Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elle Ann Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Elle Ann thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” I’m a firm believer that the talents buried within us will emerge at some point in our lives, whether on a small, personal scale–like singing in the shower–or a grand, public scale–like reaching accolades and fame. I’ve always been a creative person in regards to signing, dancing, writing, and acting (yes, I was a theater kid), but reading, unlike many authors, wasn’t part of my life until I’d jumped with both feet into my thirties. In a way, I wonder how much farther in my craft I would be if I grew up reading the classics and major successes of the last two decades, but then I quickly remember that reading hasn’t always been my thing.
My childhood and pre-teen years were filled with baking and choreographing a routine to Ace of Bass’s “I Saw the Sign.” (Thank you, Dad, for eating my crumbling baking soda overdosed-cookies, and Mom, for enduring all of those performances in our living room) My teen years were filled with theater performances and cheering at every high school sport except for soccer (they didn’t want us, rude). After starting college and working full time, I got married younger than my peers. I was a full-blown wife a couple months before turning twenty, and as it were, a mother at twenty-one. Sprinkled into all of those seasons, I enjoyed writing. School assignments, journal entries, skits and short plays, newsletters. But where did curling up and reading a book fit into those scenarios?
Finding myself craving quiet calm moments like a kid jonesing for another sugar fix, sitting down in silence and escaping to another world in my mind became a treasured luxury while raising my four kids. In a more home-bound season where reading became a joy, the desire to create gained a new flame.
All that to say–sorry for the novel; I am a writer, after all–could I go back and start reading and seriously writing earlier, I’m not sure I would. In all honesty, I do feel a pressure to play catchup by reading as much as I can while learning EVERYTHING about the literary world. However, in another way, I also like the fact that it allows me to walk into writing without the closed-in walls of others’ rules or ways of doing things.
As far as the actual publishing portion of becoming an author, I would change some of that timeline. Newsletter? I was supposed to have that first? Paying for ads? With what budget? Self-publishing knocked me out of some unpublished writer contests and left me competing against past award-winning and best-selling authors. Not that I’ll never climb the ranks and have great success, exposure is simply a more daunting task with the route I rushed down. In this regard, I’ve learned some steps I took out of order or missed altogether.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
After meeting an indie author and reading her books out of curiosity in 2016, I found myself wondering if I could use my creative hobby in the same way. I gleaned from her as we became fast friends, benefiting from her research and self-publishing process. Although every person’s journey is unique, and I still had to whittle my own process, I released my first Chick flick/sweet romance novel in May 2018 and the rest of its series in October 2018, May 2019, and October 2019. I went on to release a Second-Chance/Sports Romance novel and a FREE Sweet Romance short story in December 2020. In 2021, I took a stab at a YA Dystopian–love story still included. Finally, in November 2022, I released a Christmas Romcom novella. I have other stories in the works and look forward to seeing how far this hobby-turned-side-gig will go. All of my books can be purchased on Amazon in paperback and kindle formats or read for free in Kindle Unlimited.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
There I nothing like getting a text or DM from someone gushing about how much they loved your book, or they are RE-reading your book for the xxth time, or you are their favorite author. As a creative, I can tend to want BIG success, sell thousands of copies of my books, but it’s just as rewarding to know that a story that lived in my head and was typed out by my fingers impacted another person and now lives in their heads any time they want to visit it.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Am I an expert? NO. Have I learned more than I knew before? YES. TikTok is more popular with my daughter and her friends than women like me knocking on forty’s door, but there is a whole side to the social media platform just for readers? Her #booktok friends. Reels can go viral or get one hundred views. Paid ads might not break even from what you put into them. But guess what: all of it is more exposure. So don’t give up, and don’t be afraid to try something new.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.elleannbrown.com
- Instagram: @elleannbrown
- Facebook: my personal page https://www.facebook.com/leslieann829/
- Twitter: @elleannbrown
Image Credits
Professional photos by Bre Hargrove