By Ted Huntington
Please welcome Ted Huntington to the Writer's Journey Blog this week with his journey of the Ecaps!
Ted Huntington peaked as a writer at age eight and has been trying to regain that level of acclaim ever since. That is a funny and somewhat true statement.
In second grade Ted wrote a play called Blast Off to Ecaps that was performed by his class. Ecaps was featured in the local newspaper, and young Ted was a minor celebrity.
Fast-forward about 35 years, through college, a stint as a broadcast journalist, relocating from New York to California, his “15 minutes of fame” appearing on The People’s Court, a career that included marketing-communications executive positions at trade associations, insurance companies, and financial institutions. Oh, and marriage and three children were sprinkled in there as well.
Ted’s writing career took a back seat to… well, to life.
In 2007 the writing bug bit. What to write? Of course, a young adult version of the play that earned Ted such praise as a second grader. And Blast Off to Ecaps was published. Ecaps is the story of Eddie Moon, a 12-year-old who discovers a rocket in his backyard, which whisks Eddie and his friend Lisa to another dimension, and a planet called Ecaps, the mirror image of Earth. He realizes his mission on Ecaps is to help his “Ecapsian” twin, Eidde, escape from the horrible rat cave prison – and then figure out how to return to Earth. In 2009, Ted followed up Ecaps with the sequel, Blast Off to Earth. Both books were published on www.Lulu.com.
And then back to the career... Come 2018 and the writing jones returned with a vengeance. Ted committed himself to become a serious author. The result has been 2019’s Doug Maxwell, and 2020’s Charlie Estrella, parts one and two of The Storm Trilogy (part three is due in 2021). Maxwell and Estrella are supernatural superheroes who have been granted special powers and great destiny from a mystical storm, only to come across many evil foes eager to crush their destiny. These books are published by Next Chapter Publishing.
A veteran of three decades as a marketing wizard, Ted has used those skills, and he has gained much more experience, to help market his books. Social media is Ted’s primary book marketing tool, for his own work, and for other authors and aspiring writers.
“It has been so rewarding developing social media platforms to help other writers reach their goals,” Ted commented. His Facebook group Authors’ Networking Group boasts over 6,000 very engaged members. That group alone has opened doors to many opportunities for Ted and for thousands of other writers.
This year Ted has launched an exciting new endeavor. Partnering with his daughter, Jenna Huntington, the father-daughter team has started Women’s Writes Publishing and Author Services. The mission of the nonprofit company is to promote stories of female strength. Women’s Writes also offers numerous services to help lift writers toward their career goals, including editing, proofreading, educational webinars, author interviews, book marketing, graphics, and social media/website reviews.
What’s next for Ted? He plans to finish book three of The Storm Trilogy this year. Ted and Jenna are working diligently to grow Women’s Writes. They are currently seeking writer submissions for anthologies titled Strength, short stories about strong women and the challenging obstacles they have overcome.
“I am learning so much about the world of books from my interviews with many fabulous female authors,” Ted added. “How to create a brand, how to organize your schedule to write and market, how to develop characters, how to grow a reader base, and so much more valuable information is coming out of these interviews, which are sponsored by Women’s Writes.” Ted said all writers and aspiring authors will greatly benefit from this interview series. https://www.patreon.com/posts/published
