Author and publisher is as determined as her protagonist – Monterey Herald

(Photo courtesy)

Nicki Ehrlich feels at home on horseback. Although she did not grow up with horses, her parents, knowing her love for their beauty, their majesty and the sensitivity in their eyes, looked for ways to put her on a horse during the holidays and eventually organized riding lessons.

“I felt like I belonged there,” Ehrlich said. “I don’t think people realize how sensitive horses are. They’re such big animals, people think they’re pretty tough. But they’re really very sensitive. They can feel when a fly is on them. So when you get on a horse, imagine how your legs feel and your hands feel on the reins. It’s such a privilege that a horse allows us to do that.”

Ehrlich later trained in Idaho under the legendary Ray Hunt, who promoted “natural horsemanship,” a philosophy of working with horses based on the horse’s natural instincts and methods of communication. After moving to the Monterey Peninsula, she worked with a woman in Marina who taught the same style of riding.

Ehrlich was a typical “horse kid” who grew up collecting classic Breyer horse models and reading authors like Paulette Jiles and Molly Gloss. She always believed she would write a book, too. She knew that one day she would bring “Ellis River Cady” to life, put her on a horse and send her out into the Wild West to find what the Civil War had scattered across the land: her family.

In 2022, Ehrlich published Ellis River, a character-driven novel named after her protagonist, a young woman who hides her fear behind her determination as she takes readers on a journey through historical fiction. The book won the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Audiobook – Fiction.

It could have remained a successful stand-alone story. But the more Ehrlich got to know and understand her character, the more Ellis made it clear to her that her storyline was too complex to be described in a book. As long as she had more to solve, Ehrlich had more to write.

“Readers of ‘Ellis River’ said there had to be a sequel because that’s how the book ends – or it doesn’t,” Ehrlich said. “That’s absolutely true. A prologue in the sequel covers the winter period between the fall that ends the first book and the spring that begins the second book so the reader understands what Ellis experienced. This creates continuity in the plot.”

On Tuesday, Erlich releases her sequel, “Zephyr Trails,” in which Ellis River Cady teeters on the line between trust and betrayal as she navigates a new landscape after a very uncivil war.

“The plot came about because I had read and watched a lot of westerns since I was a kid. History wasn’t my strong suit in school,” Ehrlich said, “mainly because it wasn’t taught with interest. But all the classes seemed to revolve around the Civil War, a time when many outlaws rose to power. So I started studying that era, and that’s where my plot developed from.”

Ehrlich found it easier to research the history immediately before and during the war than afterward. She tried to find out what happened, how people were displaced and why they moved west.

“I thought it would be an interesting time to set my story,” she said. “Here was this girl in Tennessee who had lost a lot and was searching for at least a little piece of family.”

Judging a book by its cover

Looking at the cover of Zephyr Trails is like experiencing an art painting that draws readers into the novel. Through the scene depicted on the cover and its painterly style by artist Danna Mathias Steele, we learn so much about the story, the setting, and more importantly, the emotions of the narrative.

The book was developed and published by Ehrlich’s own publishing company, Bay Feather Books, using the same editors and designers who created Ellis River for quality and continuity reasons.

As she wrote and sought to publish her books, Ehrlich learned a lot about publishing and publishing books, about finding an agent, and about whether she wanted or needed to publish with the “Big Five” New York publishers.

“Everything looked interesting and potentially doable,” Ehrlich said, “but the process and time were tedious. If I had been in my 30s, I might have gone through this. I was really interested in how much work it took to get to this point of publication.”

Ehrlich took online courses, watched webinars, and attended publishing seminars. She joined the Independent Book Publishing Association. Finding the whole process interesting and fun, she decided to start her own publishing company.

“It can take a few years or more to find an agent,” Ehrlich said, “plus possibly years of editing and rewriting, followed by a few more years to sell the book. And that’s all ‘if.’ I wanted to control the quality of my book and be able to recognize it when it came out. To do that, I started my own imprint.”

Having learned so much about the path to independent publishing, Ehrlich has become an advocate for the approach and encourages readers to buy more independently published books.

“There are so many wonderful authors and great works,” she said, “that are not published by the Big Five publishers. When you look at many of the well-written, well-edited, well-designed independent books, you don’t know the difference. It’s so important to support the people who believed in their project enough to finish it and do it well.”

While Ehrlich is celebrating the release of her sequel, “Zephyr Trails,” she is already working on the third book in a trilogy that will soon become “Ellis River.”

“I really didn’t think there would be a third book,” she said. “I had the idea for one book at first, but when I got to the end of this book I knew there had to be another one. Even then, when I was writing, I knew my character wouldn’t get as far as I wanted in the end. I think she’ll find a solution in this book; the whole thing will end up as a trilogy.”

“Ellis River” and “Zephyr Trails” are available at River House Books at The Crossroads Carmel, Pilgrim’s Way in Carmel, Bookworks in Pacific Grove, and through Amazon. Ehrlich will give an author talk at River House Books on August 4 at 1 p.m.