on a traditionally published book– you have the option to have your book made into an audiobook and sell that, too. It not only offers another way for readers to connect with your stories, it can be an added significant source of income.

    Now, right up front, I should say that the process of having an audiobook made represents a quite significant time commitment on your part, even if– like most authors– you hire a narrator and sound engineer. As a homeschooling mama of small children ranging from 2 years old to 9, I frankly don’t have that kind of time at all. I would never have been able to even think about audiobooks if my amazing parents had not stepped in and surprised me with the offer to take care of everything. So this article is really a collaboration between me and my dad, and when I say “we” what I really mean is “my superhero mom and dad with unbelievably minimal help from me.”

    At any rate, here’s a look at the process that “we” went through:

    First, you’ll need to pick an audiobooks distributor. (Google ‘audiobooks’ and you’ll find a lot of them.) All will take a percentage of the sales, the percentage depending on whether you distribute through them exclusively or not.
    We picked ACX,one of the largest and probably best-known distributors.

    [Read more…]

    When The Spark is Gone: 4 Ways to Bring Back the Joy of Writing

    By

    If you’re a writer— professional, part-time, aspiring, or something in between— then chances are you got into the job because, not surprisingly, you love to write. My husband and I were just this week talking about doing the job that you’d do even if you were never payed for it— and definitely writing is that for me. I write seven days a week, year-round, simply because even on the hard days I couldn’t love it more. But we all have experienced those hard days: times when we feel like we’ve … [Read more...]

    There’s No Wrong Way

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    Do you remember those old commercials about "There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's?" I was going to say that the same can be applied to writing: There's no wrong way to write a novel. Except that there probably are wrong ways of going about the process, if the novel never actually gets written. I suppose it's more accurate to say there's no right way to write a novel-- or rather, there's no single right way. I can't tell you how to write a novel. I doubt anyone can. That's not to … [Read more...]

    For the Love

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    In order to get down to the heart of my post today, I need to first tell you a story. But don't worry, it's an encouraging success story-- the kind that everyone likes to hear. Also, it's about my dad, so I figure that I'm justified in going around doing some mild bragging on him. Back when I was very young (younger than 5) my dad supported our family as a full-time novelist. He was (in my obviously unbiased opinion) great at it. But unfortunately that old truism about it being hard to get … [Read more...]

    This is Your Brain on Brain FM

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    My daily writing time tends to be fragmented. Really, really fragmented. I homeschool my two oldest kids and have a toddler running around and creating mayhem, too. It's no harder or more hectic I'm sure than trying to write and hold down a day job, but I do sometimes struggle with snapping myself from parenting/teaching mode into writing/creative mode and back again on a dime-- or rather during the 10-20 minute windows I usually get to do some work. Enter (cue dramatic music) Brain FM. Have you … [Read more...]

    The Do’s and Don’ts of Editing

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    I realize that my timing isn't perfect for this post. At least, not for all of those WU-ers who are participating in NaNo this year-- which after all is largely an exercise in letting your creativity and your story flow by NOT thinking about editing. But it's been several years since NaNoWriMo fit into my writing schedule, and since for me this month happens to be largely devoted to edits, I wanted to share some of the things I've been thinking about the process. If you're in the process of an … [Read more...]

    Story Glue

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    My reading time is limited these days. Like, really, really limited. I'm not sure what it is-- but it might possibly have something to do with homeschooling a kindergartener and a third grader while chasing a super active toddler around . . . not to mention feeding said children and (sort of) stopping our house from a headlong slide into full-scale disaster zone . . . and oh yes, there's also that whole writing thing that I do as our family's main breadwinner. So yeah. As much as I love diving … [Read more...]

    Be Your Own Biggest Fan

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    A few years back, author Joshilyn Jackson posted a story on her blog about meeting an author who was without a doubt his own biggest fan. I can't find the post at the moment, but this author literally introduced himself with the words, "Hi, I'm award-winning author *name redacted*". All that was missing to make it perfect, Joshilyn Jackson wrote, was for him to have said, "It's such an honor for you to meet me." Because she is hilarious and awesome. My point, to be clear, is that that's … [Read more...]

    When Your Scene is Dragging: 6 Ways to Add Tension

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    One of the very first books on craft I ever read, way back at the beginning of my writing career, was Writing the Breakout Novel, by our own Donald Maass. The book is full of excellent points on improving your craft (Don isn't paying me to say that or anything; we've never met, and he has no idea even that I'm currently writing this post. Actually it's kind of fan-girl trippy for me that I started out my writing career ordering a copy of his book, and now I actually get to be a fellow … [Read more...]

    Your One Wild and Precious Life

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    “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” That quote from Mary Oliver has been ringing in my head this past week, ever since I got an e-mail from a writer friend-- a very, very talented writer friend, who nevertheless is not writing. She's in a dry spell, but it's more than a "spell" really. She has written and published books before, but hasn't written anything much or finished anything in the last five years. She wrote to me recently, frustrated by her … [Read more...]

    In Praise of Quitting

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    In our culture, being a quitter isn't generally seen as a good thing.  We value determination, drive, commitment, and the willingness to carry a task through all the way to the end.  And rightly so.  Determination and commitment and all the rest are admirable qualities to have-- and they're essential to us as writers.  I've always felt that one of the deadly sins of the unpublished writer (ie the sins that will stop her from ever getting published) is to be a serial book-starter.  To start … [Read more...]

    On Reviews and How (Not) to Take Them

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    I got the call from my husband two weeks ago, the one you never want to get. While at the park, our oldest daughter (age 7) had fallen and broken her arm. (My girl is something of a tree-climbing-roller-skating-bike-riding daredevil. Yet she managed to get a fairly spectacular compound fracture--her first--falling less than 4 feet off the toddler section of the playground. Really? Yup). She was absolutely incredibly brave about the whole experience, from the ambulance ride to the hospital to … [Read more...]