Episode 7: Carol Ekster, Former Teacher Turned Children’s Author

This week my guest is Carol Ekster, who taught children for 35 years before retiring in 2009 and devoting herself full-time to writing children’s books. She has written around 50(!) books so far, and has 3 books published through traditional publishing, including Ruth the Sleuth and the Messy Room and Where Am I Sleeping Tonight?, a book that tackles the tough topic of divorce.

In this episode, Carol shares her story, along with some of her best tips for marketing yourself as an author. You’ll learn:

• How Carol got started writing, and how she was able to get published within a couple of years of starting
• Why children’s authors need nerve
• How Carol uses social media effectively- including Pinterest!
• Why it’s so important to get out into the community to get the word out about your books
• How to do Skype classroom visits to share your work with kids
• How to find out what agents are looking for from children’s authors
• And much more!

Although Carol comes from the traditional publishing world and doesn’t participate in self-publishing like I do, there’s a lot of useful info in this episode on promoting yourself as an author, and how to keep hustling and writing new books! Don’t miss it.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Carol’s website, with info about her books and more
• 2014 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market book
• The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published
• Carol on Twitter

Keep Listening:

• Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out.
• Check out more episodes
• Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!