Ellen Frances
Bio
Daily five-minute reads about writing — discipline, doubt, and the reality of taking the work seriously without burning out. https://linktr.ee/ellenfranceswrites
Stories (205)
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I (Nearly) Used Amazon's Free ISBN. Here's Why That Was (And Wasn't) A Mistake.
When you publish on Amazon, you have two choices: Use Amazon's free ISBN, or buy your own for $125. I went to choose the free option. Why spend $125 when Amazon offers it for nothing? That's a no-brainer, right?!
By Ellen Frances5 days ago in Writers
Should You Publish Wide or KDP Select? I Chose Wrong.
One of the first decisions you make when self-publishing is whether to use KDP Select. This means you're faced with a dilemma: Amazon exclusivity, where your book is only available on Amazon, or publish widely across every self-publishing platform.
By Ellen Frances7 days ago in Writers
How I Write When I Only Have 30 Minutes
Most days, I don't have two hours to write. I don't have an hour, and some days I barely have 30 minutes. Between everything else I need to do in my writing business, life, obligations, and being human, pure writing time gets compressed.
By Ellen Frances9 days ago in Writers
Why Writing Gets Hard Right Before It Gets Good
I almost quit three days before my breakthrough. A little while ago, I'd been writing daily for two months, and it was hard (impossible, brutal, exhausting) the entire time. But around week eight, it became unbearable.
By Ellen Frances11 days ago in Writers
Missed a Day of Writing? Read This Before You Panic
I missed yesterday. I didn't write, not one word, not even a sentence in my notes app, nada. I went to bed feeling like I'd failed, like I'd broken something important and assuming the entire habit I'd built was now ruined.
By Ellen Frances12 days ago in Writers
Amazon's Algorithm Didn't Promote My Book. Here's What I Should Have Done Instead.
I believed the myth: write a good book, upload it to Amazon, and the algorithm will do the rest. There are millions of readers browsing Amazon, and the platform's sophisticated recommendation system pushes my book to fans of romance fiction (my book's genre). There is this "Customers who bought this also bought…" magic that would introduce my book to the right people.
By Ellen Frances13 days ago in Writers
Stop Telling Writers They Don’t Have Real Jobs
"That's nice that you have a hobby." That's what the lady at the gym, a woman using the adjacent treadmill, said when I told her I was a full-time writer, working for myself at my desk in my spare room. She asked me what I did for work, and I answered honestly.
By Ellen Frances14 days ago in Writers
How to Keep Writing When You Hate Everything You're Producing
I deleted 600 words from my new novel this morning. Not because they were objectively bad, but because I hated them. Every sentence felt forced. Every idea felt obvious. Every word choice felt wrong. As a draft, I couldn't stand to read them back, let alone ferociously turn them into something mildly readable.
By Ellen Frances14 days ago in Writers
How to Know If Your Writing Is Actually Good (When You Can't Tell Anymore)
I reread an article I published last week. I couldn't tell if it was good or garbage. I'd thought it was decent when I hit publish. Now, seven days later, I was reading it as if it were written by a stranger, and I genuinely couldn't assess its quality.
By Ellen Frances21 days ago in Writers
