The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers https://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/ Writing Craft and Creative Business Mon, 08 Jul 2024 07:20:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/favicon.jpeg The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers https://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/ 32 32 Information, inspiration and interviews on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and making a living with your writing. <br /> If you need help with writing your book, or you want to learn how to navigate the new world of publishing and book marketing, then join Joanna Penn and her guests every Monday. Also covers the business of being a writer and how to make money with your books. Joanna Penn false Joanna Penn joanna@TheCreativePenn.com Copyright The Creative Penn Copyright The Creative Penn podcast Writing, Self-publishing, Book Marketing, and Making a Living with your Writing The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers https://www.thecreativepenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/TheCreativePennPodcast2024-1.jpg https://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/ TV-G Weekly 4e9f9287-f3cd-5f4b-a669-2edfffc8e338 Preparing Your Manuscript For Pitching Agents With Renee Fountain https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/08/preparing-your-manuscript-for-pitching-agents-with-renee-fountain/ Mon, 08 Jul 2024 06:32:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36344 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/08/preparing-your-manuscript-for-pitching-agents-with-renee-fountain/#respond https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/08/preparing-your-manuscript-for-pitching-agents-with-renee-fountain/feed/ 0 <p>How can you make sure your manuscript is ready for submission to an agent — or for publication if you go indie? What are the benefits and challenges of traditional publishing? Will they really do all the marketing for you? Renee Fountain talks about these things and more in today's interview. In the intro, Referencing […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/08/preparing-your-manuscript-for-pitching-agents-with-renee-fountain/">Preparing Your Manuscript For Pitching Agents With Renee Fountain</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you make sure your manuscript is ready for submission to an agent — or for publication if you go indie? What are the benefits and challenges of traditional publishing? Will they really do all the marketing for you? Renee Fountain talks about these things and more in today's interview.

In the intro, Referencing and citations [Self Publishing Advice]; will.i.am on the WSJ talking about AI, music and media; Behind the scenes of Pilgrimage [BookBrunch]; how a chapel visit in Zambia led to a published short story [X @mwanabibi]

This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Renee Fountain has more than three decades in the publishing industry, including being a literary agent, a developmental editor, and story analyst. She is the president of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management and founder of Gryphon Quill Editing.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Main issues seen with manuscript submissions
  • Is your manuscript overwritten?
  • Tips on pacing
  • What is developmental editing?
  • Key elements of a pitch package and query letter
  • Will traditional publishers do all the marketing for you?
  • Using an agent to get a TV or film deal vs. going indie
  • Dealing with rejection
  • Cash flow management in traditional publishing

You can find Renee at GHliterary.com or ReneeFountain.com.

Transcript of Interview with Renee Fountain

Joanna: Renee Fountain has more than three decades in the publishing industry, including being a literary agent, a developmental editor, and story analyst. She is the president of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management and founder of Gryphon Quill Editing. So welcome to the show, Renee.

Renee: Thank you very much. Great to be here.

Joanna: Yes, indeed. So first up—

Tell us a bit more about you, how you got into the publishing industry, and what you do now.

Renee: Well, I've loved books since I was a little kid. I was that kid getting yelled at for reading under the covers with a flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping.

So after a bunch of boring jobs, I wanted to do something I love. So I was living in San Diego at the time, and Harcourt Brace was the only publisher there. So I thought, I'm going to do that. I started in the very boring division of accounting guides before landing a coveted spot in children's books. I eventually moved back to New York City, just in time for 9/11. So that kind of dashed my hopes of growing my publishing empire.

Now I'm wearing a few hats. I'm a literary agent—when I did come back to New York, I did go with Simon and Schuster eventually. So now I'm wearing a few hats.

I'm a literary agent. I'm a developmental editor, working with writers in my private business. I'm also on the faculty of Manuscript Academy, working with writers there. I'm also writing reviews for Kirkus Indie because it's one of the few ways I get to keep my own writing skills sharp while dipping my toe in the indie pool.

Joanna: A portfolio career, as they call it.

Renee: Sure, why not?

Joanna: I say I'm a multi-passionate creative, so don't put me in a one-genre box! Now, when you pitched me, it was really interesting. You said,

“I get a lot of manuscript submissions that are just not query ready.”

I was like, oh, my goodness, that is a super juicy topic. So let's get into that. What are the main issues you see with those manuscript submissions?

Renee: Mostly it's the writing, whether at a line level or the overall story structure. It could be the writing isn't strong enough yet or the word count may be too high for the genre they're writing. It's mostly due to loose writing, bad pacing, excessive description, or the scene goes on way too long.

Or what I call “story for story sake.” Just telling the reader a lot of stuff that doesn't really matter in the big picture, no matter how interesting it is. You'll know if you have that if you take out that section and it still makes sense. So it's just a lot of things just aren't quite gelling yet.

I've talked to so many people that are just like, “Well, I want to work on a new project, so I just need to get it out there.” Like it's a time limit, and you've got to shove it out the door. You really don't. You really need to take your time.

Joanna: There's a few things to come back on there. I want to address the word count first because this is really interesting, and people don't really understand why word count is an issue.

Could you talk a bit more about word count for some of the most common genres and why it's a problem if it goes on too long?

Renee: I hear a lot of talk about they say that for my first book, I shouldn't exceed X amount of words. Well, if your story holds it, then it's fine. The problem is when you say, “Oh, Renee, I've written this 150,000-word romance.” It's like, mmm, probably not.

I mean, I know you wrote it, but you probably have a lot of stuff in there that doesn't need to be there. So genre in general has a word count that you should kind of be shooting for.

A thriller can be done between 70 and 90, depending on the story. Fantasy is one of the few things that are going to go above 100. That's really what we're looking for. You know, you talk about red flags when you see a query, it's like if I see 150,000-word romance, I know there's a problem.

Joanna: So back in the day, I understood it to be that word count was very much about spine size. So you mentioned there thrillers, 70,000 to 90,000. I write thrillers, but I write shorter thrillers than that. I mean, 70 would be the highest.

When most books are sold online, how big a deal is spine size?

Or is it more about, for example, editorial budget for 150,000 words is much more than a 60,000-word book?

Renee: Well, I mean, with George R.R. Martin still getting published with his microscopic font in his giant 1000-plus page books, like I say, he's still sticking in genre, but I don't know how much times have changed now.

Editing in the Big Five, they really want you to do all that heavy lifting before it gets to them. Things have evolved, it's changed.

I never really thought of it in terms of spine size so much as what the story tends to hold. So if you've ever seen 150,000-page romance, that's quite the book. You have to imagine it's overwritten.

Now, opposed to going the other direction of having something where the word count is too small. Like if you said, “Renee, I wrote this 52,000-word romance,” or whatever it is, the problem becomes pricing at that point. They really like the sweet spot of around 70. They really don't like it under that because of the pricing issue.

Joanna: Yes, this is so funny. I feel like we've been so boxed in with pricing because of Amazon's $9.99 cap as well. I read a lot of nonfiction too, and nonfiction can be shorter and readers will pay more. It really is only a fiction issue with pricing, I think.

Renee: Yes, you expect nonfiction to be a slightly lower count. Somewhere in the 60s and higher, depending on the topic. I think where nonfiction comes in is that you can be more direct in whatever it is, the issue that you're talking about.

It can also go higher. If it's a narrative nonfiction, you're going to another 320-page, 350-page book. So it all varies within there too, but yes, they can hold a lower count.

Joanna: Well, let's come back to the word ‘overwritten.' You know what that means, but it's very hard to know what it means when you're the author.

What are some ways that an author could analyze their own manuscript to find whether or not they have overwritten?

Or you mentioned story for story sake. How do people know that they have these problems without working with an editor first?

Renee: Well, I think with a lot of stuff with authors, it's tough. You can be a great writer, but you've been working on it so long, you can't see the forest for the trees anymore, and your brain fills in all the gaps.

So sometimes it's hard to see it for yourself, and that's where you get a fresh pair of eyes. Whether that's a professional editor, or whether that's another author that you admire, that their books are good.

Anybody who understands pacing because that's where it's all going to come into, the fact that you have the story for story sake. You're writing this long scene, and you're describing everything on the person's desk and everything on the walls, trying to “set the scene,” but none of it is really that important.

You're giving the reader a lot to remember and think about. Whereas if on that desk was a secret relic, that magical thing, yes, you're going to say, “among the pens and the other stuff, you've got this relic.” That's the part we're going to remember.

The idea is if you take some of this extraneous stuff out and the story keeps moving forward, like you've not missed it. If it's like you had to know about this part, you of course, don't take that stuff out.

It's when you take the stuff out and nothing is missed and the story is still whole, that's when you know you're just giving a lot of information.

I've read books where the information was fun, I enjoyed reading it, but in the real big picture, it didn't have anything to do with it. It was just taking up a lot of real estate for no productive reason.

Joanna: You also mentioned before, that feeling of ‘just get it out there.' I totally understand that. I mean, sometimes we're just sick of our own books.

Interestingly, as self-published authors, obviously we can just upload, publish, and it can be selling the same day. So there is a sort of positive sense of getting it out there more quickly.

What tips can you give us around patience or coming back to something with fresh eyes after waiting?

How can we do that? Is it just a matter of leaving it aside for a time?

Renee: Yes, and actually, I wrote an article on that on my Substack of how patience pays off. In the sense that with you guys, and especially you, Joanna, that have had a lot of books out there, you know what to do here, and you know when your stuff is finished.

These first-time authors a lot of the times are like, I just have to hurry up and get this published. They don't realize that you're just detracting from the possibility because you don't get a second bite at the apple.

Usually, when you're tired of that project, or it's not quite right, or you haven't sent it to an editor, or as I said, other person that can give you actual feedback, put it in the drawer for a little while.

I mean, this is why painters turn around their paintings so they don't look at it for a couple of days, and when they turn it back around, they can see where the improvement needs to be made.

So there is no deadline to rush it out the door as a traditional publishing person because no one will pick it up because it's not ready. You knew that when you did it, but you were just hoping that someone would love it enough to fix it. That rarely, rarely happens.

Joanna: You also mentioned pacing a couple of times.

What are some tips around pacing?

Renee: Well, that's hand in hand with the overwriting and bringing scenes that last way too long. You're getting mired down in all these details that really aren't moving the story forward or enhancing your story in any way. So that will drag down the pacing.

So if I'm slogging through three or four pages of what's on a person's desk, only to have someone walk in say, “Hey, would you like that glass of water now?” and they leave the room, what was that for?

I'm not saying that everything has to happen in a split second. I can appreciate the slow burn, but there's that fine line between just having the words there just to have them, rather than having them be productive and add to the story.

If you're spending a lot of time writing about things, introducing a character, “Oh, he was bullied as a child. Now he's got these dark thoughts,” and on and on. Then all of a sudden, he's gone. You never see him again. He just got off the school bus, and you decided to tell me all about this person who got off the school bus, but he doesn't show up again.

If you take that out, it doesn't affect the story. You leaving it in, I'm reading this, and that's kind of slogging the pacing a little bit.

Joanna: I feel like the biggest shift of this, certainly for me as a writer who's been doing this a while now, is changing my head from my author head to a reader head. Obviously, as an editor, you're acting as a reader as well.

So how can we do that? I mean, I guess we've talked about getting some distance. For example, I'll tell you how I do my own self edits. I will print out my draft two pages to a page, so it looks more like a book. So you can fold it up, and it would be like a book.

Then I hand edit with a pen on paper, and I scribble all over it. The font I use is different, so it's not on the screen. So this kind of helps me disconnect.

Some of my hand edits

Have you got any tips for other people to change your head around?

Renee: I think that's a great tip. It's a matter of stepping away, getting some fresh eyes, and then doing something like that, or reading it out loud. If you're reading it out loud, especially with your dialogue, that's a great way to fix dialogue that's going on too long, or is too on the nose, or whatever.

If you read it out loud, then you can see that you're going on and on and on about something. Then you're like, well, I can say this so much more succinctly and have way more impact and not lose anything in the story as a whole.

Joanna: Yes, it is difficult. Again, it's very interesting, I think it takes a number of books before an author can be more confident in their voice.

How have you seen authors develop their voice over the years? Is it a matter of developing creative confidence over time?

Renee: Yes, I absolutely do. I have a client that I've worked with a number of times. He's a veteran, and his writing feels like it's more cathartic for him. It's a lot of very angry stuff. It's not necessarily well thought out, etc.

Then a couple months later, I'll hear from again. A year later, I'll hear from him again. He's like, I wrote this new romance thing because he's got it all out of his mind. This stuff was way different, and that's what I would tell him.

He's like, do you think we should submit the other stuff? I said, you know what, step away for a little while and go back to it. Then you'll see that you got out what you wanted to say, but maybe now you know how you want to say it a little bit more gently, a little bit more productively, if you would.

He's done that, and he's come back and said, you're right. He realized it was not ready to be to be sent.

Joanna: That takes some maturity.

Renee: You'll get that with your practicing of writing. The more you write, the more mature you get. I mean, I can see how my writing has changed. I was reading stuff from 1985, and I was laughing. I'm like, oh, my god, what was I thinking?

Joanna: In 2022, I rewrote my first three novels which I had self-published in 2009/2010. I was like, I've become a lot better writer, and because those three novels were the beginning of a 13-book series, it felt important to rewrite.

It's funny, you said earlier, you don't get a second bite of the apple or whatever, but as independent authors we do. We can do that. I think you meant if you're pitching an agent. Although, people get their rights back, don't they, and often rewrite things.

Renee: Well, that's a road that can't go back to the traditional. That's the same thing as an indie writer, you cannot pitch most—I'm not saying every—most agents, including myself, cannot take anything that's been previously published in any way.

Whether it was just online or whether it was out there online but didn't sell anything, I can't have anything. In traditional publishing contracts, it's going to state that this has never been out there.

Now, if it's been a long time and you have rewritten 80% of the book, it's different then. It's the same with the second bite at the apple for when you're sending to an agent.

Do you know how many times it's very frustrating for an agent to get, “Here's my manuscript, I hope you'll love it.” Then literally a week later, “Oh, I redid a whole bunch of sections. Here's the new one, try this one instead.” Someone has done that to me like four times, and I'm like, no, I can't.

Then there was times where I've gotten one that said, “I sent this to you last year. You gave me some great notes on it. I wanted you to know I completely rewrote it. Will you look at it again?” That is usually very okay to do it that way.

Joanna: Right, we're going to come back to the agent stuff. Let's just talk about developmental editing because you do that. I feel like the word editor is so difficult because it can mean so many things.

What does a developmental editor do that is different to a line editor, a copy editor, a red-marks-all-over-the-page editor?

Renee: Well, a developmental editor could still give you red marks, but they look at the whole big picture. I can't help myself from line editing because I'll see it and I'm like, no, that's not right. So I'll do a little of that as well.

Otherwise, they look to see that the story starts in the right place, the scenes are all necessary and productive, like we talked about before, meaning they serve a purpose to the story and move the story forward, back to pacing.

They often see where the story can be improved by moving some things around, adding or deleting things. If something is said a certain way, you can say, hey, what if you said it this way? Or what if you told that in dialogue? Or what if you showed it this way?

So that's what they do, it's just like moving things around. Where line editors and copy editors are down to the nitty gritty of grammar, continuity, cohesiveness of style, consistency, making sure the words used relay the intention that the writer was trying to.

I took a copy editing class through the University of Chicago, and that was very not for me. You have to keep a style sheet. There's a lot of technical things that go along with it. It's a completely different animal.

Joanna: Yes, I think you have to go with what your strengths are and seeing that story as a whole.

It's interesting, you said ‘checking whether the story starts in the right place.'

I feel like some people won't understand what you mean by that. So could you expand on that?

Renee: Sure. I just read one recently where I got all this information, all this preamble, and nothing was really happening. There was no inciting incident, nothing was really happening in like the first 10 pages.

Then by the time I got to chapter three, some major event happened, and now it was off to the races. I said, you might want to bring that in the beginning and less preamble of where nothing was going on.

As an agent, I can read within the first five pages to see voice and style and everything like that. So you've got to get to certain benchmarks, or you've got to stop turning the pages because it's taking too long to get there. Like I said, fine line between slow burn and bad pacing.

Joanna: Yes, and even if it's a slow burn, you've got to hook the reader. So I read fiction on a Kindle, and I'm pretty much a three click on a Kindle Paperwhite. So I mean, that's not many pages.

If I download a sample, I'll know pretty quickly whether I want to read something. Then if I get to the end of the sample, I will usually buy the book because I am hooked in.

That inciting incident, something happening, is a genre specific thing. The reader has to know, this is the book I want to read now.

Renee: Well, yes. You're showing that this character is going to go on a journey to get a want and a need, and we've got to know what sets them on that journey.

You're going to want to know that within a certain period of time, or we're just reading about these people's lives, and it's not really going anywhere.

If you're, as a reader, sitting there and you're a couple chapters in going, what's happening, where's this going? It's harder to say that if you're reading like a finished book, as opposed to submissions that come in. I'm talking about traditional again.

So there's certain kinds of rules that are adhered to, in a sense. I mean, not hard and fast. You know if the rules are meant to be broken. Yes, it's tough. Okay, so once the manuscript is in shape, many authors want to pitch an agent.

Joanna: What are the key elements of a pitch package that authors need to put together in order to make it through the first mass delete of an agent's email pile?

Renee: A strong query letter is key. I'm actually going to be teaching a masterclass at StoryFest in South Carolina on this because it's the first thing that gets you noticed. It's one of the basic things, but it takes a lot of practice and patience to get it just right.

So you want to have your strong query letter. Keep it to a single page, 250 to 350 words is best. If it takes more, that's fine. Succinctness and showing that you can tell your story and give all this information shows that you've tightened your writing up.

If I'm reading a three-page query letter, I'm going to guess that their manuscript is overwritten as well. So it's very important to have that.

I've created a helpful template for query letters that can be found on my site under the resource tab. That's free for anybody to use. I did a proposal one as well and it kind of walks you through the process.

That brings me to synopsis. You should have a one- to two-page synopsis on hand in case an agent asks for it. I always ask for them. It's because you're going to invest a lot of time reading these books.

While the voice and the writing seem great, four or five hours into this book, you don't want to suddenly see that it goes off the rails, and suddenly there's a donkey flying through the air throwing glitter everywhere. Then you're like, wait, what just happened? You don't get the time back.

So when I'm reading, and I see the voice and the structure, and everything is all lining up, I like to look at the synopsis to see the story arc itself, to see how it's going to play out. Sometimes I can see errors there and say, listen, that doesn't really track.

I may read forward before I make my assessment, they just maybe didn't write the synopsis as strong as they should. I'll still read forward to see if it actually played out in the manuscript.

If you're a nonfiction author, strong query letter and a strong proposal is very key. Like I said, templates are under my resources if you want to take a look at that.

Joanna: Just so people know, what website should they be looking for there?

Renee: It's ReneeFountain.com.

Joanna: Great, we'll come back to that at the end. Just on the query letter, let's just cover a bit more detail now. So obviously, we need to talk about the story or the nonfiction project, whatever it is.

Should we also include elements of our sales, our platform?

Like I'm an established indie author, or there might be newer indie authors than me, but should we be including that information as well, to kind of talk more about the author? We're always told we should talk about author platform, basically.

Renee: Yes, you should.

Indie or traditional, it's understood that you are going to be the marketer of your book. You're going to do most of the heavy lifting.

Traditional publishing will do like very basic stuff, but it's up to the author.

When traditional publishers are looking at a book, if you have a strong platform, if you have a lot of high sales, that will get you absolutely looked at. So definitely showing that you have a strong platform and high sales is great.

You can say, “I'm a successful indie author making my traditional publishing debut,” and go on after that in your letter.

At the end, you can talk about your sales, but your sales have to be fairly high. You know, 3000 is great, I would be very impressed with that, but publishers want to see it as high as possible.

At the converse of that, if you don't have any sales or you don't have a high platform, take the time to start building your platform more. Your followers, your social media, all that for your reach.

Just because you don't have any sales, don't let that stop you. Everybody starts somewhere. So if it's not impressive, don't talk about it. If it is impressive, absolutely. Put it in red, put it in big giant letters.

Joanna: Yes, but start with the story. So I guess, “I'm writing to pitch this project. Here's a bit about the story. Then here's my platform. If you're interested, let me know.”

Should we pitch multiple agents at the same time?

Renee: Yes, but not in a way that you're just throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks. Research the agents.

Joanna: What are some tips for finding a good match for a book and an author?

Because there's a lot of agents out there.

Renee: It's simply the research. Whether you've read a book that you really like, and you're like, this is just like mine, or this is the type of book that this agent handles. Look in the acknowledgments, find out who the agent is for that book.

Look on Publishers Marketplace, Manuscript Wish List. I think Writer's Digest provides some guidance. I thought I saw something from Reedsy not too long ago where they put up the agents.

I wasn't among them, by the way. I stay off the grid. I don't use QueryTracker or other similar sites, because they're probably a good place, but that's not the way I work.

Attend writing events like PNWA, or Killer Nashville, or whatever fits in your genre, to see their list of agents. They post them up there, who's attending, what they're looking for. Then you can go back for the last two or three years, and I think you can garner a lot of information that way.

Joanna: Yes, I mean, it's better to pitch five agents you've heavily researched than just scatter-gunning twenty-five.

Renee: It's not good to just throw it out there. Also, too, remember you want to work with this person. Maybe there are agents that you've identified from past things that you've been doing, or books that you've seen, or other authors, so pitch them first.

Maybe you have your top five, or whatever it is. Then pitch ones that are relevant to what you're doing. Don't pitch a military agent your romance book.

Joanna: Yes, very important.

Are agents and publishers open to indie authors pitching?

I mean, you mentioned there, if you have a good platform, mention it, if you don't, don't mention it. But are they open to it? I mean, obviously even if you don't mention it, you're going to have to mention it when you have a conversation.

Renee: It's not something to hide at all. I'm just saying what will kind of work for you and what will work against you. Saying, “I'm an indie author. I didn't do very well, and I have no sales.” You don't want to lead with that.

Joanna: Not a good start.

Renee: Absolutely, agents are open to it. Just like I said, you can't pitch a book that you've already published. Unless you said, “Listen, I published this. I sold 50,000 copies.” Then they'll be very interested.

You hear about those Wattpad sensations were they had a million Wattpad followers, and then I think it was Simon and Schuster who swooped in and grabbed her. So it all depends, but yeah, you should absolutely go out there, just not with a previously published book.

Joanna: Yes, I think that's really important. The other thing is, you mentioned before quite briefly, that you are the marketer. I feel like a lot of authors turn away from being an indie author these days because they don't want to do the marketing.

What sort of marketing can a new author expect with a traditional publisher?

You said they do a little bit. What is that little bit?

Renee: They have a group of reviewers that they'll send it to. They might include it in some kind of round up. They're not going to send you on a book tour, you're not going to go on signings.

You don't know how many times I get these submissions that say, “I just want to go with a traditional publisher because I want them to do all the marketing for me.” Well, that doesn't work.

Again, your platform, that's why it's important to raise your numbers. They want you to have a ready-made audience who's already interested in what you have to say and what you're writing and a fan of your work.

They want you to go on podcasts, and be a guest on a podcast, or a blogger, or something where you're talking about your book. Some people have access to television shows, and they go on there and talk about their books.

I had a sports agent who would be invited to talk about sports, and then he'd say, “And then here's my new book.” So you still have to do the main heavy lifting.

Sometimes traditional publishers will say, depending on what your book is, maybe they'll have a set of magazines that would work well for a piece that you could write an article on, or something to that effect.

Again, it's only when you're frontlist. It's only leading up to your launch. Then they're onto the new frontlist book to give them the attention. So you've really got to try to get the irons in the fire yourself as well. It's an unfortunate part. I didn't say it was easy.

Joanna: No, it's not easy either way. It's funny, because I feel like traditionally published authors think going indie is the easy way, and indies often think, oh, I'll just go traditional because then I won't have to do marketing. So there are pros and cons either way. Given what you said—

What are the benefits of going traditional?

Renee: I was going to ask the indie people that question!

Joanna: But from your perspective.

Renee: I think for a lot of people it's kind of a goal for them. It's kind of fun. I mean, not for nothing, having bragging rights of saying St. Martin's took my book, that's great. That's quite a feather in your cap. I think you should do that if that's what you want to do.

I always tell my clients, the publishing landscape is tough. It really is. I will try so long, sometimes it takes me two years to sell their book, depending on what it is. I will do everything I could, send it out, get some feedback.

Then when I say, listen, I think I've exhausted all my possibilities, at least they have the option of self-publishing, a smaller press, going to a hybrid, whatever they want to do to get their book out there. I believed in that book enough, and I'd love to see it out there too.

So you got your bragging rights, the nice feather in your cap, something that I think is wonderful.

You're also looking at the other side. You're giving up a big piece of your pie. You're still doing a lot of the marketing. You may have better distribution the other way.

I don't know about in the UK, but we don't have many brick and mortar stores and more. They've all been reduced to online. I think there's a couple of Barnes and Nobles left, but this still happens. There's still airports and all that you could try to get your book into. I think there's definitely pros and cons to both sides.

Joanna: Yes, indeed. One of the other things I was considering around this is film and TV rights because your agency looks at that. I mean, there are agents who have relationships with film and TV agents or studios. Is that a better way to go, as well?

For example, I pitched to a person in TV a while back, and they said, “Well, why isn't your literary agent doing that for you?” I was like, “Oh, well, I'm doing it myself because I'm not with an agent.” So do you think that it's a benefit to have an agent do that?

Is there a better chance of getting a film or TV deal that way?

Renee: I think some of them require it. Just like the Big Five requires you to have an agent, it's because they don't want to deal directly with the author.

So that's why they want to have the intermediate of an agent to make sure you have representation, make sure that you have someone saying, “They said this, but really, this is what's gonna happen.” So that's the pro to having an agent, to do that kind of stuff.

For the most part, film and television, I don't know if like Amazon Studios doesn't require an agent or some of those that have popped up in the last few years.

Film and TV, for the most part, are going off of a great story. A lot of times it could be high sales figures that catch their eye, but it also has to do with what's working at the time.

Hallmark, Lifetime, they're always looking for new stories that fit their profile and demographics. They want an agent to send them their stuff.

When I was optioning books for film and TV at Harcourt, I was obviously only working with my own books, but I would have celebrity managers calling me up going, “Do you have a female-driven vehicle?” She was representing Cher, and it's like, well, I'll see what I have.

When I was a scout for CW Television Network, I looked for the story and what was interesting, whether it was indie or not. It could have been a magazine article, but whatever worked for adaptation.

So I was doing double duty back then, running a book review site. So I was reading all sorts of different things. So in that aspect, just because you're an indie author, doesn't mean you can't pursue that avenue.

There are some agents that just do—like I don't represent the script, so I don't go the other way—but there might be some other agents that take your indie book and sell for film rights. We tend to work with just the books that we represent when we do that.

Joanna: Then just coming back to something you said earlier. If you take on a manuscript, for example, it might take a few years, or it might not even happen.

What stops a publisher from publishing a book or taking on a book?

Is it just their list, they don't want that kind of book right now? Or a timing problem? Like if it's gone past your level of quality, there's this next level at a publishing house.

Renee: It could be a lot of things. A rejection by them would be, “This doesn't quite fit in my list,” or “I have something similar,” or what I always hear the same is, “Paranormal doesn't sell.” I'm like, it doesn't sell because you guys won't take any.

Joanna: It's selling pretty well for indie authors!

Renee: Exactly. It's like, well, maybe take one and see how it sells. I understand there's tropey stuff, and I found a werewolf one which I usually don't take. I say please don't send me witches, warlocks, werewolves, vampires, zombies.

I read one from one of our indie authors, actually, she came in as an indie. I thought she put a nice twist on an old trope. It came close at Macmillan, but didn't quite pass the finish line. You know, it happens.

Joanna: What should an author do with these rejections?

I mean, I find being an indie author very empowering because you don't have to ask permission. Any success and any failure is entirely my fault, basically. No one's in control except me, so I can just keep trying to make things happen.

Obviously, the same as anyone else, some books sell better than others. That's kind of the way it is. So I feel like I've never experienced the kind of rejection that people get submitting to agents or to traditional publishing. So how can authors deal with that?

Renee: It's tough.

It's tough not to take it personally, but I have to tell you, do not take it personally. I've seen them pass on brilliant writing and brilliant books.

It's either because they were so overwhelmed with the work on their plate already that they have their stable of agents that they want to look at, or they just weren't in the mood. I don't know, but it is not personal.

Like I said, if it comes to me, and I'm like, this kept me interested and really thought this was great, and then I send it out, I'm dealing with the rejection along with everybody else. It's like, this is really good, did you read it?

That's what happens when we're in a subjective industry. My fantastic is someone else's meh.

Joanna: Yes, exactly. It really is, isn't? As a reader, you know, someone can say, “Oh, this is an amazing book.” I'm like, oh, no, not for me.

Renee: “I couldn't put it down.” Then you're like, “I can't pick it up.”

Joanna: Exactly, and sometimes I'll try books because they're just so popular. Then I'll be like, I don't understand why this is so big.

Renee: Sometimes we have conversations, my partner and I, and she's like how did this get out there, but this won't go? Well, it's like, listen, we don't know what kind of blackmail is happening out there.

Joanna: What the hell is going on?!

Renee: What dirt people have on the other?! I don't know. But again, it's subjective.

Joanna: Yes, and it's always changing. I feel like the other piece of advice is to just write another book, because as creative people, that's what we do. I feel like the more ideas I have, the more ideas I have. The time problem is getting everything written.

I have two particular projects I am thinking of pitching, but I love to move on so fast.

I was thinking, like let's say this project I'm working on right now, let's call it the vineyard book, if I finished that, and then I pitch an agent, it might take, I don't know, six months—maybe never, obviously—but let's say it takes six months to get an agent.

Then it takes six months to a year, you said two years, to get a publishing deal. Then it takes a publisher a year or two years to get the book in the world. Is that about right?

Renee: Well, some of it. Depending on how quick you get an agent, that's the first step. Then for it to go to publishing, you can hear back sometimes within two weeks of “no, thank you,” or it could take a year.

So it's somewhere in between two weeks and a year that you'll hear back, depending on who you've sent it to and how much stuff is on their plate.

Then, if you do get, “Yeah, we'd like to greenlight this,” and when I said it took me two years to sell something, it was because, again, it's timing. We talked about it, it may not be right now, but maybe it'll rewrite later.

So it just took me two years that we sold it, finally. Then she wrote her second book with them. So it's just finding the haystack, then finding the haystack with the needle in it, you know? Then if you get a book deal, right now they are backed up to where it's taking about two years to pub, unless they fast track you. Although I haven't seen that lately.

Joanna: You can get some money on signing, but then you get paid on publication.

Renee: Correct. It's half on signing, and usually the other half on publication.

Joanna: Yes, so just keep that in mind, people, in terms of cash flow management.

Renee: Okay, not on publication. Let's just say on accepted final manuscript.

Joanna: But they're in control of that, they can just send it back with some more issues. That's not up to the author.

Renee: We don't usually try to drag it out.

Joanna: It's so interesting. Like, why are we in this industry, Renee? It's so hard!

Renee: Because we love it!

Joanna: We love books!

Renee: Back to one of your other points, too, is your first book may not be your first book published. It's like, “I love your voice, I love your writing. The story, not so much. Send me your next project.” That's what I'll tell them. Then the next one might be a really great story, and then you send that one out.

So they get their foot in the door, you get published on the second book you wrote, or third or fifth or tenth. Then you get that first one out there, and then the publisher—if it sells through, you have to sell through because you won't get your second book in there if it doesn't.

Now they've sold through, and they ask what else are they working on. Then you go, “Here, I have these other options for you.” At that point, they'll be more apt to edit you or help shape up what it is that you sent.

Joanna: You mentioned ‘sell-through' there. Can you just explain that?

Renee: Sure. Let's say when you sell it, let's say you were given a $5,000 advance. There's a price for your book, and you get a percentage of that wholesale price. So it's not retail, unless it's negotiated that way, but let's just go with wholesale numbers.

So you get the couple of points on the wholesale price, and that goes against your advance. So you have to sell X amount of books at your 8%, usually, depending on what you negotiate, and that goes towards that $5000. Then when you sell enough and that $5000 is paid off, then you start seeing royalties.

Joanna: Yes, I think that's really important too. The word advance means advance against royalties, and yet people lose track of what that actually means.

In that case, it's really interesting because here in the UK, I have one author in mind in particular who got a massive, massive deal, like really, really huge, and then we never heard from her again.

Whereas I know other authors who started on much lower advances, but sold through like multiple, multiple times. Then the next time, they got a better deal. It's hard to know which way is a better way to go.

Renee: Yes, it is. As an indie author, you're not used to getting an advance anyways. So if it was a matter of between getting a lower advance and knowing that you could sell through and getting your royalties, there really is no difference, right? So it's six of one, half dozen of another.

If you don't know that you're strong in the marketing aspect. I've had authors come to me from like St. Martin's and whatever, and they didn't take his next book because they didn't sell through. Then he came to me without me realizing that, and then I found out real quick why. I sold the book, and they did nothing.

Joanna: I guess the other thing is —

Don't be an idiot and treat people nicely, because it's not that big an industry really, is it?

Renee: You put your book out there, you always have to be selling, you always have to be working at it. Building your platform, getting the word out. I'm not that kind of person, which is why I'm off the grid. I'm by referrals, usually only, or when I go to events and meet people. That's how I build my list.

It's always trying to get your book out there. Obviously, if you sell through, like I said, you've got it made.

Also, what helps selling through that advance is if your book is right for other countries. They'll sell foreign rights, and all those other things get an advance as well. That goes to pay back the advance that they gave you so you can earn out faster.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, we're out of time. I do want to just ask—

If people want to pitch you, tell them what you are looking for?

In terms of clients for editing, or whether or not they can contact you.

Renee: Well, I'm usually into like really great writing, really good voices, and really great stories. I mean, it's more easy to tell you what I don't take. I'm not a big fan of the post-apocalyptic depressing books, or erotica, poetry, westerns, the vampire, zombie, etc. as previously said.

I find it very difficult right now for fantasy, like with elves and magic and that other world, for me. There's a lot of other agents out there that do very well with that. I just find that that's not really my thing.

I do enjoy great chick lit, although the editors don't seem to. I love humor, if it makes me laugh, especially. Thrillers, mysteries, all that. Also, I don't do children's books, even though my career was in that. I don't take picture books or middle grade. I do handle YA. Again, it's got to be based on story. You know, that's the clincher.

Joanna: Nonfiction? Memoir?

Renee: Oh, absolutely. I do a lot of nonfiction. If you guys go to my agency site, GHliterary.com, you'll see the book covers that we've done. I've done a lot of nonfiction.

If you go to ReneeFountain.com, under the tab of my work you'll see a lot of the books that I helped get out there, and worked on proposals with the authors, and edited the books, etc. I think that's a great place to start there because it kind of hones down to specifically me more on that site.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Renee. That was great.

Renee: I appreciate your time. It was great to be here.

The post Preparing Your Manuscript For Pitching Agents With Renee Fountain first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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How can you make sure your manuscript is ready for submission to an agent — or for publication if you go indie? What are the benefits and challenges of traditional publishing? Will they really do all the marketing for you? How can you make sure your manuscript is ready for submission to an agent — or for publication if you go indie? What are the benefits and challenges of traditional publishing? Will they really do all the marketing for you? Renee Fountain talks about these things and more in today's interview.



In the intro, Referencing and citations [Self Publishing Advice]; will.i.am on the WSJ talking about AI, music and media; Behind the scenes of Pilgrimage [BookBrunch]; how a chapel visit in Zambia led to a published short story [X @mwanabibi]






This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Renee Fountain has more than three decades in the publishing industry, including being a literary agent, a developmental editor, and story analyst. She is the president of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management and founder of Gryphon Quill Editing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Main issues seen with manuscript submissions



* Is your manuscript overwritten?



* Tips on pacing



* What is developmental editing?



* Key elements of a pitch package and query letter



* Will traditional publishers do all the marketing for you?



* Using an agent to get a TV or film deal vs. going indie



* Dealing with rejection



* Cash flow management in traditional publishing




You can find Renee at GHliterary.com or ReneeFountain.com.



Transcript of Interview with Renee Fountain



Joanna: Renee Fountain has more than three decades in the publishing industry, including being a literary agent, a developmental editor, and story analyst. She is the president of Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management and founder of Gryphon Quill Editing. So welcome to the show, Renee.



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Joanna Penn full false 59:34
Turn Words Into Wealth With Aurora Winter https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/01/turn-words-into-wealth-with-aurora-winter/ Mon, 01 Jul 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36322 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/01/turn-words-into-wealth-with-aurora-winter/#comments https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/01/turn-words-into-wealth-with-aurora-winter/feed/ 2 <p>Can you have a business with a soul through writing? How does the business of fiction differ from non-fiction? What are some tips for pitching a book for film & TV? All this and more with Aurora Winter. In the intro, 100 book marketing ideas [Written Word Media]; 25 indie authors tips to finding success […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/07/01/turn-words-into-wealth-with-aurora-winter/">Turn Words Into Wealth With Aurora Winter</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Can you have a business with a soul through writing? How does the business of fiction differ from non-fiction? What are some tips for pitching a book for film & TV? All this and more with Aurora Winter.

In the intro, 100 book marketing ideas [Written Word Media]; 25 indie authors tips to finding success [Self Publishing Advice]; BookFunnel for audiobooks; Bookfunnel as landing page for Facebook Ads; TIME signs licensing deal with OpenAI; ALCS AI licensing survey; my 2020 book on AI for authors and publishing.

Plus, Corfu on Instagram and proving I am human; In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger; Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson; De-Extinction of the Nephilim on JFPennBooks; Other stores].

draft2digital

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Aurora Winter is the multi-award-winning author of nonfiction business books and teen fantasy novels, as well as a publisher, TV producer, and serial entrepreneur.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • How writing can help people during difficult times
  • Actionable ways to turn grief into gratitude
  • Tips for pitching to producers
  • The importance of patience and connections in the film industry
  • How self-development can lead to increased opportunities
  • How and when to delegate tasks to a virtual assistant
  • The neuroscience behind effective pitches

You can find Aurora at AuroraWinter.com, and her latest book at MagicMysteryAndTheMultiverse.com.

Transcript of Interview with Aurora Winter

Joanna: Aurora Winter is the multi-award-winning author of nonfiction business books and teen fantasy novels, as well as a publisher, TV producer, and serial entrepreneur. So welcome to the show, Aurora.

Aurora: It's so great to be on the show with you, Joanna.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. First up—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.

Aurora: Well, my life changed when I was just nine years old, and I first read the Narnia series by CS Lewis. As I reached for the last book in that series, I just felt such a thrill of anticipation, but also anticipatory grief.

I realized the moment that my little nine-year-old hand touched that book, that writers are kinds of wizards. That with just ink on white paper, we can transport the reader to another place in time, even somewhere that doesn't even exist.

In that moment, my little nine-year-old heart decided I would do whatever it took to become a great writer, like CS Lewis, and I'm still working on that.

Then CS Lewis changed my life a second time after my husband died suddenly. He was only 33, and our son was four. I read CS Lewis's book, A Grief Observed, which was later made into a movie, and that book so touched me because he was willing to share those mad midnight moments. It allowed me to feel like it's okay, I can get through this. So two times, once when I was 31, and once when I was nine, CS Lewis changed my life, and he was already dead.

What better way to leave a lasting legacy and help other people than to write books? What better way to uplift, inform, and inspire others?

Joanna: How did you get from the nine year old who really wanted to write—we're going to come back to the grief—but you have had loads of businesses. As I said, you're like a serial entrepreneur. You've done loads. So was it a case like many of us, that it was just not a proper job to go into writing? How did you end up back in writing?

Aurora: When I went to university, my father who's an economist, scoffed at me when I said that I wanted to major in English. He's like, there's no money in that, do something sensible. So I studied economics, I have an MBA now.

Yet, I always had this passion for writing. So I took a minor in languages and literature, and I never stopped writing. I was writing journals, or as a nine-year-old, I wrote little illustrated stories that never got beyond chapter three.

Then eventually, one thing leads to another. I actually got sick, to be honest. I was running a profitable business with my husband. We had launched a yacht sales company, it was a seven-figure business. We sold $3 million of boats in one week when I was pregnant.

I'm like, okay, this is a very lucrative business, and yet my soul was sick. I was missing writing. So after my baby was born, I got up at 4 a.m. to write, and then I looked after the baby, and then I did the accounting for the company, and I got sick. I got chronic fatigue syndrome, or Epstein Barr.

I realized I couldn't put my soul aside forever, that there would be a price to pay. So I went back into writing screenplays.

Then, this is a little mini miracle, can you believe it, a feature film came to shoot in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where I lived at the time. The production manager for John Badham, who directed the movie Stakeout and Bird on a Wire called and said, “Hey, we need to use a boat. Can we rent one of your boats?”

I heard my husband answering the phone, “We don't rent boats. We've got brand new $200,000 boats for sale.” I'm like, “Wait a minute, hold on! Hang on a second. I'm a screenwriter. Yes, we do rent boats if it's John Badham calling.”

So my husband skippered the boat and I crewed. I met Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, and the first assistant director on that shoot Peter Marshall and I became friends. Later he hired me to write the first screenplay that I wrote for real money.

So what are the chances that the universe would actually bring that right to me? Then through various other miracles, my life changed and I ended up in film and television.

Joanna: Wow. Okay, we're going to come back to that. I know it's a difficult topic, but you've written about the death of your husband, and many people listening, I mean, everyone at some point is going to go through grief. Of course, for you, the very early tragic death of your husband.

You've also helped others with grief, which again, you turned your own trouble into helping others.

How can writing help people with difficult times?

If people are going through this right now or it's something that they're suffering, even if they don't want to publish their words, I think that's really important. How can writing help that situation?

Aurora: Well, you wrote about it so beautifully in Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words, which I highly recommend. I love this book, I have it right by my night table. It's a beautiful addition that you did on Kickstarter.

What you just said about even if it's not being published, I think that's the first thing to lean into. Write for yourself at first. Don't think about publishing at first, especially if you're writing about grief. Writers pay attention. The act of writing is paying attention.

You would be surprised how you can alchemize pain into wisdom, grief into gratitude, if you take the time to first vent and just get all that stuff out on the page.

Then later, for example, my first published book, From Heartbreak to Happiness, which was endorsed by Dr. Wayne Dyer, my hero, was simply my diary of healing through grief.

When I reread my diary, I was floored to notice how many times my prayers had been answered, but I hadn't been grateful at the time because the prayers were answered three months later, six months later. I hadn't noticed, hey, I prayed for that.

There is value in writing and in reviewing what you have written. That will bring you greater wisdom.

So my 90-day challenge for the listeners is write every day, even for five minutes in your journal. Read every day, you can start with reading the book Writing the Shadow by Joanna Penn, it's amazing. Then review what you have written once a week.

If you do that for 90 days, I promise you, your life will transform. You will start to notice the things that you are complaining about. If you're still complaining about something 90 days later, you should do something about it, or you should just stop complaining.

You write in your book, Writing the Shadow, about how grateful you were that you were in so much pain working in IT that you finally shifted.

There's value in pain, and if we're complaining or suffering, either we need to accept, forgive, or release.

The past will never change, but we do have the present moment we can change. So there's a great value in writing about grief or any kind of suffering that you're going through.

Joanna: Yes, I mean, you said it before about “my soul was sick.” Sometimes we do have to be in those very difficult places. I'm not saying, obviously, that people should die, but people do die. That is the reality of life. Turning that, as you said, into gratitude is amazing.

I do just want to say there for reviewing what we've written, I do read back some of my journals from like 20 years ago, and some things never change, but we hope that other things move on.

Aurora: Yes. Well, I've studied happiness extensively, as you mentioned. I later launched a company called The Grief Coach Academy, which is being run by an amazing woman now, Audrey White. So it continues on, although I've gone on to focus on other things.

I created a systemized process for releasing and transforming grief into gratitude.

Anyway, one of the key things that everybody can do, you can do this starting now, and I did it last night, I do it every night, is just list three things that you're grateful for.

You can write it down, or what I do is just as I'm falling asleep, I think about the day, and I acknowledge three things that happened during the day that I can be grateful for.

You can deepen this practice by acknowledging how your character trait or your choices helped lead to that happy thing. For example, last night, I was grateful that I've just bought a car for my son. He got a nice 2019 BMW i3, and he's like all happy and skippy about it.

So I was grateful for the prosperity to be able to help him buy a car. I was grateful that he was so happy. Also, I noticed that it shifted his identity, which is the highest leverage thing you can do for another person, as Tony Robbins would say. So that is one of the simple things everybody can do. It's a happiness hack. It takes like three minutes, and I recommend you do it daily.

Joanna: Actually, on that, I can go even faster. I use Notes on my iPhone, and I just dictate. I have found that dictating just means it's almost less repetitive.

Some days you're grateful for the same things, and you think, is it worth being grateful for this again? But yes it is, and those are the things we don't want to change. So yes, I found dictation actually makes a real difference.

So coming back to the film and TV because I find this really interesting. You had an interview recently on the Self-Publishing Advice site where —

You mentioned the importance of writing a book, not a screenplay, if you want to pitch for film and TV, which is something I also learned recently.

So can you talk a bit about this, why writing a book is better, because you have written screenplays as well. Give us any other tips for pitching IP to producers that don't involve licensing boats!

Aurora: Yes, that's probably not too repeatable, so here's how I can help the listeners. I have a background in film and television, I worked for Canada's largest film and television production company. I worked as a vice president of another production company in the States in Los Angeles.

Then I launched my own film and television production company. We raised $5 million to that and made eight films. So I have about, I don't know, 300 hours of production that I was connected with in some ways.

My development budget when I was working in Toronto was one and a half million dollars just to develop projects, and I have never optioned the screenplay from a first-time screenwriter. It did not happen. It doesn't happen. But so many times I would option books.

So there is a very common thing in film and television to option a book. So most of the listeners are authors, take advantage of that.

The second thing is I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I know, you cannot copyright an idea, you can only copyright a specific expression of an idea.

A book asserts your copyright.

I actually had the personal experience of pitching a TV series to a very large US broadcaster that you would know the name of, but I won't say it. My business partner at the time signed the release that they make you sign when you pitch something, which basically says we might be pitched something similar.

Anyway, they basically stole the idea for the TV series, and they made it, but I didn't see a dime. So there's a risk when you're just pitching a treatment or a screenplay that having a book helps mitigate.

Also with the book, you've got something. An unsold screenplay just gathers dust.

With a book that can be optioned as a screenplay, you can get awards, sales, proof of concept. You can make some momentum.

Joanna: There's a great book called Hollywood Vs. the Author, which I always recommend. It tells people how to protect themselves.

I feel like sometimes we focus so much on protecting our work, we don't actually get it in front of people. I think that's kind of the opposite issue. So any tips on pitching, to get our books in front of people?

Aurora: Well, absolutely. I'm actually going to the Banff Media Festival in the beginning of June with two of my clients because I help people out with their books and help them pitch. So what you want to do is —

You want to get your pitch down to be really clear.

So for example, my fantasy series Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, that pitch is it's basically “Harry Potter meets Doctor Who.” So you want it to be that tight, and then you can go on from there. Then if somebody's interested, you can tell them a little bit more.

So about Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, in addition to saying it's like Harry Potter meets Doctor Who, I can say it won the American Fiction Award for best preteen book, and it won the Reader’s Choice Award and several other awards. So, already that's enough for somebody to go, “You know what, I only do thrillers. I'm not interested in YA fantasy,” or they can say, “Tell me more.”

So for example, I'm meeting with BBC again in a couple of weeks. They expressed interest in a 12-part half hour series. We'll see if that goes anywhere. Interest is not a deal, interest is not a greenlight.

Now that I have interest from BBC, I can meet with Paramount or Warner Brothers or Universal or Netflix and say, hey, they're interested, are you interested? Then we can perhaps get it get a deal.

Joanna: Yes, and it takes so long, doesn't it? This is the other thing I feel people don't realize is that it's also about relationships. It's interesting that you got into it because you met that person on the boat all those years ago. Then you got into it, and then things develop.

So I think that's the other thing, if you really want your book and you want to see something on the screen—

Patience and connections make all the difference.

Aurora: There was an interesting story about the Banff Film Festival. So after my husband died, just shortly thereafter, maybe six months after, a friend of mine was trying to drag me to a party for people in film in Vancouver. I'm like, I don't want to go, I don't feel like it.

He's like, “You are moping, and I don't blame you for grieving, but you're getting out of the house now. Get dressed.” So anyway, I went to the party and ended up sitting beside somebody I didn't know.

He said, “Oh, what do you do?” So I told him I was a screenwriter. He said, “Oh, well, what are you writing?” Then I told him what I was writing because I got all excited about it. He's like, “I think you should represent the province of British Columbia and pitch that at the Banff Film and Television Festival.”

I'm like, what? Who are you? Turned out I happened to be sitting by the head of film for British Columbia BC Film Commission. Anyway, so then I had a moment of do I say no or do I say yes. This is a tip everybody can do.

When you are invited to do something outside of your comfort zone, take a deep breath and say yes.

I said yes. Then I got a phone call the next day from a producer. She's like, “Well, would you mind if I followed you around and did a documentary film of you and a couple of the people who are pitching?”

I'm like, okay, yes. So then my shoulder went into spasm just before the pitch. So I'm like, oh, no, I'm going to pitch as a first-time screenwriter who has nothing produced, who has no momentum—who can sell boats, though—to 600 film and television executives. If they miss it because they're not in the room, they can watch it later on national television.

Joanna: Wow.

Aurora: But anyway, that pitch for that screenplay created a bidding war, and my agent fielded offers from Spelling and Universal and other places. That basically ended up changing my life. So the right words, at the right time, to the right people can change your life.

That launched, initially, a six-figure deal, and then went on to create, basically, multiple-million dollar business creating film and television. So it was all because I was willing to say yes and step into something I was not comfortable about. Later, they used the documentary to teach the art of pitching in the Banff Film school, so that was kind of cool.

Joanna: That is cool. I also want to note that you are clearly someone who reads a lot of self-help books and is very into self-development. I think this is a very important thing, too. I feel like you've obviously invested in yourself. I used to listen to Tony Robbins audios back in the day as well.

By changing your mindset, you changed your actions, and that led to these opportunities.

I feel that so often people almost expect these things to happen. Even though you're saying that it happened quite quickly, I feel like you put in a lot of work on yourself in order to be in that position.

Aurora: Thank you for acknowledging that. Yes, a lot of work on myself. It's a never-ending process. I remember that at one point you said something like you wanted to be like the female version of Tony Robbins, and I think you're doing a brilliant job.

Joanna: The quiet one!

Aurora: Yes, an introverted one. It never ends, you know, working on yourself is the most valuable thing you can do.

Joanna: Yes, and I noticed that we both have Learner and Strategic in our top five Clifton Strengths.

Aurora: Yes, we have a lot in common there.

Joanna: Which I thought was interesting, because I mean, we do love learning. I think this makes all the difference. Just going back to your business, so you have a book called Turn Words Into Wealth: Blueprint for Your Business, Brand, and Book. It has a lot of ideas about how to make more money with books. I'm interested because you've done so many different types of writing—

What do you see as the difference between the business models of fiction and nonfiction? How do these play out in your business now?

Aurora: I think fiction has so many opportunities for movies and merchandising. As I mentioned, BBC is interested in my fantasy series Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse. If that deal goes, that will be extremely lucrative.

Also, merchandising. That's a YA fantasy, a young adult fantasy, so there's so many things in that novel that could be t-shirts, cups, but also there's like some cool magical cuffs, kind of like Wonder Woman cuffs that the protagonist Anna has. So those are merchandising opportunities.

Sometimes nonfiction can be turned into movies, like The Secret is an example of that. Or Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which shockingly became a Netflix special—I'm sorry, Netflix series—even though English is not her first language because people like to watch other people who are hoarders tidy up.

Joanna: I was just thinking, I watched that series.

Aurora: I definitely learned how to fold from her.

Joanna: Yes, how to fold. Exactly.

Aurora: So nonfiction is stronger at helping you get speaking engagements, or getting on podcasts, or consulting or training. In fact, nonfiction books can be used to build any business that has some kind of expertise.

Both fiction and nonfiction can help you put your hat in the ring for the highest paid profession, which is speaking. So in the book Turn Words Into Wealth, I go in depth into seven different models to create seven figures with your business.

Not all the models will work for you or for your particular book, but take a look and choose one, and then implement it strategically.

Joanna: Easier said than done, obviously. I've embraced who I am at this point, that I'm a multi-passionate creator. We'll come back to the entrepreneurial side. I also like to do everything myself, which is a strength and a weakness.

So I feel like I have a lot of these streams, but I have to split my attention between the different streams. Thus, they each become, I guess, less effective.

Have you got any tips for people like me, perhaps who can do lots of different things and want to create lots of different things, but for whom focus is a weakness?

Aurora: People like you? You mean people like us. I feel like I'm pretty much the same. I have the same strengths and flaws.

I want to acknowledge that the fact that you write both fiction and nonfiction really helped me give myself permission to start writing fiction again in 2020 because I had taken a pause from that. I wrote fiction when I was writing screenplays, and then I wrote only nonfiction as an author.

Okay, so here's some tips for outsourcing. Firstly, bad mistake that I've made, don't do this, don't first delegate to your VA, “handle my email.” That is a difficult task and not easy to systematize.

Assign a repeatable task that can be systematized, tracked, and measured. Then allow some time to train the person and track and measure results.

Here's an example. So like two months ago, I hired a new virtual assistant, but all I gave her to do is just one task. She only books me on podcasts. Then now that she's got the system down, I could give her more tasks, but how do I measure her results?

Like most people have virtual assistants who are working remotely. It's hard to know if they're working ten hours, or one hour, forty hours. So I told her just track how many podcasts you book.

So I know how many she books per month, I know how many hours she's charging, and we both know that is the criteria by which you will be judged. So that is useful, and now that she's got that down, I could give her some other tasks to do.

Or another example, I thought this was a rather good use of the strategic. I've got strategic, activator, learner, relator, maximizer, and strategic in Clifton Strengths. So I use some of those skills.

When I wanted to hire a cover designer for Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, I wanted to have a great cover. But what does it really matter what I think is a great cover? What matters is what kind of covers are actually selling in fantasy.

So I reverse engineered it, and you can do this too. I looked at independently published fantasy books that were best sellers, using K-lytics as the research to give me that data.

Then I looked at those books, and I looked at their covers, and I looked inside the ones that I liked the covers for the cover designer, and then I contacted that cover designer.

So that was more effortful than maybe going through Reedsy, or 99designs or DesignCrowd or Upwork, but the result is an award-winning cover that hit the market's bullseye. So those are two little tips that I think listeners can find useful.

Joanna: How do you find people to help you? How did you find that VA?

Aurora: I asked my friends, who have you worked with as VA that that you'd recommend?

Joanna: Okay, so personal recommendations.

Aurora: I have had actually really good success. I have a great assistant that I found on Upwork who does a lot of behind the scenes. There's so many formatting, reformatting, and re-uploading books and covers, and tweak this, and oh no, we won another award, put that on the thing.

So I have somebody that has done that for me. I've done many covers on Upwork. I have another cover designer I work with on Reedsy for a series of legal thrillers that I'm working with the client Michael Stockham on. You know, he's a New York Times bestselling cover designer.

I think the best thing is not to try to find one person to do everything, but zero in on what is a repeatable task that you need done, and who is the best person to do it.

Joanna: This is definitely one of my weaknesses. I do have some people, and I have had other people over the years, but when it's like, well, who's the best person to do this? It's often, well I am, clearly I'm the best person.

Aurora: I want to comment on that. Yes, we have to get over that. Like I noticed with myself, I am a recovering perfectionist, and still only partly recovered. So it does trip me up. Like I know I would be the best person.

I wouldn't be the best person to do a cover design, but I would be the best person to book myself on podcasts. I wanted to be on Joanna Penn's podcast, so I reached out to her personally because it mattered to me.

We have to get over that because there's only so many hours in the day. If your time is worth $500 an hour or $1,500 an hour, as Joanna Penn's is probably, then if you're doing $20 an hour tasks, this is not a wise sacrifice.

We are sacrificing doing a great job at something, say Joanna Penn is the only one who can write her thrillers, nobody else can do that. So if she's also, I don't know, uploading audios to have her podcast broadcast widely, and she could delegate that, that would be better.

Joanna: That would be better. Actually, it's really funny, as we record this, I have just finally outsourced my podcast production process, only after 15 years.

Aurora: Okay, okay.

Joanna: So I get a point for outsourcing. My cleaner was here today, so I mean, this is another point.

It doesn't have to be that you outsource stuff around your author business. For me, paying for a cleaner means that I can spend that time working on my book.

So I feel like there are different things we can do in our lives to value the things that we can do. I mean, sometimes you do have to bootstrap things. People might not have the money.

One of the first things I did when I started out as an author is I did hire a bookkeeper. I was like, I am not reconciling all of these things, like that is not something I want to do.

So my first virtual assistant was a bookkeeper. So I feel like we do this one thing at a time, but as you get more into practice, you can do it more.

Aurora: Another quick little tip, like I find myself sometimes feeling annoyed and resentful when I'm uploading a book, again, to KDP because the cover art designer, I don't know, had a typo or something.

Then I catch myself, I'm like, “Aurora, you're choosing to do this yourself because you love this fantasy project. It really matters to you, and you want to baby it along until it gets a little bit more life.” So like I coach myself to be grateful in that moment.

If I notice a pattern of ongoing, “Ugh, I can't believe I'm doing this,” it's time for me to look for somebody else to do that.

For example, my son totally made my day because he did a whole bunch of art for the fantasy series on NightCafe, and the images blew me away.

It gave me this surge of creativity about the project. He's got a bachelor in Game Art and Design, so Bachelor of Science, so he knows how to do cover art and to do much more quickly than I do. It gave me such a surge. So there can be a lot of value in in delegating as well.

Joanna: Yes, I definitely outsource my cover design. Although I am having fun with AI art as well. I think NightCafe has a lot of AI tools. Super fun.

Just coming back on that, the kind of outsourcing, returning to the screenwriting and pitching things.

Now, I think most authors, like 99% of authors, would like an agent to pitch their projects, even if they're an independent author. That can be a difficult sell because with most literary agents, you're pitching them for the whole book, for all the publishing and things like that. How are you managing that as an independent author?

Aurora: Like you, I have freedom as one of my top values. Actually, it's my top value. I think it is for both of us. So in the book, Turn Words Into Wealth, I go in depth about why I believe that independent publishing and independent pitching, and getting over this whole thought that you need a big publisher or you need an agent, is the best strategy.

So in my experience, it's harder for you, or for anyone, to pitch an agent than to pitch the project. So I think, in my experience, the most valuable skill is to learn how to use your words, so that the right words, at the right time, can change your life when you say them to the right people.

Rather than get caught up in the like 1990 mindset that you need an agent or you need a big publisher, why not learn how to pitch.

Then maybe you'll join me next year at the Banff Film and Television Festival, or join me at Napier, or join me in Cannes, and pitch it.

Nobody is going to be better at pitching your project than you are, but you do need to practice and decide that it's worth your time. Just really quick on that, it is worth your time.

There's a really great book called Significant Objects. They put one hundred different objects on eBay, with or without story that added significance. It wasn't a pitch, it was a significance. For example, “These are my grandmother's pot mitts. I remember coming home from school and she would bake us chocolate chip cookies, and it was amazing.”

There's no value to me in buying those pot mitts because you had cookies from your grandma, but it added significance, and the value increase was 27-fold. So adding a story adds value to the listener. I mean, I've shared a few stories today with Joanna Penn. Probably one of them is going to stick with you, I don't know which one.

If it's worth the time for somebody like Steve Jobs to practice his Apple launch pitch and presentation for three weeks when he is running a huge company, then I think it's worth all of our time as authors to get good at pitching what we're up to.

Joanna: Do you have any resources that you recommend, in terms of books or courses around pitching particularly?

Aurora: I really like the book Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff. I also like what you just said about gratitude and you recording it on audio. Record yourself on video or audio, and you'll kind of notice if you pay attention that, oh, I talked too long about that. Then get it tighter and tighter.

It's one of the things I do with my clients. Like one of my clients yesterday, he's got a 10-minute meeting with Universal or something, I think it was a big company anyway. So he's practiced what is he going to say in that 10 minutes.

So when you learn about neuroscience, I studied neuroscience, you want to understand the process of how to pitch something. So there's basically three steps because you need to address the three different brain portions that we have.

So he rehearsed this with me yesterday. You can rehearse with yourself or with a friend. Basically, the first thing to do is address the croc brain. Then second thing to do is address the midbrain. Then the third thing to do is you can then address the cerebral cortex.

Most people, especially educated people, try to just address the cerebral cortex. It's the verbal equivalent of sending a complete stranger an Excel spreadsheet by email. They're not going to open it.

So the simple analogy is the croc brain is the ancient reptilian brain. It's looking for, is this sexy? Is this exciting? Is this glittery? Is it something to mate with or snack on? Is it attractive? So that would be the equivalent of your subject line in an email.

So for Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, that equivalent to that is, you know, it's like Harry Potter meets Doctor Who. Those are two of the very best fantasy bestsellers of all time. Doctor Who was the longest running TV series, just as an aside.

Or with the book, Turn Words into Wealth, the title is addressing the croc brain. It's kind of like, what is this about? So people who are interested in turning their words into wealth were like, okay, tell me more. So your first step addressing the croc brain should be very quick, a couple of seconds.

The second step is to address the midbrain. Human beings survived for so long because we were not alone. We survived as tribes, as communities, as families. We are hyper vigilant for social status.

So for example, even being on this podcast with Joanna Penn, it creates social status because Joanna thinks I'm worth talking to. Conversely, if you happen to know me, I think Joanna is worth talking to. So that enhances both of our social status.

When you're pitching your book, you want to address the second thing next, the social status.

So for Turn Words Into Wealth, I say that it's won Outstanding Nonfiction Book of the Year in its category, which is publishing.

For Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, I say that it won the American Fiction Award Best Preteen Book in 2023, and it also won the Reader’s Choice Award in 2023. Then in 2024, it was a finalist in the UK Wishing Shelf, which is really cool because they have 150 kids actually read the books.

Okay, so for whatever your project or book is, what is the second step for you? How could you indicate that other people who are awesome think it's good?

For example, my first published book, From Heartbreak to Happiness, Dr. Wayne Dyer endorsed it. He said, “I read every page of this beautiful diary. It touched my heart, and I'm sure it will impact yours.” Okay, so each of those is an example of doing the second step around the midbrain.

Then the third step, now that you've got people listening, then you can go into more depth. Either give them the synopsis or the plot summary, or whatever you'd like to do with that.

So for Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, it would be: Anna is a 13-year-old girl who wants to be an actress. She grew up in Los Angeles. Her father is a very busy and distracted film producer who's off to shoot a movie in Africa.

So he sends his daughter Anna and his son Zachary to London to be with his brother and to go to boarding school while he's busy shooting a movie. So they arrived in London, they're all excited. They want to see the Tower of London, but there's something even more interesting in their uncle's garage.

It's this experimental car. He says, “Just stay away from the experimental car, I've got to go out for a bit.” Of course, that's like a magnet. The kids jump in the experimental car, and Anna, who is an optimist and a little bit reckless, fiddles with it and pushes the button to go on a random joy ride.

This takes the kids off the planet Earth to another planet entirely in the multiverse. When they land, they get into trouble immediately because their vehicle is out of fuel. And oh, no, they happen to land on somebody and apparently kill her.

This gives them instant friends because the person they killed is notoriously evil, and instant enemies because other people are out to get vengeance. So then the rest of the story is about will Anna be able to get back to planet Earth?

Her brother gets kidnapped, will she be able to save him? Will the forces of evil on Telesora be overcome by Anna and her brother? Or will the reverse happen, and we will never see the kids again? So that's what Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse is about.

So the third step is the longest step, where you give a bit more detail about whatever you're up to. So between each one of these three steps, you want to pause so that the other person has a chance to say something so that it's more of a conversation.

So I go into more detail in Turn Words Into Wealth about how to use the neuroscience of communication, but hopefully that made sense.

Joanna: Yes, I think it's so important. As you say, this is a preteen book, and then someone says, well, actually, I'm looking for horror books. Then that's probably not a good match.

Often I feel people are pitching and pitching, but they're not thinking about the person on the other side.

So as you say, even you can say one line. Then are they actually interested or do they completely blank?

I want to come back on social status.

Have you found at all that being an independent author has meant that you have a lower social status?

Or has it just not even been an issue with this?

Aurora: I used to really worry about that and fretted that that was the case. I'm over it now. It's whatever it is, right? I feel like I have status for other things, but I'm not a Colleen Hoover, I'm not a New York Times bestselling author. There's things I don't have.

For all of the listeners, there's things that you're strong at. I have launched multiple seven-figure businesses from scratch. That's pretty kick ass. I've got a background in film and television, and that's pretty kick ass. I have success knowing how to start something from scratch and make it work, that's awesome. Plus, I have written ten books. That's quite a few.

So I am not willing to care more about what other people think of me than what I think of me. For me, I'm a very independent, very entrepreneurial, freedom focused person. Why would I want to have a publisher to dilute or mute or change my message? I don't.

In fact, in the book Turn Words Into Wealth, I give a number of examples, but the one that I liked the most is David Goggins, who wrote the book Can't Hurt Me. He's a Navy Seal and a long-distance runner, a pretty amazing athlete.

He met with an agent in New York who told him that if he self-published his book, he'd be lucky to sell 5000 copies. He decided to self-publish, and he's dyslexic, so he had to hire a ghostwriter to write it.

Then he went on over a thousand podcasts to market it, and the result is he probably made $20 million from his book and his audiobook. He sold over a million copies of the book in the first year and 600,000 copies of the audiobook.

If he had gone with traditional wisdom, he would have seen a fraction of that, and maybe he wouldn't have been able to afford to spend so much time doing the podcast.

Why give up 90% of the revenue when you still have to do 90% of the work?

Joanna: Yes. I mean, there are pros and cons for everyone. I didn't know David Goggins had gone indie. That's really interesting.

We're almost out of time, so I do want to just come to a final thing. So in Turn Words Into Wealth you say, “There is more opportunity and more danger than ever before due to exponential technological, social, and economic change.”

Now, obviously, I talk a lot about surfing this wave of change. AI, in particular, direct sales, and all of this. So given you're always learning, always changing direction—

What are your recommendations for making the most of this extraordinary, but also difficult, time?

Aurora: Well, I have a couple of tips. First tip, keep listening to The Creative Penn podcast.

Joanna: I didn't even pay you for this!

Aurora: It's true. It's a godsend for leaning into this with excitement instead of terror.

Secondly, have fun. For example, those NightCafe images that my son did yesterday for Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse, like they made my day. They were so much fun, and now they've sparked a bunch of things that I'm going to write, just by seeing the images. I also put them on TikToks.

Allocate time for learning.

This is something I needed to coax myself into because I would get impatient. When I shifted my mindset and leaned into my learner Clifton Strengths and allocate time for learning, then that helped me reframe it.

Instead of a frustrating thing that I had to learn, like a good thing that I had to learn. So a couple of things that I am playing with, pick one of these maybe, and do them. There's Authors.ai, PickFu.com, Descript. Joanna has talked about ChatGPT, and SudoWrite, and ProWritingAid, or NightCafe. Like pick one, and maybe spend a little time playing with it.

Joanna: I feel like leaning into that curiosity, there are so many things to look at. I mean, for example, music. I'm not into music at all, but a lot of authors are, and there's so many music discovery tools and creation tools that I know people are playing with. That's not my bag. I don't do that.

I play with the image stuff as well, and of course, the various writing tools. It's really listening to your curiosity. If you hate something, don't force yourself.

Do the things that are interesting to you. It might be a challenge at first, but you might discover things you really enjoy.

Aurora: Exactly right. The same thing with marketing. Don't try to do all kinds of possible marketing. Double down on the ones that make sense for you.

Like I love talking on podcasts, so I do podcasts. I do TikTok, and I do Kickstarter. That's it. Those are my three things. I can't do everything, so I picked the three things that are the most fun or interesting for me.

Joanna: Absolutely.

Where can people find you, and your books, and everything you do online?

Aurora: Oh, thanks for asking, Joanna. Well, I am launching the second book in my Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse series. I would love, love, love if people would follow me on Kickstarter.

You can go to MagicMysteryAndTheMultiverse.com, and it will redirect you to Kickstarter when Kickstarter is live. Otherwise it will give you other goodies when Kickstarter is not live. Just a little tip. If you do a Kickstarter, do a redirect so that you can take advantage of sending people to somewhere else after the Kickstarter is not live.

My book Turn Words Into Wealth, which we talked about today, is available on Amazon. If you'd like some gift videos and the gift Thought Leader Launch starter library, you can get that on my website AuroraWinter.com. Thanks so much, Joanna. It was really fun to do this podcast with you.

Joanna: Thanks so much for coming on, Aurora. That was great.

The post Turn Words Into Wealth With Aurora Winter first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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Can you have a business with a soul through writing? How does the business of fiction differ from non-fiction? What are some tips for pitching a book for film & TV? All this and more with Aurora Winter. In the intro, Can you have a business with a soul through writing? How does the business of fiction differ from non-fiction? What are some tips for pitching a book for film & TV? All this and more with Aurora Winter.



In the intro, 100 book marketing ideas [Written Word Media]; 25 indie authors tips to finding success [Self Publishing Advice]; BookFunnel for audiobooks; Bookfunnel as landing page for Facebook Ads; TIME signs licensing deal with OpenAI; ALCS AI licensing survey; my 2020 book on AI for authors and publishing.



Plus, Corfu on Instagram and proving I am human; In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger; Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson; De-Extinction of the Nephilim on JFPennBooks; Other stores].






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Aurora Winter is the multi-award-winning author of nonfiction business books and teen fantasy novels, as well as a publisher, TV producer, and serial entrepreneur.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How writing can help people during difficult times



* Actionable ways to turn grief into gratitude



* Tips for pitching to producers



* The importance of patience and connections in the film industry



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Joanna Penn full false 1:12:22
Writing Hard Truths And Tips For Writing Non-Fiction With Efren Delgado https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/24/writing-hard-truths-and-tips-for-writing-non-fiction-with-efren-delgado/ Mon, 24 Jun 2024 04:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36304 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/24/writing-hard-truths-and-tips-for-writing-non-fiction-with-efren-delgado/#respond https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/24/writing-hard-truths-and-tips-for-writing-non-fiction-with-efren-delgado/feed/ 0 <p>How do we write authentic humanity into our books, whether that's our own experience or a fictional character's? How can we embrace the challenges of life and the author journey and make the most of the opportunities along the way? Efren Delgado gives his tips in this interview. In the intro, How to plan and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/24/writing-hard-truths-and-tips-for-writing-non-fiction-with-efren-delgado/">Writing Hard Truths And Tips For Writing Non-Fiction With Efren Delgado</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do we write authentic humanity into our books, whether that's our own experience or a fictional character's? How can we embrace the challenges of life and the author journey and make the most of the opportunities along the way? Efren Delgado gives his tips in this interview.

In the intro, How to plan and release a second edition of your book [SelfPublishingAdvice]; plus, Kickstarter update; Stone carving a green man; De-Extinction of the Nephilim [JFPennBooks; other stores];

ProWritingAid

Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Efren Delgado is a former FBI special agent with 25 years of national security, law enforcement, and private protection experience. He's also a consultant, professional speaker, and the author of The Opposite is True: Discover Your Unexpected Enemies, Allies, and Purpose Through the Eyes of Counterintuitive Psychology.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Balancing being authentic while maintaining your boundaries
  • How to take our failures and move on to success
  • Creating a mind map to help during the brainstorming process
  • Fact checking and managing citations when writing nonfiction
  • Writing to deal with trauma while avoiding using it as therapy
  • Uncomfortable truths indie authors need to face about the industry
  • Common misconceptions authors get wrong when writing FBI thrillers

You can find Efren at EfrenDelgado.com.

Transcript of Interview with Efren Delgado

Joanna: Efren Delgado is a former FBI special agent with 25 years of national security, law enforcement, and private protection experience.

He's also a consultant, professional speaker, and the author of The Opposite is True: Discover Your Unexpected Enemies, Allies, and Purpose Through the Eyes of Counterintuitive Psychology. So welcome to the show, Efren.

Efren: Thank you, Joanna. I've been looking forward to this.

Joanna: Yes, it's very exciting. First off—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you went from FBI agent to author.

Efren: I'm going to backtrack a little bit. It all started from a little bit of minor bullying, relatively minor bullying, when I was a child. That planted a basic seed in me just asking, why would people choose to be mean when they could simply be nice? If you think about that question, it's the fundamental question of psychology.

Why do people do what they do? More specifically, why do bad people do what they do?

As a child, I had no idea and a legitimate interest. So that seed was there. It did also inspire me to want to protect others if I ever could.

As I grew up throughout school and university, I developed my interest in psychology and, accidentally, my interest in criminology. I decided to pursue a career in protecting people, and I simply thought the best vehicle for that was the FBI.

So I joined the FBI, I implemented my purpose, you could say, in protecting people in the National Security Division of the FBI, and later the Criminal Division, what most people think of when they think of the FBI. Then later in the private sector, protecting people as a bodyguard and a threat assessment consultant.

Now, currently as a writer, author, speaker, I'm just trying to express the observations I've made to help encourage the “good guys,” your audience and my reader, that they are actually stronger than the bad guys.

They are not chihuahuas barking at the doorbell presenting this large presentation of how scary they are. Good guys actually have the courage to be vulnerable, to be humble, to be kind. That's the main message I want to come across, and that's what brought me to the FBI, and brought me to you today.

Joanna: Yes, and I love the book. We're going to get into it in a minute. I'm fascinated. So you were bullied, and you became a protector. Obviously, a lot of people listening are fiction writers, and so often when we think about writing antagonists, sometimes they may have been bullied and turn into bullies.

Sometimes people who are abused become abusers, whereas some people who are abused become protectors. So just with all your knowledge of psychology and criminal behavior—

How do you think people become the protector instead of the bully in a situation where you came from?

When does it go one way, not the other?

Efren: So I love this question, not only as a protector, but also as an author. The best antagonists, the best protagonists, have elements of both. It's just not one or the other.

So in the writing world, you'll have an antagonist who is this evil villain, but you have these pet the dog moments, and that's showing their humanity, their motive. Their belief might not be that they're actually evil, they actually might think they're doing good, they're just misguided.

Then the opposite is true with the good guys. They're the most interesting protagonists, or characters in general. They have some dichotomy there too. They're not saints, but they show some human vulnerability. So I've seen that in the real world too.

The answer is not as complicated as it seems. The trend, the pattern I've noticed all of my life, and particularly in the criminal world, is —

Good guys are more selfless, and the bad guys are more selfish.

There's a reason for both of those. They always bark at the doorbell, like the analogy I was giving you before, not because they're brave and courageous, but they're so scared that whatever's on the other side will actually see their weaknesses. So they selfishly attack, project, and they're very loud so that nobody dare see what's on their inside.

On the other side, the good people expose themselves to their weaknesses or imperfections, their mortality. That takes courage. That takes risk of being judged, risk of being ridiculed, risk of exposing your humanity, and that's all bravery.

The antagonists are jealous of that bravery. They have that envy. What do people do when they're envious and jealous? They hate. What do you do with things you hate? You attack. That creates your villain.

Joanna: Yes, there's loads in your book that people can mine for their fiction. Absolutely, and of course, I did psychology as well at various levels in my career. So I loved reading all the psychology stuff.

You did mention there that good people expose themselves. That brought me to a quote in your book. This is from the book,

“Most people should not know everything about you. That is privileged information that should be held by the special ones who have earned your trust.”

I found this really interesting dichotomy in the book between these boundaries and keeping things close to you, don't give too much away, but also, like you just said, good people expose themselves, they are authentic. You're having to put yourself out there, and you're talking about things you've done. So how can we balance these things? How are you balancing these things?

Efren: I just think it's really important to acknowledge that if you're human, you're mortal. You have flaws, you have weaknesses, you have insecurities, you have failures. That's what makes us human.

Instead of shrinking away from all of those imperfections, we should embrace our humanity. Even though it's difficult to do, anything worthwhile is difficult. So part of that is acknowledging the concept I talk about, that oil and water, emotion and logic, don't mix. So these insecurities are coming from an emotional place.

So simply acknowledging our imperfections and other people's imperfections, you have to be careful about who you trust with those insecurities, and your secrets, and your goals, your ambitions, because it's very easy for the naysayers, the negative nancies of the world, to tear you down and pull you off your path, or at least distract you from your path.

So I suggest to your audience, to my readers, to be truly dispassionate when you're assessing your associates, your family members, your friends, your colleagues, and be objective.

Recognize the patterns of people who have always been supportive and encouraging, and reward those people with trust in them, with more of your business, your life, your insecurities, your interests, your goals.

Don't be in denial about people who should be your allies, but are not.

Simply because they're blood, or you've known them for 30 years, or you've done business deals with them, if your gut is telling you they're not truly your allies, listen to that.

It's hard enough to seek your purpose and climb your mountain to reach your summit, you don't need to invite other people to pull you down. So I just ask everybody to be truly objective and discerning about who their true wolf pack is, and sometimes you just have to fly alone like an eagle.

Joanna: Just some practicalities, though. Again, with your background and a lot of the details you've included in the book, which as you put in the beginning, you have had to run past the FBI. You haven't shared anything you couldn't share, but you do really put stuff out there that gives away a lot about you.

I imagine there are people out there who might have some issues with you. So how do you balance putting yourself out there in the world to share what you want to with your own safety and this kind of difficult balance? Now, most of us won't be in the situation you are, but—

We all feel vulnerable about sharing things about our life with the public in marketing.

So just practically, how are you doing that? How do you balance it? Or is this something you don't even worry about?

Efren: I do have to worry about it, but it's just lethal force, when you have to potentially kill a bad person to save other people. In that extreme scenario, you can't decide when you're in the moment, you have to decide it early on.

In sharing my private information, or some personal information, or some personal vulnerabilities in a book to the public or on social media, I've made a choice already in advance to face any potential backlash before it arrives.

So I contend that true living is worth dying for. That's hard, but also a good life is difficult. So I just think it's so important.

We live once in this world so you really have to commit some risk in order to truly live.

One of my biggest regrets would be being on my deathbed and not truly living my life. I'll sometimes re-engineer what I wish I would have done when I was 30, 40, 50, I'm approaching 50, and just go out and do that. I just mentally time travel and try to do those things.

This book is a classic example of it, or doing an interview with you is a classic example. I'm putting it all out there, anything that is truly beneficial to other people, and facing the backlash.

There's different motives for being a critic, so if somebody is criticizing your book, your writings, your podcast, you have to know what their motive is. If they haven't accomplished much, then their motive is probably just a Negative Nancy kind of mode of trying to tear people down who are risking entrepreneurship and living life.

If their motive is constructive, then I would heed those criticisms because they're not coming from a negative place, and there's probably some merit to it. Or as an author, when you have a developmental edit, that's very humbling. That humility is where wisdom is, so you can learn a lot during these developmental edits.

Joanna: Yes, that's true. It's actually funny that you mentioned backlash there.

We all worry about what people are going to say or what people are going to think, but the reality is, most people in the world are not going to read our book.

Efren: That's true.

Joanna: So even if we worry about it, like my mum, when I put out a book called One Day In Budapest years ago now, my mum was really worried that some right-wing fanatics were going to come and attack me. She was like, “You can't publish this!” and obviously, it was crickets. Like there was literally no response.

Efren: Right. That's funny.

Joanna: So we always overthink the fear of what will happen when we put ourselves out there.

I do want to come to another quote from the book, which kind of relates to how many of us have fear of failure. You have this quote which says,

“Failures, counter to their common perception, are integral to achieving any success. As the title of the book announces, the opposite is true.”

I wondered about this, how you're thinking about failure. Like whether that's failure that's happened in your career so far, or for authors in particular, it is lower than expected sales.

How can we take our failures and move on to success?

Efren: I think we've been taught in working-class, middle-class cultures, in particular, we've been taught to be spokes on a wheel, and not to be the wheel, not to be the leader. So we fear getting a bad mark in school or having any kind of imperfect running in a football match.

So people start to fear risking anything at all. So you're trained, or we're trained, to be spokes on a wheel. The reality is that failure is a prerequisite to success. You cannot succeed without failure.

The bigger overarching idea is humility is the only path to wisdom. So when you fail, you're humbled. Just like when we're little kids and we go from crawling to walk in, and we stumble and scrape our knees, those are difficult moments of getting our knees scrape, and yet they build resilience.

The same is true of becoming an author, or a speaker, or an FBI agent. Whatever that difficult goal happens to be, I guarantee one thing, you will fail and stumble all throughout your journey.

I contend that the only time you actually truly fail, in the conventional sense, is when you give up. Otherwise, it's just a journey, and you're growing from that journey. So I suggest for people to embrace failure because you're always growing. Embrace the humility because that's where the wisdom is.

Joanna: What specific failure have you faced that led to the success of you finishing this book?

Efren: I failed in everything I've done before I've succeeded. So that's my point. So even if your failure is reaching a timeline of when you want to get that vomit draft done, then you just have to reassess and set a new timeline.

Or it means that the bones you've been writing, the foundational bones of the book, need more work, and it's becoming a better book for it.

Then when you start to get into the meat of it, the stories, the anecdotes, the parables, or the research, which I also consider the spice of the book. Then it's just going to be a better product as you grow from, look, this isn't working, let me pivot and do that.

Becoming an FBI agent requires a lot of physical training or testing and that sort of thing, and sometimes people don't pass those on the first round. Getting in the fetal position and giving up is not the path to success.

We've got a pastor out here in Southern California that I often quote that says, “Fruit grows in valleys, not on mountaintops.” So when you're climbing your mountain to reach your summit, you'll eventually fall in the valley, but that's where all the fruit is, all the fruit of wisdom.

So you have a choice. You can sulk and give up, or you can embrace that wisdom and stuff your pockets and renourish yourself and resume your climb.

So I've faced failure in every aspect of life, but I've got a stubborn bone in me that I just want to persist. I'm grateful for that bone, even though it makes other people mad. You only live once, go for it.

Joanna: This is a very ambitious book, and I think it's excellent. I really enjoyed it. It surprised me. I don't know why it surprised me. It's got a lot of great stuff in.

How long did it take you to get this book into the world, from when you thought about it, to finally publishing?

Efren: So I had the bones, the ideas of the book, probably building throughout my career, but I didn't have the confidence or maybe even the experience yet to back it up. Near the end of my public career in the bureau and in joining the private sector as bodyguard and threat assessment person, I was pretty confident in my idea.

So that's essentially the bones of the book, the ideas that most truths are counterintuitive and paradoxical, ideas like emotion and logic don't mix, the only thing to fear is the unknown. Little ideas like this that I knew could benefit my reader, your audience, anybody who wants to live beyond mediocrity.

So that probably took about a year to nail down in an organized format. Then when you're writing fiction or nonfiction, you get these ideas at three in the morning, or these stories that pop in your head.

Whether they're experiences from your memories, or from conversations you have from people, or things you observe in the real world that suddenly go, wow, that would be a great illustration of these principles, the bones of my book. So I'll jot those down, and I start to build the book that way.

At the very end, the spice of the book is the little additional anecdotes, the refinement, the clarifications, the editing, and then the formatting to present this big picture with all those elements together. So overall, it probably took about three years to complete.

Joanna: How did you keep everything organized? There are a lot of different, as you say, a lot of anecdotes, there are different quotes, there are things about your life, there's bits of memoir.

What tools did you use for researching and the writing process?

So for example, I use Scrivener.

Efren: So what's funny is I've got all these softwares, and what I ended up using was simply Pages on my iPad. I'm just very, I guess, linear that way. I'll have those bones, which essentially become an outline, but I started out with the mind map.

That was the idea portion of the book, what I wanted the book to be about. What are like five essential points I need the reader to understand? Then I easily converted that mind map into an outline.

As these anecdotes, or stories, or things that need a little bit more due diligence materialized, I would research that, plop it in whatever area of the outline that belongs, or the ongoing manuscript. Then I'll skip to the next spot that I'm currently motivated to research or explore.

So writing the book was not from page one to the last page, which I think is page 550, it was a lot of skipping around. What really guided me were those bones, the outline.

I think that's a lot more important in the nonfiction so you have a rough outline to know where you're going, so I'm not all over the place. I, on purpose, divided the first half of the book to be named Volume One: Foundations and the second half Implementations.

The first half covers a lot of those foundational issues that you just have to get out of the way, but I back those up with stories and biographies.

The second half really gets into the weeds once I've got the reader with me and understanding these concepts. Now it's more about implementation and how things affect the reader, their own communities, and then society overall.

Joanna: Coming back to that mind map, I like mind maps too. I just would tend to do that on a piece of paper, like with my hand. Is that how you did that?

Did you use software for mind mapping?

Efren: No, the mind map was a pen-to-paper, one-page kind of thing. I knew the book I wanted to write. I thought the theme of the book would be empathy because that's such a vital part of understanding behavior. I just contend that empathy is the active synonym for psychology.

It takes some work to understand other people. It's not just something you read in a textbook. Then as I wrote the book, I almost started discovering the patterns of these counterintuitive truths.

That kind of took over the role of pointing out these truths to encourage the reader that these truths are on their side. That the good guys actually have a lot of benefits over the bad guys, even though on the surface, it appears that the bad guys are always winning these little battles.

Joanna: Yes. I'm sorry to ask you all the technical questions, but I know how hard it is to write nonfiction. For people listening who are writing nonfiction, these are really important questions.

So as I said, you have a lot of quotes, you have citations. The book is really rich for all of those, but I know how hard it is to wrangle it. If you were just doing it in Pages, like it sounds crazy. So how did you make sure to not plagiarize and make sure all of your quotes had proper quote marks? Did you get fact checking?

How did you manage the citations and quotes?

Efren: Yes, that's a great question. As I was illustrating the book with parable stories, I'd focus on a certain section that needed further illustration or research. I would dive deep to look for things that are, first of all, interesting.

I had two principles for writing the book, in general. One was reader first, and two, not boring. So part of that mindset of whether I'm writing a fiction or nonfiction, it's everything has to benefit the reader, and number two, it can't be boring.

So as I'm researching the points I'm trying to convey, I want them to be corroborated, that's the education part, but also to be interesting. So these emotional stories about reality, or parables, or whatever it may be, that's what I honed in on to really illustrate my points and entertain the reader.

So when I finally got to that, I implemented stories, quotes, anything that could serve that purpose.

I could only do so much to make sure those are truthful, so then I hired a company of fact checkers.

I can't believe they love doing this because it's such a tedious work, but they fact checked my quotes, my stories, that sort of thing. Then they created roughly a 30-page bibliography for the back of the book.

I did not do most of that work. I did what I could in the beginning, and then I passed on everything I could for them to corroborate it.

Joanna: That's great. Would you recommend that company? Give their name?Because I know people are like, oh, what's that?

Efren: Absolutely, I would. Book Launchers is an independent publishing company that allows you to keep 100% of your IP, your intellectual property. In their company, Julie Broad is the owner, and I've become friends with her.

She has people who are professional developmental editors, copy editors, formatters, everything you could think of under the sun that could really get the book to a professional level that a traditional publisher would provide.

Joanna: Yes, so that is partnership publishing. That's what we call partnership publishing. It's great that you've been happy with that because some people have difficult experiences, but it sounds like you had a very good one.

Efren: I did. Frankly, most of the companies I researched, I wasn't very impressed with them. I got a very salesy vibe from them, and that's a turn off for me and probably most people. My favorite trait from Book Launchers was, frankly, their authenticity, particularly from the founder, Julie Broad.

Joanna: Oh, that's great. Coming back to the book because you do cover some difficult situations in it. Again, a quote from the book, you say,

“Trauma does not note its presence lightly. It engraves itself into the stone of our minds.”

Of course, I read that and I was like, okay, I wonder how much trauma is engraved in your mind because of the things you've been through.

How can we use our writing to help deal with trauma, but also make sure we're not using it as therapy?

Efren: Yes, that's great. I think writing is very therapeutic because it allows you to pause with your issues, and think about them, and digest them.

So in nonfiction book writing, you could truly learn, but as you're exploring your characters in a fiction book, you could really start to dive in and empathize with your different characters.

So, for nonfiction, writing journals for yourself or memoirs as an actual book, it still has to be reader first, but it really will help the individuals process their own life experiences.

On the fiction side, hashing out your protagonists, and the villains, or the support characters, I just think that helps the individual reflect on their own issues and empathize with their characters. Even if they're bad, knowing what truly motivates this bad person.

For example, if you've got somebody with extreme bullying in their background, and maybe they get in their villainous heart for vengeance. That's kind of a classic trope that would work, but it would help the individual actually digest their own thoughts. You're forcing yourself to think and reflect, as opposed to just emote.

Joanna: I can't remember—

Do you have a trigger warning in the book?

Efren: What do you mean by a trigger warning?

Joanna: Oh, I love that you even asked that question. Okay, so I guess in the last few years, we've seen authors told to include this at the beginning of a book. It might be a novel, it might be a nonfiction book. This might include things that will upset you or offend you or will.

If you're claustrophobic, it might make you feel claustrophobic. If you have been through trauma, it might trigger that. Now, I'm not saying your book does that, it didn't trigger me. It's something that's become trendy in case you upset people. So what do you think about that?

Efren: I think that's fine, but those people are not my reader who need a trigger warning. So I dedicated my book—like, I love my family, and my wife, and all of that, but I don't do the traditional dedication to my wife, or my parents, or to a best friend. I dedicated my book to those who want to live beyond mediocrity.

Anybody who really wants to live a great, fantastic life has to face a lot of uncomfortable truths about reality.

The benefit to that is just like exercise, the more you do it, the better you get at it. So when you stop relying on denial for comfort or seeking comfort in everything, you start embracing the difficulty of accomplishing things, and you get good at it. You literally get in shape for it.

Just like tearing muscle for increased strength, you're getting better with resilience of facing a lot of uncomfortable truths. As somebody from a criminology background, a lot of those uncomfortable truths are that bad guys exist, criminals exists, bad people exist.

There are some not so nice people in your own family, your own bloodline, or your own “friendship circles” that are not good for you. So the proactive, deliberate acceptance of that suggests you should create boundaries for that, but not at the extent of denying it.

A trigger warning for me is almost the antithesis of what my book is all about.

It's almost like somebody who doesn't want to face reality, or I guess maybe they just want to know if they're not my reader.

As I put literally twice in my book, if you are not appreciating some of the truths I'm laying out my book, you would have thrown it across the room by now. I'm talking to the reader, in case they are not my reader.

So that also encourages the person who progresses in my book to know they are my reader, and that they're willing to face some of these uncomfortable truths that I promise at the end will give you a lot of benefits.

Joanna: I agree, I don't like trigger warnings. I think you should be able to communicate what's in the book by the cover, by the description, and people should know whether or not this is something they want to read. For example, if you don't like horror, don't pick up a horror book. If you don't want to know what humans are like, don't pick up a book like yours.

Efren: Right, exactly. Pretty quickly, I think not just from the covers, but from the early-on parts of the book, that first chapter, you know if something's for you or not. There's nothing wrong with closing a book and putting it down or turning off the television or the radio. It's just a choice.

I'm a big proponent of freedom and free will. So people could not like something and just turn it off, or they should be allowed to have the opportunity to engage in something.

Joanna: On that freedom then, and that you worked with a partnership publisher—

Why did you choose to go the independent author route?

With your background and experience, I imagine you could have pitched a traditional publishing deal.

Efren: Frankly, I just think that in the modern time, it's a lot easier to independently publish professionally than it used to be.

Also, the whole spirit of my purpose in protecting people from tyrants and encouraging people who have more difficulty protecting themselves from others, it's almost like the big traditional publishing industry takes advantage of a lot of potentially great authors.

If they do give them a deal, they keep a lot of the IP or a lot of the profits, and I just resent that. So in this day and age, I would encourage people to publish independently.

I'm not criticizing the traditional publishers because they have to make money, but in this day and age we have the internet, we have so many great podcasts like yours, and YouTube trainings. People can really grow independently.

I'm a big fan of independence for an individual and for society because a strong independent person could help other people on their own.

They don't have to be forced to do it. So I'm just very much of a freedom kind of person and independence kind of person. So in my mind, I had no choice but to publish independently.

Joanna: Yes, it's interesting. Then coming back to facing uncomfortable truths, which I think you talked about in a different context, but as indie authors we do have to face those things. You've now been doing this a while—

What are some of the uncomfortable truths that indie authors really need to face in the industry?

What are things that we might need to tackle?

Efren: I think one of the most fundamental ones, especially for a newer author, is to realize your book is not for everybody. In fact, it's not for most people. You shouldn't be disappointed about that, that should not be your goal.

You want to reach your particular audience. Somebody is interested in history of battles or wars is not interested in basket weaving techniques, and vice versa.

If somebody this is not interested in human behavior, or a lot of these uncomfortable realities about the bad guys make them squirm, and they'd rather just enjoy cookbooks or whatever, there's nothing wrong with that either. They should not read my book because they will be triggered.

So I just think that's one of the most important things is facing the reality that your book is not for everybody. The other thing is that you're going to face a difficulty for anything worthwhile, and just stay the course and persist because you'll grow a lot as you write the book.

The idea you have for your book when you start it definitely evolves into what your book is meant to be.

I just think a good guideline for that, or guidelines, is what I wrote on a little sticky and stuck to my iPad, and it's still there.

It's just to remember, number one, reader first, and number two, don't let it be boring. The way to implement the not be boring part is educational value in an entertaining or emotional way. Emotion is what engages people, whether it's fiction or nonfiction.

Joanna: Yes, absolutely. It is hard to remember that. Of course, what's boring for one person is interesting for another, and vice versa. For example, some people absolutely love romances, sweet romances. My mum has written some of those as Penny Appleton, and they're not my cup of tea as such.

So I guess that is another point, that what might not be boring for some people, might well be for other people. That comes to your point that your books are not for everyone.

Efren: Right, and if you're writing a technical book, I guess it's not designed for that. You just have to know what your book is for, what the purpose of your book is.

If you're writing a book about computer software, it's going to be very difficult to engage the emotions, but that reader is not interested in the emotions. They want to know the technical things. If you're writing a romance novel, you better engage that heart, or you will not have any readers.

Joanna: Yes, absolutely. In fact, those authors who engage the emotions the most do the best in terms of book sales. We've definitely seen that. I wondered what your plans are next.

Have you got the taste for writing books? Have you already started another one?

Efren: I have, and I've expressed it a little bit. I'm excited about the project I'm working on now, and I think your British audience would truly appreciate it.

Remember George Orwell's 1984, back in 1949? So if you remember the details of the book, it is totally depressing. It's a great book, but it's totally depressing. It ends where the protagonist, Winston, and his love or affair interest, Julia, get “reindoctrinated.” They pretty much get tortured to become compliant. The book ends where they're compliant followers of big brother, and it's very sad.

So what I've done as an optimistic American, is I've written a big draft of a sequel to that titled 2084 because Julia got pregnant from their love affair, and their great grandchild is my protagonist in 2084, 100 years later.

This protagonist, just like a fish doesn't know it's wet, this protagonist is in a world where big brother is dominating, there is no resistance, there's zero memory of how it used to be, but his humanity starts to leak out. To vent out these criminal thoughts, these crime thoughts, he starts taking these walks. The walks don't suffice, so he has to find another outlet, and so on and so forth.

So you can imagine the character arc where he discovers humanity and has a lot of difficulty and resistance to discovering that humanity, but the character arc is very clear. There's plenty of conflicting characters and supportive characters along the path that will surprise the reader. I'm really excited about all three acts of my 2084, and it'll complement Orwell's 1984.

Joanna: That sounds good. Did you know about—and this is not at all like the story you've mentioned—but a book called Julia came out last year by an author called Sandra Newman, and it tells Julia's story in 1984. If you haven't read that, it might be interesting. It's set back in 1984 time, so it doesn't overlap with yours.

Efren: I did not know about that.

Joanna: It's about Julia. It came up when you said that. I was like, oh, you should put that on your reading list.

Efren: I'm definitely going to read that. Thank you for telling me. I can't believe I didn't know that. I'm super excited about it now.

Joanna: That's fantastic. Now, we're almost out of time, but I do have to ask you the FBI question because there are so many authors writing FBI thrillers. It's a very popular genre. There are so many TV shows and films.

Is there anything that really annoys you that people get wrong about the FBI regularly?

Efren: Yes, it's funny you mentioned that because probably less so in books and more and movies, the thing that gets to me is some of the tactics. Watching actors running around with their fingers on the triggers makes me absolutely crazy because that's so incredibly dangerous, but they do it all the time.

So we're trying to keep our finger on the side of the weapon, whether it's a long gun or a pistol, because just life happens. You trip over a log, or somebody sneaks up behind you, the human reaction is to jerk or defend, and so your finger goes right alongside that.

So if people are running around with their finger on the trigger, they'll be shooting people all the time. So that makes me crazy.

On the similar lines, when actors are carrying the long guns, they have what we call a chicken wing, that elbow is sticking out in the air. Now you're never going to unsee this when you watch movies, but we always want to put that elbow down and stay center balanced, as opposed to sticking that elbow up.

I don't know why people do that, but it's a tendency with long guns to stick your elbow in the air like a chicken wing. So it's not so serious, but those things drive me nuts.

More on the serious side, movies and books both always make it seem like the FBI and local police are enemies and in competition, when frankly, the opposite is true. The most professional detectives and police officers have worked alongside the most professional FBI agents like partners.

So the FBI can't get much done without their local partners. So we actually partner up very well. There's a lot of resources and overarching reach that the FBI has that the local police don't have, so it develops a great partnership.

So I'm a huge proponent of task forces. It's different agencies, local or federal, working together for one common mission. That kind of complements my idea on life in general, not just in combating crime or terrorism.

Just people working together, complementing their own resources, their own ideas, and being mission-oriented like a North Star, as opposed to ego-oriented where not a lot gets done, and there's a lot of bickering and squabbling.

Joanna: Do you have any recommended resources that authors can go to?

Efren: I'm not too familiar with a lot of quality FBI books because, frankly, I don't read a lot of FBI books because I've done it. It doesn't interest me so much.

The Michael Connelly books really do a good job of showing the police officers' life. He does a lot of research with how cops in LA are. I think there's a lot of accuracy there.

Then once he has those founding cultural principles down, then he branches off into creative storytelling that maybe aren't so true, but they're entertaining, which is the whole point of fiction. So Michael Connelly's books are great for police work in general.

Frankly, not to hoot my own horn, but my book would be excellent not just for understanding some FBI thought processes, but understanding criminals in general.

I think anybody writing fiction, you're always going to have an antagonist and protagonist to some degree, whether it's grand or focused on an individual. Truly understanding what motivates good and bad people to do what they do, and how they interact with each other, and the psychological reasoning behind it, my book is a blueprint for understanding all those things.

Where then your audience will have epiphanies for their own characters and for their own lives, and probably the antagonists in their own life, understanding why they're doing what they're doing. That knowledge will empower your reader to realize, look, I'm just fine. This person's a chihuahua barking at the doorbell.

Joanna: Fantastic.

So where can people find you and your book online?

Efren: So I've got all my links in one spot. My website EfrenDelgado.com, E-F-R-E-N-delgado.com.

Joanna: Brilliant. Thanks so much for your time, Efren. That was great.

Efren: Thank you so much. It was fun.

The post Writing Hard Truths And Tips For Writing Non-Fiction With Efren Delgado first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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How do we write authentic humanity into our books, whether that's our own experience or a fictional character's? How can we embrace the challenges of life and the author journey and make the most of the opportunities along the way? How do we write authentic humanity into our books, whether that's our own experience or a fictional character's? How can we embrace the challenges of life and the author journey and make the most of the opportunities along the way? Efren Delgado gives his tips in this interview.



In the intro, How to plan and release a second edition of your book [SelfPublishingAdvice]; plus, Kickstarter update; Stone carving a green man; De-Extinction of the Nephilim [JFPennBooks; other stores];






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Efren Delgado is a former FBI special agent with 25 years of national security, law enforcement, and private protection experience. He's also a consultant, professional speaker, and the author of The Opposite is True: Discover Your Unexpected Enemies, Allies, and Purpose Through the Eyes of Counterintuitive Psychology.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Balancing being authentic while maintaining your boundaries



* How to take our failures and move on to success



* Creating a mind map to help during the brainstorming process



* Fact checking and managing citations when writing nonfiction



* Writing to deal with trauma while avoiding using it as therapy



* Uncomfortable truths indie authors need to face about the industry



* Common misconceptions authors get wrong when writing FBI thrillers




You can find Efren at EfrenDelgado.com.



Transcript of Interview with Efren Delgado



Joanna: Efren Delgado is a former FBI special agent with 25 years of national security, law enforcement, and private protection experience.



He's also a consultant, professional speaker,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:00:01
Collaborative Writing With AI With Rachelle Ayala https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/21/collaborative-writing-with-ai-with-rachelle-ayala/ Fri, 21 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36319 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/21/collaborative-writing-with-ai-with-rachelle-ayala/#respond https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/21/collaborative-writing-with-ai-with-rachelle-ayala/feed/ 0 <p>How can we use AI tools to enhance and improve our creative process? How can we double down on being human by writing what we are passionate about, while still using generative AI to help fulfil our creative vision? Rachelle Ayala gives her thoughts in this episode. Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/21/collaborative-writing-with-ai-with-rachelle-ayala/">Collaborative Writing With AI With Rachelle Ayala</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we use AI tools to enhance and improve our creative process? How can we double down on being human by writing what we are passionate about, while still using generative AI to help fulfil our creative vision? Rachelle Ayala gives her thoughts in this episode.

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Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI, An AI Author's Journal, and AI Fiction Mastery.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Understanding generative AI tools as a non-technical person
  • How the creative process can work with AI tools and why it's always changing
  • Using AI tools as a collaborative discovery process, and why it's all about your creative vision and author voice. For more on this, check out my AI-Assisted Artisan Author episode
  • Aspects of copyright
  • Staying focused on writing as new AI technology emerges, and why you need to double down on being human

You can find Rachelle at RachelleAyala.net.

Transcript of Interview with Rachelle Ayala

Joanna: Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI, An AI Author's Journal, and AI Fiction Mastery. So welcome to the show, Rachelle.

Rachelle: Thank you, Joanna. Thank you for having me.

Joanna: I'm super excited to talk to you. As I was telling you, I have the ebook and the print edition of AI Fiction Mastery because I think you put things so well in your writing. Before we get into it—

Tell us a bit more about you and your background in technology and writing.

Rachelle: Okay, sure. I was a math major, and I actually have a PhD in applied math. So you would think that's kind of the farthest thing from writing.

I got into parallel computing back in the 80s. Then in the early 90s, neural networks, where we were basically trying to recognize handwritten characters between zero to nine. So that was quite interesting and fascinating.

So I basically worked in software development and network management until 2011. Then I got into writing. So romance writing was my gig, and I liked dealing with feelings and happy endings.

Joanna: Well, I love that, going from maths and neural networks into romance. You do explain a lot of the stuff behind AI in your books, which I think is really good. You're used to writing for normal people, so I don't find your writing technical at all.

Do you think people who are not very technical are struggling with this AI world at the moment?

Rachelle: I don't even think you need to be technical to understand AI because—well, there's different types of AI, but we're talking about large language models for writing.

So there's other AI systems like expert systems, machine learning, and people have been using that. They don't even know it, but they've been using it under the hood.

The AI we're talking about, large language models, ChatGPT was one of the first ones that most people became aware of. So GPT is a Generative Pretrained Transformer.

You could think of it as a word slot machine, where you could think of all these slots. So when you write a prompt, then the AI will look at the words that are in there, and then try to predict the best word that comes after.

Let's say, we say Monday, Wednesday, and most people will say Friday because that's the next word that you think of. Or if you say Monday, Tuesday, most people will say Wednesday.

So what the AI does is it was trained on reading, I think somebody said between half a trillion or trillion pieces of text. When an AI is trained, it's not reading a book like we do, where we read it from beginning to end.

So think of if you cut a piece of newspaper into a strip or a square, and then it's got all these words that are in there, and it's looking for words, associations, and patterns. So it'll say, oh, this word goes with that word, and those words go together.

So it could take a word like, say, “bark.” If it sees dog in the other slots, it's going to most likely come out with “woof,” but if it sees trees in the other slot, then it might say, “the bark is wrinkly or hard,” and it's thinking of a tree bark.

So that's how it is able to create words, and that's why you think it's intelligent, because it understands the context. It does so with these huge, huge context windows. So I don't want to get too technical, but a context window is how many words can it keep in its memory.

So it can look at all these associations and how those words go together, so it can best predict the next word that comes out of this word slot machine, so to say. It doesn't remember anything.

Joanna: It's interesting. You mentioned words there, like associations and patterns. I feel like the big misunderstanding with large language models is that some authors think that it's more like a database, where all these “stolen” books are sitting in a big database.

Then if you query it, it will pull out exact chunks from other people's books and use them. So you're always going to plagiarize or you're always going to be “stealing.” Like you and I hear these words a lot from authors who are really just starting out.

Can you explain why it's not a database?

Rachelle: Well, databases are storage. So if you query at a database, it pulls out exactly what's in there. I mean, this is like your social security number. It's not going to get it wrong, it's going to pull it right out. Your birthdate, if it's entered in correctly, it will pull it out.

Everybody knows that AI doesn't get things correct, or it doesn't get things exact. If you prompt it twice with the same prompt, like, say, “Write me a story about a road runner who is sick,” or something, it's going to write you something different.

Even that, if you think about how they trained AI, they trained it by inputting all these words that are associated together. Then they adjusted the weights of how these words are more likely to be with those words.

They're not retaining the words, the words are thrown away. The only thing it keeps is the weight.

So sort of like when you read a book, unless you have a photographic memory, you cannot recall that book, but you can recall the concepts because you have made associations between what you read and it communicated to you these ideas.

In fact, people say our memories are not like videos, our memories are actually assembled whenever we're recalling something. So we are making things up on the fly, based on all the associations that we've had in our lives. Similarly, that's how AI LLM really is making up things.

So when people say it lies to you, it's like, no. It's actually just making things up. You gave it a prompt that said, like, “Say happy birthday to me,” and it just keeps going with that.

There's also something called a temperature knob where you could basically increase the randomness, because you know, it's boring if that always gives you the same answer.

So they built in this randomness thing where it's going to look for either the most probable, or the next most probable, or it has a whole list of probable words that come next. If you turn on that temperature, you dial it all the way up, you're going to get gibberish.

The other thing with LLMs, they've literally read the kitchen sink. It's not just literature, they read code. So a lot of times, if I turn up the temperature and I'm prompting it, all of a sudden it's just all this gibberish code that comes out of it. So that just shows you that it has no memory.

Joanna: I think that's definitely one of the reasons why the legal cases are so complicated and why people actually need to have some technical idea. It's not just a case of like copying and pasting.

Let's talk more about your creative process. So you're a discovery writer, which I love, although you have given tips for outlining in your books. Can you tell us—

How does your creative process work with AI? Are you just writing a prompt and then hitting publish?

Rachelle: Oh, definitely not.

I think the first time I got on ChatGPT, and I'm sure every one of you guys have done it, you said, “Write me a novel.” Then ChatGPT wrote a 200-word story about some rabbit jumping across a meadow, and it might have seen a turtle, and it's like a kid story. So it's interesting, and it's fun.

I think today, they probably won't do any of that because they put some processing in where it will probably say, “Please give me enough detail.” At the very beginning, it would happily go off and write this little fanciful story.

So getting back to, yes, I'm a discovery writer, but I think I have also learned about story structure. So very early in writing, I realized that if I just sat there and meandered around with my character, we could do all these interesting things, but it would not be telling a story.

A story has to have some kind of meaning behind it. So it's characters, they're going through actions, they're experiencing things, but there needs to be an emotional meaning behind it or something where readers want to find out what happens next.

So I did study story structure. I think I read Larry Brooks's book on story engineering, so I know about the inciting incident, and the progressive complications, and there's like this midpoint review. So you kind of have to have those things in the back of your mind.

AI actually does not know all this. The other thing most of you've probably tried is if you type in what you want the AI to do for the story, it takes the most direct point.

So like for romance, this really doesn't work because the romance thrives off conflict. It means there's attraction, and then there's this push and pull of, okay, I'm really attracted to this guy, but he's got some things that just doesn't work.

So it's the push and pull between the attraction and the conflict and two people are working things out. Both of them are flawed, but we believe in redemption, and we believe that everybody deserves to be loved. So the reader is really looking for how this is going to work out.

Well, the AI would just say, okay, so we talked about it, and then happily together we can face these things. It's really so innocent. It's like, “Oh, well, why don't we just talk it out? Then they can walk hand in hand and face the future with determination.”

Joanna: You know that's a ChatGPT story!

Rachelle: Of course.

Joanna: What are some of the ways you do use [ChatGPT] in your creative process?

Rachelle: Well, actually, every book I've written with the assistance of AI, I have done something different. That's because the tools change so fast. So I think at the beginning with ChatGPT, I was just asking it questions about, “Oh, let's make up some mythological figures that can do this or that, or some magic.”

I was sort of using it like a search engine, which it's not because it's making stuff up. I was just heightening descriptions and things like that.

So I think I talked about that in my first book, Love by the Prompt, which was basically just brainstorming and asking it, “Give me premises for a romance,” or, “Give me an enemies to lovers story.” So it was doing that.

At that point, it couldn't write more than 300 words or so. So we weren't really using it to write prose, we were using it maybe to enhance your descriptions or bring in things that you didn't think about.

The speed of AI went so fast, so by the time we were into summer when I wrote the AI Author's Journal, we were actually writing scenes. The way we were writing the scenes is we would list out the scene beats.

So these are just very basic actions of, “they walked down the street,” “there was a gunfight going on,” “there was a sheriff that came in.” So basic beats. We were doing that, and then laying that out and feeding it to the AI so that the AI would kind of fill it in.

So you're really leading it like a horse, like a horse to waters. Like, “Come on this way. Okay, now you're going to do that.” It was really funny to see what it would do in between.

I happen to like hallucinations. I think a lot of authors don't like it.

I really get a crack when it goes, what they call, off the rails. I'm like, oh, really? Okay, this is funny.

So that's how I was using it. It wasn't like this prescriptive thing where I already knew like beginning to end, and I'm going to lay it all out, and then push a button, and this is going to go through.

It doesn't listen to you anyway, so you're not going to be able to. Even if you're an outliner, and you have an 80-page outline and you've got everything listed.

I should say, you can make it listen to you by dialing the temperature down and using one of the more boring models. I don't think you're going to like what comes out because it will be very concise and succinct. They would just literally stick to your beats like glue.

It's not expanding from it, so then why bother have AI write it. At the same time, if you turn the temperature up, it might deviate, and it might deviate in really fun ways. Or it might be like, no, this is not what I want you to do, and it's already solved the problem by chapter two.

Joanna: Yes, and I think the temperature dial, as you mentioned, that's really only available if you go through more like the Playground options.

If people are just using ChatGPT, for example, there is no particular temperature dial in that.

Rachelle: There isn't. It's really interesting now because they give you access to the latest 4.0, as well as 4 and 3.5. If you really want some of the more quirky stuff, you need to go back to 3.5.

It's, in a sense, much more innocent. It will just happily go off and do something. Whereas 4.0, I've noticed they've made it more, what they call, safe.

It tends to feel more like business writing a lot more because what 4.0 will tend to do is whatever you give it, it's going to make a bold heading, and then it will give you some bullets, and then it's another bold heading. It's like okay, so you just summarized my scene brief, and you didn't put anything creative in between.

That's what brings me to Claude. I really love Claude. Claude is the other chat. So if you're beginning, I think most people say, well, we've got to get ChatGPT.

With ChatGPT, I think because it's more structured for business, it's much better at writing the scene briefs and the outlines.

It will stick to the topic, so if you wanted to outline so for nonfiction, especially—and I think Gemini works good for that, too—is that it will stick to the outline. Then you can work with it and say, “Okay, I'm going to write a nonfiction book about decluttering,” and it will help you stick to it.

Whereas Claude, I think is a little bit more freeform. With old Claude 2, it might balk and say just, “I do not feel comfortable being judgey about somebody's hoarding problems. I think with the new Claude 3, they've loosened that a bit, and so it will be more creative, but it may be less structured.

So I think ChatGPT, you can use it for structuring and writing your outlines, and even your scene briefs or chapter briefs. What we talk about when we talk about scene briefs is you need to give the AI a lot more information.

Just telling it, “Write me a scene of a cute meet between a cowboy and a waitress,” it gives it too much leeway. So a scene brief basically is a piece of information, and we call this mega prompting, but we're giving it information of the characters in the scene, the settings of the scene, and then the beats.

What's going to happen first, second, third? What's the inciting incident? What are the progressive complications? I'm using the story grids way of developing scene, so you have the progressive complications.

Then you have some kind of crisis because there has to be something to motivate your protagonist or to challenge your protagonist, and then some kind of decision where that's made to move this thing forward.

So if you only have a scene that only has beats and there's no sort of story element in it, then it's not going to work. So that's why you have to do a lot of leading.

Joanna: It's interesting. You mentioned leading there, and also the different personalities of the models, and also, the fun. I mean—

I feel like it's a fun back-and-forth process.

It's like I might ask Chat for a list of things that might go wrong in this particular situation or places where I could set a scene.

I think I use ChatGPT for a lot of lists of options, and also marketing. I think it's very good on marketing copy. Then, as you say, with Claude, I use what I think you call completion prompting. I might upload what I've written so far, and then say, “Okay, what are 10 ways this scene could continue?” and it will help in in that way.

So I think it's being more fluid almost, isn't it? Going backwards and forwards, and you have ideas, it has ideas, that kind of thing.

Rachelle: I've discovered I like Claude Sonnet the best because Sonnet will actually write. Like if you go through a Workbench or Playground type of thing, and I go through Future Fiction Academy's Rexy, where I get to specify every parameter, including the length of the output.

So with Sonnet, we always say, “Write a 3000-word scene.” Some people used to say 10,000, hoping ChatGPT would do it. Well, it doesn't work that way.

They have a parameter called max-length that they've already programmed into chat. You don't know what it is, but it's probably not going to be that long because you're sharing the chat with so many other people. You're doing a flat fee, and they're paying by the token.

When you go into Playgrounds, or through Rexy, you can special specify a max length. Like I said in the book, all of them, even the million context windows, they may have 100,000-200,000 tokens that you can feed in, the maximum output is 4096 tokens, which is roughly around 3000 words.

So some of them are just like the C students. You tell them do 3000 words, they do 500-700. With Sonnet, I found, and Haiku, will gladly go up to your limit.

If you didn't give it enough information to prompt, it'll just kind of get repetitive and have your character doing the same thing over and over in different ways, but that's your fault.

Joanna: I think, again, this is really important. You're still not just copying and pasting that scene, right? You're not taking that scene out of Haiku or Sonnet and then pasting that and then publishing it.

So just explain—

How are you leading the AI? How are you editing?

I still think people are afraid that we're just going to lose our creativity and the AI will do all the writing, whereas that's not really what's happening.

Rachelle: First, I just want to say there is no wrong way to use AI. I know everybody's process is different.

So there are authors who spend a lot of time with their outline, and whether they're using ChatGPT or they're just working on it by themselves, everything is going through this person's filter, this person's creativity.

So even if someone works a long outline, and then tells the AI, “Write these scene beats, write what I just gave you,” that author has put in all those scene beats. That author has said, “This is the emotion I want in the scene.” That author has said, “This is what's going to happen.”

So even the most prescriptive author that architects it from the beginning to the end, that person has put themselves into that story.

It's not like AI is just going to write you a story.

The other thing I think people forget is that it's humans that tell stories because we're the ones with the emotions. When we see a list of things happening, a lot of it depends on the context.

So if, for example, you see a man punch out another man, if it's on the theater on the stage, you laugh, but if it's on the street right in front of you, you're like horrified. So these contexts are all happening emotionally in the human being.

AI will just describe, “Okay, this man punched the other one, and he hit his jaw, and the blood went flying.” It will describe the stuff, but the storyteller is putting the emotional context into that scene, and what the reader is going to feel is coming from the human.

Whether the AI writes the words or not, or even draws the cartoon or not, it's the medium of how you're communicating that story that's eliciting the emotion. So I think I don't worry whether you're a plotter or a pantser, it's more just believing that the story is coming from you.

Whether you dictated it, transcribed it, I just look at AI as it increases the accessibility of storytelling for people.

Maybe English is your second language or you're a visual person.

Joanna: Yes, it's interesting. I feel like because we describe ourselves as writers, and for a long time we've used this number of words written. You know, people will say, “Oh, I wrote 2000 words a day,” or, “I wrote 10,000 words today.” We've really viewed value of being a writer on how many words we write.

Therefore, I think people are struggling because if you can generate 3000 words with one prompt from an AI—and that's where we are now, I mean, goodness knows where it will be in a year or two. I think I did, and maybe other people, are struggling with this question of—

What is our value if it's not generating words? So how do you see that question?

Rachelle: I think your value is making sure those words are words that people want to read. That's the same with whether you're doing your messy draft or not too. I mean, before AI, I wrote 90 books. I can write 50,000 words in two weeks. I've done all the NaNoWriMos and all that.

So the thing is, you as the creative person, you can generate the words, but it may not be words anyone wants to read, maybe you don't even want to read it. So you're also the curator of those words.

Basically, it still comes down to you're the storyteller. You have to have a story worth telling.

I mean, you don't want to just report what you see without putting meaning into it. The meaning into it is what gives you the story, because ultimately, the story is a human to human communication.

Whether I'm talking to you face to face and telling you what happened to me last Friday, or I'm communicating through a novel, it really is still, like I would say, heart to heart. It will come from my heart, but when you read it, it's going through your heart.

Like I said, the AI can throw out a lot of words, and some of the time I have to admit, I don't even read what it gives me. Sometimes I ask it for ideas, and then I do exactly what it doesn't say to do. Or it can spark something totally opposite or just unrelated.

You're a discovery writer, right? So you know that ideas don't come until you start moving. It's like getting on a bicycle. So before I even sit down to write a scene, I could say, “Oh, this is what's going to happen. I think I know what's going to happen,” but when I start writing it, it's like something else just pops into my mind and it deviates.

Joanna: I totally agree. So this is the point.

We are the ones with the creative drive. We have the ideas, we have the prompts, we have the story; we have the emotion. The AI tools, they're just tools.

Someone has asked me that—

They worry that they might not be able to find their voice if they start writing with AI. Or that they might somehow lose creativity in some way. What do you think about that?

Rachelle: I actually think it's valid. I've been writing, oh, I don't know, 12/13 years, and you develop the voice by just writing, free writing. So I think it is valid because if I read too much AI, I find myself kind of writing like them, like using some of the same phrases.

So we're sponges, we absorb what we read. I mean, that's how we developed our voice. We read lots of books, right? You probably have your favorite authors, or if you're like me, I read across multiple genres. I love everything I read.

We're like humans, sponges. The LLM is just like us. I mean, if you noticed ChatGPT, it read a lot of fanfiction. So it has a lot of the same names that it gives and the same things that are always happening, and it's only because it's read all these fanfiction sites. So it tends to write like fanfiction.

So I worry about that too. I look at it, and I say, “Oh, I don't want to sound like ChatGPT,” and if I keep reading what it writes, sometimes I catch myself.

Joanna: That's interesting. It's funny, I haven't felt that at all. I feel like this comes down to being confident in your voice.

I think when we've been writing as long as we have, we kind of know when it sounds like us.

So if I read something, I'll be like, that doesn't sound like me, so maybe I didn't write that, or I don't know where that's come from. So certainly in my editing process, I edit pretty hard in order to bring my voice.

I really think that maybe people will just learn to write in a different way. In that we wrote with the Internet, so we've had the internet, and we have learned and written in that particular way.

People growing up now, this is now free, kids at school are going to use these tools. So they will probably just learn in a different way.

I still think it comes down to what you, as a creator, have as your creative drive.

I think that is really particular to you.

Rachelle: Right, and actually, I think we don't have to worry as much going forward. As we've seen, Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus, they write differently. I think a lot of what we think is AI is from ChatGPT 3.5, because that was the first one that came out.

You're right, the kids that are growing up today, they're going to be reading as much AI-generated content, if not more, than the classics. Though you could always go back and read the classics, too.

Joanna: So there's definitely the responsibility of the creator. I guess we're saying, and that I'd say, I'm an AI-assisted artisan author. So it's still my work, it's what I want to do.

I am interested in what you think about copyright in the USA. In the UK, our copyright law is that anything created by a machine belongs to the creator.

“In the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the author shall be taken to be the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken.”

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 9, 3

In the US, you have quite a lot of copyright rulings that still haven't happened around that. So how do you think about that in the US?

Rachelle: Well, first of all, I'm not a lawyer. So I don't know what the legal things are. I think the US, and this is what I think, they think there has to be some kind of human touch in it. So they're trying to measure how much of the human touch.

[Read the US Copyright Office guidance here.]

An analogy is like taking a picture. I think immediately people probably thought, “Oh, well, all you did was click the button, and you took a picture,” but the copyright office ruled that, “Oh, but you had to set up the shot. You had to adjust the lighting. You had to catch it at the right moment.”

So the camera didn't take the picture by itself—well, actually, you can set the camera to take pictures, and nowadays, you might have a video camera that's just been watching something and AI can pick out the best shots.

At the time they did grant a copyright to photographs, the thinking was a human was behind it that pushed the button and it composed a shot. I actually think AI prompting is actually more work.

Everyone just thinks that you just push the button and out pops an article, and that's not the case.

I went to a seminar where one of the lawyers said, “Oh, well, it's all in the prompts. The originality is in the prompts,”

which does go back to that plagiarizing. If you copy and paste somebody's work into the prompt, you can get AI to spit that back out. That's on you because that was in the prompt, it wasn't AI's fault. So the lawyer said that, and believe me, all your prompts are stored somewhere.

I mean, they have not discarded any of the prompts. So he's saying that in the future, he thinks cases will be decided by looking at how creative the prompts were.

Joanna: That is really interesting. I totally agree, and it's one of my sort of red lines. I say to people:

Don't use other people's names or brands in your prompt, whether that's images or music or authors.

I can use my name in a prompt, but I'm not going to use your name, I'm not going to use Stephen King, I'm not going to use Dan Brown. I'm not even going to use dead authors because I want my own voice. So I think that's really important.

It is also interesting because in the early days—I say the early days early, like last year—I was still taking screenshots of prompts in case.

Rachelle: Like I've got to save these?

Joanna: Well, no. So that in case I had to prove that this was my own work. So I was keeping that, I took pictures of my edits, like I was quite paranoid last year. Now we're in mid-2024, I'm starting to relax a lot more.

Let's just think about what's happened. I mean, as we're speaking now, last week they released 4.0 Omni. We've had Google releasing Gemini 1.5, Microsoft has announced new PCs that will have AI in them. I mean, the pace is so fast now, and Apple's going to announce something soon.

How do you adjust to the pace of change?

Are you, as you said earlier, are you changing your process all the time? How do you stay focused, rather than getting sidetracked?

Rachelle: Well, it is harder to stay focused because there's always some new toy that comes out. Just yesterday, I got into the Hunch beta, which is basically a drag and drop prompt sequencing.

So you can put in context blocks, and then you can drag that context and feed it into these AI blocks and it does something to transform it. Then you can feed multiple context blocks into AI blocks, and multiple AI blocks into another one to aggregate the content, or you can split it out in different ways and use different LLMs for each output.

So yes, it's hard to stay focused. I think once I get into a story, I do focus on that story. Then I keep kind of an ear to the ground on what's going on.

So I joined the Future Fiction Academy because it's a group of people, Elizabeth Ann West, Steph Pajonas, and Leeland Artra, who they are all over the place looking at all this AI. They are also real writers because I knew them from indie publishing 10 years ago.

So they look at these tools and they're always thinking of new methods. It's not just them, it's the whole group in Future Fiction Academy. Somebody will say, “Oh, did you see this Hunch thing?”

So Hunch was brought in by somebody else who said, “I use this to sequence these prompts, and I wrote my scene briefs, and then I had five different LLMs write the scene, and then I'm going to look at them all and pick out the best ones.”

So by joining a group of active authors who are focused on their writing, because each one of these authors are still focused on their author career and not the AI.

AI is a means to an end

— not like the YouTubers where—and they have their uses too, but they are focused on the AI. So they're always looking at the new AI and how it came out. That's great to also subscribe to a few of their channels so you kind of know something's coming.

Also, you have to know, well, okay, I'm not going to distract myself with the new music stuff because I don't really use music in my work, but I know it's there type of thing.

Joanna: Well, what do you think's going happen next? I mean, how do you think things are going to change in the next year or two? I guess we're looking at maybe GPT 5, which might be another step up.

I guess some people think that that will just mean we can write books even faster. As you said, you were writing books pretty fast before, and romance authors are fast. So I don't really see it as a speed thing.

How do you think things will change, both creatively and in the business of being an author?

Rachelle: Well, it's hard to say. I mean, look at ChatGPT 3.5, now we're looking at it like training wheels. What we have today is Omni, and like you said, GPT-5 will come out. I don't really know, I just know that as long as these companies are fighting it out, we get access to the latest and greatest.

So I think I'm more worried about when the industry consolidates, and all the best writing tools, the AI that's able to not just spit out words, but the one that can analyze novels. Believe me, I'm sure these publishing companies already have it.

I have heard somebody say that Netflix actually has analyzed streaming behavior of their customers. So they know when the customers quit watching the video, they know when they rewound, and they know when they watched it all the way through without stopping.

So they've analyzed those story structures to come up with better stories. I'm pretty sure that anybody who owns a reading app knows this.

We buy a lot of books we never read, I mean, especially free books. You downloaded them, maybe opened into the first page, read the first page, and dropped it.

Those owners of those reading apps know full well which books have caught on, which books are the ones that it's 3am and you haven't stopped and you just keep going and going and going. So they have all that data.

So once they train their AI to recognize that kind of pattern—what kind of patterns of story, not just words, because right now, today's LLMs are just looking at word patterns.

We're looking at AI agents that can analyze the patterns of the story, like the rising action, the conflict and tension points, all of that. Then they can actually generate story, critique the story, and then match it to what readers' preferences are.

Then maybe we may just become providers of experiences, I suppose.

Joanna: I mean, let's fast forward. There's going to be perfect algorithmic fiction, you know. It'll be perfect, people will love it. They'll go and they'll get that, and that will be a lot of what people read. That's why I say to people —

You need to double down on being human, because you are not an algorithm, and I'm not an algorithm.

So I think that there's still a place for the human writer, which is flawed. We have flawed writing. So I think there's room for both.

Rachelle: That's the whole thing about romance, the characters are flawed, but they're still lovable.

Joanna: Yes, so let's hope we are!

Rachelle: It's going to be interesting. It's almost like the way with social media. They've done studies on dopamine hits, and so they made their things addictive so that you're always scrolling and scrolling and looking at the videos and hitting the likes. That's all these little shots of dopamine.

So they've done all that research on how human minds work to get you addicted to a platform. I wonder if the AI can also create books and stories that you just can't put down because it just kind of knows. It can individualize this for every reader. If your Kindle Library's as big as mine, it knows what I'm really interested in, and not what I say I'm interested in. It knows if I buy a book because I liked the author, but then I never read the books. It knows what you're really doing, and it can personalize that for you.

Joanna: Yes, well, we certainly live in interesting times. It's been so great to talk to you.

Tell people where they can find you and all your books online.

Rachelle: Well, I have a website, RachelleAyala.net, but you can just find me on Amazon. Just type in Rachelle Ayala and AI Author’s Journal or Romance In A Month, and then you'll find my nonfiction books. Then for the fiction books, I think type in Bad Boys For Hire, or something like that, and you'll find my fiction books.

Then I did recently start a new pen name using my real name, Clare Chu, C-L-A-R-E-C-H-U. This is much more AI. I decided to do these humorous guidebooks that are called Misguided Guides.

So my first book was Why Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You. I made the cover with Midjourney, so I'm showing this to you on the screen.

Joanna: That's very cute. I think experimentation is fantastic, and you certainly do that. So thanks so much for your time, Rachelle. That was great.

Rachelle: Okay, sure. It was great being on. Thank you, Joanna.

The post Collaborative Writing With AI With Rachelle Ayala first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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How can we use AI tools to enhance and improve our creative process? How can we double down on being human by writing what we are passionate about, while still using generative AI to help fulfil our creative vision? How can we use AI tools to enhance and improve our creative process? How can we double down on being human by writing what we are passionate about, while still using generative AI to help fulfil our creative vision? Rachelle Ayala gives her thoughts in this episode.






Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI, An AI Author's Journal, and AI Fiction Mastery.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Understanding generative AI tools as a non-technical person



* How the creative process can work with AI tools and why it's always changing



* Using AI tools as a collaborative discovery process, and why it's all about your creative vision and author voice. For more on this, check out my AI-Assisted Artisan Author episode



* Aspects of copyright



* Staying focused on writing as new AI technology emerges, and why you need to double down on being human




You can find Rachelle at RachelleAyala.net.



Transcript of Interview with Rachelle Ayala



Joanna: Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI, An AI Author's Journal, and AI Fiction Mastery. So welcome to the show, Rachelle.



Rachelle: Thank you, Joanna. Thank you for having me.



Joanna: I'm super excited to talk to you. As I was telling you, I have the ebook and the print edition of AI Fiction Mastery because I think you put things so well in your writing. Before we get into it—



Tell us a bit more about you and your background in technology and writing.



Rachelle: Okay, sure. I was a math major, and I actually have a PhD in applied math. So you would think that's kind of the farthest thing from writing.



I got into parallel computing back in the 80s. Then in the early 90s, neural networks, where we were basically trying to recognize handwritten characters between zero to nine. So that was quite interesting and fascinating.



So I basically worked in software development and network management until 2011. Then I got into writing. So romance writing was my gig,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 44:34
Writing Through Fear With Caroline Donahue https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/17/writing-through-fear-with-caroline-donahue/ Mon, 17 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36326 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/17/writing-through-fear-with-caroline-donahue/#comments https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/17/writing-through-fear-with-caroline-donahue/feed/ 4 <p>What are some of the common fears that writers face? How can we work through them in order to create more freely? Caroline Donahue gives her tips in this interview. In the intro, How to avoid indie author scams [ALLi; Writer Beware]; Financial strategies and mindset [Self Publishing Advice]; Apple Intelligence at WWDC [The Verge; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/17/writing-through-fear-with-caroline-donahue/">Writing Through Fear With Caroline Donahue</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are some of the common fears that writers face? How can we work through them in order to create more freely? Caroline Donahue gives her tips in this interview.

In the intro, How to avoid indie author scams [ALLi; Writer Beware]; Financial strategies and mindset [Self Publishing Advice]; Apple Intelligence at WWDC [The Verge; Marketing against the Grain]; “Not a chef, but an emotion creator.” Massimo Bottura on the Possible Podcast.

Plus, Spear of Destiny is on its last day; Thoughts on photography permissions for commercial use — and permission in general; Voodoo Vintners; Winchester pictures; Limeburn Hill vineyard pictures.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Caroline Donahue is an author, podcaster, and book coach. Her latest book is Writing Through Fear: A Story Arcana Guide.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • The most common fears writers face
  • How the fear of not being considered a “real writer” holds you back
  • Overcoming the fear of judgement and being cancelled
  • Fearing things before you are anywhere near them in the process
  • Breaking down projects into smaller, more manageable tasks
  • Embracing the unpredictable nature of creativity
  • The challenges and reasons for rebranding a book
  • Substack as a podcasting platform and community tool

You can find Caroline at CarolineDonahue.com, her Substack at book-alchemy.com, and her podcast at SecretLibraryPodcast.com.

Transcript of Interview with Caroline Donahue

Joanna: Caroline Donahue is an author, podcaster, and book coach. Her latest book is Writing Through Fear: A Story Arcana Guide. So welcome back to the show, Caroline.

Caroline: Thank you so much for having me. This is such a treat.

Joanna: You were on the show back in 2019 when we talked about your background and writing with the tarot. So we're just going to jump straight into the topic today.

Why did you want to write about fear? What sparked the book, and why structure it around Tarot?

Caroline: Well, I think that the topic of fear evolved because there were a couple of projects I considered doing before I landed on this one.

There was a desire to take a course I created during the pandemic, called Dream to Draft, and I thought, oh, I'll make a book version of that course. I tried to do that for most of a year, actually, and realized that I couldn't really recreate the experience of taking that course.

So I was trying to distill down elements of what made the difference for people of being able to finish a book or not finish a book. I noticed that they were able to overcome fears that they had while being in the course.

The main difference between people who were finishing books and delighted with their progress, and those who were getting kind of stuck in the swamps of sadness—if you'll forgive the 1980s film reference of The NeverEnding Story—were those who just got completely mired in fear about their writing. So I thought, okay,

If I can help people to engage with their fear differently, then they'll be able to write

— and I can do that from a distance. So that was what I ultimately got excited about. As for why I paired it with the tarot, for one thing, it made it a much easier book to write because I had a built-in structure. I had wanted to return to the tarot ever since writing the previous book, which focused on the first 22 cards, the Major Arcana.

I thought, oh, this is a great way to address the Minors because those are everyday life situations that people face. So I matched one fear to each card. Also, I could imagine people pulling a card.

I've already had one person who's read the book respond that when they're about to start a difficult scene or difficult project, they'll pull a card and then read the corresponding fear entry in the book. This helps them get into the writing. So that was delightful to hear.

Joanna: That is one of the very useful things about tarot or any of these kinds of things that spark ideas by looking at images or thinking about symbolism. So I think that's actually quite a good way into these fears. It feels like if you try and tackle it head on, it's often much harder. Did the people in your course recognize their fears?

Caroline: I think in some cases, yes. In some cases, it looked like other things. When I studied psychology ages ago, you have this kind of fight or flight, or we now have freeze that we know about, and fawn.

There are different ways that people engage with things that scare them.

Sometimes they look like the cartoon Scream face, if you think of the horror movie, but not always. So I thought that I wanted them to increase their vocabulary of how they could think about fear, so that it wouldn't feel like they had gone wrong and that this was a sign that they shouldn't continue writing.

I mean, fear comes up inevitably when we write. As you know, looking at the shadow and writing dark fantasy and suspense, that's part of the process of going into the fictional world, but that doesn't have to be the end point.

Just because fear comes up, doesn't mean you have to stop writing. So I wanted them to be able to move through that and get to the other side.

Joanna: Let's identify some of the most common fears that writers face.

What are some ones that you've encountered again and again in your students, and also in yourself?

Caroline: Oh, yes, completely. I think if we had to boil it down, like if we could boil down almost every fear, underneath there is a fear of doing it wrong, that I am doing this wrong. There's a lot that we can pick apart out of that because we have this weird language and belief structure around books.

We'll read a book that we love in a bookstore, say, or we read one of the “classics”, and we perceive it like, oh, that book is perfect. It couldn't have been written any other way. It had this exact shape and form that it was supposed to take, and that nothing about it could change, or else it wouldn't exist as it does today. I don't think that that's true, but —

A lot of people have this fear that they're going to make a mistake, or they're going to do something wrong, and the whole thing is going to fall apart.

There are many flavors of this particular fear, but it's like if you go back to the Robert Frost poem, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by.”

Most writers fear that two roads diverged in a wood, and they're going to take the wrong one for their writing project, and then everything is going to fall apart as a result.

Joanna: That could be at different stages, right? That could be I'm writing the wrong genre, or I'm writing the wrong story, and then I made the wrong publishing choice, I've chosen the wrong marketing platform. I mean, it's not just one choice, it's over and over again.

Caroline: There's so many. It can come up again and again. It's like a whack a mole fear. It's like, oh, I ended the chapter at the wrong point, this character should have this motivation, or the character has the wrong personality trait, or I've formatted the dialogue incorrectly, my grammar is wrong.

Like all of this sense is that “real writers”—I could write a whole book on that, this concept of the “real writer”—but that “real writers” do it the “right way”. I am scared that I am not doing it the right way, therefore, I'm not a real writer, therefore, I shouldn't be allowed to write at all.

Joanna: So it's interesting you picked that one.

How has this [fear of not being a “real writer”] come up for you?

Caroline: I think this used to really paralyze me. I mean, in my 20s, I wrote and abandoned about five or six novels, thinking that I had picked the wrong project. I thought that I had picked an idea that was unsalvageable, and I don't feel that there's any idea that's unsalvageable anymore.

Part of that is because I read a book, it was a very short novel by an independent press, called Love Notes from a German Building Site. Unfortunately, I can't remember the author in this exact moment. It was essentially a character’s musings and vocabulary lists. It's an Irish author writing about working on an abandoned mall in Germany.

So it's one of those ideas where if you presented it to me and said, “Would you like to read a novel about some guy hanging out on a mall construction site, and he's just randomly thinking about his relationship and is not quite sure where that's going?” that really wouldn't get me going. However, I read this book, and I could not put it down. I loved it, and I haven't stopped thinking about it for years. It's always been my example that there is no idea that cannot be executed on. You may not want to execute on it, or you may not be interested in it, but —

If you're engaged with the material, then you can keep going, and you can find a way through.

I think that I didn't believe that was possible early on. So I gave ideas up when I got scared, or when I felt like, oh, this isn't interesting enough, or I don't know if it was going to work. I felt like this means I've done it wrong, I've gotten lost. I'm lost in the woods, and I'm never going be able to find my way back.

That was rather than seeing it as a challenge and thinking there is a way for this story to be interesting. How can I find the parts that I'm most excited about? How can I make the story about those? I didn't have the ability to trust at that point.

I think the antidote for this fear is trusting that there is a way through.

Joanna: Yes, and this is so interesting as well being an independent author. So my first novel, Stone of Fire, I originally released it in 2011 as Pentecost by Joanna Penn. I've rewritten it like three times, and now it's Stone of Fire by J.F. Penn.

The bones are still the same, but as my craft grew, I rewrote it, I learned about publishing, I learned about marketing. I mean, pictures of me with that book back then, I did do a lot of things wrong, but equally, I had to take some steps in a direction in order to fix things later.

I wonder if the traditional publishing model is why people get so scared about this. I mean, either you feel you failed because you didn't get a deal, or you do get a deal, and then your craft improves, and you look back. You speak to a lot of traditionally published authors on your podcast, The Secret Library Podcast, which we'll come back to.

Where do you see this being perhaps worse for traditionally published authors?

Because you just don't get the chance to change things.

Caroline: I think this fear starts much, much earlier in life. I think it starts with the way our education system is organized. I mean, we have an education system that was built for an industrial age, which is not entirely relevant anymore.

I mean, I think back to Sir Ken Robinson's incredible talk on YouTube about how creativity is as important as literacy, and we need to be able to get something wrong and be willing to change it.

Essentially, from a very young age, we have to take tests, and we get a mark, and then it's determined what we should be doing, what we think we're good at, what paths we're allowed to follow. I think that that sense of being sorted into being an artsy kid, or being a science kid, or not being good at school, if that's the case, can have a really strong impact.

It's like, I have one chance to take this test, and I won't have a chance to take it again. Or if I write a paper, and I misunderstood the assignment, then I just get a bad grade, there's no chance to take that back. I think we internalize that message really, really early.

Since so much of our education when this happens is about writing essays, and writing papers that we then get graded on, I think it all comes back up when we write later in a way that's going to be published. Yes, we don't get grades, but we do get reviews, however we publish. I think that this is really deeply embedded.

I hope that we are more willing to write things, learn from them, and be willing to change, grow, and write more things.

Joanna: I think you're right. Actually, this brings me to a fear—and I talked about it in Writing the Shadow—which is this fear of judgment. I was told as a kid, when I wrote in school a dark essay about a nightmare I had, I was told that really wasn't appropriate to write and that I shouldn't write these things.

So I still struggle with this fear of judgment. Like, what will people think of me if I write this? I feel like this fear, in particular, is amplified in our cultural situation where people worry about getting canceled.

So the fear of judgment is not just a bad review, or someone saying, “what type of person are you?” but it's also, your career is over. I mean, people should probably fear not selling any books more.

What do you think about fear of judgment and fear of being canceled?

Caroline: I think it is very present, and it's very loud, I think, in the world right now. I think the fear of being judged, I mean, to an extent, I have to go into putting any book out knowing that somebody is not going to like it. So somebody is not going to like my book, and I have to be okay with that.

If everybody likes my book, then I feel like I haven't taken a real stand on anything. So there is that side of it. However, I feel like the fear of getting cancelled is a whole other can of worms. I am seeing that more, that kind of real, large-scale rejection of authors or writers in certain situations, in the arena of traditional publishing, for sure. That's where you're seeing sort of dramatic—not often, anymore—but whenever someone gets a big advance, then there's a lot of pressure and everything gets amplified in that situation.

I think the other thing that happens is that a lot of people fear judgment and fear getting cancelled when they haven't finished the book yet.

The internal critic yammering these fears in your ear tends to leap ahead to the next unknown step in the process.

I've watched this over and over and over again with students. So in the beginning, it's like, “Oh, I don't know if I can finish a whole novel. I don't know if I have enough to say. I don't know if this idea will carry a long enough story.”

So then we move forward, and they've written an entire draft. Then it's like, “I don't know how to revise. I don't know how to do this.” Then they immediately forget how difficult writing the first draft was, and they just want to write a new book. They're like, “Oh, it was so much easier. Writing first drafts was so much easier.”

I think, “Remember that part when you thought it wasn't going to be possible, and it was totally impossible to do this?” It's as soon as they get comfortable with revision, then there starts to be fears about publication, fears about rejection, fears about bad reviews. Sometimes this is quite far away from when the book is coming out.

I always encourage people to try any aspect of the story that they think should be included and that you can always decide later if you feel good about it being in there, if it feels right.

If you have a sense, “Oh, I think this character needs to go in this direction,” try it, because you're always going to regret holding back and not exploring a deep line of story.

So I think that the cancelled thing is almost like a blown-up fear of people misunderstanding what you're trying to say, fear of being misread, fear of being just wrong. I think, again, it's a fear of doing it wrong.

Joanna: Yes, I agree. It's funny you said that. I often get people who will email me, and they'll be like, “I'm really worried that I'm writing this memoir and someone's going to sue me, like one of my family is going to sue me. What if I say something bad?” I'll often reply, “So where are you?” and they may not have even started the book.

Caroline: Yes, absolutely.

Joanna: It's very, very common, and I think you're right. So this comes to a fear—so we're recording this the day before my next Kickstarter launches. Now, this is my third Kickstarter. By the time this episode goes out, it will probably have finished.

There is this fear, I have a great fear, this is my third one, I've been doing writing and publishing for 15 years, I am scared of failure, and like you said, doing something wrong. There's almost a problem—it's a good problem to have—but some people know who I am at this point. I do have people who will watch this.

That is kind of scary, because what if I don't fund? What if I am a public failure? It is terrifying. What's interesting is I know lots of people who will not even do a Kickstarter, and I was one of them a couple of years ago, because of fear of this public failure because everyone can see how much money you make.

So I wondered about you on this because I think I had said to you, why don't you do a Kickstarter for this one or one of your other books?

What do you think about [a Kickstarter for] this book?

Caroline: I think some of it is about what kind of experience do you want to have putting this book out. I think that part of being a creative, part of the reason that we're not accountants, which is always the profession I seem to gravitate to and use examples, is that things are unpredictable. We never know what's going to happen.

We have to accept that we're unsure how this Kickstarter is going to go. The question that I always ask, and this is one of the ones that I put in the book is, what am I making this mean?

There are two things that are happening here. You've got a book that's coming out, and there's a Kickstarter that people can support, and people may or may not support that.

There are lots of reasons why that might happen that has nothing to do with the value of your writing or your book.

I think that we are very quick to assign all the blame that something might not work on ourselves and to make it mean something global and permanent about us as writers.

When in reality, you know, let's think about it, if we had a Kickstarter start the day various global disasters that we've had over the past few years happened, would that impact the Kickstarter? Probably. So that doesn't mean that it isn't a very well written exciting project.

So I think we take a lot of responsibility on ourselves, and we give a lot of authority to the outside world to determine the value of what we're doing. I think that, in many ways, is what makes it so debilitating.

Joanna: Yes. So acknowledging these fears are an important part of it, and realizing that that might be a form of a block. Being scared of doing something is a block to our growth, even if it's not a block to our writing. It might be the fear of publishing, as we said, or the fear of marketing.

What are some other practical ways to get past these fears, other than recognizing them?

Caroline: I find that breaking them down into much smaller pieces is very helpful. So if you have an item on your list—whether it's a bucket list or your project list because you're working on a project—that is so large you could not complete it in a day, let alone a week, let alone months.

So if there's an item on there like “finish novel”, then that tends to create blocks because your mind doesn't know how to engage with it at all. Rather than, okay, “make notes on chapter three about how this character is going to get stuck in a cave.” I just made that up. You know, that's something that you can actually do in a sitting.

So I find that making sure to break things down into smaller bits helps to deal with blocks. Often blocks are not even about fear, they're just about the brain is not able to process an item that large and has no way to engage with it productively. So that's one thing that can happen.

Another thing that can happen is that there's something going on underneath. I think that this Kickstarter example you gave is one of those examples. So it's like okay, “plan the Kickstarter,” “execute the Kickstarter.” You've broken it down into little tiny steps, and it's still not happening. I think that's because there's some sort of belief lurking underneath.

So if you find you're trying to do something with your writing project, and that might be making notes about chapter three and how we're going to get her stuck in the cave, and you just cannot sit down and make any notes about this cave, then I think it's important to look at, okay, what am I making this mean in this moment?

What am I feeling underneath here? Where am I afraid I'm headed? Where am I afraid this is going to happen? With the Kickstarter, it could be, I'm going to be humiliated. No one is ever going to buy another one of my books again if they see this flop.

If you have this issue about making notes about going into the cave, it could be about that I'm afraid I'm going to make the wrong choice for the story. So whenever we get to the heart of what the fear is, I try looking at, okay, well what if that happens?

Don't try to avoid it. We're all like la-la-la with our fingers in our ears, and we don't want to think about what if the Kickstarter flops. We can't think about that. Or what if I make the “wrong choice” about the story?

What if we think about it like, okay, if the Kickstarter doesn't work out for this book, then what will I do next? If we have a plan in place, I find that immediately it doesn't feel quite as loaded because things that are unknown, and amorphous, and undefined are very difficult to engage with, in the same way that a giant to-do list item is very difficult to engage with.

If I say, okay, the Kickstarter fails, then I would probably go ahead and release the book and just not do the hardback edition or whatever I had planned to do with the Kickstarter. That's probably what I would do.

Then we have to ask the question—I mean, I'm getting in the weeds with the Kickstarter—but it's like, okay, what was I kickstarting? Is this more about people being strapped for cash at the moment than it is about book sales or interest?

Joanna: Yes, I think you're right. Coming to that question —

What's the worst that can happen?

With a Kickstarter, the worst that can happen is you don't fund, and as you said, you have to figure out a different way of publishing. Sure, it's pretty embarrassing, but hey, you can mitigate that by putting a really low number on your funding. You know, even now, I do.

I think what's interesting, you said this earlier, that part of being creative is this unpredictable nature, and that is why we do it. As you say, if we wanted a repeatable monthly career, like in accounting or bookkeeping, that kind of monthly, it's the same every month, and that's not what we do.

If there wasn't a level of on predictability, then I guess we would be bored, and we wouldn't do this. I mean, one of the reasons people stop writing books in a series and they move to another series, or they change genre, is because they get bored.

I think embracing the unpredictable nature of creativity is part of the fun.

Caroline: I think we just have to remind ourselves that sometimes. One thing, this is a really weird neurological trick, is that the physiological symptoms of anxiety and fear and the physiological symptoms of excitement are quite similar. Sometimes you can reroute it because the nerves are actually quite close together that fire when this happens.

So I had a psychologist once say, “You know, you can get it to jump the track if when you're feeling all of that pent up anxiety and excitement, to just say over and over, ‘I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited.'” Like, what if this is really about you being super excited about the Kickstarter, rather than scared?

Joanna: Yes, that actually used to come up in professional speaking, and most people are more scared of speaking in public than they are of dying.

Caroline: They're more scared speaking in public than anything, like literally anything. They'd rather get their leg torn off than speak in public.

Joanna: When I did my training more than a decade ago, I remember — 

One of my professional speaking teachers used to say, “It's not about getting rid of the butterflies, it's about getting them to fly in formation,” so harnessing the butterflies.

When I'm about to speak, I still get a bad stomach, and I need the toilet every five minutes, and all of this kind of stuff. I still feel very, very nervous, but I try and reframe it, as you say, as excitement.

It's interesting because with speaking, you've got that moment when you're going to step onto a stage. So I guess for authors, it could be pressing like the launch button on Kickstarter, which actually is a launch button, which is different to setting up a pre-order, which isn't quite so scary. I guess sending off a pitch letter, for example. Again, when you do that with publishing, there's more of a time delay, right?

Caroline: Yes, yes.

Joanna: When we're speaking, it's like, there's the stage.

You're either on stage or you're not.

Caroline: Exactly, and it's so clearly defined, so I think it's easier to deal with. The thing with writing is that there is a lot of lurchy process. There's a lot of hurry up and wait.

I spent months writing this draft, then I went through the process of edits, then I went through the process of a cover designer, giving notes, all of this, and then formatting all the files and getting them uploaded everywhere. That's all a lot of busy work. Then it goes out, and you just have to wait and see.

I mean, you keep talking about the book, you share it, but there's really a point when you have to let go of control. I think that in many cases, at least for me, is the scariest part. Having to just sit and wait and be patient, and not know exactly how it's going to go and not be able to do something constantly to influence that.

Joanna: Yes, well, coming to changing things later and the business side of things. This is interesting because you rebranded that first book, and you re-covered it to match this new release.

Tell us about why you rebranded the first book and the challenges of changing a book title and a book cover.

Caroline: Yes, I decided to rebrand the book, which came out as Story Arcana in 2019 because—this is one of those, why was this not completely obvious to you, Caroline—I subsequently launched a course also called Story Arcana, and then wondered why people were getting confused as to what content was included in the course and what content was included in the book.

They are quite different, so I was having to explain this constantly. So when this book was going to come out, I thought it would be really nice to have a cohesive look for a series of books. I've always admired your cohesive look on your series of guides for writers.

So I thought, okay, this is my chance to do that, and this is also my chance to really make it clear that this book is different than the course, and yet related. They're all related to tarot, but there are different content in each piece. So that was the original thought process.

Then I wanted to dive into a look that felt more reflective of the Tarot aspect. So it was fun to get a cover designer to share the look and feel that I wanted. I wanted it to feel a little bit like a tarot card, and yet be linked in some ways to the brand that I have.

She used the same font for my name that I have on my website so that it was all sort of connected. I just wanted something that stood out more and that stood out as a unit. It ended up being a really satisfying process.

Joanna: So what are the challenges of doing it, though? I mean, like practicalities? I've done this multiple times, but people always are like, “Oh, my goodness, how do you do that? Don't you lose all your reviews on the first book?” What were some of the more technical challenges?

Caroline: Oh, yes. What my big fear was, if we're going into the fears, was that somebody would buy the book titled The Author's Journey, get it, and then say, “This is just like the book I have already. What is this?”

One of the technical challenges was figuring out how to be very clear. So I put it on the copyright page, “This is a second edition.”

I have it listed as the second edition on all of the sites. So I had to find places to mention that it was a second edition, that it had been formerly published under this title. I wanted to be really transparent about that. So that was one of the challenges.

I think I was okay with losing the reviews because I just wanted to start fresh, and I just wanted it to feel different. So yes, you do go back to zero with those, but I was confident that those who had read the new book would then possibly want to read the old book or would just be able to jump over to that, and that it would just take care of itself over time.

Joanna: Okay, well, that is interesting because you don't have to lose your reviews if you upload the files into the same Kindle. You do have to publish a new print book. With Stone of Fire, there's reviews on there from when it was called Pentecost, originally.

So all I've done with the Kindle, and we're just talking about Amazon, but all the sites are the same, with the Kindle book you can just change the title, you can change the author name, you can change pretty much everything. You can upload a new cover, upload a new file.

Print books, as you said, you have to upload a new print book. What I found is, because most of my reviews were on the Kindle book anyway, when you link a new print edition, it just links up like that. You have to use a new print book when you do all of that new. So you don't have to lose it, but as you said, you were happy starting again. I think there's a difference between deciding it's a completely new edition, which is different to a new cover, basically.

Caroline: I didn't want to mislead anyone, but I also changed the cover to increase discoverability. I now had people who were willing to blurb the book, so I wanted people to see a cover with those on it. I was hoping that this wasn't about a pretty new addition for the existing reader, but that this would increase discoverability for additional readers.

Then the other bit was that previously I did all my distribution through Ingram, and this time I distributed through Amazon separately, in addition to doing distribution through Ingram.

Joanna: Okay, for your print. So you did eBooks through Ingram before?

Caroline: I did. Now, I have done again, just because I do not have this sort of enthusiasm that you have to separately go to Kobo, and Nook, and all of these places to upload files. I was like, it's okay with me, it's going go to all of them under that umbrella. I haven't gone quite as wide, but I sort of shift that as I go. That was part of the reason as well, was that I had not gone through KDP the first time, and now I have.

Joanna: That makes sense. This is also interesting, it kind of circles back to the beginning.

You didn't do it wrong. You did it the way you wanted to do it at the time.

Caroline: Yes.

Joanna: Then you changed your mind later on, and you wrote another book, and it emerged, and thus it became something different, and so you changed it. This is the magic, right? This is the magic of being in control. You can do whatever the hell you want. Yay!

Caroline: Yes, and that has been really great. I could dip my toe in and do what I was comfortable with in 2019. I've learned a lot since then, and I was excited to apply it, and so that's what I did.

Joanna: Well, then on that—

Are you narrating the audiobook?

Caroline: That has been a fun question to consider because given that, and I'm sure you face this conundrum as well, given that I have a voice that people know from the podcast, I feel like I want to narrate it myself.

I have had someone offer to narrate it who has a lovely voice, and I have been going back and forth about that. I think in the end, I will probably do it myself, just because I feel like podcast listeners would expect my voice as part of it.

I think that with fiction, I do not plan to narrate my own fiction because I have a limited range of voices I can do, but most of them are impersonating my cats. I don't think anyone wants to hear a murder mystery with cat voices.

Joanna: I don't know. Cozy cat mystery is a thing.

Caroline: It is, but that's not what I write. So, sadly, there's a mismatch on that one. I think part of it is mostly just having the personal bandwidth to go back in and do this. So I think the audiobook is probably going to have to wait until the fall because I've got a novel up on deck to finish this summer.

I'm so excited to get back into that, that I don't want any distractions from it. So I think the audiobook is maybe going to come out later this year.

Joanna: Yes, I think it's a good choice to narrate it when it's nonfiction, when it's like a personal book, when you have a podcast and you're used to doing audio. All of those are very good reasons.

So coming to the podcast, you are currently on season 10 of The Secret Library Podcast, which is great. People should go listen to that. You have recently moved to Substack as a platform.

Could you comment on podcasting and Substack as a platform?

As marketing platforms for new authors or for existing creators who are thinking about different options?

Caroline: Yes, absolutely. Well, there were many reasons why I wanted to bring the podcast over to Substack. I had spoken to a number of creatives who had done so and had had a positive experience.

I think that one of the first reasons was the sort of justification, or the original logic of creating the podcast, was to build a community around the topic, and also to build a community resource for writers.

I had done a lot of bizarre things which I don't recommend, like I don't recommend having multiple Substacks that are separate publications. I think that the sections feature is a better way to go. So at the end of 2023, I just decided I wanted one Substack to rule them all, which is now called Book Alchemy.

So podcast episodes go live, but I also write longer form, or not always longer form, but different reflections on writing life that feels like a blog. I very much enjoy that. So I wanted those two to live together, and I wanted there to be an opportunity for people to comment and to just have more conversation around the process.

As a podcaster, it can feel quite weird and lonely to just record a bunch of stuff and put it out there. Then people would write back to newsletters and such and say how much it meant to them, but there isn't really a dialogue around the content. So part of moving to Substack was around wanting that conversation to happen.

That hasn't entirely developed yet because I think after nine years of doing this podcast, people are really used to being subscribed in their podcast app, and they listen when a show shows up, but they are not really trained. I never really encouraged or trained them to click through to the show notes and interact. So I think that has been a slower process.

I think it's more about encouraging people already on Substack to listen and then be in the conversation there. The people who read my articles are very eager to have comments and chat, and we go back and forth all the time. I love it. So that has been really nice. It's just about getting the podcast into that headspace as well.

Joanna: Do you think your book sales are primarily from your existing audience? Or—

Have you found that Substack has been useful for the book launches as well?

Caroline: I think it has, in that I have done some things, like currently as we as we record this, I have a book giveaway open. So I'm going to give away three books in a couple of days, and they're open to anyone who is an annual subscriber to my Substack. So I'll be drawing.

So it's sort of like, if you're a member, you're entered into this drawing. I plan to continue that practice because it's really fun. With people who are on the podcast who have books coming out, we can do book giveaways for their books and such. So that's been really fun.

People are really eager to reshare this kind of thing. If you have an event like that going, people are happy to share. It's just a really nice supportive community that I've found in my corner of Substack, specifically.

Joanna: That's great.

Where can people find Writing Through Fear, and your Substack, and the podcast, and everything you do online?

Caroline: Absolutely. I think the easiest place to go is CarolineDonahue.com. You can find the book page, there is a handy-dandy banner at the top that you can click on to get to the book order page.

The book is available on Amazon pretty much everywhere. It's on Kobo all over the world. It's at Barnes and Noble. Many, many outlets. There is a page for the book when you click through, and it has all of the places that are currently available in pretty much every English language market. So that is there.

Then the Substack is at book-alchemy.com. You can get to the podcast at SecretLibraryPodcast.com. It'll forward you right to the podcast page, but you can search for the podcast on pretty much any podcast player and it's there.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Caroline. That was great.

Caroline: Thank you so much for having me. It's always a joy to talk to you.

The post Writing Through Fear With Caroline Donahue first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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What are some of the common fears that writers face? How can we work through them in order to create more freely? Caroline Donahue gives her tips in this interview. In the intro, How to avoid indie author scams [ALLi; Writer Beware]; Financial strategi... What are some of the common fears that writers face? How can we work through them in order to create more freely? Caroline Donahue gives her tips in this interview.



In the intro, How to avoid indie author scams [ALLi; Writer Beware]; Financial strategies and mindset [Self Publishing Advice]; Apple Intelligence at WWDC [The Verge; Marketing against the Grain]; “Not a chef, but an emotion creator.” Massimo Bottura on the Possible Podcast.



Plus, Spear of Destiny is on its last day; Thoughts on photography permissions for commercial use — and permission in general; Voodoo Vintners; Winchester pictures; Limeburn Hill vineyard pictures.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Caroline Donahue is an author, podcaster, and book coach. Her latest book is Writing Through Fear: A Story Arcana Guide.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The most common fears writers face



* How the fear of not being considered a “real writer” holds you back



* Overcoming the fear of judgement and being cancelled



* Fearing things before you are anywhere near them in the process



* Breaking down projects into smaller, more manageable tasks



* Embracing the unpredictable nature of creativity



* The challenges and reasons for rebranding a book



* Substack as a podcasting platform and community tool




You can find Caroline at CarolineDonahue.com,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:11:35
Click Testing Ideas And Selling Direct With Steve Pieper https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/10/click-testing-ideas-and-selling-direct-with-steve-pieper/ Mon, 10 Jun 2024 06:02:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36327 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/10/click-testing-ideas-and-selling-direct-with-steve-pieper/#respond https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/10/click-testing-ideas-and-selling-direct-with-steve-pieper/feed/ 0 <p>What are the pros and cons of selling direct and building an ecommerce business for your books? How can you use click testing on Meta to help refine your creative and book marketing ideas? Steve Pieper explains in this interview. In the intro, The Hotsheet with Jane Friedman; 20 ways you should be using AI […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/10/click-testing-ideas-and-selling-direct-with-steve-pieper/">Click Testing Ideas And Selling Direct With Steve Pieper</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the pros and cons of selling direct and building an ecommerce business for your books? How can you use click testing on Meta to help refine your creative and book marketing ideas? Steve Pieper explains in this interview.

In the intro, The Hotsheet with Jane Friedman; 20 ways you should be using AI in publishing [PerfectBound]; Artificial Intelligence? No, Collective Intelligence [Ezra Klein with Holly Herndon]; AI may take our jobs, but not our creativity [Claire Silver on The TED AI Show].

Plus, De-Extinction of the Nephilim; my webinar on Discovery Writing as part of the Kickstarter – you can buy it in the bundle or just buy the ebook and get the webinar as an Add-On. Only available until 18 June at JFPenn.com/destiny; Writing modern thrillers based on ancient relics and historical places; Ancient Heroes Podcast;

supportonpatreon

Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Steve Pieper is a USA Today bestselling thriller author under the name Lars Emmerich. He's also an entrepreneur and business consultant, specializing in digital marketing and selling direct with his course, AMMO, Author Marketing Mastery through Optimization.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Why more indie authors are embracing selling direct
  • How the emergence of courses has helped mature the indie author market
  • Differences in the process of selling a print book on Amazon vs. Shopify
  • Cash flow management when selling direct
  • When does it make sense for an author to start selling direct?
  • Using click testing to test a book idea with your target audience
  • Steve's Click Testing and Direct Sales courses — If you're interested, please consider using my affiliate link and supporting the show: www.TheCreativePenn.com/clicktesting

You can find Steve at AMMOauthor.com and his books at Lars.buzz.

Transcript of Interview with Steve Pieper

Joanna: Steve Pieper is a USA Today bestselling thriller author under the name Lars Emmerich. He's also an entrepreneur and business consultant, specializing in digital marketing and selling direct with his course, AMMO, Author Marketing Mastery through Optimization. So welcome back to the show, Steve.

Steve: Thank you very much. It's such a pleasure to be here, Jo.

Joanna: So you were last on the show in January 2023 when we went into your background. So we're just going to jump into the topic today.

It seems like selling direct has gone mainstream in the author community since you were last here.

What do you think has happened to make authors embrace selling direct in a much bigger way over the last 18 months?

Steve: It's a great question. I think a few things have combined to make it more mainstream, as you say. I think the first thing is that Amazon has effectively capped eBook sales prices at $9.99, and nobody's capped the advertising expenses at any particular number.

So it becomes more and more important, as ad costs to generate interest in your books continue to increase along with everything else—aside from eBook prices—it's more and more important to be able to track your metrics.

You want to be able to reach people who are purchasers, as opposed to people who are just nearly kind of curious.

Those things are made possible when you sell direct because your store knows exactly who purchases from you. You get their email address, you get their name, your store processes their credit card.

That information can be fed back to Meta, so Facebook and Instagram, to make your ads operate more efficiently and to bring you new purchasers more profitably. So I think that's the first part of it.

I think the second part is that we've heard plenty of stories of some fairly high-profile authors having trouble with their Amazon accounts, often through no fault of their own.

Whenever you run a big enterprise, such as Amazon, you have to pay attention to the quality of the listings and the quality of the accounts. You also have to deal with people who are trying to abuse the accounts to make a quick buck.

The only way to do that at scale is algorithmically, which means the machines are making decisions about whose account to close and leave open. Often Amazon doesn't even ask the authors what was happening, you just find that your account has been closed. So I think those things have combined to make direct sales a more viable option for people.

The third reason is that we've noticed, and this has been true since I first started selling directly in 2017 —

Whenever you advertise for your direct sales system, there's this beautiful thing called a cross-channel effect.

This is where your book advertisements that point to your store so that people can purchase from you, they produce sales through your store, but they also get people excited who are diehard Amazon customers, for example.

So they might see your ad for your store, like what they see, but just prefer to buy from Amazon because of convenience or familiarity or whatever else.

So it's kind of a two-for-one deal, and in some cases, like a three- or four-for-one kind of deal, depending on who you are, in terms of advertising dollars and sales that come in.

Joanna: Yes, just coming back on that Amazon cap on $9.99. At London Book Fair, I actually talk to an Amazon person, and said, “Look, it's been capped at $9.99 for like forever. A while ago, it wasn't that big a deal, but it is a real big deal now.”

I mean, I write nonfiction as well, and nonfiction, in particular, can take a lot higher prices on eBooks. So I agree with you that this is a bit of an issue. Do you think they'll ever change that ebook cap? I mean, inflation is hitting everything, it seems, except eBook sales prices.

Steve: Exactly. I don't know for the life of me why they haven't yet. It seems in their best interest, as well, because they're taking 30% of the sale price.

So I don't know what economics they're looking at, what data they have. I mean, I can't imagine they have much data on sales performance above $9.99 because you earn half the royalty above $9.99. I can't imagine many authors at all have chosen to take that route.

So I have no idea why they haven't made those adjustments yet. I mean, I think it's far more appropriate that if there were a cap at that royalty rate, it seems to me that it would be on par with what you typically see traditionally published eBooks priced at, like around $14.99.

Joanna: Yes, exactly. So that will be interesting if they ever change that. I guess they're still trying to push people to subscription for eBooks.

I also wondered whether another thing that shifted is almost the maturity of the indie author market, and also the emergence of different ways to learn. I mean, your course has been around for a number of years now, but there are other people starting to teach.

[More on selling direct here.]

There are, I guess, even people like myself being more vocal about it, even though I sold my first PDF online in 2008, but it certainly wasn't the way you do it. So do you think there's also maybe this confidence? I mean, it was 2007 when the Kindle launched, so we're at 15 years of an indie author market now.

Steve: I absolutely think the indie author market has matured.

I think in the beginning, the people who did really well in the early days of the Kindle, were those folks who had a catalogue and had their rights returned to them, or who had repurchased their rights.

They had a dozen or fifteen or so books to place on the platform, and they were midlist authors in sort of a traditionally published ecosystem. They found tremendous purchase in the new eBook ecosystem, and there were some really high-quality authors there.

I think what's happened over the next, like you say, 15ish years in the meantime, is that many, if not most, really high-quality authors, they're just not seeing much economic advantage to the traditionally published route. The royalty split is not attractive.

There's a lot of authors who are in our community who are doing extremely well, who at one point were traditionally published, and their careers only began accelerating when they got their rights back and when they became their own business owner and their own business manager for their career.

Joanna: Let's get into the benefits and the challenges of selling direct.

You mentioned the data that you get and the cross-channel effect, but what are some other things? What are some of the good things, and also some of the challenges?

Steve: So once you start getting into the advertisement game, and with sixty million titles available 24/7, 365, at least on Amazon and many other retailers, it's really hard to have anyone discover your books unless you're actively advertising.

Or if you're spending a tremendous amount of effort to build a brand, a personal author brand, that also works. It tends to take three to five to seven years to do.

As soon as you get into that ecosystem, you are not just a writer, you are now an entrepreneur. You have to run a real business there. You have to pay very close attention to your cash flow and you need to be a professional about how you test and create your ads.

The other thing that happens is that as soon as you start spending real money to bring eyeballs to your books, it rapidly exposes any weaknesses in your product quality. The first inkling you might have that things aren't quite right is that people just aren't buying your books.

So what you find along the way is that you have to pay a good bit of attention to exactly how you're presenting books, both on your Amazon product detail page, but also if you're doing direct sales, on your Shopify pages and your sales pages leading to a Shopify purchase.

So it opens the door to business operations, and many authors just want to do the thing, we just want to write.

Again, in a world with sixty million books, it's fine if you just want to write because you love writing, but —

If you have commercial aspirations, if you'd like to make a living or you'd like to make additional money on the side, it takes a more disciplined approach and more methodical approach.

That can certainly be a challenge for authors who are already busy, or sometimes holding down day jobs, and raising kids, and all of those things.

Joanna: So let's come back on this. I feel like for many years, we did say that we were entrepreneurs. I certainly did. I have a book, Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur. So I did use the word entrepreneur.

When I look at now how to run a Shopify store and essentially an ecommerce business, I think, actually, we didn't know what we were doing before. So just on that, the process flow of—let's just take print, I think print is a really good example.

If you sell a print book on Amazon, compared to selling a print book on your Shopify store, what's the difference?

Because I feel like a lot of people don't understand the difference.

Steve: That's a terrific question. So hidden behind the Amazon paperback purchase is also an Amazon logistics operation to print a copy of your book that is just sold.

Or you may have negotiated a wholesale order with a third-party printer and shipped those books to one of Amazon's warehouses for them to fulfill and pick from the shelves and package and ship to your customer.

All of that's happening behind the scenes if you are selling paperbacks on Amazon, but you have to actually understand how to do those things and set them up so that they function if you're selling paperbacks from your Shopify store.

You should, especially now, we've already talked about the delta between book prices and how they've gone, compared to advertising costs and how they've gone. So depending on your genre, pretty much anything other than romance, you'd really need to be very serious about a paperback operation as well. So it opens a few different discussions.

There are print on demand services, and depending on where you're at, they can make a great deal of sense logistically. They do tend to be quite expensive because they have to do all the logistical things, but also run their company, and provide profit for their shareholders, and all of those things.

So you can hook those up to your Shopify store. such that whenever an order comes in, they're just fulfilled behind the scenes for you by a print on demand company.

The difficulty with that arrangement is that depending on your format size and your page count, your profit margins can be prohibitively thin, and it can be difficult to recoup costs.

The other way that folks go and the other things to think about is to negotiate a wholesale order to drive your per book cost down. That increases your gross profit per sale. So for every sale at a given price for your paperback, you make more money because your expenses are lower.

What that means is that you either have to fulfill that purchase yourself, meaning you have to pack and ship, and many of our authors do that. Or they're also author assistants who will pack and ship on your behalf.

Then there are also third-party logistics companies that will warehouse your titles until sold, and then when they're sold, they will pull them from their shelves in the warehouse and pack and ship them.

There's a host of considerations that you suddenly have to think about if you're selling directly to your readers.

It sounds scary, and it certainly can be. It really helps to have a few tools to help you calculate costs and make heads or tails of the process of finding the right source for your books at a good compromise between cost and quality, and also fulfillment time.

You have to look carefully at the prices in your genre to understand under what circumstances it's likely to be profitable for you.

So as you mentioned, it's suddenly a whole host of things that are really common to an ecommerce business, but have not been as common to the author world, especially the indie author business, over the last five-ish years.

Joanna: I think this is really important because I've had more and more emails recently saying —

“Oh, it's really hard to sell a book on Amazon now. Oh, it's really hard to sell direct. So what should I do?”

I'm like, you could try pitching traditional publishing. I think it's really important that we emphasize that we are running this ecommerce business by selling direct.

If you do want to work with a traditional publisher, then there is a reason they get most of the money. It's because they also have those logistics set up and all of that.

So I do feel like it's a choice to go this way. I use Bookvault here in the UK, and they have great print prices. So I find that I actually can make more on selling a paperback than I even do on some of my eBooks, in terms of profits. I think this is very exciting.

[Click here to go to the interview with Alex from BookVault.]

So I guess I would say to encourage people is that once you get it set up—this is the other thing, isn't it—once you get your head around this, you get it set up, it is just a sort of plug and play the next book.

I found there's a lot of work upfront, and then the work is much less going forward.

Steve: That's absolutely right. Once you've figured out how to get it uploaded to your store or to the service, then it's pretty smooth sailing.

Bookvault.app has a tremendous reputation in the UK, and they're in the process of expanding over into the US. What they're finding over here is that they're subject to the existing printing and shipping infrastructure in the United States, which leaves a lot to be desired.

The distances that have to be covered here in the US between customer locations and business locations, those change the economics quite a bit for those printing companies. So it's a bit harder.

Here in the US, the print on demand company primarily, at least with a terrific Shopify interface, primarily is Lulu. I have been extremely happy with their quality. They are expensive, and it does eat into profit margins.

So Bookvault is a beautiful solution in the UK, currently. There's not currently a beautiful solution, at my page count, in the US for print on demand. It's doable, and a lot depends on the quality of your marketing assets.

A lot depends on your marketing assets in general. Like a terrific book is table stakes to be a professional author, and a terrific marketing system and process is also table stakes to be a successful indie author today, I believe.

Joanna: I kind of think it always has been, but certainly it's just changed. The things that used to work more easily back in the day, now, as you say, are more expensive, or just things have changed, or there's more books.

Let's just talk about one of the very, very good things about selling direct, which is how fast you get the money.

This is such a big deal. I feel like people don't understand it.

If you're traditionally published, you might not get paid for months or sometimes years. As an indie author, you still only get paid 60 days later, 90 days later, sometimes longer depending on the contract and the system.

I have my Shopify set up to pay me every day. Now, I know some people don't have that, they have it every week or whatever, but I really like making money every day.

So talk a bit about the cash flow with the print books. Because that's also different in terms of when you get the money and who pays for things.

Steve: Absolutely, it's so important, so critical, not to have to carry your own advertising costs for two to three months. If you spend $1 today on an ad and it produces a purchase, you want that dollar back because your credit card company is going to ask for it when your credit card bill is due.

If you're waiting that 60 to 90 day window for Amazon to issue their royalty payment to you for today's sale, well, you have to float that cost.

So that either means that you can't advertise to your full capacity, you can't sell as many books as you would otherwise be able to sell, because you can't afford personally to keep paying these ad costs without getting cash flow back.

So it's a much slower ramp up to selling books at scale when you have to wait up to three months to get paid. Whereas if you buy your ads today, and today or tomorrow, like the next business day, that money shows up in your bank account.

I'm like you, I want I want that money deposited every single day. I love those deposits. I don't like them sitting wherever they're at, I like them in my account. So you can pay off that credit card bill for your advertisements every single month, and it just makes everything much healthier.

The other thing is that if you're waiting for royalty payments to come in, and you're purchasing your own copies of your paperbacks or your hard covers to sell, those orders come out of pocket while you're waiting for those royalties to come back.

So again, it's just a much slower and much less responsive scaling capacity. That's important because there are seasons in an author's year, and also in an author's career, when you catch a bit of a flyer where there's a lot of demand suddenly for what you're offering.

It's really important to be able to take advantage of that, but if you're waiting around three months to get the cash available to purchase more books to sell to the people who want them right now, that's a really frustrating position to be in.

The cash flow management in an author career is a thousand times easier when you make a sale today and the money shows up tomorrow in your account.

Joanna: Yes, and as you say, if you do hit some big thing, like I know someone who had a really massive day on TikTok, and say you get a thousand orders for your paperbacks through to your store today, you get that money, but you also have to pay the printer.

So one of the confusions that I feel people have is that at the moment, you don't have to “pay” for Amazon to print your book if you go through KDP print because they take it out of the sales. So you never have to pay them out of your pocket.

Whereas when we're selling direct, we're paying for the printing, and then a customer pays us. So I feel like this is so important, this cashflow. If you're doing a massive campaign, then just remember this cash flow management. When does the money come in? When does it go out? Again, once you get it sorted, you can manage it.

When in an author's journey might they consider selling direct through your methods?

You're mainly talking about Shopify, which is quite different to Kickstarter. Some people might be on Payhip, some people might sell at a local school, for example. So at what sort of points should authors consider this?

Steve: That's a terrific question. The platform that you're selling from, whether it's Shopify, or Payhip, or Samcart, there's a bunch of them out there, the considerations are quite similar.

What we're seeing across our community, and we're close to 1200 or 1300 authors strong in our community at the moment, and we have some folks who are doing really well and can generate a purchase of a bundle of their books for $6, $7, or $8 in advertising costs. Those tend to be outliers.

What we're seeing on average, is that the average cost to bring in a new paying customer is between $12 and $20. That's a range, it's not like Author A gets good sales at $12, and Author B gets sales at $20. That's a range that every author experiences throughout the week or day or month.

There's a lot of fluctuation running any kind of business. You can tell this just by looking at your Amazon purchases back in the dashboard. Some day you sell more books than others, and it's the same when you're selling directly. So that $12 to $20 customer acquisition cost, it's relatively agnostic to the advertising platform that you're using.

We use Meta because they're by far the best. I test these every year, spend thousands of dollars, and I have always wound up at the same place. Facebook and Instagram are where book buyers mostly are, at least from an ad perspective.

When you have to recoup a $12 to $20 customer acquisition cost, that dictates how you need to structure your business.

So you have to have enough products to sell to make that money back in profit, and then some, so that you keep selling for your store.

So if you're a novelist, and you're selling one or two titles so far, it's really rare to do that profitably anywhere, including on Amazon, but it's really rare to do it profitably if you're selling directly due to those acquisition cost reasons as well.

The number of books that you have is important. Each of them have to be professional quality, professional grade.

They have to be so good that your readers know that they're going to love them and tell their friends about them.

So that's what you're aiming for product quality-wise, and you need a bunch of products that way. So if you write in the romance genre, we typically see around eight to ten titles being sort of the price of entry for all the goodness that comes from selling directly to your readers.

In other genres where there are typically longer page counts and a slightly less voracious reader community, we see in the neighborhood of five to eight titles.

It's useful to know too, like what's a sustainable number of titles. A good metric for that is, I like to think of it in terms of looking across our community and asking myself, what's the smallest number of titles that an author has had that they have used to sell over a million dollars’ worth of their books?

What's magical about a million dollars? It's just a nice milestone, but what it really tells you is that their setup is resilient. So it's not like they have a good week, and then everything falls apart.

To sell a million dollars’ worth of your books, you're in pretty rare air, which means that you have a system that is working really well for you. You have the right number of high-quality titles to work for you.

So if you are a novelist, the smallest number of titles that an author has used to sell over a million dollars of their books is eight.

If you're a nonfiction author, this is an interesting one, the smallest number of titles that one of our nonfiction authors has used to sell over a million dollars’ worth of their books is three.

That's a little bit misleading because it was one main title with a workbook and an associated poetry book. So it was like a suite of three products, but really the vanguard was led by that one individual title.

So I mention that just to give you a sense for what you can expect if you're looking to build a sustainable business that produces enough cash flow to be really interesting and really worth your time. So those are good numbers I think to aim for. If you are topically on point in your nonfiction title, that can be done with a single title, but it's really rare.

If you are a novelist, then I would be looking more toward five to eight as really the point when you can expect, if you're doing a good job, testing your marketing assets and elements, and testing your books, and writing high quality professional titles, that's when you can reasonably expect to start doing so profitably in a direct sales context.

Joanna: I'll put a little caveat on this, which is if you have one or two books but you still want to do this, you just can't do big paid ad spend.

If you're building up your author brand slowly, you can sell direct just through driving your own traffic through building an email list, or if you have a podcast like I have had for many years.

This is how I've done it. I've moved platforms over the years as things have grown.

I do think that some people are just launching on either Kickstarter or through Shopify, and they don't necessarily have to do a lot of ad spend, they don't have to sell a lot of books. Your course and your system is for the very, very ambitious people who have more books.

That's what we all want, but sometimes if people are starting out now, I wonder if going through building the store and learning the business can also be beneficial, even if they're not expecting the massive sales. Just with the caveat that they're not spending a ton on ads.

Steve: I believe that's absolutely true. That's what I mean by the brand building. Like if you're building a brand through podcasts, and in emails, and newsletters, and appearances at conferences, and media appearances and such, that is absolutely effective. In fact, that's ultimately where all of us need to end up if we really want to grow into a really recognized and successful brand.

I will say that there are certain elements that we teach that are quite important no matter where you are in your author career. So it's not like you should wait to engage with paid ads until you have eight titles or five titles, it's actually kind of tragic to do that.

The reason is that we tend to overestimate the quality and marketability of our own work. So one of the worst situations, and I see it, unfortunately, over and over again, where people come into the community with lots of titles, which need lots of work.

So the way around this is not to ask your friends if they like your work or not, to ask your family members if you're going to be a star author, but to —

Test your ideas in front of total strangers who are known to read in your market.

This is different than sending a survey out to your email list. It's different to asking people in person for feedback because they're solving a different equation. They're thinking about their relationship with you and your feelings.

So they're not directly answering this question, “Would you buy this right now?” That's the question. You can't ask them directly, you just have to put things in front of them that give them the opportunity to show you, yes or no, how resonant, how effective, your messaging is.

So we do this, and the name of the process is called click testing.

[You can use my affiliate link for the course at www.TheCreativePenn.com/clicktesting]

Click testing has been used in about 75-plus different industries. It's helped to drive over a billion dollars, including $200 million dollars per year in extra revenue.

Click testing is a way to test a number of your ideas very quickly, but also with high fidelity and a pretty high level of precision.

One of the things that we discovered—and this is like 800 authors, 6000 tests, 50,000 different individual testing elements—one of the really interesting things that we've discovered is that only about 5% of our ideas are good enough to move forward with profitably. So one idea out of twenty.

An idea might be a hook, or a tagline, or a title, or a subtitle. One idea might also be an image or a cover image.

So it's extremely important to de-risk everything you're doing, in my opinion, whether it's advertising to bring traffic to existing titles that you have, or if you're still building your catalogue and still writing, we found that it's quite important to de-risk those future titles by testing your book ideas.

The process, again, that we use to do this is called click testing. It is the foundation of our direct sales program, which is aimed for people, like we talked about, who have a number of high quality titles and want to build a serious ecommerce business around them.

Click testing, on the other hand, benefits and has benefited authors selling anywhere from $0 per month, upwards of a couple million dollars per year. It's actually quite a simple process that just involves running advertisements and treating them in a special way as experiments.

We run them for a brief period of time, and we have a very specific number of impressions that they're shown for. That's just like the number of people who get to see them.

Then we just look at the performance metrics of these little advertisements to guide us to give us an understanding of whether or not that particular idea is worth pursuing either as an advertisement, or even more importantly, worth pursuing at all to make a book out of or to include in your next book.

So the beginning of that process, the direct sales process, actually is click testing. It applies to pretty much anyone at most spots inside of your author career trajectories. Whether you're already selling a lot of books, we've got folks who are multimillion dollar year sellers who have really dramatically improved their profit margins. So they took a lot more home.

Then we've got folks who were beginning who had financially successful titles through testing the ideas and the concepts. It's not just the ideas and concepts, it's also the specific words—as writers, we know this—but it's also the specific words that we use.

So that's a really important way to think, in my opinion. If you want to do this professionally, and if you want your work to be read, it's really important to get midstream and early stream feedback on whether anybody might be interested in reading this book once you're done with it.

Joanna: Yes, and I wanted to talk to you because I have been through the click testing module, and I've always been pretty resistant to this. I tried your course a while back, and it was a lot of data. So I'm not a massive data person, but I did this click testing process, and I actually found it quite fun.

I'll tell you what's different now, and this will help people listening, is ChatGPT. I basically was like, I can't come up with fifteen different taglines, I just can't. But ChatGPT can.

My brain can only think of one or two taglines, or maybe I can't think of any. Maybe I can only write 70,000 words, I can't put it all into like a tagline.

So I used ChatGPT to come up with a lot of the variants for the click testing. I put this on my email to you, but I changed the tagline for Spear of Destiny, which as we speak right now has just launched on Kickstarter. It's already funded.

So I mean, who knows whether that tagline made all the difference, but I certainly changed it. When I did the click testing, and I put in whatever it was, fifteen different variants or however many it was, my one, the one I came up with originally, it performed like number eight or something out of the list.

So I switched it to the one that tested better, and I did that to a market that I normally sell to. So this is what's interesting, this was a Kickstarter tagline. This was not necessarily a whole advertising campaign, but it really, really helped me.

I guess the other thing to say, because we talked before about the conversion ads which were more expensive.

These are click ads. So it doesn't cost you that much to do these tests, does it?

Steve: No, not at all. In fact, we just run it at a relatively low budget of $30 per day. I recommend six tests. The number is six if you're a novelist or a storyteller, or if you are a nonfiction author who solves problems for people.

So each of those tests last one to two-ish days at a $30 per day ad spend. So the whole thing is done in like two weeks. So maybe you've spent $200 to $300 to de-risk your title, or maybe you've spent $200 to $300 total, to arrive at a really high converting advertisement.

Like you mentioned, the things that you learn about what people like, they're not just useful on the book itself or on the advertisement itself, they're useful everywhere you're interacting with your customers. So in your case, on the Kickstarter page. Also on your product detail page, whether that's on your Amazon product page or on your Shopify product page.

Also, if you're doing lead generation and getting people to sign up for your list, what you discover really resonates and really gets people excited to your click testing, guess what, it also gets them excited on the signup page.

Or if you're bringing people to a sales page in a direct sales scenario for your bundle, or for a trilogy that you're offering in paperback, or whatever, those elements really go a long way toward improving every aspect of your business.

You include them in your emails, you include them if you're making videos, if you're writing blog posts. It really is useful when you find beyond a shadow of a doubt the confluence of your particular voice and what you have to say, and also what resonates with your market.

It's really nice when you feel good about the things you're saying your market, and they really respond to it. So it's a really cool tool that way.

Joanna: Yes, so because we're talking about Meta here, we have to talk about what's been going on recently. So we're recording this at the end of May 2024, and the word in the author community in the last month has been the Metapocalypse, where—

Authors have seen a drop in revenue and effectiveness of Facebook ads. Is this the Metapocalypse?

Now, my personal thought is that Meta are rolling out a lot of AI tools, and they're trying to make it easier on us, but these experiments have caused issues. A bit like any of these changes, it's going to have an effect.

Some people have kind of freaked out, gone back into KU with their eBooks, wondering if it will ever come back. What are your thoughts on the short-term, but also the long-term, impact? What will change? What should authors be doing?

Steve: This is such a good question. I've been advertising online since 2003. Back then there wasn't just one search engine, there were like six. So I was advertising on all of them. It was different business and different ecosystems, and they all sort of had their ups and downs.

Then the advent of, first, Facebook, and then Facebook and Instagram ads now under Meta. Those became a real player for us in like the 2015/2016 ballpark, maybe 2014 even. I look back, and about twice a year in some communities someplace, there is the Metapocalypse kind of meme that circulates.

It's really important to understand that in any community of businesses, and authors are no different, at any given moment, we've got authors in our community who are having their best month ever.

Then we have authors in our community—same community, same month, same advertising platform—who are not having good months at all.

There's this continuous up and down in any business, and ours is no different.

One of the things that sort of determines which industry takes up the meme, like the sky has fallen in Facebook land, is just which individuals are having a rough month.

If it's somebody with a prominent platform and they're writing about it, or it's somebody who's got a course on something and they're having their turn in the barrel, as they say for a rough month, it can really feel like things are out of control and we need to make drastic changes.

So let me give you a resource that will stop this kind of anecdotal spread of information which may not be accurate. So there are a couple of analytics companies who connect to your Shopify store and they connect to all of the different ad platforms.

So they see every dollar that thousands upon thousands of ecommerce businesses are spending on every relevant ad platform. They see how much a click is costing, what are the click through rates, how much does it cost to bring in a new customer.

Since they have such a broad view across all the advertising platforms that are relevant to ecommerce and across so many different niche ecommerce stores, it actually gives you a real sense of what's going on.

So the resource I'd like to point everybody to is Northbeam.io. So North like the direction, beam like laser beam, Northbeam.io. They have a Media Buyer Newsletter, and what they do is they send out their statistics monthly. So the main meme that the sky has fallen in Meta-land in the book world, that was on the strength of April's results, for better and worse.

It was really interesting because the recent Northbeam media buyer newsletter, where you can see exactly what market share exists on like Meta vs Google vs YouTube vs TikTok, and you can see trends in whether it's become more expensive or less expensive, more profitable or less profitable.

The April 2024 results were better than the April 2023 results. So from that perspective, there was no Metapocalypse this year, which is really interesting. You can see the difference between what happens socially and anecdotally.

You know, we talk to each other, but we don't have the ability to see what's actually happening from a numbers perspective. So when you fold in that data, it really helps you make more informed decisions.

So how would I use this differently? Like if that data came back and said, “Oh, my gosh, April 2024, it was 25% more expensive than it was in 2023. Things really are looking bleak,” I would consider making significant changes to my business, to the structure of it, to the strategy of it.

Given that it came back, actually, April 2024, was better than April 2023, numerically speaking, that's different. Then my action is, okay, it sounds like I just need to work harder to test newer creative. Maybe test newer hooks, new images, things that are resonating now.

Culture moves at a pretty quick pace, so things that worked, they work for a shorter period of time now. Things are moving so quickly in media and culture, so it's important to be able to make strategic decisions like that with actual information.

It's not like pages and pages and reams and reams of data, it's usually summarized just in one chart, and it fits on your phone. So I recommend that everybody who's buying ads in the book world, subscribe to that Northbeam.io. I'm not affiliated with them, I just think they're awesome. Northbeam.io, and it's called the Media Buyer Newsletter. So that'll keep you from making emotional knee jerk reactions that you could live to regret.

Joanna: I think it comes back to what we were saying at the beginning around being an entrepreneur and having a real business. The reality is, it's not all up and to the right forever. Unfortunately, not everything is like that all the time.

It goes up and down and things change, and that's part of the fun of it, too. I mean, if it was always the same, then it would be so boring. So this is certainly interesting, and as I said, I find the course great. You're a great teacher, and you've recently redone the whole course.

Tell people a bit about the course and who it's most suitable for.

Steve: Thank you, I appreciate that. So there are two programs, and the front door for everybody is click testing because I've just seen almost universally positive results in a whole bunch of different industries.

The reason that the results are positive is because you're learning more about what your market wants, like what do the people actually want and respond to. So it doesn't matter where you're at.

If you're working on that first book, you would definitely want some information that your market is excited about the idea that you're spending so much time, and effort, and energy, and probably money and love, to produce.

Also, if you're selling well, but would like to increase your profit margins, or you'd like to be able to advertise more aggressively to produce more sales, but to do that, you have to be able to advertise more effectively, click testing is for you also.

Like I say it's, it's helped people who have zero books and are making $0 per month, and it's helped people who have many books and who are really big names, not just an indie community, but out in the author world.

It's improved the number of books they're able to sell and the profit margin they're able to sell it at.

So that's called Click Testing for Authors. That's the introductory program. It's the foundation for everything, and the reason it's the foundation for everything that we do inside of our processes is because it teaches you what your customers like. That's really important.

For a subset of folks who have the number and quality of titles that we spoke about earlier, there's a follow-on program called Direct Sales for Authors. Those two modules together are inside of version four of AMMO.

Direct Sales for Authors really hones in on the nuts and bolts of setting up a direct sales system. It gives you a bunch of tools to help you calculate your paperback costs, for example.

That can be a hassle, so we put some spreadsheets together to do all that math for you because people who write aren't always people who love to do math. So that's taken care of for you.

We also walk you through the process of getting your assets to work profitably. It's one thing to set everything up so that it functions, i.e. when you put your credit card in, a book comes out on the other end of that. That's one thing, but getting that process to operate profitably is another thing entirely.

It's a whole process in and of itself, and there's some art and science to it. So we provide tools for that, for those folks who are interested in building a direct sales business and interested in doing so at an exciting scale based on the number of books that you have.

So there's two programs. The first one is Click Testing for Authors. That's for everybody under the sun who writes books, in my opinion.

Then the Direct Sales for Authors is a more focused program for those folks who are in a position to most immediately benefit from a serious direct sales effort.

Joanna: Fantastic. If people would like to use my affiliate link, I'm a happy affiliate. I have done the course, and I think it's great. It is thecreativepenn.com/clicktesting, all one word.

Where else can people find it? I always like to give people the actual link because, of course, we don't expect people to go through my affiliate. Also—

Tell people where your books are, as well.

Because you are a real author, and I think that's really important.

Steve: Yes, thank you. So please do use Joanna's affiliate link. Let's support Jo's podcast and your efforts in everything that you have done for our community for all these years.

If that's not your thing, perfectly fine. AMMOauthor.com. A-M-M-O like Author Marketing Mastery through Optimization. AMMOauthor.com is sort of the front door. If you want to check out my trashy spy thrillers, they're at Lars.buzz. L-A-R-S-dot-B-U-Z-Z.

Joanna: Or “zed, zed” if you are British.

Steve: Depending if you're on the correct side of the pond or the incorrect side of the pond.

Joanna: Right. Well, thanks so much for your time, Steve. That was great.

Steve: Thank you so much, Jo. I really appreciate it.

The post Click Testing Ideas And Selling Direct With Steve Pieper first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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What are the pros and cons of selling direct and building an ecommerce business for your books? How can you use click testing on Meta to help refine your creative and book marketing ideas? Steve Pieper explains in this interview. In the intro, What are the pros and cons of selling direct and building an ecommerce business for your books? How can you use click testing on Meta to help refine your creative and book marketing ideas? Steve Pieper explains in this interview.



In the intro, The Hotsheet with Jane Friedman; 20 ways you should be using AI in publishing [PerfectBound]; Artificial Intelligence? No, Collective Intelligence [Ezra Klein with Holly Herndon]; AI may take our jobs, but not our creativity [Claire Silver on The TED AI Show].



Plus, De-Extinction of the Nephilim; my webinar on Discovery Writing as part of the Kickstarter – you can buy it in the bundle or just buy the ebook and get the webinar as an Add-On. Only available until 18 June at JFPenn.com/destiny; Writing modern thrillers based on ancient relics and historical places; Ancient Heroes Podcast;






Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Steve Pieper is a USA Today bestselling thriller author under the name Lars Emmerich. He's also an entrepreneur and business consultant, specializing in digital marketing and selling direct with his course, AMMO, Author Marketing Mastery through Optimization.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Why more indie authors are embracing selling direct



* How the emergence of courses has helped mature the indie author market



* Differences in the process of selling a print book on Amazon vs. Shopify



* Cash flow management when selling direct



* When does it make sense for an author to start selling direct?



* Using click testing to test a book idea with your target audience



* Steve's Click Testing and Direct Sales courses — If you're interested, please consider using my affiliate link and supporting the show: www.TheCreativePenn.com/clicktesting


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7 Tips For Writing Action Adventure Thrillers With J.F. Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/05/7-tips-for-writing-action-adventure-thrillers-with-j-f-penn/ Wed, 05 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36272 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/05/7-tips-for-writing-action-adventure-thrillers-with-j-f-penn/#comments https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/05/7-tips-for-writing-action-adventure-thrillers-with-j-f-penn/feed/ 1 <p>What are the tropes of action adventure thrillers? How can you please readers and sell more books? J.F. Penn shares her own tips and also features excerpts from interviews with other thriller writers. J.F. Penn is the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the ARKANE action-adventure thrillers, the Mapwalker fantasy adventures, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/05/7-tips-for-writing-action-adventure-thrillers-with-j-f-penn/">7 Tips For Writing Action Adventure Thrillers With J.F. Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the tropes of action adventure thrillers? How can you please readers and sell more books? J.F. Penn shares her own tips and also features excerpts from interviews with other thriller writers.

J.F. Penn is the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the ARKANE action-adventure thrillers, the Mapwalker fantasy adventures, and the Brooke & Daniel crime thrillers, as well as horror, travel memoir, and short stories.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Put your characters in difficult and dangerous situations
  • Writing fight scenes
  • Include a ticking clock and high stakes
  • What is a MacGuffin and how is it used?
  • Research into places and experiences
  • Trust your writing instinct and have fun!
  • Help your readers escape to exciting places
  • Using quotes, and source citation
  • Write a series

If you love action adventure thrillers, check out the ARKANE series by J.F. Penn. Spear of Destiny, book 13, is out now on Kickstarter with special edition signed exclusive cover hardbacks, plus paperback, large print, ebook, audiobook, and bundle deals in all formats.

J.F. Penn with Spear of Destiny

You can find J.F. Penn at www.jfpenn.com, buy books direct at www.JFPennBooks.com, and read the blog or listen to the Books and Travel Podcast at BooksAndTravel.page.

7 Tips for Writing Action Adventure Thrillers with J.F. Penn

I’m an action adventure thriller fan from way back, but what are the hallmarks of the action adventure genre?

Clive Cussler said,

“Adventure is just putting characters in settings and locales that are unfamiliar to the reader and then as the writer, having fun with what happens.”

I’ve always loved adventure stories. As a child I read The Hardy Boys, and King Solomon’s Mines, and I remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books where you would flick to a new page as you made your choice of action.

I loved Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series and read a lot of marine biology books, as I thought I might be able to join NUMA or something like it. I was able to meet Clive before he died at Thrillerfest in New York in 2015 and have a selfie which really made my trip.

J.F. Penn and Clive Cussler (Thrillerfest, 2015)
J.F. Penn and Clive Cussler (Thrillerfest, 2015)

I discovered Wilbur Smith’s African and ancient Egyptian adventures, then Michael Crichton, Matthew Reilly, and James Rollins, who also combined the religious aspects I enjoyed into his books.

I love the Pendergast series from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, with its crossover into occult and supernatural. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code came out in 2003, and I jumped into that as soon as it launched. I had previously enjoyed Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, but wanted more action and a modern take on the religious themes.

In terms of TV and movies, I loved The A Team, James Bond, Indiana Jones and all the action movies Angelina Jolie did including Lara Croft, and of course, Nicholas Cage in his action movie era — Con Air, The Rock, and Face Off. I loved Arnie in End of Days, Keanu in Constantine, both a blend of action and religious thriller.

I have a Masters degree in Theology from the University of Oxford, and although I am not a Christian, I am fascinated by religious history, relics, conspiracy, and places in Europe and the Middle East in particular that have so much rich religious culture. I’m also glad to be able to use my degree in my books since it was pretty useless when I used to implement accounts payable systems as an IT consultant!

Adventure is generally a male dominated field, and that’s part of why I wanted to write an action adventure series with a strong female protagonist.

Morgan Sierra is my alter-ego, but she has a lot more practical fighting skills. Think Angelina in Mr & Mrs Smith and Salt, or Charlize Theron in The Old Guard. Morgan is most often joined by Jake Timber, her partner at ARKANE, a secret British agency investigating supernatural mysteries around the world.

joanna penn pentecost
Back in May 2011 with Pentecost — since then I have re-edited, re-covered, re-titled, and changed my author name 🙂

I started writing the series in 2009 and Pentecost by Joanna Penn came out in 2011, which I later rewrote and rebranded to Stone of Fire in 2015. I did another rewrite in 2022.

I've written 13 ARKANE books and a short story across 13 years, during which I’ve written many other books of course, but my ARKANE adventures have to be inspired by real life, and they take a while to research and percolate before writing. They cannot be rushed! 

If you’d like to read more action adventure by indie authors, check out RD Brady, David Wood, Alan Baxter, J. Robert Kennedy, PJ Skinner, Ernest Dempsey, Nick Thacker, Avanti Centrae, and Kevin Tumlinson — and yes, several of the list are women. You can recognise us by our initials!

Right, let’s get into some tips for writing action adventure thrillers.

Tip 1: Put your characters in difficult and dangerous situations

Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher thriller series says,

“The three essential things are: Put the characters in danger early; keep the stakes high; and make sure the danger grows throughout the novel.”

Gillian Flynn, author and screenwriter of Gone Girl, said,

“I like writing about people who are flawed and human. It’s what I enjoy reading and what I enjoy writing. Thrillers are all about how you break somebody, in the best possible way.”

In 2011, I was writing the early books in the ARKANE series. Stone of Fire was just out, or Pentecost as it was back then before the rebrand, and Crypt of Bone was almost done.

I was still wrestling with writing fight scenes, and I was also slightly worried about writing violence and hard times for my characters. It’s strange to think that now because I love writing fight scenes, and in Spear of Destiny, Morgan Sierra has a particularly good fight with a mysterious soldier in the gorgeous State Library in Vienna. That was fun to write!

Vienna State Hall Library. Photo by J.F. Penn, featured in Spear of Destiny
Vienna State Hall Library. Photo by J.F. Penn, featured in Spear of Destiny

But back then, I was still early in my career, so I interviewed David Wood, author of the Dane Maddock Adventures about writing these kinds of scenes. You can find David at DavidWoodWeb.com.

“People expect that your main character is going to make it through to the end with some scars, and so you need to create suspense as to how they're going to get there.

You need to make them care about the supporting cast and will the supporting cast survive, and also by making the challenges they face greater, you can show more parts of their abilities and their skills with those on display. This book has got more action throughout. I really wanted to develop the antagonist by making their role bigger and bringing them in from the start, I needed to bring them into conflict earlier on.

Now I don't do gratuitous, gory things. I'm not Quentin Tarantino. We don't have Kill Bill with the blood jetting out of the necks and things like that. So I try to have a purpose for it, but I think there also is an expectation in thrillers that there's going to be a body count.

I think as long as you're not a sicko person, it's pretty easy to compartmentalize and just let your imagination run wild. I know as a kid I like to read about World War II, now that I'm older and I know about war and I've known people who have been killed in it, it's not a glory thing anymore, but it's still interesting. I think, people coming into conflict on that level is fascinating.

I listened to the Hardcore History podcast, which is a favorite, and the host, Dan Carlin did an amazing series on the Punic Wars, and he did such a powerful job of describing that hand to hand, eye to eye, chopping each other apart. And it makes you realize how horrific it is. But it's also fascinating because you want, what does that feel like? How does your psyche react? How does your body react? And we wonder what we would do if we were ever faced with a life and death situation.”

Fight scenes are part of what readers expect in an action adventure thriller.

Personally, I expect a high body count in the thrillers I read. These are no cozy mystery or domestic thrillers where there might be a body or two. These have much higher stakes!

Fight scenes are also a staple of the genre, but writing a fight scene when you are not a fighter is a skill you need to learn.

I interviewed martial artist and multi-award-winning horror and thriller writer Alan Baxter back in 2011, in the early days of my ARKANE series. I asked him why readers love fight scenes, and in this clip he explains why:

“One part of it is escapism because most people have never had a fight. Generally, that's a good thing because even people that do train fighting, it's best if you don't fight. When people fight, people get hurt. Horrible things can happen. I train fighters all the time, and the thing I'm always saying is the first defence, the first block, is to run away. Never fight unless you have to.

And so by reading about these things, we get to experience those things from that third person perspective of what’s going on. And I think it’s just a natural extension of fiction.

Most stories at their core are dealing in one way or another with conflict. If it’s a love story, it’s emotional conflict or if it’s a mystery, it’s a sort of cerebral conflict or whatever. But what makes an interesting story is conflict and challenges and tests for your characters in all sorts of shapes and forms. So of course, the most distilled version of that is actual physical conflict and people literally fighting against each other in a physical sense.

And of course, when you are writing action and you want all this fast paced mayhem going on, and people running into each other and having fisticuffs and jumping in cars and having car chases and blowing things up, that’s what gets our adrenaline going.

If we were going through that, our adrenaline would be drowning us, whereas we can read about someone else going through it and we can get that sort of vicarious ride by following them without any real threat to ourselves. So I think it's just a natural extension of the general conflict in storytelling.”

In the interview, Alan gives lots of tips for writing fight scenes and you can also buy his book, Write the Fight Write: A Fiction Writer’s Resource for Creating Realistic, Convincing Fight Scenes. You can find Alan at www.alanbaxter.com.au.

Tip 2. Include a ticking clock

The ticking clock is a thriller trope. There is a deadline and a race against time which drives the pace of an adventure. Usually, the main characters have to stop the baddies from destroying the world, or save someone before it’s too late, or whatever the plot is, before the time runs out.

In Spear of Destiny, I have two ticking clocks. One is the countdown to the US election as my antagonist is military and a politician who intends to use the Spear to galvanise his campaign and summon a supernatural power to propel him to the White House.

The other ticking clock is more personal for Morgan. Her young niece, Gemma, is dying, because of a curse that should have affected Morgan. She will do anything to save Gemma and the Spear can be used for both healing and destruction. The stakes are both political on a country and global scale, but also much more personal and intimate.

Tip 3. Feature a MacGuffin

Action adventure thrillers in particular usually have a MacGuffin. It’s the thing that the characters are searching for, usually some kind of object of power, or historical importance. In Spear of Destiny, it is, you guessed it — the Spear of Destiny!

Spear of Destiny, Hofburg, Vienna. Photo by J.F. Penn
Spear of Destiny, Hofburg, Vienna. Photo by J.F. Penn

Morgan and Jake must recover the pieces from various locations around the world before the bad guys put them all together again and summon a great evil.

Your MacGuffin doesn’t have to be original. In fact, among action adventure writers, we often use the same objects because it’s so fun to write them. We often use the same places as well, but of course, we all have different characters and different adventures.

Tip 4: Research thoroughly. Details matter.

My ARKANE thrillers are mostly based on my travels, and many of my own experiences. One of the benefits of running a business as an author is that you can do tax-deductible business trips and that includes experiences for research, as long as they end up in a profitable book, of course!

Back in 2014, I interviewed multi-award-winning thriller and mystery author, David Morrell, who is most famous for his book First Blood, which became Rambo, although he has written many other books.

David has always been very generous and welcoming to indie authors, and he loves his research! Here’s an excerpt from the interview, where he talks about some particularly exciting experiences. You can find David at DavidMorrell.net.

“I did a novel called Testament, which was about a man on the run from a terrorist organization who’s forced to live in the mountains over a winter. And I heard about an organization called the National Outdoor Leadership School, which is based in Lander, Wyoming, in the United States, and basically takes groups into the mountains and teaches them how to survive up there.

And so, prior to writing Testament, I went and I lived above timberline in the Rocky Mountains for thirty days. And the graduation exercise — I remember this so vividly. There's a mantra: You can go three minutes without air, three hours without heat, three days without water, and three weeks without food.

So they took our food away and then they showed us the map, and it was on the other side of the continental divide. Three days from now, we’ll pick you up over here. So you had to know how to use a compass and a map. We kept our canteen, but we didn’t have any food and basically for three days, there were five of us in this particular group, and so we just kept going and kept going, and I lost twenty-five pounds. So I did that. That was one of an exciting thing.

I went to the Bill Scott Raceway in West Virginia where people go to learn how to drive in emergency situations, and so for five days I learned how to car fight, how to ram through barricades, and at fifty miles an hour we were doing all this stuff. And the movies have it all wrong, but it was a glorious time. I never had so much fun doing all this car fighting on this raceway. And I used that in a novel called The Protector because it occurred to me that car chases in the movies are fake and I hardly ever see them in novels. So I thought, well, why not do a car chase in a novel that’s authentic in the way a professional would really do it?

And I think the one that really transports me the most. I was doing a novel called The Shimmer, which is about mysterious lights that appear in West Texas and have been for since like 1889. And they’re real. I’ve seen them. They’re very strange. And the government or the military for a time tried to investigate them using aircraft.

And so I knew that the novel, if it was going to be realistic, would have to use aircraft. And then I thought, well, what do I know about aircraft? And I'm not gonna fake that. It's like, if you're writing about guns, it helps to go out and shoot one just so you know what it's like. And so I went, I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I went down to the local, , airport and found a place that taught flying. So I started paying flying classes and I liked it so much, and I eventually became a private pilot. So I have my license, which has the Wright brothers on it and it’s very cool. I’ve had a lot of fun doing the research.”

Trust your writing instinct and have fun

I love that David mentions fun in that last segment, because research trips to interesting places are part of why I write my ARKANE thrillers. They give me an excuse to travel and delve into some really fascinating history and culture, and it’s one of my favourite parts of being an author.

It’s great to find author friends who enjoy the same fascinations, and I’ve interviewed multi-award-winning author Rebecca Cantrell multiple times over the years.

JFPenn and Rebecca Cantrell Berlin 2013
JFPenn and Rebecca Cantrell, Berlin, 2013

We actually first met in Berlin when I was on a research trip to visit the Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum which I included in End of Days, and we have also been at Thrillerfest in New York and at a conference in Oregon together. We both have an international mindset and we always geek out about cool places we have traveled to and written about.

In terms of action adventure, Rebecca has the award-winning Joe Tesla series of thrillers which begins with The World Beneath. I also particularly love her supernatural thrillers, co-written with James Rollins, which start with The Blood Gospel.

This is an excerpt from an interview in 2016 about writing award-winning books where Rebecca talks about trusting your instinct when you feel something about a place, and the importance of having fun. 

“For the Joe Tesla stuff, which is set in the subway under New York, there’s a lot of urban explorers who go down there with cameras and they just film themselves walking through the tunnels and what’s going on. And so you get to see all these hidden places and even ten years ago, unless you happened to be in New York, you’d never ever see that material.

There’s so many places that seem kind of magical, where you go there and just like, ‘Ooh, this place has some kind of energy or some kind of story inherent in it.’ And I think that writers pick up on that and you’re like, okay, there’s something about this moment and this place that strikes you, and it strikes every writer differently, but I think there are certain places that just resonate a lot.

I think that you need to trust your instinct and then really do the research and immerse yourself in it. It’s okay to have fun. It’s okay to go someplace that you think is fascinating and wander around and sit in.

Like I had a book that I was going to set in Venice and I happened to be in Venice and I didn’t write that book until years later, but I sat in a cafe in Venice on St. Mark Square, and I drank hot chocolate in this little cafe that had been around since the 1700s, and it was real chocolate that they melted in the milk. And that feels completely indulgent because it was nothing but fun. It was fantastic hot chocolate and the setting was gorgeous, and you know, you can’t take a bad picture of Venice.

I’m not sure you can sit anywhere in Venice that isn’t just beautiful, but as a writer, it’s okay to have fun. It’s okay to enjoy those moments, and it’s okay to really indulge your senses because that’s where the gold is. Those specific moments that you love and you connect with will connect with the readers, and that took me a long time to really believe.

And I think I was working with James Rollins on something and I was like, so I think this, but is that dumb? And he is like, no, I found that if I think it’s cool, other people think it’s cool. And I think that’s true trust. Trust the readers and trust yourself. Have fun. If you have fun, it’ll show.”

Tip 5: Help your readers escape into an exciting setting

Action adventure thrillers are about escaping your current situation and delving into a fast-paced adventure for a time. Setting is a huge part of that and action adventure is usually about a realistic present day setting used as part of the plot, although there are also adventure categories under Fantasy as well, and my Mapwalker thrillers fit there.

My ARKANE thrillers are all modern day, real-world settings. Spear of Destiny opens in Vienna, and also has scenes in Nuremberg, Oxford, and Washington, D.C.

Nick Thacker also writes similar adventures in his Harvey Bennett series and other books. I interviewed Nick about writing action adventure in 2020, and here’s an excerpt about escape and setting.

“People go to these types of books and movies for the ability to not quite go to a completely fantastical world, that this isn’t fantasy adventure, but to go into a different place of the world that they know. And it just seems like a lot of readers are going to our work because they want to escape to another place that they may not have been or somewhere that they’ve been, but have not discovered enough.

But it’s those little details that I think really capture the realism of a setting. We’re writing fiction obviously, but since it is set in a world that people know, it’s important to get that stuff right.

When I started writing this stuff and really nailed down my brand, what I wanted to do, I have what I call a formula, and I’m putting finger quotes because I know formula is a bad word to a lot of writers. But my formula, if you will, is essentially taking some prototypical technology and giving it to a really bad person or organization and then dropping the whole thing into an exotic location, and the good guys have to go find the bad guys.

I mean, all of my books are essentially that, and I try to put in the history, some of the cyber tech thriller type stuff, the elements of those books that I know like Dan Brown’s and Clive Cussler, James Rollins. And so it’s that combination of it all, but the setting is really key. I try to put the book somewhere that I’ve never been or that I would want to go, that I think my readers would also enjoy experiencing.”

To go deeper into place and my fascination with cathedrals, as well as thrillers, I also loved Sanctus by Simon Toyne when it was published in 2011, the same year Stone of Fire came out. I love strong settings, and Simon’s city of Ruin fascinated me.

Peter James, Simon Toyne and J.F.Penn
Simon Toyne, J.F.Penn and Peter James, Thrillerfest 2015

In this excerpt from our interview in 2014, Simon talks about how he found inspiration for Ruin after arriving in France after a stormy crossing from England across the channel.

“We drove an hour inland, and an hour inland from Dieppe is Rouen and the storm had blown out and dawn was starting to lighten the sky. And I saw the silhouette of Rouen Cathedral up on the hill, and it’s a very weird cathedral Rouen cathedral. It’s got this kind of like hypodermic syringe of a needle of a spire. It pierces the sky and these kind of bits, it's very gothic and weird. It's almost like a spider. It’s a strange thing.

And when I saw it, this quote just popped into my head that I'd read years ago and always liked. And kind of carried around with me in, in that sort of way, like picking up a shiny thing and putting it in your pocket.

And the quote is the one that's the beginning of Sanctus, which is the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “A man is a God in ruins,” and there was something about that quote. The image of the cathedral and the play on words of Rouen ruin that just planted the seed.”

Tip 6. Use quotes for inspiration but be careful with attribution

It’s also a common practice amongst thriller writers to include quotes at the beginning of novels as Simon did there, ‘A man is a god in ruins.’

Many of my ARKANE thrillers include biblical quotes since the series is often about a religious conspiracy of some kind. Spear of Destiny has an extended quote from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus:

“The soldiers put on him a crown of thorns and he was scourged and received condemnation from Pilate, and he was crucified at the place of a skull and two thieves with him, and they gave him vinegar to drink with gall, and Longinus the soldier pierced his side with a spear.”

But there was also a quote I found that became quite pivotal in the story,

“He who does not carry demonic seeds within him will never give birth to a new world.”

This is a quote from Magic: History, Theory and Practice by Ernst Schertel, and it was underlined in Hitler’s personal copy of the book. Adolf Hitler was of course an Austrian, and although he was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in the early 1900s, he remained in the city painting and selling his work. While he was there, he studied the Holy Lance, the Spear of Destiny, and learned about the occult, which is all woven into the history behind the relic and the modern day thriller.

research for spear of destiny photo by jfpenn
My reading pile for researching Spear of Destiny

As a practical note, whenever I find quotes, I note them down in my journal — always in quotation marks with the source, and I also put them in my Things app (or you can use whatever software you find helpful). I review these lists for inspiration at different times, and move them into the Scrivener project per book when it becomes time to write.

Always note your sources! If I use a direct quote in the text, I will have a character weave in the source, and I also include an Author’s Note in all my books expanding on my research with an explanation and a bibliography.

If you’re concerned about accidental plagiarism or copyright violations by inadvertently forgetting to cite your sources, have a listen to the interview I did with Vikki Carter, The Author’s Librarian back in 2021, where we discuss research techniques, proper ways to use citations, and more.

Tip 7. Write a series

Action adventure readers love a long-running series, so plan for that by making sure you have an episodic structure for the book, and a team for the protagonist to work alongside.

My ARKANE series has 13 books — Spear of Destiny is lucky book 13.

ARKANE action adventure thriller series by J.F. Penn
ARKANE action adventure thriller series by J.F. Penn

Each book can be read as a stand-alone, which is also a common aspect of action adventure thrillers.

My main character Morgan Sierra joins the ARKANE secret British government agency and mainly works alongside Jake Timber, another agent, but various books feature other characters.

Martin Klein, my super geek character modelled on Q from Bond, is popular and even has a stand-alone story, Soldiers of God where he is the protagonist, so you can expand your series into extra material based on secondary and side characters.

In 2021, I interviewed Sara Rosett about writing a series. Sara writes cozy mystery and historical mystery, and she has a book, How to Write a Series, that might be useful whatever genre you write. In this clip, she talks about reasons why writing a series is such a good idea.

“Readers love a series. If you can get your readers hooked in on book one, then book two and three on down the road is an easier sell perhaps than a standalone because your readers are familiar with the characters in the world. If they enjoy the experience, they want to return to that same world again.

Then there’s some financial stability with writing a series. If you know that book one made a certain amount of money, then maybe book two and three may not be that exact amount, but you can predict a little bit.

And not always, but sometimes, writing a familiar series and characters can be a little bit easier and it can go faster because you already know the world. You're not world-building with each book.

Then, there’s marketing reasons for promotion that make a series a good thing to have. You can save time, you can focus on book one in your marketing, and then you're not trying to run ads to all the books in your catalog, you can focus on one and hopefully as readers come into that book one, if they like it, they’ll continue on.”

If you enjoy action adventure thrillers, you might enjoy Spear of Destiny!

Available now in all the usual editions plus a special hardback, silver foil, signed edition with an exclusive cover. There’s also a webinar on discovery writing if you’d like to join me for that, and I won’t be selling the replay, so that is also exclusive to the Kickstarter. Check it out at www.jfpenn.com/destiny

A cursed bloodline. An ancient weapon. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

When a mysterious relic is stolen from a museum in Vienna, ARKANE agents Morgan Sierra and Jake Timber embark on a deadly race against time to recover the legendary Spear of Destiny — the holy lance that pierced the side of Christ.

As they follow clues through Nazi ruins, Tibetan temples, and Washington, DC’s greatest monuments, they uncover a sinister plot that threatens to unleash an unstoppable darkness upon the world.

But Morgan also carries a curse in her veins, a shadow placed upon her that now threatens her niece’s life. To save her, Morgan must find the Spear and unlock its fabled healing powers. Standing in her way is the fanatical Jericho Command and their elite leader, Gabriel, a man both blessed and burdened by strange powers and a mysterious past.

From the ashes of World War II to the mystical peaks of Tibet, from ancient crypts to the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress and the Capitol, Morgan and Jake must brave every danger, solve each puzzle, and face down enemies both human and demonic in their quest to find the Spear before its terrible power is unleashed.

Time is running out and the fate of the world hangs in the balance — will Morgan and Jake prevail or will the forces of darkness triumph?

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J.F. Penn comes a gripping and explosive thriller that delves deep into the heart of an ancient mystery and a chilling supernatural evil. An unputdownable story of supernatural suspense, Spear of Destiny is a rollercoaster ride into the dark legends of the past and the shocking evils of the present, with only a cursed relic lying between salvation and damnation.

Spear of Destiny is book 13 in the ARKANE action adventure thriller series. It can be read or listened to as a stand-alone story even if you have never read another in the series. There are also binge-worthy bundles available in the Add-Ons so you can read or listen in order if you prefer.

Check it out now at: www.jfpenn.com/destiny and the link will redirect after the Kickstarter is finished. The book will be out in the usual formats in September 2024.

The post 7 Tips For Writing Action Adventure Thrillers With J.F. Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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What are the tropes of action adventure thrillers? How can you please readers and sell more books? J.F. Penn shares her own tips and also features excerpts from interviews with other thriller writers. J.F. Penn is the award-winning, What are the tropes of action adventure thrillers? How can you please readers and sell more books? J.F. Penn shares her own tips and also features excerpts from interviews with other thriller writers.







J.F. Penn is the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the ARKANE action-adventure thrillers, the Mapwalker fantasy adventures, and the Brooke & Daniel crime thrillers, as well as horror, travel memoir, and short stories.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Put your characters in difficult and dangerous situations



* Writing fight scenes



* Include a ticking clock and high stakes



* What is a MacGuffin and how is it used?



* Research into places and experiences



* Trust your writing instinct and have fun!



* Help your readers escape to exciting places



* Using quotes, and source citation



* Write a series




If you love action adventure thrillers, check out the ARKANE series by J.F. Penn. Spear of Destiny, book 13, is out now on Kickstarter with special edition signed exclusive cover hardbacks, plus paperback, large print, ebook, audiobook, and bundle deals in all formats.






You can find J.F. Penn at www.jfpenn.com, buy books direct at www.JFPennBooks.com, and read the blog or listen to the Books and Travel Podcast at BooksAndTravel.page.



7 Tips for Writing Action Adventure Thrillers with J.F. Penn



I’m an action adventure thriller fan from way back, but what are the hallmarks of the action adventure genre?



Clive Cussler said,




“Adventure is just putting characters in settings and locales that are unfamiliar to the reader and then as the writer, having fun with what happens.”




I’ve always loved adventure stories. As a child I read The Hardy Boys, and King Solomon’s Mines, and I remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books where you would flick to a new page as you made your choice of action.



I loved Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series and read a lot of marine biology books, as I thought I might be able to join NUMA or something like it. I was able to meet Clive before he died at Thrillerfest in New York in 2015 and have a selfie which really made my trip.



J.F. Penn and Clive Cussler (Thrillerfest, 2015)


I discovered Wilbur Smith’s African and ancient Egyptian adventures, then Michael Crichton, Matthew Reilly, and James Rollins, who also combined the religious aspects I enjoyed into his books.



I love the Pendergast series from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, with its crossover into occult and supernatural. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code came out in 2003, and I jumped into that as soon as it launched. I had previously enjoyed Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 35:06
The Seasons Of Writing With Jacqueline Suskin https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/03/the-seasons-of-writing-with-jacqueline-suskin/ Mon, 03 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36293 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/03/the-seasons-of-writing-with-jacqueline-suskin/#comments https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/03/the-seasons-of-writing-with-jacqueline-suskin/feed/ 2 <p>How can you adopt the seasons of nature in your writing? How can you allow periods of rest as well as abundance? Jacqueline Suskin explores these ideas and more in this interview. In the intro, thoughts on children's book publishing [Always Take Notes Podcast]; how to market a memoir as an indie author [ALLi]; A […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/06/03/the-seasons-of-writing-with-jacqueline-suskin/">The Seasons Of Writing With Jacqueline Suskin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you adopt the seasons of nature in your writing? How can you allow periods of rest as well as abundance? Jacqueline Suskin explores these ideas and more in this interview.

In the intro, thoughts on children's book publishing [Always Take Notes Podcast]; how to market a memoir as an indie author [ALLi]; A desperate quest. A holy relic. A race against time. Spear of Destiny is live on Kickstarter!; What is Kickstarter and why am I launching there?, I'm on the Wordslinger Podcast talking about marketing later books in a series.

Book cover designer Stuart Bache on AI for book covers [Brave New Bookshelf]; OpenAI signs licensing deals with The Atlantic, Vox Media, and NewsCorp [OpenAI]

draft2digital

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Jacqueline Suskin is a poet, author, speaker, and creative consultant. Her latest book is A Year In Practice: Seasonal Rituals And Prompts To Awaken Cycles Of Creative Expression.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Writing a poem quickly, live and in person, or order
  • Choosing the poems that go into a collection and knowing when it's finished
  • The physical beauty of layout on the page
  • Embracing the seasons of life and creativity
  • Trust emergence
  • Choosing the “easeful” path for your next project
  • Celebrating our creative accomplishments while continuing our journey
  • Practices to help us slow down
  • ‘The veil is thin' and how it manifests in our work

You can find Jacqueline at JacquelineSuskin.com.

Transcript of Interview with Jacqueline Suskin

Joanna: Jacqueline Suskin is a poet, author, speaker, and creative consultant. Her latest book is A Year In Practice: Seasonal Rituals And Prompts To Awaken Cycles Of Creative Expression. So welcome to the show, Jacqueline.

Jacqueline: Thanks so much for having me.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. First up, just—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing poetry and books.

Jacqueline: I've been writing ever since I was a little kid. I feel like I'm one of those people who just sort of knew at a young age that words were the world I wanted to live in.

I didn't really know what that meant for a long time. I didn't know I was writing poems. Then the older I got, the more I was familiarized with that world, and I thought, oh, I've just always been a poet. So I ended up going to university to study poetry, and getting a degree in poetry, and then just continued to follow that.

It's really led me to some pretty incredible places, including this project that I've done for a long time called Poem Store, where for about 12 years, my only job was to take my typewriter around to public places and write poems for people on the spot.

So I really got this sort of direct connection with the way that everyday people connect with poetry. That has definitely illuminated my path as a writer.

Joanna: That is so crazy. I mean, what possessed you to do that? How did you make that a living? I mean, I have seen some people do that. As an introvert who just doesn't really want to speak to people in general, I just find that utterly terrifying.

Tell us a bit more about Poem Store.

Jacqueline: I mean, honestly, it happened by chance. I just met someone in Oakland who was doing that, and he found out I was a poet, and he invited me to come try it with him.

I had just purchased a typewriter, which was so strange, everything kind of aligned magically like that. That was in 2009. I did that as an experiment just to see if I could, and then I just realized almost immediately how special it was.

It was the perfect combination of my two skills. One is writing and the other is to connect deeply with people. So I just let myself follow it and see how far I could take it. I had no idea it would become my full-time job.

That was very clear, after about a year of doing it at farmer's markets and just kind of continuing the experiment, I was like, I think this is more than an experiment, I think this is something I should probably really give myself over to. Once I did that, it definitely took root and grew into a huge project.

I've written over 40,000 poems with Poem Store. I don't really do it in public anymore because I just kind of got burnt out.

It was a very young person's world to do that in. I had a lot of energy then, and now I'm a little older, and I feel a little more protective of my energy.

In the midst of all of that, that's how I got books published, that's how I met people. It was a really connective way to be part of the community and bring poetry to all types of different people.

Joanna: Wow, 40,000 poems. That's kind of incredible. On that, I mean, this is a very interesting thing, and I think goes to the heart of creativity.

I do know quite a lot of poets, and some poets insist that it takes a very, very long time to be happy with a poem and put it out in the world. You were basically doing a connection, and then a fast creative publishing type process.

How do you connect so deeply and so quickly, and then turn that into creativity in a finished product in a short amount of time? I know you're not doing that anymore, but—

How did you change that mindset of “it must take forever to do a poem” to going so quickly?

Jacqueline: Well, I like to hold both sides of it. I still, even throughout that whole process, wrote books. Those poems did take a lot of time, and craft, and working with an editor.

The painstaking, beautiful longevity of a single poem being on the editing board is something I'm still really familiar with and love a lot. Then I also think there's this freedom in just being able to have this poetic conversation with another person, which is basically what I was doing with Poem Store.

These poems that I would make in the moment, they're very spontaneous. so they're including that person's energy, and there's also a mystery there. Like I wasn't quite sure what I was going to write, and I didn't really know what I did write until I would read them the poem when I was finished.

Just yesterday, I work in a lot of schools now and just visit kids and show them what it's like to be a poet, teach them about poetry, and I brought my typewriter to class yesterday.

There's something really magical that happens when someone has a typewriter, and I think that that was also a big part of it.

There was like this deep lore of how is this person being so vulnerable out here in the world writing poetry, but then also, wow, this machine from the past, this is sort of like a time travel opportunity.

Joanna: I imagine some of those kids have never even seen a typewriter.

Jacqueline: Yes, and there's something about allowing oneself to be free creatively like that. Like those poems had nothing to do with my ego, right? Like, I'll never see them again. I didn't keep copies of them. Every once in a while, I would take photographs of ones that I really loved or something like that.

There was something so special about releasing that sense of control, and the need for perfection, and the need for such a clear certain outcome, that I think is actually really nice to apply to art making.

Although I really do value the craft and the focus and will continue to write books in that way for the rest of my life, I also will always allow myself to slip into that more improvisational sense of writing.

I mean, honestly, even just yesterday, it was a reminder that my imagination is this thing that's always growing and changing, and there's new language to uncover. It feels like a challenge in a playful way.I like, especially as being someone who is a writer for my profession, making any kind of outlet I can for that playfulness in my work.

Joanna: I love that. Well, let's talk about the books of poetry, the collections. I'm also fascinated with this, in that you have to choose poems to go into a collection, which are usually themed in some way. I own quite a lot of these collections of poems.

How do you choose the poems that go into a collection? How do you know when it's finished?

As in, okay, I am happy that this represents whatever that particular point in time is. It seems like quite a nebulous process.

Jacqueline: The choosing is really a fun process. I think, for me, what will happen when I know a book is coming into focus, is I will spend my time reviewing what I've been writing over the last year or two years in my journals, and I'll see a pattern or a theme.

For example, I made a trilogy of books about my time living in California, and each book in the trilogy is about a certain place that I lived.

What allowed me to choose those poems was that I saw this beautiful kind of exploration of place, and I thought, “Oh, I have an entire books worth of poems about my time living in Northern California. Oh, I have an entire books worth of poems about my time living in Los Angeles, and then another for Joshua Tree.”

I could see this theme. So then I went back in and added to it.

I thought about my core memories of those places and patched in what I thought was missing.

With all my books, it's been a similar process of sort of noticing that either there's a theme building up, or there's a collection of poems that are based on place or a certain time in my life. So that's kind of how the choosing happens with this reflection process.

Then there's how to know when a poem is done. I work a lot with clients one-on-one who are trying to create books or trying to polish their poetry.

I always say, you really do need to work with someone else at some point in the process, so that they can say to you, “Yes, this makes sense. This is clear. This is getting across the point you're trying to get across.”

You need to have that reflection of another reader, someone else's eyes on it, to give you the sense of closure that you might need.

Not every poem is like that. Some poems, randomly you'll write something that's just like, “Pow! That is done. That is good. I love it. That's very clear,” but I think that's very rare.

Joanna: I love that. So I also wonder about your poetry, and in fact, your books in general, because you have poems in this book A Year In Practice. I tend to read poetry from a physical book, sometimes I'll get an audio or maybe watch a video of a poet performing, but I'm one of those people who appreciates the physical layout of a poem.

That's often a place where people play with physical layout and the beauty of words on a page, as opposed to the beauty of the words. Do you know what I mean?

How do you incorporate physical beauty in the layout words on the page, or is that less important to you than just the words?

Jacqueline: I do love that. I love when people appreciate that because that is a big part of the craft. Deciding where to break a line, deciding what space goes between which stanza. I think for my work, a lot of times I'll be creating something that the line breaks are giving the pause and the cadence to the poem.

So I'm a huge fan of reading poetry aloud. Like every time I read a book of poems, I will read the poems out loud because I feel like there's a lyrical song-like quality to poetry, there's a rhythm.

The lines, and the way they break, and the way that the words appear on the page offer that. There's spaciousness around certain words.

I think for my work with the typewritten poems, then there's another quality of this kind of tactile, visual expression with the mistakes that I leave in, or just when the typewriter skips a beat, or when I go over a spelling mistake with just a few Xs, because on my typewriter, there's no way to backspace or amend mistakes.

I think that things like that give a different life to poems. Especially, if a poem is just a block on the page as like a narrative or prose narrative—which I do write poems like that a lot—I think it's definitely still an invitation to kind of slow down.

I think that's the difference a lot of times between just straight up prose or narrative fiction or something, is that you get this chance to have space around the words that are usually delivering something very, very macro, very large, as a condensed space, and as few words as possible, honestly.

Joanna: Let's get into A Year In Practice. It's a great book, I really enjoyed it. Of course, people can listen to this whenever because it does have all the seasons in it.

How should we consider the seasons as they relate to a calendar year, specific writing projects, and also times in our lives?

How might they overlay each other?

Jacqueline: When I was creating this book, I looked to the earth for many things. A lot of my life revolves around my connection with the planet. Especially as a creative person, as a writer, as a professional artist, I feel like a lot of times what I'm searching for, what I'm honing in on, is some sort of a methodology that allows me to have a consistent routine.

That changes throughout the seasons of my life, depending on what's happening in my life, what other work I'm doing, where I live, what personal things are happening in my world.

This project started many years ago when I lived in Los Angeles, and in Los Angeles the seasons are very subtle. You have to really be paying close attention to understand that there even are seasons, and what they're telling you is even more subtle.

So I think for a poet, that's actually an incredible invitation because I think subtlety is something that I love to lean into and kind of see what is really under the current of this. What small hints and arrows am I missing if I just kind of rushed through this? Subtlety asks you to look closer and slow down.

So I really learned about the seasons in a new way when I was living in Los Angeles, and this book kind of came out of that. I was like, okay, in the winter, I need to give myself some kind of space to slow down and turn inward a little bit.

Even if you're living somewhere where there isn't snow, or there isn't actual cold weather to deal with that kind of forces you to be in hermit mode, you need to give yourself that because your human body kind of requires that.

There's not a lot of space for that in our society. I did an interview with someone once about the book, and they were like—

“Basically, your book is suggesting that we rest a lot.”

I think that's a big part of the creative practice that can easily get overlooked because we're really concerned with product and outcome. It does feel really good to finish something or to fully indulge in creativity and let yourself be really fervent with whatever your ideas are.

I also think that noticing the season at hand and reeling it in for winter allows you to then move into spring where there is this charge, and there is a charge of energy that you can carefully and slowly approach so that you don't get burned out.

Then you go into summertime, and that's a major time of togetherness. Like that's when we're together, when we're sharing our work, when we're taking in work, but in a group. I imagine always in the summer, it's like when you're allowed to fully be out.

You're not having one foot in the door and one foot out, like you might be in spring. That care then kind of translates into the fall where you start harvesting and gathering again for your winter introversion or for your winter seclusion period. So there's a lot of energy in fall for noting:

What will I need in my creative cave? What can I do for myself now? What can I finish now before I kind of start to turn off a little?

So I love winter, and I feel that winter is a really appropriate time for creative gestation. Then the seasons that follow, there's a lot of choice that's involved.

You made these choices to turn inward and to focus and to kind of calm and take your foot off the pedal a little bit, but then when you come back into action in spring, it isn't like you just then slam on the gas. The truth is, is that winter kind of starts and stops for a long time, and spring is very moody. That really affects our creative practice. It really affects our ability to show up for our ideas that maybe we've been brewing during the wintertime.

Joanna: In the bigger level, I was thinking as I was reading the book, there are different phases of our life. So you mentioned that your Poem Store, you're not doing that anymore, that was like a phase of life that you have now moved on from.

We all have the seasons, that sort of macro level. So for me, for example, the perimenopause years were like a winter, in that I really struggled to do a lot. I needed, or I should have, given myself more grace and more time, but it really felt like a winter.

I've come through that now, and I feel like I'm really in a spring, like a reinvention. That's sort of a number of years over different parts of our lives that sort of mirror, I guess do you find that they do mirror the annual sense?

Jacqueline: Yes, and I really like considering the seasons of our lives. I think the main thesis for this book is just:

How can we remember what the energetic quality of this season is and then apply that during our life whenever we need it?

So sometimes we need a winter, we need to go inward, we need to rest and recuperate. That might happen in the middle of summer. I think it's more of learning this gift of this language that the seasons offer.

The earth is just saying like, “Here, this is what all the other animals and all the other plants are doing right now. You're a part of that, maybe you could consider doing that also.”

Then thinking how that applies to the greater practice of just living and kind of knowing, okay, I've memorized what goes on during this time of year for myself, or I've memorized what it feels like to sort of downshift. How do I apply that?

I've done the work of memorizing it, so it's almost like now I can flip the switch. I can make the choice and say that's the energy I need right now. That doesn't really happen unless we give ourselves over to learning it and practicing it.

That's, I think, why I wanted to have the word “practice” in the title of the book, and to consider practice not just being creative practice and artistic practice, but truly the practice of living and engaging with life in a healthy and beneficial way that might be forgotten very easily, because there's so many things in our daily lives that steer us away from that.

Joanna: So as we're recording this, we're coming into spring. I was telling you before we started recording that the sun is out here in the UK, and it feels like, yay, spring has finally arrived.

I love in the book, you have this poem called “Emergence,” and I actually have on my wall, I have a little card that says, “Trust emergence,” which I feel reminds me that something will emerge. Even if the garden has been bare in the winter, something will start to sprout. So can you talk a bit about that?

Why does the word “emergence” call to you?

How can people understand that that will happen? I think it's really hard, hence why I've got it on my wall to remind myself.

Jacqueline: I think this really does just circle around the theme and the thesis of the book of this remembering, even this concept of emergence and that something will emerge, something new will happen.

How incredible is it to see the flowers and the perennials all pop out of the ground every year? It's never something that I'm not in awe of. It always almost shocks me.

I think there's something in that that's change is the written law of the universe. It will always be happening.

We will always be shifting and growing and changing, something different will always emerge. That's the nature of life.

We forget that. We get stuck in these feelings that nothing will change, that things are the way they are. I think that that's partially just what it is to be human. I think we get caught in our minds. We get caught in a feeling. We get caught in our bodies.

We forget that, yes, like something new will come, and that as it does emerge, the way we respond to it, the way we notice it, the way we meet it, and what we do with it, and the pace that we do all of that with it, really matters.

So I think, again, that memorizing. Well, how do you approach emergence? How do you keep yourself in line with the fact that that will come? What will you do before it does?

I love using the metaphor of the plant world because I think that the plant world is so reliable in this way, where if something emerges too soon from its cave of growth, from its safe underworld below the soil, it might get killed in the frost.

That's what happens every spring, there are these frosts that happen, where winter kind of makes its last stand. If we're not careful, coming out into the world after our moments of inward retreat, we could have that experience as well. We could get a little burned. We could get burnt out.

Some idea that we bring to the surface too soon before we're really ready could then get kind of snuffed out a little bit by the fervent energy of spring, and then things get lost. I think that's kind of what I think of when I think of emergence.

Joanna: You mentioned fervent energy there, which I love, because I feel that is the energy right now as we're talking. Everything's growing, and it's a bit mad out in the flowerbeds.

This is a problem that authors have is that often there are so many ideas. There are some people who struggle to find ideas, but many of us, I'm sure you included, have so many ideas. I don't know which one to focus on. I wondered, since you do so many different creative things, how do you know—

When all these things are springing up and emerging, how do you choose your next project?

Whether it's a collection of poems, or a full-length book, or all the other things you do?

Jacqueline: I'll try to stay in the logical realm with this because, for the most part, I actually think that that's a very intuitive experience. When I choose a project, it's usually because some kind of door opens. There is some pathway that is easeful, and I noticed that.

I think logically and practically what that looks like usually is like, okay, I'm feeling my way into a new project, there's probably a few at once that I've been thinking of, and all winter I've been brewing these ideas.

Then something will happen where I'll say, oh, okay, this is the easy way forward with this, and it's inspiring to me, and it's easeful. So that's the thing I follow. Then sometimes that peters out, and then I turned to the next thing.

So I think having your clear ideas of: what are the things that would make you feel great? What are the things that would inspire you? What are the things that you feel energetically pulled to do? Then also, what ease comes with those things?

Like if you choose a project, and then suddenly the next day, you notice that there's a grant proposal that just opened up that's in the same vein as that project, to me, that's a practical sign to try and put my effort in that direction.

I think following those practical signs is also very much like what the Earth does. When a plant is growing up and out of the soil, it's like, I'm going to lean toward the sun, and I'm going to make this easier on myself. I'm not going to grow in a direction that would make my growing harder. So I think that that's how I focus on things like that.

I let myself intuitively move towards what's easeful.

It's hard enough in the world to make a living in any way, so I think that if your artistic practice is your daily job, then there's a lot that rides on the ease of what you choose.

Joanna: That's interesting. I'm also intuitive. We actually talk about intuition quite a lot on this show, so I'm glad you said that. I do feel when I want to tackle a project, like this is ready now, it does emerge. It comes out. Some books, like one I'm writing at the moment, it's been years in germination—since we're staying with that metaphor.

Let's come on to summer because you use the word “celebration” in the summer section. This is something I, and many authors, struggle with. In fact, someone asked me the other day in an interview, “What's the favorite book you've written?” I was like, “The next book. It's always the next book.” So I wondered, what do you feel about this?

How do we celebrate what we have done, our past, as well as just moving onto the next thing?

Jacqueline: I think that's really interesting. I love the books that I've written.

I feel that there are some books that I've written because they were more of like a prompt. They were more of something that was almost like requested of me, either to continue my career moving forward or just to get something out of my brain that I knew was almost like taking up space.

I think that I don't judge the reasons why I make things, as opposed to just looking back and being like, “This is a good book.” I still feel that way, and I actually feel that way about all of my work.

That doesn't mean I don't have a favorite, but I do feel this sense of letting myself just enjoy the successes I've had, and the fact that I've written eight books and created over 40,000 poems in the world.

I love to feel that actually anything that comes after all of that is just like a cherry on top. I've already done all of this work that I'm really proud of. I kind of let myself live in that way, instead of feeling this push and rush to be more or make more.

I haven't written a bestselling book, but that doesn't make me feel badly about myself. It's more like, well, but I have written eight really great books that I am proud of. So there's something about this comparison that can happen in the world of artistry that I try to steer away from, and just sort of look at the facts.

I actually have in my book Every Day Is a Poem, which is all about cultivating a poetic mindset and the practice of poetry, I talk a lot about reflecting on one's life, and thinking of all of the skills that we have, and all of the things that we have done, and all of our accomplishments, but on a really simple level.

I love to consider all of the experiences that I've had, all the places I've gone, the friendships that I've nurtured, just the simplicity of being like, well, you know, I've enjoyed cutting a cold apple on a really hot day with a beautiful sharp knife. That feels like an accomplishment to me.

So if I'm reflecting, I'm just like, wow, I've done a lot. I've experienced a lot in this life. Instead of thinking that that's exceptional or special, I think that every human could do that. It's just about reframing the way you see your life.

Joanna: I think I always just feel like I have so many ideas and so many books I want to write. It's like once one is done and out in the world, and I've released it, and now it kind of belongs to everyone else, I'm just excited about the next one.

I think I struggle, like many people, with the idea of rest. There's always more to create.

Jacqueline: Yes, and I mean, I feel that way too. I have many projects that I'd like to complete in my lifetime. I think there's something to be said about—and this has definitely helped me—about just practicing patience with all of that.

I've had periods in my life where I have had a book come out every single year. Now for the past few years, that's been a little different.

I think at first, even like downshifting from my experience with Poem Store, which was just constant output, constantly creating and seeing this completed poem go off into the hands of a stranger over and over again, it really sped things up for me.

I think over the last few years, I've been practicing just slowness.

I have the word “SLOW” written in huge letters right above my desk, just reminding me that great masterpieces take a really long time, sometimes a lifetime.

I think the Earth really shows us that also. A Year In Practice is kind of revolving around that same idea of your whole life, and all of the seasons of your life, and what you create, it's all adding up to be this great masterpiece.

It's not just like a book that's published in your hand. It's also just like every moment by the end of your life adds up to be this really incredible artwork. Especially if you approach it that way, especially if you try to practice living your life artfully, then I don't think there really are mistakes to be made.

Joanna: Just coming back to that word “slow” because it's so interesting that you have that. I mean, I've got loads of things written next to my desk on all my little bits of papers and quotes and things. I do not have slow.

I do have, “Create a body of work I'm proud of,” which I think that resonates with what you're saying.

What are some practices that can help us slow down? Particularly in this world, a lot of authors now, we have to be on social media, we have to do things to keep our profile up so that people can find our books because it's pretty noisy out there.

What are your suggestions for slowing down?

Jacqueline: I think there's something in the creative practice that tells me, don't grasp, don't rush. So if I'm working on something, even just a single poem, if I'm working on anything creative, I will check in with myself and be like, am I rushing? Am I grasping at something here?

Or does this feel playful? Does this feel like I'm tending to a deeper emotion? That doesn't mean I won't end up writing really quickly on the page some great burst of inspiration, it just sort of allows me to review where I'm at internally.

I do think that that's probably my greatest advice is just that rushing through anything, it can easily feel like, oh, I'm just following the blaze of inspiration. If you look closer sometimes, if you just review the feeling, you might be like, oh, actually, no, I'm just trying to push through towards an outcome.

I don't think creativity really likes that. I think our imaginations are running rampant all the time, and if we slow down to tap into them, there's a lot there, but I don't think it requires us to be on the same pace as it.

We can grab maybe one piece of that, and then slowly nurture it and take our time with it. As opposed to feeling this sense of, I've got to rush and collect every little idea or image or concept that I have.

I think I heard an interview once with Tom Waits, where he was talking about where he was driving in the car. He would always think the muse is coming to him in these moments where he's like on the highway in his car, and he'd say, “Muse, don't come to me now, I'd have to pull over on the side of the road.”

There's something about that—I might be misquoting it—but there was something about that that really struck me when I was younger. Number one, if I have an idea in the middle of the night, I'm going to turn the light on and write it down in my notebook.

Then I think over the last couple years of practicing slowness, I've thought a lot about just letting poems kind of pass through me and not feeling so pressed to document everything.

That has actually released me from that feeling of pressure. You can have a really brilliant idea, and it can just be a brilliant idea that kind of moves through your body. That's it, and that's how it lives in the world, and it doesn't become something. There's a great freedom in accepting that, I think.

Joanna: In social media there's this sort of thing, if you don't take a picture of it and post it, it doesn't exist, it didn't happen. It's similar. We don't need to share everything. Not everything needs to be documented. So I like that kind of letting go.

Let's come to autumn. In the book, it's so interesting, you do use this phrase, “when the veil is thin.” I use that phrase pretty much in all my novels, in my memoir, as I feel this in certain places, and certain times, spiritual places, different times of year.

What do you mean by the veil being thin? How does it manifest in your work?

Jacqueline: Well, I think specifically in autumn, there's a sensation of being very close to death, because everything is losing its vibrance. All of the green is gone, the leaves are falling, everything is starting to go to sleep. So beyond the veil is winter, is the period of rest, is like the inner cave.

I think that when we're kind of hovering before going fully in there, there might be this opportunity to receive some information.

So I think receiving information in these moments where we feel close to death, or close to our hibernation mode, that maybe our minds are a little bit slower, maybe we're just starting to slow down, and so we're able to receive something on a different level than just this daily grind of like mental reception.

It's actually like, oh, maybe there's something that's a little bit quieter that's talking to you that wants to share information with you. I'm speaking of that in a planetary sense.

Though I also think as the Earth is calming and turning down, and maybe there's a lot of gathering happening, like if you think of all the squirrels preparing for winter, and they're doing this great method of gathering all their food and preparing, there's a sense of us doing that also.

I think as artists, and just as people, we're preparing for this inward turn that comes with that time of year. If we allow ourselves to look at that, there might be this great information download that happens then.

I think when I'm thinking of the veil being thin, I'm thinking of that quietness and that chance for this sort of exploration of something a little more spiritual or unseen that we don't necessarily have time for or that we overlook in other moments of the year.

Joanna: Have you experienced that in any particular places?

Jacqueline: Yes. As I said, I'm an ecstatic Earth worshipper. So for me, all of that information usually comes from being in places that are less populated by humans, or being in the forest, or even just being in the park.

I think being in the natural world and having that chance to downshift into that quietness, I think that is when I typically will receive either intuitive information or my imagination kind of comes into a different play.

I've had a lot of spiritual experiences, and I think the veil can be thin no matter what the time of year is. I just think that sometimes in the fall, it's a little bit more potent.

Joanna: Of course, with the various festivals that happen, Day of the Dead, it is a time of year when that is really focused on a lot more, this acknowledgement of death and the closeness of this other world that perhaps we don't live in every day, and certainly don't think about in the spring when we're just running around in the sun.

Jacqueline: Absolutely.

Joanna: So what's next for you? You have all these different things. You've got the various poetry collections and books.

What will you focus on next?

Jacqueline: Well, I have a book of poems that's finished that I'm just kind of trying to figure out who the publisher will be. So I'll probably start putting my energy into that. I'm really excited about that book. Then I have another idea for a book.

I'm about to move into this house that my husband and I have been restoring for the last few years. That will be a big shift in my life. I'll have a new studio space, and that always gives a lot of creative information. So I'm definitely gearing up for that.

Joanna: Oh, yes, moving house. That's a big one, isn't it? That really does change the energy.

Jacqueline: Yes, a new season for sure. A definite new season of my life. I'm about to turn 40. In November, I'll be 40. So there's a lot of big changes happening.

I always know that creatively, for me, space has a lot to do with what I create. That means like mental space, physical space. I think that I'm looking forward to that next chapter of having just a more grounded space and being able to settle into my home that I'll live in for the foreseeable future.

Joanna: Where can people find you and your books online?

Jacqueline: I have a website, JacquelineSuskin.com. I also have a Substack, if you look my name up on Substack. I do a lot of writing on there.

I'm on Instagram. @JSuskin is my Instagram. I try to keep all those things updated and put out a newsletter every month. So that's a good way to find me.

My books are anywhere you want to find a book, you can find my books for the most part.

Joanna: Great. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jacqueline. That was really interesting.

Jacqueline: Thanks for having me.

The post The Seasons Of Writing With Jacqueline Suskin first appeared on The Creative Penn.

]]>
How can you adopt the seasons of nature in your writing? How can you allow periods of rest as well as abundance? Jacqueline Suskin explores these ideas and more in this interview. In the intro, thoughts on children's book publishing [Always Take Notes ... How can you adopt the seasons of nature in your writing? How can you allow periods of rest as well as abundance? Jacqueline Suskin explores these ideas and more in this interview.



In the intro, thoughts on children's book publishing [Always Take Notes Podcast]; how to market a memoir as an indie author [ALLi]; A desperate quest. A holy relic. A race against time. Spear of Destiny is live on Kickstarter!; What is Kickstarter and why am I launching there?, I'm on the Wordslinger Podcast talking about marketing later books in a series.



Book cover designer Stuart Bache on AI for book covers [Brave New Bookshelf]; OpenAI signs licensing deals with The Atlantic, Vox Media, and NewsCorp [OpenAI]






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Jacqueline Suskin is a poet, author, speaker, and creative consultant. Her latest book is A Year In Practice: Seasonal Rituals And Prompts To Awaken Cycles Of Creative Expression.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Writing a poem quickly, live and in person, or order



* Choosing the poems that go into a collection and knowing when it's finished



* The physical beauty of layout on the page



* Embracing the seasons of life and creativity



* Trust emergence



* Choosing the “easeful” path for your next project



* Celebrating our creative accomplishments while continuing our journey



* Practices to help us slow down



* ‘The veil is thin' and how it manifests in our work




You can find Jacqueline at JacquelineSu...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:10
Plan For Success In Your Indie Author Business And TikTok Marketing With Adam Beswick https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/27/plan-for-success-tiktok-marketing-adam-beswick/ Mon, 27 May 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36271 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/27/plan-for-success-tiktok-marketing-adam-beswick/#respond https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/27/plan-for-success-tiktok-marketing-adam-beswick/feed/ 0 <p>How can you plan for success as an indie author even early in your writing career? How can you create multiple streams of income and multiple marketing channels, while still writing your books? Adam Beswick goes into his strategies. In the intro, Kickstarter announces new functionality to help creatives;Watch out for a scam email about […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/27/plan-for-success-tiktok-marketing-adam-beswick/">Plan For Success In Your Indie Author Business And TikTok Marketing With Adam Beswick</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you plan for success as an indie author even early in your writing career? How can you create multiple streams of income and multiple marketing channels, while still writing your books? Adam Beswick goes into his strategies.

In the intro, Kickstarter announces new functionality to help creatives;Watch out for a scam email about ALLi [Writer Beware]; Gary Vaynerchuk on the shifting marketing arena [Marketing Against the Grain Podcast]; Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk; Camera free video options [Brave New Bookshelf]

Plus, Microsoft Build event with new AI-enabled PCs and Copilot agents [Microsoft]; My thoughts on seeing Hamilton; and Spear of Destiny coming this week!

ProWritingAid

Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Adam Beswick is the best-selling author of the Levanthria series which has taken readers on epic journeys from corner to corner of the world. While mastering the craft of fantastical storytelling, Adam simultaneously embraces the rewarding challenges of family life as well as being an authorpreneur.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Setting the foundation for your author business
  • Having the confidence to financially invest in yourself
  • Wrestling with the “importance” of choosing a writing career
  • Creating multiple streams of income
  • Overcoming the initial fear of creating video marketing content
  • Staying consistent with your TikTok marketing and growing your viewership
  • How to diversify away from reliance on any single platform

You can find Adam at APBeswickPublications.com.

Transcript of Interview with Adam Beswick

Joanna: Welcome to the show, Adam.

Adam: Hi there. Thanks for having me.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you.

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.

Adam: Well, I started writing around 2017. I was a mental health nurse, working silly hours in really stressful environments. I absolutely loved my job, but I needed a bit of an outlet at the end of my day.

I started writing bedtime stories for my children. Then it was my eldest daughter who challenged me to write a proper story, as she said at the time. I was joking with her that by the time I've written it, you'll probably be old enough to read it. Lo and behold, two and a half or three years later, I had a story that was written.

I'd published my first book, which was Arnold Ethon and The Lions of Tsavo, which is now known as the Spirit Beast Series, as I've rebranded that story last year.

So that's really how I got into writing. I wrote a couple of books in that series, they were kind of YA urban fantasy. It was a bit confusing what genre it was in. Then I spent the next two years figuring out how to actually publish them.

I was listening to all your podcasts, listening to Jenna Moreci, Bethany Atazadeh, and quite a few different indie authors to get hints and tips on how to publish those books.

It wasn't really until 2022, when I pivoted and released a new book in a new series, which was A Forest of Vanity and Valour, which was a dark fantasy retelling inspired by Robin Hood, that my career started taking off.

Joanna: Oh, so interesting. So first of all, I love that you come from healthcare. I mean, as a mental health nurse, I feel like you bring an attitude of caring from that job. I've seen you speak, and I think that comes through in the way you are in the community, which I really appreciate.

I wanted to ask you about how you went full time as an indie author in 2023, and we're recording this in 2024. So this is a big decision. So you left that job, and—

Can you just tell us how you made the decision to leave the job and how you've dealt with that shift?

I know it's a big deal.

Adam: So the hardest part was convincing my wife that it was a stable career choice to be making. So, yes, throughout 2022, my books' trajectory started increasing.

It was late 2022 when I sat down with Mrs. Beswick and kind of laid out the financials and told her my intention that I really wanted to go full time. I did really enjoy my job. I was in a band 7 post in the NHS in a complex care commissioning team, which I did really enjoy.

I had a good sense of purpose, but the hours compared to the time it was allowing me to write and keep on track of everything for my indie author side that was really gathering momentum made it quite difficult to juggle the two.

Luckily, I managed to convince Mrs. Beswick that it was a good idea for me to go full-time. I think it was the 14th of February 2023 that I was able to leave that role in the complex care team in the CCG and become a full-time indie author. It was something that was incredible. I never thought it would ever happen.

So 2023 was more about working on my foundations which I had been putting into place in 2022. So making sure the foundations were right, and that that way I could progress and move into my 2024 plan, which was around growth.

So 2023, my primary focus was getting into a good routine, a healthy routine. I was making sure I was still being able to write books that people would enjoy, as well as planning far enough ahead to make sure there's plenty to look forward to keep me motivated as well.

Joanna: Well, on that, let's dig a bit more on what is working on foundations. You mentioned there a healthy routine and some planning, but—

Give us a sense of what foundations you were working on.

Adam: Okay, so the entire time before I went full time, in 2022 when A Forest of Vanity and Valour first started taking off, I had to learn fast with the networking side. What I mean by that is kind of replying to feedback and emails and comments on social media from readers and trying to build that engaged audience.

So 2022 and 2023, there was a really big focus on building those platforms and working on my newsletter. Making sure that my business was set up correctly has been absolutely key.

As we're all indie authors, our focus a lot of the time is just on writing the books.

What we actually forget is writing the books is only a part of that indie author career.

We've got to be marketing experts, and there's so many different hats that we have to wear, that one of the factors there as well was making sure that the business side was set up.

At first it’s quite overwhelming, but making sure that you're set up for success from the beginning is absolutely key so that you're not caught chasing your tail.

Joanna: Well on that, again, you come from healthcare, so how did you learn how to set up a business correctly? I mean, I worked in business, and I ran my own businesses, so that's always been easier for me because I had that experience. So how did you learn that?

How did you make sure you had the right [business] setup?

Adam: So as a nurse, one of the things that is drilled into you from the first day of your training is to be a reflective practitioner. A lot of those skills that I've kind of adapted as a nurse, I've transferred into my indie author career. So that reflexive practice is something that I've always done.

Seeing what's working, what can I change? If I were in that situation again, what could I do differently? How could I improve my responses?

Running the business is very much the same. You're not always going to get it perfect, but you have to be susceptible to feedback and being able to adapt, and be quick on your feet and pivot if things aren't going correctly.

What I made sure I was doing is that I got a good accountant that was able to advise me very well on how to adapt and change as my business continued to grow.

So for example, going from a sole trader to a limited company, how to set that up to go into being VAT registered. There's a lot of background stuff that can be quite overwhelming if you haven't got the right circle of people around you.

So in having a good accountant, they were able to explain everything to me, answer any questions that I might have. Obviously, I work more and more with them as my books have done better and better, as I've needed more and more support on certain elements of the business.

Joanna: I love that you did that because I also did that when I decided to leave my job as a consultant and do this. I planned to be successful, and I made a business plan for a six-figure business. It was something that is actually very rare, so well done for doing that.

Now for people listening who are like, “Whoa, Adam did that quite quickly.” So how do you have the confidence—since you started in 2017, really, but 2022 was when it really took off—

How do you have the confidence to spend the money on things like an accountant earlier on in the career when you don't necessarily know that things are going to carry on growing?

There are people listening who just don't know how they can make that step, I guess. So any tips around that?

Adam: So first and foremost, I invested in myself. It was easy to do when I was earning a full-time wage. Obviously, my time was spread a lot thinner, but when I was still working full time as a nurse, I had an income that covered all my bills.

So any extra income I was making through my books, I could just reinvest straight back into the business. So while I wasn't full time, and still had that main source of income coming in, I was using any money that was coming in to invest into those foundations I spoke about earlier.

So I was paying for future books to be formatted and edited. I was covering the cost of my audiobook narrator for multiple books in advance while that money was there.

Once all that stuff was paid for, and I could see that the royalties were kind of going beyond what I could spend on the business, that's where I started saving that money to one side to make sure I had six months wages saved up for the day that I did go full time.

Joanna: That six months, I also did the same thing. It's really interesting, I said to my husband, Jonathan, if I can't make this work in six months, then I will go back to my job. I imagine you said the same thing. In fact, you could go back anytime, right?

Adam: Well, it’s quite a surreal moment, really. So obviously, being a nurse, I have a yearly PIN that I have to register with the NMC. Last year, I renewed that, and it expires tomorrow, and I'm not going to renew it. It is a bit sad, but I haven't been practicing as a nurse for 15 months now.

I have the belief that my books and my publishing company will go from strength to strength.

So I guess you have to have that inner belief that you are going to succeed because they'll always be that seed of doubt. If you're not backing yourself, who else is going to back you?

Joanna: I agree. Well, then I'm going to ask you a question that came up a lot during the pandemic, and I've thought about it too.

How important is writing story when we maybe could do something “more important”?

Like people would say, oh, I should save lives, I should become a doctor or a nurse instead of writing stories. So I wondered if that's something you've wrestled with or any thoughts on that?

Adam: I think one element of how you could look at it is that in a way authors were kind of key workers in that pandemic. Everyone was trapped and isolated and alone, and there was a resurgence in books, in general, because more people were suddenly reading because they had nothing else they could do.

They couldn't socialize. So actually, if those stories didn't exist, a lot of people wouldn't have been able to find the escapism that they did during COVID. I continued writing.

I was running an extremely complex service-learning disability service near where I live when COVID hit. We were a week away from opening when we went into the first lockdown.

So I was working with some incredibly challenging and complex individuals with autism, mental health needs, challenging behaviors, and we had to carry out all that work during lockdown conditions.

So we were going into hospitals, working with individuals, transitioning them from one state hospital into living in their own flat in the community with the right levels of support.

Writing was a release to what was an incredibly stressful time for me. So that was my escape.

I was sitting down first thing in the morning, not so much last thing at night, and I was just up an hour before anyone else in the house got up. That way there was no time lost with my family, that my writing wasn't impacting my family life.

I just kept writing. The more motivated I got with stories, the more I found my stories were coming together a lot quicker.

Joanna: I love that. I actually have a quote on my wall. I only read it recently, but it helps me, which is by the horror writer, Adam Nevill. It says,

“If you are gifted with an imagination, it must be used.” Adam Nevill

I love that because you're obviously someone who also is gifted with imagination. You're also gifted in other ways, but I love that you're using it.

As you say, we help people through our stories. I know that took me a long time to really accept, and it's something I still think about. So yes, I love that.

So let's just come back to something else you said, which was in 2020, you pivoted. So you had The Spirit Beasts series that you rebranded, and then you moved into the dark fantasy retelling.

Why pivot? Is this about writing to market? How did you decide to do that?

Adam: It was a bit of both, really. So I was in the build up to the second book in my Spirit Beast series, as it was called then, and sales weren't anything breathtaking. Outside of family and friends, I was finding it incredibly hard to market.

Writing and releasing the books was difficult, in the sense that we're having to scrimp and scrape every penny we had to do the formatting and the book cover design. So I was kind of limited to releasing one book a year.

So I was actually sat watching the latest Robin Hood film with Mrs. Beswick, featuring Taron Egerton. At the end of the film, I was having a bit of a grumble that I didn't like it, and Mrs. Beswick lost it with me and just kind of said, “If you think you can do better, why don't you write it?”

So I just got the bit between my teeth and was like, right, okay. Then I sat down and thought, well, what if it wasn't Robin Hood's story, but more a retelling?

Then it kind of escalated to, oh, what if it was a fantasy retelling? So a completely new fantasy world, but it's more of the trope of Robin Hood that you recognize.

Then I was like, oh, what if Blackbeard lived in this world? What if there were witches, and King Arthur, and Merlin, and St. George? Then my mind just kept escalating.

I was like, oh, these could all be standalone stories that interconnect with characters that appear. Like in the first book there's a bit-part character, but by book three, they're a main character with a book around them. Then it just grew from there.

I think I wrote that book in a few months, and it was the quickest I've ever written a story because I was hyper-motivated once that concept started to grow. It all came about because Mrs. Beswick decided to challenge me because she was sick of me grumbling.

Joanna: I mean, there's lots of ideas that come up like that. So you wrote that book, but did you keep in mind the marketing?

How did you then discover that this was going to be the thing that would sell more easily?

Adam: I didn't. So at first, I was looking at how I could speed up the process of publishing, from a cost perspective, and I came across a platform called Kickstarter. I'm sure everyone is aware of it now.

I'm proud to say that my first Kickstarter finished about a month before Brandon Sanderson made it widely known that Kickstarter is a fantastic platform for publishing books.

The money that I was able to raise from that Kickstarter meant that I could publish A Forest of Vanity and Valour, and I had enough money to cover the costs for book two.

That meant I could release that three months after the first book came out, rather than a year. Up to that point, my books were taking me about a year at a time to release.

Joanna: So just tell us there so people get an idea, because you mentioned Brandon Sanderson, and, of course, his money on Kickstarter is ridiculous.

How much money did you make on that first Kickstarter?

Adam: Around two and a half thousand pounds.

Joanna: Okay, so let's say that's around three thousand US dollars. So this is not a Brandon Sanderson amount of money, but that was enough for you to take that and invest that in the books.

So then, let's talk about how you drove success from there. I feel like you talked a bit earlier about how you were building your engaged audience, and you mentioned a few things, but you're kind of well-known now around TikTok and using that platform.

Talk about when you started to use TikTok and why you decided to go that way.

Adam: I think it was January 6th, which was a week before A Forest of Vanity and Valour came out, that one of my friends who was my accountability partner, we'd had a conversation to say we're going to make 2022 our year.

To do that, I knew that I needed to say yes to more opportunities and stop being overly cautious and avoiding scenarios. I was always worried about what was going wrong, or what could go wrong and the risk, rather than looking at what the reward could be.

So my mantra was kind of as long as it doesn't put my family at detriment, then it's a risk that I'm happy to take, regardless of how uncomfortable that may make me.

Rob challenged me to join James Blatch's TikTok for Authors group, where they were doing a five-day TikTok challenge. It was designed to get yourself on camera and start talking about your books on a video format.

I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't hold the camera.

I tried filming myself, and I was shaking that much. It was ridiculous, it was only me in the room.

So I did the challenge, I filmed a video, and I think I released three videos a day, every day for five days. I became hooked very, very quickly. I started posting about A Forest of Vanity and Valour, letting people know about it, letting people know about me, introducing myself, trying different kinds of videos.

By the end of January, I'd made 100 pounds without spending a penny on advertising. That proved to be a pivotal moment and probably the most important part of my career so far.

Now, a lot of people might think that's a lot of work to do, and look and think, well, you've only made 100 pound profit. Whereas my mindset was that I've made 100 pounds without spending anything on ads. So I did a deep dive — 

I looked at the content that was generating engagement, and I just started tweaking it like you would a Facebook ad, doing your AB testing.

I kept trying different types of videos, and then continued posting three videos a day, until I think it was the back end of April, or middle of April, that I had my first semi-viral video. That meant that from two books I made just around 2000 pounds.

That really opened my eyes to what was possible from a video, from a content-making point of view. So that was all the motivation I needed.

I started thinking in small term goals. Let's aim to continue to get at least X amount of sales every day for a whole month, or X amount of page-reads. Then it was if I can do 2000 pounds a month for six months, that shows this is sustainable.

I just kept repeating that, trying different kinds of videos, releasing new content, but most importantly, keeping writing books, keeping the audience engaged and showing them what is coming in the future. As, obviously, it was a series that I was writing.

It just kind of went from strength to strength with the video marketing. In August of 2022, I had my first viral video, truly viral video, which was about 2 million views.

By that time I had two books out, but I also had had the audiobooks produced with the money I'd made that year from my books taking off on TikTok. It was just in that cycle of posting content, and I wasn't really chasing virality.

Virality, it's fantastic when it happens because it can set you up for more than a few months, but the focus for me was keeping posting content, keeping engaged, keeping motivated, keeping growing that audience for the remainder of 2022, and beyond into 2023.

Joanna: All right, a couple of things I want to come back on. So first of all, your business model around platforms and things. So you've mentioned Kickstarter, but then you also just mentioned page reads, and I think you also have your own store.

What kind of setup have you got around sales? How are you driving most of that revenue?

Adam: Okay, so obviously, I heavily use video marketing to direct traffic and sales. As everyone knows, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram reels, for example, you're not guaranteed that engagement. So your sales can't be as consistent as you might like.

So again, this is why the foundations of having your own audience to tap into is key. So last, I think it was 2023 about August time, I wasn't really happy with the page reads, what I was getting paid for page reads. My page reads weren't necessarily groundbreaking, I have a lot of people that will buy the physical copies of my books.

So in September, I set up my own store. I took all my books out of Kindle Unlimited, and I took all my audiobooks from exclusivity with ACX.

I set up my own bundles on my store and started working with a company called Bookvault to print my books.

They will print the books, and they'll distribute books, so I don't have to worry about having a huge amount of stock, and they're print on demand. I started letting my followers know about it. Between September and December, my store just completely blew up. It was absolutely insane how well it was doing.

People were really interested in that story, it wasn't just the books they were interested in. It wasn't that I was completely unhappy with Amazon, but I think I'd be lying if I didn't say we all have grumbles that things could be better with royalty rates, things like that.

It just felt like everywhere I went to, the indie author and the creator who has put all this money and invested all this time into the product, was actually getting the smallest piece of the pie. Which again, when I get the bit between my teeth, it kind of sends me into hyper focus.

So my store became my priority. So I still left my books on Amazon, but all my links, everywhere I directed people, was just to my store.

I started hitting five-figure sales on my store within that first month, and that's continued ever since.

What I was also surprised by was my Amazon sales were kind of matching what my store was doing. It was kind of neck and neck for the rest of the year, which is something that I really didn't expect.

So I've just gone from strength to strength, and my focus now is having as many income streams as possible. I've got a wife, a family, and children to support, so I need to protect them as best as I can.

The best way I can do that with my books is to have as many different revenue streams as possible. It doesn't matter how small that stream might be trickling in because it all adds up down the line.

So I've got some audiobooks on YouTube. I'm just in the process of setting up Ream, which is a subscription platform like Patreon. That's something I've only started doing recently.

I'm on Amazon. My eBooks are wide now from Draft2Digital. They're on Findaway Voices, my audiobooks, and they're on ACX as well, just on the frustratingly lower end of the royalty scale.

Joanna: I love that, and I really think this is something that a lot of people don't realize with selling direct. As you've done, and as I've done, is that directing all the traffic to your store means that people will still look at it, but a lot of them will just buy elsewhere. So that's what you've seen.

Let's come back to the video. So you said, originally, you were in the room on your own, you were terrified, you had anxiety, and you were worried about it. Look, I am someone who has not done much video because I just don't like it. I just don't want to do it.

I feel like there's pressure as a woman to wear makeup on videos, and I just cannot be bothered. Also, that's not how I spend my time as a consumer. I don't watch video. I'm not on TikTok, or YouTube Reels, or any of the YouTube Shorts, all of these things.

So I feel this massive resistance to video, but everybody seems to suggest that this is a very good thing to do. So if there are people listening who are like me, and they just do not want to do video, what are your thoughts on people like me? Should we even bother?

Are there ways we can do video without using our faces?

Adam: There's tons of different ways of creating short form and long form video content. I suppose you've got to find the balance of what works for you.

Now ultimately, if you've tried it and it just doesn't work for you, don't push yourself. Ultimately, you don't want to give yourself anxiety, but you're going to have to look at other organic or paid ways to generate traffic.

Now, video content is a great way as a new indie author to generate that interest, and find new readers, and potentially create that small level of income that you need to invest back into your business to then start building that sustainable growth over a period of time.

It's not going to happen overnight. There's too many people that will post videos sporadically over a month, once every three, four, or five days.

With your video content, you've got to show up every day. You've got to be creative.

That's not necessarily a bad thing because you're constantly trying to figure out what's working, what's not working. Then when you think you've solved it, TikTok, Instagram, they all change their algorithms just to keep us on our toes.

So it is about adapting, you have to have a strong mindset and a belief that you can achieve it. You also have to be aware that it could take months, it could take six, seven months of putting the work in before you start seeing the results. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

I think if you were to have a video take off on day one, you kind of psychologically have that expectation that you deserve your video to go viral every single time you post. Ultimately, TikTok and Instagram, they don't owe us any favors.

It doesn't mean they're punishing us when a video doesn't go out, it just means that that given day, that given time, that video just didn't resonate with people. There's absolutely nothing to stop you reposting that video another time. Again, that might work, and sometimes it might not work.

At the moment, TikTok doesn't seem to particularly like reposted content. The viral video I spoke about earlier that got 2 million views on TikTok in August 2022, on Instagram that same video has generated 10 million views.

It was posted quite a few times because there's times where it doesn't get views, and then there's times where it just goes crazy and starts getting that engagement. Every time they do, it generates sales.

Once you've created the content, you've got it forever. So you can repost that as many times as you feel comfortable doing. If you don't post about your books, people aren't going to know about them. If you post about them, what's the worst that can happen?

Joanna: Yes, and I think you're right.

Everyone has to have some way of marketing, and whichever thing it is, concentrate on that.

I mean, obviously I have the podcast, I have a big email list. I use, I guess, more traditional methods.

I think, as I said to you before we started recording, I came into this 2006/2007, and I feel like I need to relearn a lot of things, especially as things change, as they do all the time.

That's why I love listening to you, and when you spoke at Seville, and I listened to other people, and it's like, things do change. So while some things stay the same, some things change.

I did want to ask you, so earlier you said that you were struggling to sell that first series and it was hard to market. So you only started doing TikTok on a series that did start selling. So is it that TikTok is not a magic bullet to sell anything, it needs to still be used for book series that are already selling? Or—

Have you tried marketing that other series that was hard to market?

Adam: I have tried. I have completely rebranded the other series. I've sunk quite a lot of money into having new covers designed, rewriting them, having them re-edited because I wasn't happy with the editing the first time around. I'm happy with the books, but they don't make any significant amount of money.

The readers enjoy it, which is what is important. I know if I stopped marketing my Levanthria Series and focused on my Spirit Beast Series for a couple of months, they probably would start shifting more.

There's more books in my Levanthria Series, which means that's my main income maker, so there is more of a focus. So I suppose I can be guilty myself of neglecting it.

It is part of my plan over the next few months just to start giving The Spirit Beast Series the attention that it deserves. Whether that be looking at the more conventional ways of marketing, like email newsletters and stuff like that, paid promos, Facebook ads.

I think what my focus is going to be is kind of splitting my time better. So I went to SPS Live last year, and Marc Reklau gave a fantastic talk. One of the take homes there was his 80/20 split.

So I've kind of broke that into different segments. So for example, this week, 80% of my time I've set specifically for writing because I'm writing a new book. 20% is the business and marketing side of stuff.

Now, within that 20%, 80% of my marketing will be focused on The Levanthria Series, and 20% will be focused on other things that I'm working on, other books or other projects or new things that I'm releasing, if that makes sense.

So it's just about balancing that time right to make sure that I'm able to market other series more, but it's always hard. Again, it's a mindset thing. You can put a few videos out, and if they don't take, you kind of get deflated. Then I'll naturally go back to my series that I know sells, which I can be guilty of.

Joanna: Well, the fact is, it's true, and many authors don't like it, but in every business—

80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the books.

Or 20% of the work. I mean, that 80/20 rule works for so many things. In a traditional publishing house with millions of books, only a small number of those are going to be the money drivers. The same is true for us, as authors, I think.

Out of my catalogue, there are books that barely sell a single copy in a month. I mean, it really is concentrate on the ones that do make money, and then put time, as you say, into new series and other things that might be more experimental.

I did want to just come back on one thing. We're recording this the end of April 2024, and in the US last week, President Joe Biden signed into law the ban of the app TikTok within the next, let's say, nine months, unless it's sold from the Chinese owner.

It might not happen, or there might be a sale to somebody, maybe Mark Zuckerberg or whoever. Like whatever happens, there are going to be some changes. I mean, even if it doesn't sell, there are always changes in the algorithms, as you said.

What is your advice to authors who might be worried about what might happen to TikTok if they're relying on it for a lot of traffic and sales?

Adam: Yes, so you've got to have a backup plan. Now, TikTok has kind of blown up again in America with TikTok Shop. Now, we were fortunate enough to get that around six to nine months before it kind of landed in America.

I know so many indie authors in America who their careers are thriving because of TikTok Shop, and I absolutely get why they would be worried. TikTok Shop enables people to literally watch a video and buy a physical book, there and then, while still watching the video. That level of integration can really drive sales.

I used to TikTok Shop, but I've kind of pivoted to focus more on my store. That's, again, just because the profit lines are better, and they work for me. So again, it's just about how you want to manage that.

I like to have my eggs in multiple baskets, rather than all being in one.

I used to just be on Kindle, and Amazon, and KDP, and it was just over a year ago when all the horror stories were coming about.

People's accounts were just being banned out of the blue, the crime being their books had been pirated by other people, which they've got no control over. It frightened me, especially because I was quite damn dependent on my income from my books.

So I made the decision then to start exploring wide options. It wasn't until three or four months later in September, having spoken to a friend of mine and her husband, Laura and Ross Bertie, where their focus was direct selling, that it really opened my eyes.

Even after having that conversation and the difference it made for them, it still took me a couple of months to actually start implementing that change. We're all scared to change, but we kind of have to embrace it.

The worst thing we can do as creatives is get stuck in a monotonous routine because it'll just affect how we write, how we market our books. So just explore in different ways, in different avenues of advertising.

For example, we're on TikTok fire. It's a free platform for marketing our books, which is great, but that doesn't mean it's always going to be free. You've got to be ready to pivot and change at the drop of a hat.

It's us that has to change, not the platform.

So use it while it's there. Use any upcoming platforms that you think might make a difference. Again, I'm in the UK, so it's not as scary for me, but I've got a big readership in America. Like 70% of my readers are based in America, so it could impact me massively.

So again, it's using the time we've got to inform people, let people know what your concerns are, try and build that connection to say, “Well, we don't know what's going to happen with the app. There's a link to my newsletter in my bio if you want to keep in touch,” in case anything happens to you.

Or you can set up a store with the integrations, for example, like Shopify. Then you're not as reliant just on TikTok Shop or TikTok driving the traffic. If you are making money, make sure you are investing that back into your business.

So for example, for the last four or five months, I've been investing money into Facebook ads, which are the bane of my life, I absolutely hate them. I think paid marketing is the biggest con going because, again, the marketing companies make money more money than we do.

I've had to kind of bite that bullet because I need to find a way to get ads working for my Levanthria Series because I know that's the only way I can focus on a new series that I'm writing or other projects that I'm working on, from a video marketing perspective.

Otherwise, my attention is always going to be split between books. So I've got the video content I know that works, so I'm pivoting by running paid Facebook ads to my store to try and keep those sales coming in for one series.

So then I can focus on my other platforms, not just TikTok, and any other growing platforms. So for example, the last two weeks, I've been more heavily involved on Threads because there's quite a big author community growing on there, which is great.

So it is just that. Don't get sucked into just having one avenue to generate traffic or generate that engagement.

You need to be active over time, over multiple platforms, which in itself can be quite overwhelming.

So you have to find a balance that works for you and that isn't a detriment to yourself, your family, or your mental health.

Joanna: Absolutely. Everything we've learned, since I've been an indie author as well, is that things change, and often they move from free to paid.

So Facebook used to be free to reach people, and then it ended up being mostly paid traffic. A lot of the stuff on Amazon has changed. You mentioned ACX. I mean, when that first came out, the royalties were much, much higher, and then they kind of ratcheted lower over time.

So I think you're right. Everything that we do, you can't take it for granted that it's going to last. I mean, Twitter/X also is another example of something that completely changed under new ownership. So, yes, very good to think about. We're almost out of time, and—

You have been working on a new project. So tell us more about that.

Adam: Yes, so, I've got a few projects because I like to keep myself busy. So not only am I writing a brand new series in a brand new genre, which is LitRPG, which I am having an absolute blast with that. It is probably the most fun I've had writing a book in a long time.

I've also set up a publishing imprint to start publishing books by other authors. I've been working with a bestselling author Cara Clare, creating a new pen name for a dark fantasy romance series that she has written.

That we will be publishing through my new imprint, which is Arcane Passion Press. That comes out on the 28th of May.

Joanna: Yes, so as this goes out, it will be tomorrow. So hopefully by the time it goes out, people can go and have a look at that. So do you have a whole new sort of website and a whole new sort of place for that? Or is that still through your main website?

Adam: Yes, so Mrs. Beswick started working full time with me at the beginning of this year, as it was just too much for me to do because I like spinning plates, but some were starting to smash on the floor.

We've been busy behind the scenes kind of getting, again, all those foundations set up. So the website is live now, AlexisBrookeBooks.com.

We've got a profile on Ream set up where you can actually read the story for free at the moment, but when this goes out, you won't be able to anymore as the book will be launching on Kindle Unlimited. The book is called The Jester, which is a fae fantasy romance.

Joanna: Tell people where they can find you and everything you do online.

Adam: So my store is APBeswickPublications.com, that's where I drive all my traffic. My books are also available wide on Amazon, and digitally through Draft2Digital across a lot of other platforms. Same with my audiobooks, they're available wide.

I've got a website in development which will start integrating the novel games community, which is the social media marketing side of things that I do, because I just like to keep myself busy, apparently.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Adam. That was great.

Adam: Thank you.

The post Plan For Success In Your Indie Author Business And TikTok Marketing With Adam Beswick first appeared on The Creative Penn.

]]> How can you plan for success as an indie author even early in your writing career? How can you create multiple streams of income and multiple marketing channels, while still writing your books? Adam Beswick goes into his strategies. In the intro, How can you plan for success as an indie author even early in your writing career? How can you create multiple streams of income and multiple marketing channels, while still writing your books? Adam Beswick goes into his strategies.



In the intro, Kickstarter announces new functionality to help creatives;Watch out for a scam email about ALLi [Writer Beware]; Gary Vaynerchuk on the shifting marketing arena [Marketing Against the Grain Podcast]; Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk; Camera free video options [Brave New Bookshelf]



Plus, Microsoft Build event with new AI-enabled PCs and Copilot agents [Microsoft]; My thoughts on seeing Hamilton; and Spear of Destiny coming this week!






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Adam Beswick is the best-selling author of the Levanthria series which has taken readers on epic journeys from corner to corner of the world. While mastering the craft of fantastical storytelling, Adam simultaneously embraces the rewarding challenges of family life as well as being an authorpreneur.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Setting the foundation for your author business



* Having the confidence to financially invest in yourself



* Wrestling with the “importance” of choosing a writing career



* Creating multiple streams of income



* Overcoming the initial fear of creating video marketing content



* Staying consistent with your TikTok marketing and growing your viewership



* How to diversify away from reliance on any single platform




You can find Adam at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36270 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/20/outlining-tips-and-video-marketing-on-youtube-with-jenna-moreci/#comments https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/20/outlining-tips-and-video-marketing-on-youtube-with-jenna-moreci/feed/ 1 <p>How can you outline a story based on a ‘thought dump' and interweave genre tropes you love to create a successful book? How can you use video marketing to reach more readers, even if you are an introvert? Jenna Moreci gives her tips. In the intro, my new ProWritingAid tutorial; Embracing change and starting over […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/20/outlining-tips-and-video-marketing-on-youtube-with-jenna-moreci/">Outlining Tips And Video Marketing On YouTube With Jenna Moreci</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you outline a story based on a ‘thought dump' and interweave genre tropes you love to create a successful book? How can you use video marketing to reach more readers, even if you are an introvert? Jenna Moreci gives her tips.

In the intro, my new ProWritingAid tutorial; Embracing change and starting over [Wish I'd Known Then Podcast]; OpenAI released ChatGPT 4o; Using 4o as a tutor [Khan Academy]; Claude 3 now in Europe; Google IO announcements including Search impact [The Verge; My episode on impact of generative search; Hard Fork Podcast; Platformer]; Spear of Destiny Kickstarter, and my deadlift PB.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 

Jenna Moreci is the bestselling author of dark fantasy romance, The Savior's Series, and books for authors including Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel From Plan to Print. She's also a YouTuber at Writing with Jenna Moreci, with over 300,000 subscribers.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

Show Notes

  • Structuring and outlining — utilizing the “thought dump”
  • The planning process for including tropes in your book
  • How long should an outline be?
  • Conquering fears and distractions to get words on the page
  • Researching publishing options as a first time author
  • Getting comfortable in front of the camera through trial and error
  • How to build a channel around a fiction author business
  • Different goals of short form and longer form video marketing

You can find Jenna at JennaMoreci.com or on her YouTube channel Writing with Jenna.

Transcript of Interview with Jenna Moreci

Joanna: Jenna Moreci is the bestselling author of dark fantasy romance, The Savior's Series, and books for authors including Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel From Plan to Print.

She's also a YouTuber at Writing with Jenna Moreci, with over 300,000 subscribers. So, welcome to the show, Jenna

Jenna: Thank you so much for having me. It is such an honor to be here.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. First up—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.

Jenna: Well, how I got into writing, it's literally been my lifelong dream ever since I was a child. I've wanted to be a writer since I was six years old. So it, quite literally, is a childhood dream fulfilled.

With my first job after college, I was a stockbroker. Which is just like writing, right? It is exactly the same thing, you know, dealing with finances. So similar to writing.

Basically, I was working full time in finance, and I really, really, really just did not enjoy it. I had this moment where I thought, you know what, this is going to be my life. I'm going to be trading stocks forever, and I can't do it.

So I thought I would, at the very least, give writing a shot since that was my dream, and I had been writing stories my whole life on the side. So I figured I would go ahead and try to write a book and see how it did.

My goal was for it to be a lucrative side gig, something that made my life feel fulfilling while I paid the bills working in finance. Then along the way, things happened. My partner suffered a major accident, so I had to quit my job so I could sign on to be his caregiver and help him recover from the accident.

During that time, I started my YouTube channel. I started it on a whim because a lot of people told me that I would be good at YouTube. It wasn't something I was really interested in because, like a lot of authors, I'm an introvert.

I did not want my face on the internet, but I gave it a shot. My goal was 100 subscribers, and nearly 300,000 subscribers later, at some point, it blew up.

Due to the YouTube channel blowing up, my first novel sold well enough that I was able to make writing a full-time job.

Now at this point in my life, I'm on my fifth and sixth novel, and I write and do YouTube full time. I never thought that this would be where my life was headed, but here we are.

Joanna: I love that. Obviously, we have some similarities. My job before this was in accounts payable, and I used to implement systems. So it was a similar feeling of I just cannot do this for the rest of my life.

So lots to come back on there. I've been through your book, so we'll start with the writing process, and then we'll get back into YouTube and business. So you talk about structure and outlining in your book, and I'm a discovery writer, so I'm always absolutely fascinated by outlining.

Can you talk about how you structure and outline your dark fantasy romances?

Jenna: Well, the very first thing I do is what I call the thought dump. It is basically brainstorming, but thought dumping just feels like a more accurate picture.

Basically, I just write down any and all ideas that I have for the story. It doesn't need to be in any specific order, and it doesn't need to be in any kind of structure. It's just any possible idea that I have.

It could be streams of dialogue, it could be world building elements, it could be a fight scene, it could be a kiss scene, it doesn't matter. Once I feel like I have exhausted all of my ideas for that moment, then I start going through the ideas.

Then I start finding the ones where it's like, “Oh, this kind of sucks, we're not going to use this one,” or, “Oh, this one is workable. This feels like it could be a plot point,” or, “This feels like it could be the dark night of the soul,” or something like that. I start trying to find the gems within the dump.

Once I get to that point, it's sort of like piecing together a puzzle. I actually call it the puzzle phase, which is where I take the gems that I found in the thought dump and categorize them into specific plot points, like the first kiss, or the inciting incident, or different pieces of the rising action.

You can do this digitally, you can use some kind of software to do this. I like the physical feeling of doing this. So I usually do it with sticky notes and a poster board. I will write down the plot points on the sticky notes and just rearrange them on the poster board until they fit some kind of realistic structure or sequence.

At that point, there's going to be tons of holes because your thought dump is not going to be flawless. It's going to be incredibly flawed. So at that point, I start trying to fill in the hole.

So it's like I've got two pieces of the rising action, but I need more of a mini climax, or I need a greater crisis or something like that. I start trying to figure out how can I piece point A to point C. Where's the point B in the middle? So that's also part of the whole puzzle aspect.

For me, it's fun figuring out how I can make all of these points combine together.

Once I feel like I have a very full flow in terms of the structure and outline of the story, I start dividing it into chapters. I look for natural breaks, where it's like this would be a great cliffhanger.

I like to make sure that my chapters begin and end on very opposite emotional tones. So maybe if the chapter begins in a really happy way, I want it to end in a sad, scary, angry way, just something that's very different from how it started.

So I look for those shifts within the post it notes, essentially, and I start dividing it into chapters. Once I have that structure down, that's when I actually start the outline, and I'll start typing it up.

I will take elements from the thought dump that haven't been utilized but I still really enjoy, and I will find places to shove those elements in. Maybe there's a big conversation that I want the two lovebirds to have, and I'm like, oh, it would fit really, really well in this particular scene.

So it's just about taking the thought dump, breaking it down into its most basic pieces, and then once those pieces all fit together perfectly, adding in all of the extra fluff and details, everything that kind of makes the story shine.

Joanna: You have videos about tropes on your channel. I mean, I often look at my books later and go, “Oh, that's that trope,” where I discovery wrote it, and it ended up there.

Do you look at the tropes of romance, and then you make sure that they go into that outline?

Jenna: I'm a little bit like you and a little bit like planning that way. For me, the discovery aspect of writing is the character arc. I know where I want my characters to head, but I don't necessarily know how they're going to feel about it as the story progresses.

So that's what's really fun for me is watching the transition of my characters starting off as this one type of character and ending another way. Like, how do they feel about that? How did they get to that point?

So a lot of tropes revolve around character development. So those tropes for me are always like, “Oh, look where we ended up. This is great.”

For example, my character, Tobias, he starts off at the beginning of the book kind of a cinnamon roll, naive, doesn't really know politics and things like that. By the end of the book, he ended up being quite morally gray.

Morally gray is an on-trend character type right now, and it's considered a popular trope in romanticized books. It wasn't something that I had originally planned, but here we are, now Tobias is a morally gray character.

Then there are other tropes where it's just that I'm such a huge fan of the trope that I have to include this. So for example, forbidden romance is one of my favorite tropes. So that was one where I was like, right from the gate, this is going to be a forbidden romance. We have to do it, we have to make it happen.

Joanna: Yes, and combining those different things that you love with the things that the readers expect is, I guess, the point.

Just to come back on the actual writing, so you have this outline. So I guess—

How long is your outline?

Is it just like a 10-page Word document or something?

Jenna: My outlines are long. I say this in Shut Up and Write the Book, it completely depends on the person. Some people are pantsers or discovery writers, some people really need a structure, some people are somewhere in between.

So when I say this, I just like to make sure everyone knows you don't have to do what I do. My outlines can be like 30 pages long and super detailed.

It's funny because I'll have one chapter that is a page-long outline, and then I'll have another chapter that's just one line. It's like, “They fight here.” Then I get to that part of the outline, and I'm like, oh, no, now I have to figure everything out on the fly.

My outlines tend to be really long. That’s in large part because I'm very character focused. A lot of the ideas that I come up with early on are conversations between characters. So I will have entire streams of dialogue in my outline, just sort of waiting to be used.

I know a lot of people in those situations will just write the conversation, write the scene in full and then save it for later. I like to just shove it in my outline and be like that is future Jenna's problem. Future Jenna can craft the conversation and the narrative around it, but this is what I want them to say in that moment.

Joanna: You say it's quite long, but Jeffrey Deaver, the mystery writer, his outlines are like 200 pages long.

Jenna: Okay, good. That makes me feel better.

Joanna: James Patterson famously does outlines, and I think his are maybe three chapters each page. So yes, it's such an interesting process. Of course, everybody listening does it differently, too.

Let's get on to the actual writing. So you've got this outline, and the title of your book for authors is Shut Up and Write. It is kind of funny because you have a book on writing, and I have a book How To Write a Novel, and we're basically saying, “Shut up and read our books, and then go and write.”

I guess this is one of the problems for writers—well, not a problem, because we're a self-sustaining industry—but I definitely remember reading like 100 craft books before actually writing something.

How can newer authors get over the fear of putting the words on a page, or just stop with all the distractions and shut up and write?

How can they get to that page if they're new writers?

Jenna: I host live streams on Mondays, and that's a question that I get almost in every single live stream. Every time I'm like, “You're not going to like the answer. I'm so sorry,” because I know a lot of people just think the fear is going to go away if they do XYZ.

They think, oh, like, I just have to wave a wand, and do a little dance, and I don't know, eat this special food, and it's not like that.

From my experience, and I'm someone who has been doing this for a decade now, I still have days where I'm like, “Oh, I don't want to write. It's going to be bad. I just know that everything I write is going to be terrible.”

I just feel like you have to grit your teeth and do it and understand that the fear is going to be there, and it's not going to go away until you actually start writing words on the page. So I think a lot of it is just grit, and getting it done, and doing the thing.

I think a lot of it is understanding that the fear is normal. It's not unique to you, everyone experiences it at some point in time. You just kind of have to open up the Word doc and keyboard Smash, just do something.

I feel like once you get the words flowing, the fear will start to dissipate.

Then you wonder why you wasted so much time to begin with.

Another thing is to set yourself up for success, and this is something that takes trial and error. Everyone thrives in their own unique way while writing. Everyone's different.

So for example, I have a friend who has to be playing music while they write. Whereas, for me, music is more of an idea phase thing. It's not so much in the writing process.

I know some people who can't have any distractions. They have to make sure that the Wi-Fi is off, and there's nothing going on. It's just the blank Word document page.

For me, I need a little bit of distraction. I need the temptation of reward. So I thrive in the way of being like, “Okay, if I just finish this scene, I can take a break online and watch some YouTube videos,” or something like that.

So for me, it's just a matter of understanding what would make you most successful. Some people, they need to have an office that they write in. I need to be comfortable while writing, so I write in bed. For other people, if they would write in bed, they'd just fall asleep.

So it's all about setting up your environment so that it is most suitable for you to actually get words on the page. The only thing I would say outside of that is don't let that be an excuse, because sometimes the environment isn't ideal, but we still have to get the words done. In those situations, you just got to grit your teeth and do the thing.

Joanna: I think you're right. I mean, you said just do something. Once you get started, then you can make it better later, right? Just get some words down.

To be fair, I think it's harder as a discovery writer because you don't have an outline. So I always say to people that I write out of order because I don't know where it's going. So I will just start writing that fight scene or whatever it is, and then I'll figure out the rest of it later.

So in a way, I guess it's easier because you can just start wherever and then rearrange things. Then when you're writing your actual word chapters, you've got an outline.

So do you just write start to finish? Do you just go in order?

Jenna: Yes. When I have written out of order, it has always been a huge mistake for me. So I've always had to rewrite everything. Like it's terrible, I've just got to start all the way over. So I just follow my outline.

That's another thing that I tell people. Like if you are new to this, and you are really struggling with not knowing what to write next, outline the next scene really quickly. Just jot it down. If you don't have an outline, just whip something up really quickly, so at least you know where to go.

It's kind of like training wheels. It helps you out a little bit as you're going. So, at least for me, it's like I always know what I need to write next, it's just sometimes I don't feel like writing it.

Joanna: That's also the same for me. So let's just talk about publishing before we get into all the marketing side. So with an audience like you have, and you're marketing savvy and everything—

What did you think about when you were publishing the first book? How did your publishing choices work?

Jenna: Like a lot of writers, I initially thought I was going to go traditional. I thought I understood the publishing landscape, but I wanted to make sure that I thoroughly researched my options. I'm so glad I did because I was definitely misinformed about traditional publishing.

After doing thorough research, I decided to go the indie route. I read a lot of books about both sides of things, I read a lot of articles, but the determining factor for me was actually interviewing other authors.

I interviewed a ton of people because I wanted to get the first-person perspective of people who had actually been through either traditional or indie. A vast majority of them were super negative and jaded.

They were like, “Don't do it. If you become a writer, you're going to waste your life, and you're never going to make any money, and blah blah blah.” They were just not happy with their life or their choices.

There were two authors who were really, really happy as writers, and one was indie, and one was traditional. The indie writer had just released independently their first novel, and it was selling well enough where they projected that by the second novel, they would be able to be doing this full time.

So they weren't there yet, but they were nearing it. They saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and they were really, really excited about it.

Then when I talked to the traditional author, she was an older woman, and basically she was telling me that she was with her traditional publisher for 20 years and ten books.

It was after the 20-year mark that her publishing house started taking her seriously.

They were giving her higher advances, not cutting the book after two years on the shelf. So basically, she had been writing for 20 years, and at that point, she was able to transition into writing full time.

She was like, “Don't worry. If you're patient, and you just write those books, and keep at it, and hound that publisher, eventually, you'll be able to do it full time.”

I just thought to myself, I don't want to wait 20 years. I mean, basically, she was at retirement age when she was able to do writing full time. I was like, I don't want to wait until retirement age to do that. At the time, I was in my late twenties. So that's when I decided to go indie.

I still maintain that there are vast pros and cons to either indie or traditional, and I think hybrid is also a really great option. It's just a matter of an individual writer's strengths, their goals, and whether the pros and cons of each side matter to them.

For example, the biggest con of indie publishing, in my opinion, is that it can be expensive. If you are in a financially comfortable place, that might not be as big of a problem for you as someone who is not in a financially comfortable place.

So it's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons and seeing how heavily they impact your life.

Joanna: Of course, there are lots of ways to bootstrap as an indie. So it doesn't have to be expensive, but you do have to invest in it as a business. If you want to make money, you do have to invest money, as you say, in terms of editing, cover design, and all that. Just coming back there—

You said you were misinformed about traditional publishing before you did that research. What did you think it was?

Jenna: I thought, and this is something that a lot of writers who talked to me all had the same impression, that the traditional publishing house are just going to do all the marketing for you. They're just going to promote you and try and make you a big deal.

I thought, and what a lot of writers think, that you're going to get the Stephen King experience. I researched it, and it's like Stephen King gets the Stephen King experience.

Everyone else, unless you have a large platform already, and you've got this large audience, the odds are that they're not going to invest a lot of marketing power in you. I was like, well, that kind of sucks.

Then I researched what the publishing house would do for me outside of marketing, and they were all things—I have a business background—they were all things that I was like, well, I'm comfortable doing this myself, and anything that I don't know, I think I can easily learn.

So the way I thought is, well, I'm going to be marketing myself no matter which option I go. I would rather market myself and get the higher royalty check, so I think I'm going to go indie.

Joanna: Yes, and as you said, I mean, you weigh up every decision in the future. I mean, you might write a series in the future. I'm 15-plus years into this now, and I have some ideas that I might pitch to various publishers.

For people who are newer to the industry listening, it's not an either/or forever decision. There's pros and cons every single time, every single book. So I think the industry changes so fast, and it's good to reassess.

You mentioned your business background there. Just having a look at the various things you do—

What are your multiple streams of income for your business right now?

Jenna: Just going back on what you said really quickly, I'm actually in the process of becoming a bit of a hybrid author, so I could not agree more with you. It's like you reassess over time because right now being hybrid is a great option for me, but at the start, it wasn't. So I definitely encourage people to be open to opportunities and whatnot.

So my multiple streams of income, obviously, my biggest stream of income is my book sales. That's probably the highest percentage of my earnings. I have a YouTube channel, so I have ad revenue from my YouTube videos. I have the ads enabled.

Sometimes I accept sponsorships, which is when a company that is writing related will be like, “Hey, can you basically do a little mini commercial and promote us on your video?”

If you are going into YouTube or podcasting or something where you get sponsorships, I would just encourage you to pick the ones that maybe are the best fit for your audience. I've received some wild sponsorship requests. I mean, I've had underwear requests. I had a mini cordless chainsaw, that was a strange one.

Joanna: You should have done that.

Jenna: I was kind of tempted. It's like, “Do you hate your manuscript? Do you want to saw it in half? Well, have I got the solution for you.”

So just keep it in mind. I tried to keep my sponsors writing related or social media related.

I also have merch available for people who enjoy my YouTube channel or my books. I do affiliate arrangements with other writing related companies like NovelPad.

I also have courses that people can take and learn a little bit more about the publishing process and marketing themselves. So those are my various streams of income.

I would say book sales are my most prominent stream of income. Then after that, it would be a YouTube ad revenue or sponsorships.

Joanna: So let's come back on the video because you said earlier that you are an introvert and you do video. So people always say to me, like, “Oh, you're not an introvert because you do podcasting.” I'm like, that just doesn't make any sense because it's just the two of us as we're doing it.

I do social media and all the stuff you do as well, but I definitely do not do much video. My YouTube channel, The Creative Penn is mostly audio only with an image on top. Many authors hate the thought of video.

So what are your tips for authors who know that we really should do video these days, but we just hate it, and we're worried about it, or it's just too much work?

So what are your thoughts there?

Jenna: This is another situation where you just have to understand that it's normal. It's uncomfortable, especially at first. I've been doing this for 10 years now, and I still get like, do I look okay? Like is my lipstick smudged? I still have those moments.

It's an adjustment, like anything else. It will eventually start to feel just like a normal part of your life. If people are like, “Oh, I'm too introverted to do this,” you're just talking into a camera. No one else is there.

I mean, it tuckers me out just in the sense of how much talking I have to do. I batch film, so I'll film all my videos for one month in one day. So that element will exhaust me, but it doesn't tire me out in the same way socializing does because I'm not talking to anyone. I'm talking to a camera. I am alone in my studio.

So I think what I would tell writers is that it will feel better as time goes on. Don't wait for everything to be perfect because you need trial and error to perfect your channel.

Your first few videos are going to be your worst, you're going to cringe later when you watch them, but you need to get them done. You need to start somewhere, so just understand that it's only going to go up from there.

So get those first few videos out, see how they perform, see what's going right, see what's going wrong, see what people are responding to, what they're not responding to, and tweak and adjust from there.

My biggest piece of advice, especially because writers are introverted and uncomfortable in front of the camera, is to be authentic.

As someone who did videos for months before they saw any traction, once I stopped trying to put on this professional front and I started just behaving like myself, that's when my videos started to perform well.

So authenticity is something that people can absolutely notice and respond to, especially on a platform like YouTube. You may think you're weird, or quirky, or boring, or something like that. Just be your authentic self, and someone out there will appreciate it.

Joanna: Both you and I have our primary media platforms for the nonfiction audience, the authors.

So how would someone advertise or market or build a channel around their fiction?

Do you have some ideas for more about that rather than the tip-based content?

Jenna: Just in general, I think that at this point, if you're getting on YouTube specifically, I wouldn't recommend giving writing advice. When I started my channel, I was very lucky because there were only two other writing advice channels out there. So I was kind of entering into an untapped market.

Now that I've been doing this for 10 years, there's a bazillion different writing channels out there. So for nonfiction writers, I wouldn't necessarily recommend giving writing advice on YouTube, just because at this point it is a saturated market.

A lot of the people who give writing advice on YouTube are—or not a lot of the people—but there's a handful of people on YouTube who are bestsellers and award winners and things like that.

So if someone has their choice of where they're going to get writing advice on YouTube, they're probably going to go to someone with credentials versus someone who's newer and trying to get their name out there.

There are a ton of other options available for YouTube. What I like to tell writers is think about your target audience and what they're interested in. So for example, if you're writing romantasy like me, maybe talk about the art of romantasy.

Maybe talk about your favorite romantasy books, your favorite romantasy movies, your favorite romance tropes, your favorite fantasy tropes. You can bond with your audience over that sort of content.

There are people who do book reviews on YouTube, it's known as BookTube.

That's very popular, and you are welcome to do that.

My only warning I would give is that if you are a public reviewer, when it comes time to release your own book, just take into consideration that people are going to judge your work harsher than they would have otherwise because you're a book reviewer.

Since you're out there giving “professional opinions” about other books, people are going to be like, okay, well, they have strong opinions about other books, I'm going to have strong opinions about theirs. So just something to take into consideration.

More than anything, I would tap into your target audience and what they're interested in. That's what a lot of writers on YouTube do. If they're writing sci fi, they will talk about sci fi on their channel.

They'll talk about the newest sci fi movie, and they'll talk about the tropes utilized and the writing style of it. Fellow sci fi geeks will watch and be like, wow, this is really, really interesting. Then once that YouTuber is like, “Hey, I've got a book. Check it out,” you've attracted the appropriate audience to then purchase that book.

Joanna: Well, let's talk about the trend of short form video. So obviously, TikTok and BookTok is the big thing right now. Instagram reels and YouTube shorts have appeared to sort of try and capture that similar vibe.

Do you do the short form videos? How has video changed?

Jenna: What I do is I repurpose my YouTube content. I will take videos that I posted on YouTube and cut them down into little one-minute segments and share them to TikTok. TikTok isn't my favorite platform, just because I prefer longer form videos.

So for me, it's like, oh, gosh, I've got to make this quick little 15 second video. It's not my platform that I use. I do have TikTok, but I usually use it to repurpose my content or to talk about my books.

There are some writers who are thriving on TikTok, and then there are some who are like, oh, I just can't do this. So just take into consideration that there are other options available.

There are entire video essays on YouTube that have millions of views. So just because the short form content is popular, like if you're into that, definitely milk that for what it's worth, but if you're not so much into it, YouTube is still doing really, really well.

Like I said, there are people who make hour long video essays on YouTube that are absolutely killing it. So I think short form gives people greater options of what they can do in terms of content, especially because making a 15-second video is obviously going to be significantly less time consuming than even a 15-minute YouTube video.

So it definitely gives people greater options, but I don't feel like you have to be forced into just going the short form way. There's still a lot of long form content available for people.

Joanna: I think about YouTube a bit like I think about this podcast, which is it's more content marketing, and like for you as well, part of the business. Whereas I see short form video and social media as just marketing, whereas they're not necessarily content marketing.

So people listening here and watching your channel, it is content. I mean, that content can be a short story or it can be whatever else with the fiction side.

I feel like what we make with these longer forms stick around longer.

People can find things years later. Whereas TikTok and the short form videos are almost designed to disappear.

Jenna: Exactly. I mean, I had a TikTok blow up and get over 2 million views, but it didn't get me book sales. I mean, I'm sure maybe it got me a handful, but with the YouTube videos, every time I release a video I get a spike in book sales.

So that's not to say that TikTok can't be used to help you sell books. It's just the idea that I have videos that are seven years old that are still selling books for me, whereas that TikTok has just faded into the distance. So I definitely think content marketing absolutely has its place and its value.

Joanna: Yes, and this is why authors need some kind of strategy because with the huge number of splintered services now, if you tried to do everything all the time, that's when people just give up. I mean, you have to choose.

It's interesting, like you said you got in early on the YouTube writing stuff. I was one of the very first podcasts in the writing space, me and like Grammar Girl and Writing Excuses. There were just a few of us in those early days. Again, similar, it's very crowded now.

I wouldn't put people off entirely from trying to start something new, it's just very, very hard to kind of breakthrough. You kind of have to go super, super niche. Can I just ask about some other types of videos?

So one of the things that many authors are doing for the ad revenue is putting whole audiobooks on YouTube. What do you think about that?

Jenna: I think if it works for them, that's fantastic. It wouldn't be the best option for me because my audiobooks, just selling them on Audible and Amazon, are just killing it. So for me, it would be a decrease in revenue if I were to do it that way.

However, the way I see it is that it's all about whatever works for that individual person. I know some people who are putting their audiobooks on YouTube because of the ad revenue, and they're making money that way.

I know some people who are doing it solely because their platform is really small. They're hoping that if I give this book away, essentially for free, I will attract an audience. When it comes to business experimentation, I'm all about seeing what works, seeing what doesn't, and not being afraid to experiment.

For example, if they were to put their audiobook on YouTube, and they didn't make a lot of money off of it, I don't really see that as a failure. I see that as a like a learning experience. It's like, okay, well, now I know that I won't do that again. What's the next step?

So I'm all for people doing that. I don't think it would work for me. I think anything you could do to try to experiment within the industry and try to increase your revenue somehow, I'm like, so long as it's ethical, go for it and try it out.

Joanna: Okay, well, something that was popular over a decade ago when I first started out was the book trailer. What's interesting is it used to cost us so much money to do a book trailer.

Obviously, now the tools are much, much better in terms of AI images, and AI for marketing, and you can find licensed music for cheap, and all of this. I've started to see book trailers on social media because a 30-second video or a 10-second video can be quite interesting.

So what do you think around the book trailer type video, where it's not the author, it is the story or the hook?

Jenna: I think, and I don't know if they'd necessarily count as book trailers, but I see reels all the time on Instagram, and then I see TikToks, obviously, where it's like beautiful imagery, character artwork, and then quotes from the book with music. I've made those myself. They're really easy to make.

It's one of those things where if you could make one of those in less than a half hour, you might as well give it a shot and throw it out there and see how it works. I know a lot of authors who that's how they make their book sales is they make those beautiful little trailers, and they just post them constantly.

Sometimes they'll boost them online, they'll put some ad revenue behind it, and that's how they're able to support themselves as an author. Especially, like right now, the writing industry has evolved so much, and —

Social media, as annoying as it can be, social media is the reason that a lot of us are now able to do writing full time.

So this is another situation where I'm like, go for it! Make the little book trailer. You can do it easily on Canva, and that's available pretty much for everyone. I know people who their entire careers revolve around just making these cute little videos with character art.

There are wonderful character artists that you could hire to create entire elaborate scenes from your book, and it's very affordable. I say go for it. Like I said, I've done it myself.

Joanna: So you mentioned Canva, which I also use. It is fantastic.

What are some of the other tools that you use as part of your YouTube side of things for making videos?

Jenna: Well, I'm at this point in my career now where I have a video editing team. So I now get to outsource those tasks, thankfully, because that was the least fun part of YouTube.

Before then, I would edit my videos using iMovie as well as Final Cut Pro. iMovie is free, available to anyone with a Mac. You don't need the fancy tools in order to edit your YouTube content. iMovie works just fine.

I would use Final Cut Pro, for example, for book trailers that I would post to YouTube, as well as some of the fancier overlays and imagery and things like that. That's what I would use Final Cut Pro for.

I have a screen so that I can sort of watch myself while I'm filming and make sure I look okay. I obviously have the camera. I have a ring light and then two spotlights. Then, of course, I have the onstage podcast microphone. A lot of equipment, basically.

My studio is just filled with lights and cameras and all that good stuff. A lot of people hear this and think that if they're going on to YouTube, they need to immediately have these items.

What I started with was natural light from my window, a good microphone, and I used the camera on my laptop.

So just understand that. I personally wouldn't recommend, if you are getting into YouTube specifically, investing a whole lot of money at the start because some people try out YouTube, and after six months, they're like, “I hate this. I don't want to do this. This is not for me.”

What a shame it would be if you spent thousands of dollars on a YouTube setup that you don't want to use anymore. So if you're going to invest in anything, I would recommend investing in a good microphone, but you can get a good microphone for a really good price.

So there's nothing wrong with natural light and using your iPhone camera to get started.

Joanna: Yes, although if you're going to use an iPhone camera, put it on a stand, don't hold it.

Jenna: Yes, exactly.

Joanna: Or people will feel sick.

Jenna: Yes.

Joanna: So both you and I have been doing these various parts of our business for quite a few years now, and I wondered if you're thinking about reinvention. I hit my 15 years just before Christmas, and this podcast has been going since 2009.

So I started to feel like there are new voices around, there are different ways of doing things, and I'm very interested in reinvention at the moment. Although I'm kind of calling it a very slow pivot reinvention because I'm still enjoying myself. What do you think as someone who's been doing YouTube for so long as well?

What are your thoughts on what's coming next for you? Do you have any plans for new series? What's next for Jenna?

Jenna: Absolutely, this is actually something that I've been thinking about a lot lately, especially because I'm at my 10-year mark with YouTube, and my family recently went through a medical crisis, and we're on the other end of it, and things are so much better.

Those sorts of things make you reevaluate your life. It's like, what's working? What maybe is something that I kind of want to leave in the past?

So I'm already in the process of tweaking my YouTube channel. I'm making shorter videos that that are a little bit easier for me to digest and produce. That way, I can put a lot more focus on my writing.

In the past, sometimes there would be so much YouTube stuff going on that it would eclipse my writing time. Then it defeats the purpose. I'm doing YouTube to support my writing, not to eclipse my writing.

I mentioned earlier that I am in the process of segueing into being a hybrid author. I can't talk about the specifics quite yet, but that's definitely a new venture that I'm looking into that has been very exciting.

So that's part of the reinvention is now I will be both independently and traditionally published, which is really fun for me. Also, I'm still finishing up The Savior's Series. I'm almost done with a third book, and then I will get started on the fourth book.

I would like to venture into books with a little bit less violence. So I was thinking about dabbling in rom coms and things that are a bit fluffier and on the cute side. I have a whole bunch of books that I would like to produce eventually.

Right now, I'm just focusing on one step at a time, which is finishing up contracts on the hybrid side of things, as well as tweaking my YouTube channel, and finishing up the two writing projects that I'm currently working on.

Joanna: Fantastic.

Where can people find you, and your books, and everything you do online?

Jenna: Awesome. Well, people can find me on YouTube at YouTube.com/JennaMoreci. That's J-E-N-N-A-M-O-R-E-C-I.

They can follow me on Instagram, TikTok, all of those places, @JennaMoreci. I keep it pretty standard so I'm easy to find. The only one that's different is Facebook, which is AuthorJennaMoreci.

My books are available at all major retailers. So you can find them on Amazon. You can find them at Barnes and Noble. You can find them all over the place.

Right now the books that are available are The Savior's Champion, The Savior's Sister, and Shut Up and Write the Book. The Savior's Army and then another secret project is on its way.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jenna. That was great.

Jenna: Thank you. It was an absolute pleasure.

The post Outlining Tips And Video Marketing On YouTube With Jenna Moreci first appeared on The Creative Penn.

]]> How can you outline a story based on a ‘thought dump' and interweave genre tropes you love to create a successful book? How can you use video marketing to reach more readers, even if you are an introvert? Jenna Moreci gives her tips. In the intro, How can you outline a story based on a ‘thought dump' and interweave genre tropes you love to create a successful book? How can you use video marketing to reach more readers, even if you are an introvert? Jenna Moreci gives her tips.



In the intro, my new ProWritingAid tutorial; Embracing change and starting over [Wish I'd Known Then Podcast]; OpenAI released ChatGPT 4o; Using 4o as a tutor [Khan Academy]; Claude 3 now in Europe; Google IO announcements including Search impact [The Verge; My episode on impact of generative search; Hard Fork Podcast; Platformer]; Spear of Destiny Kickstarter, and my deadlift PB.






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Jenna Moreci is the bestselling author of dark fantasy romance, The Savior's Series, and books for authors including Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel From Plan to Print. She's also a YouTuber at Writing with Jenna Moreci, with over 300,000 subscribers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Structuring and outlining — utilizing the “thought dump”



* The planning process for including tropes in your book



* How long should an outline be?



* Conquering fears and distractions to get words on the page



* Researching publishing options as a first time author



* Getting comfortable in front of the camera through trial and error

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:01 How Writing Work For Hire Books Led To Becoming An Indie Author With Aubre Andrus https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/13/how-writing-work-for-hire-books-led-to-becoming-an-indie-author-with-aubre-andrus/ Mon, 13 May 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36252 <p>How can you blend ‘work for hire', ghostwriting, and being an indie author into a successful hybrid career writing books for children? Aubre Andrus gives her tips. In the intro, Countdown Pages on FindawayVoices by Spotify; the impact of AI narrated audiobooks on Audible [Bloomberg]; Ideas for short fiction anthologies and Kevin J. Anderson's Kickstarter; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/13/how-writing-work-for-hire-books-led-to-becoming-an-indie-author-with-aubre-andrus/">How Writing Work For Hire Books Led To Becoming An Indie Author With Aubre Andrus</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you blend ‘work for hire', ghostwriting, and being an indie author into a successful hybrid career writing books for children? Aubre Andrus gives her tips. In the intro, Countdown Pages on FindawayVoices by Spotify; the impact of AI narrated au... How can you blend ‘work for hire', ghostwriting, and being an indie author into a successful hybrid career writing books for children? Aubre Andrus gives her tips.



In the intro, Countdown Pages on FindawayVoices by Spotify; the impact of AI narrated audiobooks on Audible [Bloomberg]; Ideas for short fiction anthologies and Kevin J. Anderson's Kickstarter; Penguin Random House launches internal ChatGPT tool for employees [Publishers Lunch]; 2024 is the year AI at work gets real [Microsoft].



Plus, reasons for the new theme music, licensed from AudioJungle for 10m downloads (the podcast is up to 9.7 million with the old tune); and planning for my Kickstarter launch for Spear of Destiny.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Aubre Andrus is an award-winning children's author with more than 50 books, as well as being a ghostwriter and former American Girl magazine editor. Her books, The Look Up Series, feature women in STEM careers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The background of the American Girl brand



* Pros and cons of work for hire and ghostwriting



* Work for hire best practices to make it worth the money



* Differences in work for hire contracts and payment models



* How to seek out work for hire projects



* Using lessons learned from past projects in your own series



* Creative control over content and marketing a self-published author



* Marketing self-published children's books




You can find Aubre at AubreAndrus.com.



Transcript of Interview with Aubre Andrus



Joanna: Aubre Andrus is an award-winning children's author with more than 50 books,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:09:09
Using Tools To Automate Your Author Business with Chelle Honiker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/06/using-tools-to-automate-your-author-business-with-chelle-honiker/ Mon, 06 May 2024 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36255 <p>How can you use automation and tools to help you streamline your creative and business processes so you can get back to the writing? Chelle Honiker gives some mindset and practical tips. In the intro, IBPA guide to publishing models; We need to talk about independence [Self Publishing Advice article; my podcast episode with Orna […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/05/06/using-tools-to-automate-your-author-business-with-chelle-honiker/">Using Tools To Automate Your Author Business with Chelle Honiker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use automation and tools to help you streamline your creative and business processes so you can get back to the writing? Chelle Honiker gives some mindset and practical tips. In the intro, IBPA guide to publishing models; We need to talk ab... How can you use automation and tools to help you streamline your creative and business processes so you can get back to the writing? Chelle Honiker gives some mindset and practical tips.



In the intro, IBPA guide to publishing models; We need to talk about independence [Self Publishing Advice article; my podcast episode with Orna Ross]; The Financial Times signs a partnership deal with OpenAI [FT]; The Big Leap — Gay Hendricks; AI Tools on Brave New Bookshelf; Spear of Destiny; Stone Hunters by Rod Penn;






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Chelle Honiker is the co-founder and publisher of Indie Author Magazine, Indie Author Training, Indie Author Tools, and Direct2Readers.com. She's also an author, speaker, podcaster, and program manager at the Author Nation Conference.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Finding a community with other indie authors



* Blocks that might stop authors from using technology effectively



* How to figure out which tools work best for your creative process and author business



* Moving into new and reinvented processes as technology changes



* Using Zapier to automate your author business



* When to use a tool vs. when to outsource a task



* What to expect in the upcoming Author Nation Conference




You can find Chelle at ChelleHoniker.com, IndieAuthorMagazine.com, IndieAuthorTraining.com, and https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36245 <p>How can you connect to readers in a way that is sustainable for you and effective at selling books? How can you choose the best platform when there are so many options? Dan Blank gives his recommendations. In the intro, TikTok ban signed into law in the USA [The Verge]; No One Buys Books [Elle Griffin]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/29/human-centered-book-marketing-with-dan-blank/">Human-Centered Book Marketing With Dan Blank</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you connect to readers in a way that is sustainable for you and effective at selling books? How can you choose the best platform when there are so many options? Dan Blank gives his recommendations. In the intro, How can you connect to readers in a way that is sustainable for you and effective at selling books? How can you choose the best platform when there are so many options? Dan Blank gives his recommendations.



In the intro, TikTok ban signed into law in the USA [
The Verge]; No One Buys Books [Elle Griffin]; Please stop bashing book publishing [Publishing Confidential]; The Hotsheet; Books sell, but book doesn't [Seth Godin]. Plus, my new podcast logo; Spear of Destiny finishing energy, artist's date at Salisbury Cathedral.






Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Dan Blank helps authors develop a human-centered approach to marketing through his book, Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience, as well as his podcast, The Creative Shift, and his coaching and consultancy services at WeGrowMedia.com.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Learning how to feel good about sharing and marketing



* Keeping the human connection while scaling our reach



* Deciding what platform is best for your style of marketing



* Differences between the “daily work” and launch marketing



* Marketing later books in a series



* Advantages of Substack to get your newsletter discovered



* Balancing social engagement with the work of writing books




You can find Dan at WeGrowMedia.com and DanBlank.Substack.com.



Transcript of Interview with Dan Blank



Joanna: Dan Blank helps authors develop a human-centered approach to marketing through his book, Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience, as well as his podcast, The Creative Shift, and his coaching and consultancy services at WeGrowMedia.com. Welcome back to the show, Dan.



Dan: Thank you for having me back. It's always such a pleasure.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:14
The Midlist Indie Author With T. Thorn Coyle https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/22/the-midlist-indie-author-with-t-thorn-coyle/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 06:22:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36228 <p>How can you build a creative, sustainable career as a ‘mid-list' indie author? How can you design a business that works for you and your books over the long term? T. Thorn Coyle explains more in this episode. In the intro, BookVault bespoke printing options; Harper Collins partners with Eleven Labs for AI-narrated non-English audiobooks […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/22/the-midlist-indie-author-with-t-thorn-coyle/">The Midlist Indie Author With T. Thorn Coyle</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you build a creative, sustainable career as a ‘mid-list' indie author? How can you design a business that works for you and your books over the long term? T. Thorn Coyle explains more in this episode. In the intro, How can you build a creative, sustainable career as a ‘mid-list' indie author? How can you design a business that works for you and your books over the long term? T. Thorn Coyle explains more in this episode.



In the intro, BookVault bespoke printing options; Harper Collins partners with Eleven Labs for AI-narrated non-English audiobooks [Publishing Perspectives]; AI Publishing Formula Podcast; Brave New Bookshelf Podcast; “I’m not worried about AI, because I got my mojo working.” Stephen King;






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






T. Thorn Coyle is the author of paranormal mystery, urban fantasy, alt history, epic fantasy, as well as nonfiction around magical practice. Their latest book is The Midlist Indie Author Mindset.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* What does it mean to be a mid-list author?



* How being weird can help you connect as more human



* Finding your sense of weird and letting it shine in your work



* Making marketing about connection and finding what works for you



* Marketing for Kickstarter in a short-term promotional window



* Tips for managing multiple Kickstarters per year



* Keeping readers engaged with your newsletter and social media



* Creating a tagline that portrays the message of your author business




You can find Thorn at ThornCoyle.com, and the Kickstarter for The Midlist Indie Author Mindset here.



Transcript of Interview with Thorn Coyle



Joanna: T. Thorn Coyle is the author of paranormal mystery, urban fantasy, alt history, epic fantasy,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:50
Generative AI Impact On Creativity And Business In the Music Industry With Tristra Newyear Yeager https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/15/generative-ai-impact-on-creativity-and-business-in-the-music-industry-with-tristra-newyear-yeager/ Mon, 15 Apr 2024 06:21:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36227 <p>What can authors learn from the adoption of AI into the music industry? What are some of the ways musicians are making money in the fractured creator economy? Tristra Newyear Yeager gives her thoughts in this interview. In the intro, Draft2Digital announced a retail distribution agreement with Fable [D2D]; Kobo launches a new color e-reader […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/15/generative-ai-impact-on-creativity-and-business-in-the-music-industry-with-tristra-newyear-yeager/">Generative AI Impact On Creativity And Business In the Music Industry With Tristra Newyear Yeager</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What can authors learn from the adoption of AI into the music industry? What are some of the ways musicians are making money in the fractured creator economy? Tristra Newyear Yeager gives her thoughts in this interview. In the intro, What can authors learn from the adoption of AI into the music industry? What are some of the ways musicians are making money in the fractured creator economy? Tristra Newyear Yeager gives her thoughts in this interview.



In the intro, Draft2Digital announced a retail distribution agreement with Fable [D2D]; Kobo launches a new color e-reader [Rakuten Kobo]; Ultimate guide to subscription models [Self-Publishing Advice]; Independence and interdependence [Self-Publishing Advice]; Becca Syme on getting unstuck [Ink in Your Veins].



Plus, Amazon's new AI board member, Andrew Ng [TechCrunch]; AI for Everyone free course; SEO is Dead [Marketing Against the Grain]; My episode on Generative AI Search for Book Discoverability; Yes, Colossal is real, and Spear of Destiny.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.



This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn 






Tristra Newyear Yeager is the Chief Strategy Officer for Rock Paper Scissors, which provides PR for music innovators. She's also the author of historical fantasy and scientific romance, and the co-host of the Music Tectonics Podcast, which goes beneath the surface of music and technology.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The current state of AI for musicians — is Suno the ChatGPT for musicians?]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:00
Facing Fears In Writing And Life With Rachael Herron https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/08/facing-fears-in-writing-and-life-with-rachael-herron/ Mon, 08 Apr 2024 06:39:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36235 <p>How can you overcome your fears and make a life change towards your dreams? Or tackle the fears that stop you from writing and publishing your book? Rachael Herron talks about creating despite the fear, and getting unstuck in this interview. In the intro, Blackberry movie and IP questions; The Copyright Handbook by Steven Fishman; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/08/facing-fears-in-writing-and-life-with-rachael-herron/">Facing Fears In Writing And Life With Rachael Herron</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you overcome your fears and make a life change towards your dreams? Or tackle the fears that stop you from writing and publishing your book? Rachael Herron talks about creating despite the fear, and getting unstuck in this interview. How can you overcome your fears and make a life change towards your dreams? Or tackle the fears that stop you from writing and publishing your book? Rachael Herron talks about creating despite the fear, and getting unstuck in this interview.



In the intro, Blackberry movie and IP questions; The Copyright Handbook by Steven Fishman; Co-Intelligence: Living and Working With AI by Ethan Mollick; London Screenwriters Festival; Lessons from my screenwriting course (2018); Catacomb on my store, and on other stores; Spear of Destiny Kickstarter.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.



You can also Join my community and support the show at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn.






Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thrillers, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She's the host of the Ink in Your Veins podcast, and her latest book is Unstuck: An Audacious Hunt for Home and Happiness.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Tackling fear of the unknown when leaving your job, or making a big life change, or becoming a full-time author, based on Eight lessons learned from eight years as a full-time author.



* Overcoming the fear of the unknown when writing a book and you don't know the outcome



* The writing process when writing memoir vs. fiction



* Fear of judgement when writing memoir



* Writing as flawed and real humans that readers can relate to



* Analogue physical IRL experiences in the digital age



* Different fears that come with launching a Kickstarter




You can find Rachael at RachaelHerron.com and her Kickstarter at RachaelH...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:32
Different Ways To Market Your Book With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/01/different-ways-to-market-your-book-with-joanna-penn/ Mon, 01 Apr 2024 06:32:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36229 <p>There are many options for book marketing, so how do you choose the right ones for you? I give my thoughts on the different polarities on the marketing scale to help you figure out what might work for your book, your stage on the author journey, and your lifestyle. In the intro, Storybundle for writers; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/04/01/different-ways-to-market-your-book-with-joanna-penn/">Different Ways To Market Your Book With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> There are many options for book marketing, so how do you choose the right ones for you? I give my thoughts on the different polarities on the marketing scale to help you figure out what might work for your book, your stage on the author journey, There are many options for book marketing, so how do you choose the right ones for you? I give my thoughts on the different polarities on the marketing scale to help you figure out what might work for your book, your stage on the author journey, and your lifestyle.



In the intro,
Storybundle for writers; Seth Godin on Tim Ferriss; Amazon's investment in Anthropic; Claude 3 direct or Poe.com; Claude prompt library; join me and Joseph Michael for a prompt webinar, 4 April, register here; plus, Spear of Destiny.






Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thriller, dark fantasy, and memoir as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 




* Traditional versus indie publishing



* Short term versus long term



* Income versus brand building



* Paid versus free



* The book versus you as the author



* Stand-alone versus series



* Exclusive versus wide publishing



* Publish fast versus publish slowly



* Write to market versus write first, market later



* Online versus offline. Global versus local



* Introvert versus extrovert



* Digital versus physical



* Data-focused versus intuitive marketing



* Fiction versus non-fiction



* Doing your own marketing versus hiring professionals




Let me know what you think — leave a comment here or message me on X @thecreativepenn



This chapter is from my Author Blueprint, available as a free ebook at TheCreativePenn.com/blueprint or in https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36181 <p>What mindset shift do you need if you want to sell direct? How can you use Meta and AI tools to amplify your marketing? Matt Holmes gives his tips as well as insights from running my ads for my store, JFPennBooks.com. In the intro, how to sell more books at live events [BookBub]; Future of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/25/tips-for-selling-and-marketing-direct-using-meta-ads-with-matthew-j-holmes/">Tips For Selling And Marketing Direct Using Meta Ads With Matthew J Holmes</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What mindset shift do you need if you want to sell direct? How can you use Meta and AI tools to amplify your marketing? Matt Holmes gives his tips as well as insights from running my ads for my store, JFPennBooks.com. In the intro, What mindset shift do you need if you want to sell direct? How can you use Meta and AI tools to amplify your marketing? Matt Holmes gives his tips as well as insights from running my ads for my store, JFPennBooks.com.



In the intro, how to sell more books at live events [BookBub]; Future of publishing and LBF, includes video of our live panel [Orna Ross on SelfPublishingAdvice]; 5 Trends we learned at the Future of Publishing [Kickstart Your Book Sales]; Author business and Author Nation [Wish I'd Known Then]; Amazon de-lists my Companion workbooks, but you can buy the spiral-bound versions and bundles on my store, CreativePennBooks.com.



Plus, Nvidia's Earth2 digital twin development platform for climate science; Moonshots and Mindsets Podcast with Peter Diamandis; Sam Altman on GPT-5 [Lex Fridman] ; Using Claude for Shopify mass upload template [M.C.A. Hogarth]; Plus, join me and Joseph Michael for our AI webinar, 4 April, 8pm UK — register here to join us live or get the replay.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Matthew J. Holmes is a book marketing and direct sales specialist and the business partner of fantasy author, Lori Holmes. Matt has a great newsletter and courses for authors around Facebook ads and direct sales.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* A mindset shift when switching from KU to direct sales



* Control of your cash flow and customer base with direct sales



* Email marketing strategies



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:17 Insights On The Enneagram And Sustain Your Author Career With Claire Taylor https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/18/insights-on-the-enneagram-and-sustain-your-author-career-with-claire-taylor/ Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:32:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36126 <p>How can you use insights from the Enneagram to help you with a sustainable author career? How can you get past your blocks and move towards success, whatever that means for you? Claire Taylor provides her insights. In the intro, will TikTok be banned in the USA, and how will this impact authors and publishing? […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/18/insights-on-the-enneagram-and-sustain-your-author-career-with-claire-taylor/">Insights On The Enneagram And Sustain Your Author Career With Claire Taylor</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use insights from the Enneagram to help you with a sustainable author career? How can you get past your blocks and move towards success, whatever that means for you? Claire Taylor provides her insights. In the intro, How can you use insights from the Enneagram to help you with a sustainable author career? How can you get past your blocks and move towards success, whatever that means for you? Claire Taylor provides her insights.



In the intro, will TikTok be banned in the USA, and how will this impact authors and publishing? [TechCrunch; Kathleen Schmidt]; Hugh Howey on the Tim Ferriss show; I, Cyborg: Using Co-Intelligence [Ethan Mollick]; Using AI in award-winning writing [Smithsonian Mag; Editor and Publisher];



Plus, I'm now an award-winning author for Pilgrimage! [Pics on Instagram, Buy the book from me, or on other stores]; Spear of Destiny, Unstuck with Rachael Herron; I'm interviewed on the Casual Author Podcast, and Cops and Writers.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.






Claire Taylor writes comedy fiction, science fiction, paranormal cozy mystery, and serial killer crime, with more than 40 books under various pen names. She also teaches authors through courses, consulting, and her books for writers, which include Reclaim Your Author Career, and her new book, Sustain Your Author Career.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:27
Dealing With Change And How To Build Resilience As An Author With Becca Syme https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/11/dealing-with-change-and-how-to-build-resilience-as-an-author-with-becca-syme/ Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36182 <p>There are more options for publishing and reaching readers than ever before, and the indie author business models are splintering and diverging, so how do we know which path to follow? How do we deal with the changes due to generative AI, and how do we manage the grief and anxiety about these shifts? Becca […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/11/dealing-with-change-and-how-to-build-resilience-as-an-author-with-becca-syme/">Dealing With Change And How To Build Resilience As An Author With Becca Syme</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> There are more options for publishing and reaching readers than ever before, and the indie author business models are splintering and diverging, so how do we know which path to follow? How do we deal with the changes due to generative AI, There are more options for publishing and reaching readers than ever before, and the indie author business models are splintering and diverging, so how do we know which path to follow?



How do we deal with the changes due to generative AI, and how do we manage the grief and anxiety about these shifts? Becca Syme gives her perspective.



In the intro, Kobo Plus launches in Ireland and South Africa [KWL]; Authors Equity [Publishing Perspectives]; Selling direct insights [Kindlepreneur]; Claude 3 [Anthropic]; Spear of Destiny.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Becca Syme is an author, coach, and creator of The Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery, and also writes the ‘Dear Writer' series of non-fiction books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Saturation causing a shift in the indie author business model



* The importance of having certainty in your own process



* An ego shift when selling direct



* Deciding on a business path amid uncertainty



* Choosing your ‘hard'



* Adapting the vision of your future in an ever-changing industry



* Finding readers in an evolving publishing industry




You can find Becca at BetterFasterAcademy.com.



Transcript of Interview with Becca Syme



Joanna: Becca Syme is an author, coach, and creator of The Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery, and also writes the ‘Dear Writer' series of non-fiction books. So welcome back to the show, Becca.



Becca: Thank you for having me, again. I love being here.



Joanna: Now, you've been on the show a few times. So we're just going to jump into the topics today, as we've got so much to talk about now.



I've really wanted to talk to you about some of the things I'm seeing in the community right now. You're so wise,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:00:04
How To Create Beautiful Print Books And Sell Direct With Alex Smith From Bookvault https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/04/how-to-create-beautiful-print-books-and-sell-direct-with-alex-smith-from-bookvault/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:32:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36125 <p>How can you create more beautiful print books — and make more money with your products by selling direct? Alex Smith explains how BookVault can help with various options as well as helpful resources. In the intro, audiobooks and AI [Frankfurt Bookmesse]; Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds by Joanna Penn; Google's woke AI Gemini […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/03/04/how-to-create-beautiful-print-books-and-sell-direct-with-alex-smith-from-bookvault/">How To Create Beautiful Print Books And Sell Direct With Alex Smith From Bookvault</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create more beautiful print books — and make more money with your products by selling direct? Alex Smith explains how BookVault can help with various options as well as helpful resources. In the intro, How can you create more beautiful print books — and make more money with your products by selling direct? Alex Smith explains how BookVault can help with various options as well as helpful resources.



In the intro, audiobooks and AI [Frankfurt Bookmesse]; Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds by Joanna Penn; Google's woke AI Gemini [The Verge]; AI solving humanity's hardest problems [NY Times]; Demis Hassabis on Hard Fork [NY Times]; Finding my voice in the AI wars [Talena Winters].



Plus, Author Blueprint (2024) is now in print (or get the ebook here); Spear of Destiny prelaunch page.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Alex Smith is the technical lead of Bookvault.app, the independent printer that I use for the books I sell direct on Shopify, as well as for my Kickstarters.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Services that Bookvault offers authors in order to make beautiful books and make more money selling direct



* Common issues to avoid when uploading files



* Special edition books—ribbons, sprayed edges, foiling options, and more



* Options for photo books or art books



* Working with Bookvault to create and fulfill a Kickstarter campaign



* How to get more help if you need it



* How the payment and fulfillment process works



* Connecting Bookvault to your direct online store




Find out more about Alex Smith and Bookvault at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35907 <p>How can you write a memoir that is emotionally honest and revealing enough for readers to care, and cope with the inevitable fear of judgment that evokes? How can you write about real places and people in memoir? Why is editing a memoir so challenging and what should you keep in mind around publishing and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/26/tips-on-writing-memoir-with-j-f-penn/">Tips On Writing Memoir With J.F. Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write a memoir that is emotionally honest and revealing enough for readers to care, and cope with the inevitable fear of judgment that evokes? How can you write about real places and people in memoir? How can you write a memoir that is emotionally honest and revealing enough for readers to care, and cope with the inevitable fear of judgment that evokes? How can you write about real places and people in memoir?



Why is editing a memoir so challenging and what should you keep in mind around publishing and marketing choices? J.F. Penn gives her tips after writing her midlife solo travel memoir,
Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways.



Thanks to everyone who backed my Kickstarter for Pilgrimage, and to my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn, who help fund the extra time it takes to produce these solo episodes.







J.F. Penn is the Award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, and travel memoir. Jo lives in Bath, England with her husband and two British short-hair cats, and enjoys a nice G&T.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* What kind of book do you want to write?



* The particular challenge of memoir



* Vulnerability and emotional honesty



* Capture your experience through writing and photos



* Writing about real people and places



* Character arc



* Truth (capital T) vs truth (small t)



* Specific sensory detail



* The first draft and killing your darlings



* Publishing choices and formats



* Marketing. Finding an audience for a different type of book




You can buy Pilgrimage in all the usual formats from my store, JFPennBooks.com as well as the special hardback and paperback with photos from the trips. It’s also on all the usual stores in all the usual formats, or order from your library or local bookstore. 



Jo Frances Penn with Pilgrimage


If you want to read about the day-by-day pilgrimages, and see photos from the routes — The Pilgrims Way and the St Cuthbert’s Way in the UK, and the Camino de Santiago Portuguese Coastal — go tohttps://www.booksandtravel.page/pilgrimage-resources/ for all the links to my trips, gear list, questions to think about, and interviews.



You can find my lessons learned from the campaign and more tips for Kickstarter at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/selldirectresources/ 



If you want more interviews on writing memoir and book recommendations, go to https://www.thecreativepenn.com/writing-memoir/ 



Introduction


]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:40
The Hard Joy Of Writing With Sharon Fagan McDermott and M.C. Benner Dixon https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/19/the-hard-joy-of-writing-with-sharon-fagan-mcdermott-and-m-c-benner-dixon/ Mon, 19 Feb 2024 07:31:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36124 <p>How can we focus on the joy of the writing process itself, rather than the outcome? How can we embrace the positive side of being jealous of the success of other writers? How can we deepen our writing with metaphor and sense of place? Co-authors of writing book, Millions of Suns, Sharon and Christine share […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/19/the-hard-joy-of-writing-with-sharon-fagan-mcdermott-and-m-c-benner-dixon/">The Hard Joy Of Writing With Sharon Fagan McDermott and M.C. Benner Dixon</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we focus on the joy of the writing process itself, rather than the outcome? How can we embrace the positive side of being jealous of the success of other writers? How can we deepen our writing with metaphor and sense of place? How can we focus on the joy of the writing process itself, rather than the outcome? How can we embrace the positive side of being jealous of the success of other writers? How can we deepen our writing with metaphor and sense of place? Co-authors of writing book, Millions of Suns, Sharon and Christine share their tips.



In the intro, Findaway Terms of Service; Why Kickstarter is the Most Creative Way to Launch Your Book [Self-Publishing Advice]; Sell direct resources; Why writing books is a career like no other [Roz Morris]; You are not what you used to be [Johnny B. Truant]; OpenAI's text to video tool, Sora; Google's Gemini model; the Vesuvius Challenge;



Plus, my updated Author Blueprint; Spear of Destiny; and Pilgrimage is an award finalist for the Selfies [BookBrunch];






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Sharon Fagan McDermott is an award-winning poet, musician, and a teacher of literature. M. C. Benner Dixon is an-award winning author, freelance editor, and writing coach. Together, they are the co-authors of Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Finding play and joy in the work of writing



* How to find joy when writing alone



* Using metaphor to elevate your writing



* Bringing place alive on the page



* Reframing jealousy in a positive way



* The benefits and struggles of co-writing




You can find Sharon at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36013 <p>How can you pick yourself, rather than wait for someone else to pick you? How can you take control of your independent career and bring your creative vision to life? Jeffrey Crane Graham talks about his experience as an indie filmmaker, with lots of tips for indie authors. In the intro, 6 Types of Submission […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/12/writing-and-producing-a-micro-budget-film-with-jeffrey-crane-graham/">Writing And Producing A Micro-Budget Film With Jeffrey Crane Graham</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you pick yourself, rather than wait for someone else to pick you? How can you take control of your independent career and bring your creative vision to life? Jeffrey Crane Graham talks about his experience as an indie filmmaker, How can you pick yourself, rather than wait for someone else to pick you? How can you take control of your independent career and bring your creative vision to life? Jeffrey Crane Graham talks about his experience as an indie filmmaker, with lots of tips for indie authors.



In the intro, 6 Types of Submission Comments BookBub Editors Love to See [
BookBub]; Author platform is not a requirement to sell your novel or children’s book [Jane Friedman]; Your Author Business Plan and/or Business for Authors 50% off with discount coupon PLAN on CreativePennBooks.com; Spear of Destiny; Ruby Roe rainbow foil hardcover Kickstarter; Updated Author Blueprint coming soon; I'm interviewed on writing memoir [QWERTY Podcast].






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.






Jeffrey Crane Graham is a writer, director, and podcast producer. He wrote and directed the multi-award-winning film Always, Lola, and has also written comedy shorts. He produces and co-hosts The Screenwriting Life podcast.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Choosing yourself, rather than waiting for someone to pick you



* The process of creating a micro-budget feature



* Writing screenplays that are “practically shootable”



* Tips for authors who want to get their books on screen



* Marketing a film in a crowded market



* How the film festival circuit works for indie filmmakers



* Possible uses of AI in the filmmaking process that are not the act of creation




You can find Jeffrey at JeffGrahamDigital.com. You can find Always Lola at AlwaysLolaFilm.com.



Transcript of Interview with Jeffrey Crane Graham



Joanna: Jeffrey Crane Graham is a writer, director, and podcast producer.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:42
Your Author Brand With Isabelle Knight https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/05/your-author-brand-with-isabelle-knight/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 07:20:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36094 <p>How do you find the story behind all your stories? Who are you at the heart of your books? Isabelle Knight talks about the importance of author brand in an age of limitless content, and gives tips on how to discover yours. In the intro, 20 new miniature books added to Queen Mary’s Dollhouse [BBC]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/02/05/your-author-brand-with-isabelle-knight/">Your Author Brand With Isabelle Knight</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you find the story behind all your stories? Who are you at the heart of your books? Isabelle Knight talks about the importance of author brand in an age of limitless content, and gives tips on how to discover yours. In the intro, How do you find the story behind all your stories? Who are you at the heart of your books? Isabelle Knight talks about the importance of author brand in an age of limitless content, and gives tips on how to discover yours.



In the intro, 20 new miniature books added to Queen Mary’s Dollhouse [BBC]; Amazon announced Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping experience; How generative AI will impact book discoverability; Amazon AI Ready Initiative free AI training; NY Times is hiring for their own AI initiatives [The Verge]; “There’s nothing wrong with the tech, but it has to be legal and licensed.” [Hollywood Reporter]; Tools & Strategies you must use to survive the 2024 revolution [Marketing Against the Grain].



Plus, I recommend Forever Strong by Dr Gabrielle Lyon; my Kickstarter pre-launch page is up for Spear of Destiny; Vienna, Nuremberg, and Cologne: My Five days Research Trip notes and pictures.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna



You can also support the show and join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Isabelle Knight is a professional publicist, speaker and PR & brand mentor to authors and business founders. She is also adjunct professor in MA, PR & Advertising at the American International University of London.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Brand and it's importance in the age of AI



* Is human connection more important than content...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:00:26
How To Be Successful On Kickstarter With Paddy Finn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/29/how-to-be-successful-on-kickstarter-with-paddy-finn/ Mon, 29 Jan 2024 07:04:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36014 <p>What are the benefits — and the challenges — of crowdfunding on Kickstarter? How can you fund successfully, as well as make a profit with your campaign? Paddy Finn gives his tips. In the intro, you can find more selling direct resources here; Streaming due for a streamlining [FT]; Authors Guild explores AI licensing deal […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/29/how-to-be-successful-on-kickstarter-with-paddy-finn/">How To Be Successful On Kickstarter With Paddy Finn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the benefits — and the challenges — of crowdfunding on Kickstarter? How can you fund successfully, as well as make a profit with your campaign? Paddy Finn gives his tips. In the intro, you can find more selling direct resources here; Streaming... What are the benefits — and the challenges — of crowdfunding on Kickstarter? How can you fund successfully, as well as make a profit with your campaign? Paddy Finn gives his tips.



In the intro, you can find more selling direct resources here; Streaming due for a streamlining [FT]; Authors Guild explores AI licensing deal [Hollywood Reporter]; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI on Bill Gates' podcast, Unconfuse Me; AI audio company ElevenLabs in funding deal [TechCrunch]. Plus, follow my book research trip for Spear of Destiny on Instagram @jfpennauthor or Facebook @jfpennauthor.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Paddy Finn is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels, the CEO of Penny Dragon Games and Starcane Press, and is a Kickstarter expert.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Harnessing the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons on Kickstarter



* Offering physical objects to accompany your book campaign



* Why are direct sales and Kickstarter taking off now?



* The importance of audience ownership



* Pre-launching your Kickstarter campaign



* Costing out your campaign to make it profitable



* Shipping tips, tools, and manufacturing recommendations



* How to plan a six-figure campaign




You can find Paddy at PaddyFinn.com, and his course at KickstarterUniversity.com.



Transcript of Interview with Paddy Finn



Joanna: Paddy Finn is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels, the CEO of Penny Dragon Games and Starcane Press, and is a Kickstarter expert. So welcome to the show, Paddy.



Paddy: It's awesome to be here, Jo. Thanks for having me.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:47
A Creative Approach To Generative AI In Book Cover Design With James Helps https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/26/a-creative-approach-to-generative-ai-in-book-cover-design-with-james-helps/ Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:19:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=36015 <p>I really enjoyed this laid-back discussion around AI tools as part of the creative book cover design process with James Helps from Go On Write. We discuss how generative AI tools can help make more unique and interesting cover designs, and how designers can have a more imaginative time making them. This episode is supported […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/26/a-creative-approach-to-generative-ai-in-book-cover-design-with-james-helps/">A Creative Approach To Generative AI In Book Cover Design With James Helps</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> I really enjoyed this laid-back discussion around AI tools as part of the creative book cover design process with James Helps from Go On Write. We discuss how generative AI tools can help make more unique and interesting cover designs, I really enjoyed this laid-back discussion around AI tools as part of the creative book cover design process with James Helps from Go On Write. We discuss how generative AI tools can help make more unique and interesting cover designs, and how designers can have a more imaginative time making them.






This episode is supported by my Patreon community, who fund my future-focused thinking time. If you join the community, you get an extra solo Q&A show monthly, as well as behind-the-scenes videos on planning for the year ahead, AI and creative business, plus discounts, early access, and more. Join the community for the price of a coffee a month at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







James Helps is a book cover designer at GoOnWrite.com, offering pre-made covers and custom cover design. He also writes articles for authors about the impact of AI at his blog, HumbleNations.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* James' history with computers, AI, and art



* Various tools for AI-generated images and the rise of text to video



* Midjourney vs DALL-E and how being an artist makes Midjourney easier to use as you have the language to use it



* How James uses Midjourney as part of his creative ideation process with a client and how it gives him more scope for imaginative designs, and how it takes more time



* Is AI a threat to cover designers and/or authors? How our human creative drive and connection is our real differentiator.




You can find James at GoOnWrite.com, HumbleNations.wordpress.com, or JamesHelps.co.uk.



Transcript of Interview with James Helps



Joanna: James is a book cover designer at GoOnWrite.com, offering pre-made covers and custom cover design. He also writes articles for authors about the impact of AI at his blog, HumbleNations, which we're talking about today. So welcome to the show, James.



James: Hi there.



Joanna: Hello.



Tell us a bit more about your book cover design business and how you became interested in generative AI.



James: I guess the first thing I'd probably say is I don't really like the word business. It's more that I make covers for people that I like. They come in and chat to me, and I'm just a designer that really enjoys doing covers.



I guess when it comes down to the AI stuff, I got interested in that probably around two years ago when there was a lot of stuff in the air. There was like the DALL-E and Imagen that I was reading about quite a lot. I've always been sort of somebody who's looked at technology as a thing.



In my history, I did a computer science degree back in the early 90s. As a kid,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 38:15
Direct Sales And Merchandising For Authors With Alex Kava https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/22/direct-sales-and-merchandising-for-authors-with-alex-kava/ Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35921 <p>What are the benefits and challenges of selling direct? How can you use limited edition merchandise to add more value to retailers and make more money on a launch? Alex Kava talks about her author business. In the intro, award-winning Japanese writer, Rie Kudan, used ChatGPT to write parts of her prize-winning novel and judges […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/22/direct-sales-and-merchandising-for-authors-with-alex-kava/">Direct Sales And Merchandising For Authors With Alex Kava</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the benefits and challenges of selling direct? How can you use limited edition merchandise to add more value to retailers and make more money on a launch? Alex Kava talks about her author business. In the intro, award-winning Japanese writer, What are the benefits and challenges of selling direct? How can you use limited edition merchandise to add more value to retailers and make more money on a launch? Alex Kava talks about her author business.



In the intro, award-winning Japanese writer, Rie Kudan, used ChatGPT to write parts of her prize-winning novel and judges lauded the work as ‘flawless.’ [The Telegraph]; Personal news about my pivot, the Blueprint rewrite, and cleaning up the backlist; plus, I'm on The Alignment Show.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital to get started.



This show is also sponsored by my community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn.






Alex Kava is the multi-award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author of the FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell series and K-9 handler Ryder Creed series, amongst other books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The struggles that come with traditional publishing



* Becoming an indie author and taking back control



* Direct sales as part of the author business model



* Sourcing and selling quality merchandise



* Merchandise as an extension of the reader experience



* The technical side of selling personalized books and merchandise



* Building your newsletter and marketing your direct store




You can find Alex at AlexKava.com.



Transcript of Interview with Alex Kava



Joanna: Alex Kava is the multi-award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author of the FBI Profiler Maggie O'Dell series and K-9 Handler Ryder Creed series, amongst other books. So welcome to the show, Alex. 



Alex: Thanks, Jo. I'm so excited. Thank you for inviting me. 



Joanna: Oh, yes, well, we have lots to talk about. But first up– 



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing.



Alex: Well, I've been in the business now for over 20 years. So I guess as a kid, I was like all the other authors, but for me, I never dreamed that you could actually make a living by writing up stories and writing books. 



Both my parents were children of Polish immigrants, and they instilled a very strong work ethic.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:18
Facing Fears, And Writing Unique Characters With Barbara Nickless https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/15/facing-fears-and-writing-unique-characters-with-barbara-nickless/ Mon, 15 Jan 2024 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35920 <p>How can we move past our fears to write the books that mean the most to us? How can we write unique and compelling characters that keep readers coming back for more in a series? Barbara Nickless talks about mindset and writing craft in this wide-ranging interview. In the intro, Planning for a Creative 2024 […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/15/facing-fears-and-writing-unique-characters-with-barbara-nickless/">Facing Fears, And Writing Unique Characters With Barbara Nickless</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we move past our fears to write the books that mean the most to us? How can we write unique and compelling characters that keep readers coming back for more in a series? Barbara Nickless talks about mindset and writing craft in this wide-rangin... How can we move past our fears to write the books that mean the most to us? How can we write unique and compelling characters that keep readers coming back for more in a series?



Barbara Nickless talks about mindset and writing craft in this wide-ranging interview.



In the intro, Planning for a Creative 2024 and Trends for Independent Authors [ALLi]; Reflecting on 2023 and self-publishing trends for 2024 [Draft2Digital]; Launch of GPT store [The Verge]; check out the Jo-bot for writing advice; Innovator GPT; Getty launches their own generative AI [The Verge]; Microsoft announced an AI key on their new keyboards [BBC]; Open AI responds to the NY Times lawsuit.



Plus, thoughts on shifting to mixed grip and why taking a step back is so important to moving forward; History Quill conference; sort out your DMARC records; my book trailer for Beneath the Zoo, and re-assessing my timeline for 2024, a big election year for the US and UK. Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Barbara Nickless is the multi-award winning and international bestselling author of the Sydney Rose Parnell crime thrillers and the Dr. Evan Wilding serial killer thrillers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Tackling fears in order to write



* The research process for fiction writing



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:12:58
The Next Strategic Step On Your Author Journey And Author Nation With Joe Solari https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/08/the-next-strategic-step-on-your-author-journey-and-author-nation-with-joe-solari/ Mon, 08 Jan 2024 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35919 <p>Wherever you are on the author journey, there are some important questions to consider along the way. Joe Solari outlines a strategic step forward for new authors, midlist indies, and those with ambitious financial goals. Plus, what is Author Nation? In the intro, Top 10 trends for publishing [Written Word Media]; Indie author predictions for […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/08/the-next-strategic-step-on-your-author-journey-and-author-nation-with-joe-solari/">The Next Strategic Step On Your Author Journey And Author Nation With Joe Solari</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Wherever you are on the author journey, there are some important questions to consider along the way. Joe Solari outlines a strategic step forward for new authors, midlist indies, and those with ambitious financial goals. Plus, what is Author Nation? Wherever you are on the author journey, there are some important questions to consider along the way. Joe Solari outlines a strategic step forward for new authors, midlist indies, and those with ambitious financial goals. Plus, what is Author Nation?



In the intro, Top 10 trends for publishing [Written Word Media]; Indie author predictions for 2024 [ALLi]; Book publishing predictions [Kathleen Schmidt]; AI in 2024 [MIT Technology Review]; Chat to the JoBot on ChatGPT; Midjourney and video creation [Decrypt]; Business as usual is not an option [TNPS]; Beneath the Zoo in audio and ebook; The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Joe Solari helps authors build great businesses through books, courses, and podcasting, as well as strategy and operations consulting. He's also the managing partner of Author Ventures, which organizes Author Nation, coming to Las Vegas in November 2024.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Business strategies for authors at different stages



* Allocating time and money as a new author



* Branding for a midlist indie author



* Financial freedom vs. business expansion. What do you really want?



* What to expect from Author Nation 2024



* Why getting out of your comfort zone is the way to success




You can find Joe and Author Nation at AuthorNation.live or AuthorVenturesLLC.com



Transcript of Interview with Joe Solari



Joanna: Joe Solari helps authors build great businesses through books, courses, and podcasting,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:11:50
My 2024 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn [Updated] https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/01/my-2024-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35918 <p>Happy New Year 2024! I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it’s arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I measure it in years. At the end of each year, I make a photobook, and I publish an article here, which helps keep me […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2024/01/01/my-2024-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/">My 2024 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn [Updated]</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Happy New Year 2024! I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it’s arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I measure it in years. At the end of each year, I make a photobook, and I publish an article here, Happy New Year 2024!



I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it’s arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I measure it in years.



At the end of each year, I make a photobook, and I publish an article here, which helps keep me accountable. If you’d like to share your goals, please add them in the comments below. 



2023 was a year of change, culminating in my 15-Year Pivot, and so 2024 will be a year of consolidation and optimization of my new creative and business processes — as well as writing and creating, plus surfing the wave of more change ahead.







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* J.F. Penn — Spear of Destiny, and the Gothic Cathedral project



* The Creative Penn Podcast and Patreon Community



* Streamline The Creative Penn website, redo my Author Blueprint, and update my backlist books



* Optimize my Shopify stores and Meta ads



* Experiment more with AI tools that allow me to do more human creative things



* Speaking and travel, health and fitness



* Financials




As ever, I am a full-time author-entrepreneur and this is my job, so I have a lot of goals. If your goals are simpler — like finishing your book, or publishing for the first time, or selling 1000 copies, then fantastic! You don’t have to have such extensive goals as me. 



Please share your goals in the comments so we can keep each other accountable.



J.F. Penn — Spear of Destiny, and the Gothic Cathedral project



I’m planning on two major book projects, both launching with a special edition high-quality hardback and other exclusive products on Kickstarter, then selling the main editions on my JFPennBooks.com store before publishing wide to all the usual places. 



Spear of Destiny, An ARKANE Thriller book 13 will be first, possibly launching in April/May. I’ve already started the research in terms of reading and thinking, and I have a trip booked to Vienna, Nuremberg, and Cologne at the end of January for more in-depth research and story hunting. 



Spear of Destiny, cover mockup, jo penn on DALLE3


The Gothic Cathedral project is a chaotic mess of ideas right now, which I absolutely love. I have some vague thoughts on what it might turn into. I trust emergence!



There will certainly be a gorgeous limited edition hardback of my photos of Gothic cathedrals which I’ve been taking for over a decade alongside essays on various aspects that go al...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 40:46
Review Of My 2023 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/31/review-of-my-2023-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/ Sun, 31 Dec 2023 07:20:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35858 <p>Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you will take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments. In the intro, 2023 […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/31/review-of-my-2023-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/">Review Of My 2023 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you will take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals.



I hope you will take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments.



In the intro, 2023 was the year that Twitter died — and became X. What that means for me, plus The Verge does an overview. Thoughts on lighthouses and what yours might be, from The Comfort Book by Matt Haig quoting Anne Lamott; “We’re in an artist’s age now,” reflections on the changing author business model from Johnny B. Truant; The Future by Naomi Alderman.






This episode is supported by my Patreon community, who fund my future-focused thinking time. If you join the community, you get an extra solo Q&A show monthly, as well as behind-the-scenes videos on planning for the year ahead, AI and creative business, plus discounts, early access, and more. Join the community for the price of a coffee a month at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



You can read my 2023 goals here and I reflect on what I achieved below.




* J.F. Penn — Pilgrimage, Catacomb, and short stories



* Up-skilling into direct sales with Kickstarter and Shopify, and building a fiction-first store



* Joanna Penn — Writing the Shadow



* The Creative Penn Podcast and Patreon move to monthly Community



* Experiment with futurist technologies and share what I learn along the way 



* Financial goals



* Travel, speaking, health, and other things




Let me know in the comments below how your 2023 creative goals went.



J.F. Penn — Pilgrimage, Catacomb, and short stories 



Although I wrote and edited Pilgrimage in 2022, the publishing, launch, and marketing all happened in the first quarter of 2023.



The ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 53:21
The 15-Year Author Business Pivot With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/18/the-15-year-author-business-pivot-with-joanna-penn/ Mon, 18 Dec 2023 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35543 <p>In this episode, I reflect on 15 years of TheCreative Penn, and outline how I will reposition myself for the next 15 years of being an author entrepreneur. In the intro, We used to do that [Seth Godin]; Penguin Random House has acquired Hay House [Publishing Perspectives]; Business for Authors; Your Author Business Plan; OpenAI […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/18/the-15-year-author-business-pivot-with-joanna-penn/">The 15-Year Author Business Pivot With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In this episode, I reflect on 15 years of TheCreative Penn, and outline how I will reposition myself for the next 15 years of being an author entrepreneur. In the intro, We used to do that [Seth Godin]; Penguin Random House has acquired Hay House [Publ... In this episode, I reflect on 15 years of TheCreative Penn, and outline how I will reposition myself for the next 15 years of being an author entrepreneur.



In the intro,
We used to do that [Seth Godin]; Penguin Random House has acquired Hay House [Publishing Perspectives]; Business for Authors; Your Author Business Plan; OpenAI has announced a partnership with Axel Springer, the first publishing house globally to partner with them to integrate journalism with AI technologies.






This episode is supported by my Patreon community, who fund my future-focused thinking time. If you join the community, you get an extra solo Q&A show monthly, as well as behind-the-scenes videos on AI and creative business, plus, discounts, early access, and more. Join us for the price of a coffee a month at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* From Joanna Penn to J.F. Penn 



* From creating alone to the AI-Assisted Artisan Author



* From digital-focused to creating beautiful physical books



* From high-volume, low cost to premium products with higher Average Order Value 



* From retailer-centric to direct first



* From distance to presence 



* Pivoting a business is always a risk



* Will I still be here in another 15 years?




Let me know what you think. Are you pivoting your author business? What changes are you making to stay nimble in a fast-moving industry? Do you have any questions?



You can leave a comment below, or email me here.







Introduction



On 8 December 2008, I published my first blog post on www.TheCreativePenn.com. I had already self-published a book earlier that year and wanted to share my lessons learned.



]]> Joanna Penn full false 43:05 How Generative AI Search Will Impact Book Discoverability In The Next Decade https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/11/generative-ai-search-book-discoverability/ Mon, 11 Dec 2023 07:35:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35917 <p>How will changes to the way people search impact book discoverability? What can authors and publishers do to ensure their books are still found in the new form of generative AI search? While it's still early days for this technology, I share my thoughts in this article, with the hope that we can surf the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/11/generative-ai-search-book-discoverability/">How Generative AI Search Will Impact Book Discoverability In The Next Decade</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How will changes to the way people search impact book discoverability? What can authors and publishers do to ensure their books are still found in the new form of generative AI search? While it's still early days for this technology, How will changes to the way people search impact book discoverability? What can authors and publishers do to ensure their books are still found in the new form of generative AI search?



While it's still early days for this technology, I share my thoughts in this article, with the hope that we can surf the wave of change, rather than drown in it.



In the intro, Launching a series [Wish I'd Known Then]; Selling direct on TikTok Shop [Rebel Author]; Bookbub Best Ads; The State of Indie Authorship [Written Word Media]; Authors can now distribute Google Play Books’ auto-narrated audiobooks with Findaway Voices by Spotify; How to use Google Play Books auto-narration, episode 642; Amazon KDP AI audio narration beta.



Plus, History Quill online conference; Beneath the Zoo [JFPennBooks; Other stores]; A Midwinter Sacrifice [JFPennBooks; Other stores];






This episode is supported by my Patreon community, who fund my future-focused thinking time. If you join the community, you get an extra solo Q&A show monthly, as well as behind-the-scenes videos on AI and creative business, plus, discounts, early access, and more. Join us for the price of a coffee a month at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How does search work now?



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:21:05
Publishing A Cookery Photo Book With Jane Dixon-Smith https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/04/self-publishing-a-cookery-photo-book-with-jane-dixon-smith/ Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35896 <p>Do you want to publish an image-heavy book like a cookbook? How can you navigate the challenges of photography, book design, and publishing choices to make the best product possible? Jane Dixon-Smith shares her lessons learned from her first cookbook. In the intro, Brandon Sanderson's predictions about publishing [Daniel Greene]; Craig Mod talks about walking […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/12/04/self-publishing-a-cookery-photo-book-with-jane-dixon-smith/">Publishing A Cookery Photo Book With Jane Dixon-Smith</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Do you want to publish an image-heavy book like a cookbook? How can you navigate the challenges of photography, book design, and publishing choices to make the best product possible? Jane Dixon-Smith shares her lessons learned from her first cookbook. Do you want to publish an image-heavy book like a cookbook? How can you navigate the challenges of photography, book design, and publishing choices to make the best product possible? Jane Dixon-Smith shares her lessons learned from her first cookbook.



In the intro, Brandon Sanderson's predictions about publishing [Daniel Greene]; Craig Mod talks about walking and beautiful books [Long Form, Things Become Other Things]; Writing the Shadow [CreativePennBooks; Other stores].






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Jane Dixon-Smith is a historical fiction author, an award-winning book cover designer, graphic designer, and adventurer. Her latest book is The Great Adventure Baker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How adventure can keep your creative side alive



* Making a cookbook personal and unique



* Editing and testing the recipes



* Tips for producing the best photos without professional equipment



* Choosing the images for a photo-dominant book



* Choices in design and publishing



* Working with designers to incorporate AI into your designs




You can find Jane at JDSmith-design.co.uk.



Transcript of Interview with Jane Dixon-Smith



Joanna: Jane Dixon-Smith is a historical fiction author, an award-winning book cover designer, graphic designer, and adventurer. Her latest book is The Great Adventure Baker. Jane also designs my book covers and print interiors, so I am a huge fan of her work. So welcome back to the show, Jane.



Jane: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.



Joanna: It's gonna be exciting to talk about this because so many people want to do cookbooks, but there are many challenges. Before we get into that—



Tell us a bit more about your adventuring side of your life and why you decided to do a baking book at this point in your creative career.



Jane: Well, I got into adventuring properly, probably about five years ago.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 59:33
Subscriptions And The Creator Economy With Michael Evans https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/27/subscriptions-and-the-creator-economy-with-michael-evans/ Mon, 27 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35857 <p>How might subscriptions help expand your author business ecosystem? What are some tips on encouraging readers to buy direct? Why is the future looking positive for authors in the creator economy? Michael Evans gives his thoughts. In the intro, marketing for multi-genre authors [Self Publishing Advice]; Same as Ever: Timeless lessons on risk, opportunity, and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/27/subscriptions-and-the-creator-economy-with-michael-evans/">Subscriptions And The Creator Economy With Michael Evans</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How might subscriptions help expand your author business ecosystem? What are some tips on encouraging readers to buy direct? Why is the future looking positive for authors in the creator economy? Michael Evans gives his thoughts. In the intro, How might subscriptions help expand your author business ecosystem? What are some tips on encouraging readers to buy direct? Why is the future looking positive for authors in the creator economy? Michael Evans gives his thoughts.



In the intro, marketing for multi-genre authors [Self Publishing Advice]; Same as Ever: Timeless lessons on risk, opportunity, and living a good life by Morgan Housel; Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes, and what we can learn from both of these books.



Plus, join me and Joseph Michael for a free webinar on Using AI as an author, 5 Dec 2023. Click here to find out more.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Michael Evans is the author of science fiction thrillers, as well as Subscriptions for Authors and Creator Economy for Authors. He's also the co-founder of Ream, a subscription platform that helps authors create a thriving paid membership for their readers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Finding the courage to try something new



* What subscriptions are and how authors can use them



* Who does well on Ream and other subscription-based platforms



* Creating incentives for readers to join subscription-based models



* Monetizing the idea of exclusivity and scarcity



* The importance of building trust with your audience



* Michael's optimism for the future of publishing




You can find Michael at ReamStories.com and SubscriptionsForAuthors.com



Transcript of Interview with Michael Evans



Joanna: Michael Evans is the author of science fiction thrillers, as well as Subscriptions for Authors and Creator Economy for Authors. He's also the co-founder of Ream, a subscription platform that helps authors create a thriving paid membership for their readers. So welcome to the show, Michael.



Michael: Thank you for having me. It's so wild, but really cool, to be on this end of the mic. I've been listening to you since the beginning.



Joanna: Thank you so much for coming on. So first up—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:38
Starting A Second Career As An Author And Networking Tips With Patrick O’Donnell https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/20/starting-a-second-career-as-an-author-and-networking-tips-with-patrick-odonnell/ Mon, 20 Nov 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35841 <p>How can you transition into being an author after a long-term career elsewhere? How can you adopt an attitude of service in order to build your network in an authentic manner? Patrick O'Donnell shares his tips. In the intro, Spotify subscribers in the US now have 15 hours of free audiobook listening [The Verge] — […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/20/starting-a-second-career-as-an-author-and-networking-tips-with-patrick-odonnell/">Starting A Second Career As An Author And Networking Tips With Patrick O’Donnell</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you transition into being an author after a long-term career elsewhere? How can you adopt an attitude of service in order to build your network in an authentic manner? Patrick O'Donnell shares his tips. In the intro, How can you transition into being an author after a long-term career elsewhere? How can you adopt an attitude of service in order to build your network in an authentic manner? Patrick O'Donnell shares his tips.



In the intro, Spotify subscribers in the US now have 15 hours of free audiobook listening [The Verge] — you can find most of my books there if you want to give them a try! Plus an update from 20BooksVegas, which will now be Author Nation; and signing my gold foil hardbacks of Writing the Shadow.



In AI news, ChatGPT is now multi-modal, and can also be fine-tuned as GPTs and made into agents. You can try out Creative Writing with The Creative Penn, or Write Thrillers like J.F. Penn, trained on my books. Plus, join me and Joseph Michael for a free webinar on Using AI as an author, 5 Dec 2023. Click here to find out more.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Patrick O'Donnell is a retired police sergeant with 25 years’ experience. He's now the author of nine books, including police procedurals and the Cops and Writers reference guides, as well as a podcaster, screenwriting technical consultant, and organizer of the Cop Camp Conference.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Becoming a writer after a significant first career



* Dos and don'ts of finding a mentor



* Being of service and volunteering with purpose



* Knowing when an author relationship clicks



* Writing entertainment vs. writing for therapy



* Cop Camp — What it is and why host it?



* Managing different energies in an author conference




You can find Patrick and CopsandWriters.com.



Transcript of Interview with Patrick O'Donnell



Joanna: Patrick O'Donnell is a retired police sergeant with 25 years’ experience. He's now the author of nine books, including police procedurals and the Cops and Writers reference guides, as well as a podcaster,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:24
The Mindset And Business Of Selling Books Direct With Russell Nohelty https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/13/the-mindset-and-business-of-selling-books-direct-with-russell-nohelty/ Mon, 13 Nov 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35838 <p>How can you shift your mindset from catalog sales to selling direct? How can you reframe the direct author business model to take advantage of creative possibilities for different kinds of products and long-term marketing? Russell Nohelty gives his tips in this interview. In the intro, Top 10 tips for indie authors [Clare Lydon]; 10 […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/13/the-mindset-and-business-of-selling-books-direct-with-russell-nohelty/">The Mindset And Business Of Selling Books Direct With Russell Nohelty</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you shift your mindset from catalog sales to selling direct? How can you reframe the direct author business model to take advantage of creative possibilities for different kinds of products and long-term marketing? How can you shift your mindset from catalog sales to selling direct? How can you reframe the direct author business model to take advantage of creative possibilities for different kinds of products and long-term marketing? Russell Nohelty gives his tips in this interview.



In the intro, Top 10 tips for indie authors [Clare Lydon]; 10 years lessons learned [SJ Pajonas], My timeline of being an author; Using AI tools for fact-checking [The Blue Garret];






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Russell Nohelty is the USA Today bestselling author of fiction, graphic novels and comics, nonfiction, and books for authors, including This is NOT a Book: Musings on living a writerly life.



His latest book is Direct Sales Mastery for Authors, co-written with Monica Leonelle, launching as this goes out on Kickstarter.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The mindset shift of selling direct



* Catalog sales vs direct sales



* The benefits of a direct relationship to customers and reframing the more personal touch experience



* Creativity in campaigns and print possibilities with direct sales



* Direct book marketing



* Keeping a long-term perspective and the flywheel concept of an author business




You can find Russell at RussellNohelty.com and his Kickstarter at WriterMBA.com/DSA



Transcript of Interview with Russell Nohelty



Joanna: Russell Nohelty is the USA Today bestselling author of fiction, graphic novels and comics, nonfiction, and books for authors, including This is NOT a Book: Musings on living a writerly life.



His latest book is Direct Sales Mastery for Authors, co-written with Monica Leonelle, launching as this goes out on Kickstarter. So welcome to the show, Russell.



Thank you so much for having me. It's been a career-long dream to be on this show because I've been listening to it for so long. So I'm very excited.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:54
Pinterest For Book Marketing With Trona Freeman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/06/pinterest-for-book-marketing-with-trona-freeman/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35839 <p>How can using Pinterest more like a search engine help you sell more books? What are some of the ways to use Pinterest most effectively for book marketing? Trona Freeman gives her tips. In the intro, KDP announce an Invite-Only KDP Beta for Audiobooks; How to Double Down on Being Human: 5 Ways to Stand […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/11/06/pinterest-for-book-marketing-with-trona-freeman/">Pinterest For Book Marketing With Trona Freeman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can using Pinterest more like a search engine help you sell more books? What are some of the ways to use Pinterest most effectively for book marketing? Trona Freeman gives her tips. In the intro, KDP announce an Invite-Only KDP Beta for Audiobooks;... How can using Pinterest more like a search engine help you sell more books? What are some of the ways to use Pinterest most effectively for book marketing? Trona Freeman gives her tips.



In the intro, KDP announce an Invite-Only KDP Beta for Audiobooks; How to Double Down on Being Human: 5 Ways to Stand Out in an Age of AI; Creative Planning with Orna Ross; Pathfinders edited by JL Collins; Kickstarter fulfillment for Writing the Shadow; In-Person Conference Tips for Introverts and Highly Sensitive People.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books wide to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Trona Freeman specializes in Pinterest services and marketing for small business. She has a Master's in History of Art and lives in Scotland.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* What is Pinterest and how can authors use it for book marketing



* Utilizing keywords and SEO for your books



* Integration between Pinterest and Shopify



* Recommended tools for scheduling on Pinterest



* How engaging should you be? Do you have to reply to comments?



* How AI will be incorporated into the future of Pinterest




You can find Trona at services.ayelined.com



Transcript of Interview with Trona Freeman



Joanna: Trona Freeman specializes in Pinterest services and marketing for small business. She has a Master's in History of Art and lives in Scotland. So welcome to the show, Trona.



Trona: Hello, thank you so much for having me.



Joanna: Oh, I'm excited to talk about this. Before we get into it—



Tell us a bit more about you and why you focus particularly on Pinterest.



Trona: So I did my master's in history of art about 10 years ago now. Then I was going to do a PhD, but I fell pregnant with my son who's now nine. So I thought,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:29
Managing Your Author Business Over The Long Term With Tracy Cooper-Posey https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/30/managing-your-author-business-over-the-long-term-with-tracy-cooper-posey/ Mon, 30 Oct 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35818 <p>How can you reinvigorate your writing process, breathe life into your backlist, and prepare your author business for the rollercoaster that is publishing? Tracy Cooper-Posey gives her tips. In the intro, Authors Guild results [The Hotsheet]; more Promo Stacks with Written Word Media; Amazon's robot [BBC]; Amazon's generative image AI for products [Venture Beat]; Shutterstock's […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/30/managing-your-author-business-over-the-long-term-with-tracy-cooper-posey/">Managing Your Author Business Over The Long Term With Tracy Cooper-Posey</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you reinvigorate your writing process, breathe life into your backlist, and prepare your author business for the rollercoaster that is publishing? Tracy Cooper-Posey gives her tips. In the intro, Authors Guild results [The Hotsheet]; more Promo... How can you reinvigorate your writing process, breathe life into your backlist, and prepare your author business for the rollercoaster that is publishing? Tracy Cooper-Posey gives her tips.



In the intro, Authors Guild results [The Hotsheet]; more Promo Stacks with Written Word Media; Amazon's robot [BBC]; Amazon's generative image AI for products [Venture Beat]; Shutterstock's new AI image option; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter finishes (thank you!), and on pre-order. Plus, join my Patreon Community / TheCreativePenn and get AI tutorials plus other benefits.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Tracy Cooper-Posey is the multi-award-winning author of over 200 romance novels. Today, we're talking about her first non-fiction book for authors, The Productive Indie Fiction Writer: Strategies for Writing More, Earning More, and Living Well.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Changing as a writer and reinvigorating writing habits with a new genre



* Deciding what to focus on when there seems to be limitless options



* How a backlist underpins an indie author business



* Deciding when to update books or retire books



* Stash the cash, stash the books, stash the email list



* Tips for dealing with discouragement



* Utilizing BookFunnel promotions as a discovery tool




You can find Tracy at StoriesRulePress.com



Transcript of Interview with Tracy Cooper-Posey



Joanna: Tracy Cooper-Posey is the multi-award-winning author of over 200 romance novels. Today, we're talking about her first non-fiction book for authors, The Productive Indie Fiction Writer: Strategies for Writing More, Earning More, and Living Well.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 59:07
Stop Trying To Do Everything With Patricia McLinn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/23/stop-trying-to-do-everything-with-patricia-mclinn/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35810 <p>How do you keep up with everything you need to do as your author business grows? How do you decide what to focus on as the industry changes — and you change, too? Patricia McLinn discusses her challenges with a big backlist of books and a mature indie author business. In the intro, Self-publishing's ongoing […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/23/stop-trying-to-do-everything-with-patricia-mclinn/">Stop Trying To Do Everything With Patricia McLinn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you keep up with everything you need to do as your author business grows? How do you decide what to focus on as the industry changes — and you change, too? Patricia McLinn discusses her challenges with a big backlist of books and a mature indie ... How do you keep up with everything you need to do as your author business grows? How do you decide what to focus on as the industry changes — and you change, too? Patricia McLinn discusses her challenges with a big backlist of books and a mature indie author business.



In the intro, Self-publishing's ongoing evolution [Publishers Weekly]; Audiobooks on Spotify and how my listening behavior is changing [FindawayVoices]; Author ecosystems, and an overview on the Kickstart your book sales podcast.



Plus, How to double down on being human: 5 ways to stand out in an age of AI; Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words; Let your dark horse run; Halloween Horror Bundle including Catacomb; The Wrong Planet autism book by Holger Nils Pohl; Join the community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Patricia McLinn is the award-winning and multi-USA Today bestselling author of over 60 books across mystery, contemporary and historical romance, women's fiction, and nonfiction.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Dealing with difficulties of changing business technology



* How to re-sane in a long-term author career



* Streamlining, outsourcing, and letting go



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:27
Writing The Soul Of Place With Linda Lappin https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/16/writing-the-soul-of-place-with-linda-lappin/ Mon, 16 Oct 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35775 <p>What is soul of place or genius loci and how can you write it in a more immersive way in your books? How can you discover it closer to home, as well as write real settings more authentically, and invent it for your fiction? Linda Lappin gives some tips in this interview. In the intro, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/16/writing-the-soul-of-place-with-linda-lappin/">Writing The Soul Of Place With Linda Lappin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is soul of place or genius loci and how can you write it in a more immersive way in your books? How can you discover it closer to home, as well as write real settings more authentically, and invent it for your fiction? What is soul of place or genius loci and how can you write it in a more immersive way in your books? How can you discover it closer to home, as well as write real settings more authentically, and invent it for your fiction? Linda Lappin gives some tips in this interview.



In the intro, 140 Book Marketing Ideas from BookBub; JA Konrath on AI and The Authors Guild.



Plus, Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words, and I'm on lots of podcasts: The Rebel Author Podcast, Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing; How Do You Write?; The Secret Library; Self-Publishing Show; Hybrid Author Podcast; Self-Publishing Advice Podcast; Novel Marketing Podcast. For a great ebook deal, check out the Halloween Storybundle






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Linda Lappin is the award-winning author of historical fiction and mystery, as well as The Soul of Place: A Creative Writing Workbook: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* What is soul of place or genius loci?



* How to know when you feel the soul of place



* Using soul of place across genres



* Noticing your local environment in a different light



* The importance of sensory detail



* Experiencing sacred places



* Writing characters' homes to create more personal stories



* Writing as an outsider
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:51
Let Your Dark Horse Run. Writing The Shadow With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/13/let-your-dark-horse-run-writing-the-shadow-with-joanna-penn/ Fri, 13 Oct 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35813 <p>How can you let your creative dark horse run? What is the Shadow — and why explore your Shadow side? This episode features excerpted chapters from the audiobook of Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words, written and narrated by Joanna Penn, available on Kickstarter until 25 October 2023: www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook (link will redirect […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/13/let-your-dark-horse-run-writing-the-shadow-with-joanna-penn/">Let Your Dark Horse Run. Writing The Shadow With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you let your creative dark horse run? What is the Shadow — and why explore your Shadow side? This episode features excerpted chapters from the audiobook of Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words, How can you let your creative dark horse run? What is the Shadow — and why explore your Shadow side?



This episode features excerpted chapters from the audiobook of Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words, written and narrated by Joanna Penn, available on Kickstarter until 25 October 2023: www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook (link will redirect if you're reading/listening in the future.)



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.




* Let your dark horse run



* Introduction: What is the Shadow?



* Why explore your Shadow side?







Let your dark horse run



Although much has changed over the last two thousand years, human nature remains the same. Around 370 BC, the Greek philosopher Plato composed The Phaedrus, which includes an allegory of a chariot that has helped me frame the Shadow. Perhaps it will help you, too.







Imagine a Roman chariot drawn by two horses — a white horse and a dark horse. I am the Charioteer, and I am in the race of my life.



The white horse represents my rational self, the one society sees.



My good behaviour, my industry, my hard work, my productivity, my scrubbed-clean, well-mannered good girl self. 



She helps others. She’s a peacemaker. She doesn’t like conflict. She says the right things, reads the right books. She needs to be liked.



My white horse trots delicately along paved roads, aware of the fences and boundaries, never needing to cross them, remaining within the lines drawn by others.



My dark horse is a wild animal, wreathed in smoke and ash and flame. 



She gallops across wide open spaces, leaps obstacles, smashes through fences, and avoids the paved and cornered world. 



She runs free and will destroy herself, rather than be caged.



If both horses run together in the same direction, I can fly along, whooping in delight at the speed and power. But if they become unbalanced, the chariot begins to wobble. 



When my dark horse stumbles, my white horse drives us hard along the highway, never stopping for rest. 



But if she dominates for too long, my dark horse rears up and runs out of control, driving us towards the cliff edge.



My white horse has often been stronger. 



I’ve always worked hard, got good grades, behaved well, earned enough money to support myself, paid my taxes early. 



But the more I let my white horse dominate, the more my dark one rears up unexpectedly and takes over until she exhausts herself with all the things that nice girls shouldn’t do. 



When I became a writer, these two horses drove me once more. 



My white horse writes non-fiction, helps others, wants to be useful, and responsibly manages a professional business. I’m grateful to have her!



My dark horse writes stories that tap into untamed darkness. 



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 30:56
Writing Faster Without Burning Out With LA Witt https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/09/writing-faster-without-burning-out-with-la-witt/ Mon, 09 Oct 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35773 <p>How can you establish a creative routine that enables you to write the books you want to write without burning out? How can you balance a sustainable work ethic as an author as well as spending time away from the desk. LA Witt talks about her strategies. In the intro, Spotify introduces 15 hours of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/09/writing-faster-without-burning-out-with-la-witt/">Writing Faster Without Burning Out With LA Witt</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you establish a creative routine that enables you to write the books you want to write without burning out? How can you balance a sustainable work ethic as an author as well as spending time away from the desk. How can you establish a creative routine that enables you to write the books you want to write without burning out? How can you balance a sustainable work ethic as an author as well as spending time away from the desk. LA Witt talks about her strategies.



In the intro, Spotify introduces 15 hours of audiobooks for premium subscribers in limited countries [FindawayVoices]; Spotify auto-translates podcasts into other languages in the host's voice [Spotify]; Amazon invested in Anthropic, which includes generative text model, Claude [The Verge]; ChatGPT goes multi-modal [OpenAI]; DALL-E 3 launching which includes text with images [OpenAI]



Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words is now live! I'm also discussing the book, selling direct and other things on the Everyday Spirituality Podcast; Two Indie Authors; Becoming an international bestselling author;



Plus, check out the Halloween Storybundle and Becca Syme's Energy Pennies Kickstarter.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.






L.A. Witt is the author of nearly 200 romance novels and novellas, and today we're talking about her book for authors, Writing Faster for the Win.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Writing in multiple subgenres



* Tips for utilizing your space and time for writing effectively



* Discovering your sustainable word count



* Using brackets and placeholders to write faster



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:12:55
Adapting To Change With Jessie Kwak https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/02/adapting-to-change-with-jessie-kwak/ Mon, 02 Oct 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35771 <p>As much as we try to plan for things, sometimes life happens and we have to adapt to a new situation. Jessie Kwak talks about adapting to life as a freelance writer and author after being injured, and her tips for managing work and energy. In the intro, I mention Accessibility for All, the interview […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/10/02/adapting-to-change-with-jessie-kwak/">Adapting To Change With Jessie Kwak</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> As much as we try to plan for things, sometimes life happens and we have to adapt to a new situation. Jessie Kwak talks about adapting to life as a freelance writer and author after being injured, and her tips for managing work and energy. As much as we try to plan for things, sometimes life happens and we have to adapt to a new situation. Jessie Kwak talks about adapting to life as a freelance writer and author after being injured, and her tips for managing work and energy.



In the intro, I mention Accessibility for All, the interview I did with Jeff Adams about how we can make our content more accessible to people with injuries and disabilities. You can also check out KWL Podcast episode on Accessibility for Authors. Plus, Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words is launching soon on Kickstarter, register your interest in the launch here.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Jessie Kwak is the author of gangster sci-fi supernatural thrillers and nonfiction for creatives. She's also a ghostwriter and freelance marketing copywriter, and her books include From Big Idea to Book and From Chaos to Creativity.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Adapting to changing circumstances



* When medical situations affect your author business



* How changing appearances affects us at a deeper level



* The importance of accessibility tools for authors



* Prioritizing your use of energy when you only have a finite amount



* Ways to future-proof your business



* Healthcare costs for freelancers



* The Author Alchemy Summit hosted by Jessie Kwak




You can find Jessie at JessieKwak.com and her upcoming summit at AuthorAlchemySummit.com.



Transcript of Interview with Jessie Kwak



Joanna: Jessie Kwak is the author of gangster sci-fi supernatural thrillers and nonfiction for creatives. She's also a ghostwriter and freelance marketing copywriter, and her books include From Big Idea to Book and From Chaos to Creativity. So welcome back to the show, Jessie.



Jessie: Thank you for having me.



Joanna: It's good to talk to you again. Now, you were last on th...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 43:25
Writing And Publishing A High Quality Photo Book With Jeremy Bassetti https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/25/writing-and-publishing-a-high-quality-photo-book-with-jeremy-bassetti/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:04:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35719 <p>How can you create a high-quality photo book and publish it on Kickstarter? How do you market a beautiful, high-value book? Jeremy Bassetti talks about his photo book project, Hill of the Skull. In the intro, Slow release book strategies [ALLi]; Seth Godin on how he is using ChatGPT; Consultants using AI worked faster and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/25/writing-and-publishing-a-high-quality-photo-book-with-jeremy-bassetti/">Writing And Publishing A High Quality Photo Book With Jeremy Bassetti</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create a high-quality photo book and publish it on Kickstarter? How do you market a beautiful, high-value book? Jeremy Bassetti talks about his photo book project, Hill of the Skull. In the intro, How can you create a high-quality photo book and publish it on Kickstarter? How do you market a beautiful, high-value book? Jeremy Bassetti talks about his photo book project, Hill of the Skull.



In the intro, Slow release book strategies [
ALLi]; Seth Godin on how he is using ChatGPT; Consultants using AI worked faster and produced higher quality results [Ethan Mollick]; DALL-E includes text and consistent characters [OpenAI, Examples on X]; More authors suing OpenAI [The Verge].



Plus, Writing the Shadow Kickstarter; Gold cover video; Wing of an Angel Kickstarter; Pics of Norway on Instagram @jfpennauthor






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Jeremy Bassetti is a travel writer, editor, teacher, and author of historical fiction, as well as the host of the Travel Writing World Podcast. His latest project is The Hill of the Skull: A Photobook Memoir, launching on Kickstarter.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Tips for capturing travel experiences for later reference



* Legal and ethical concerns in publishing photos of people



* The multilayered editing process of a photo book



* Sourcing a printer for high-quality books



* Adding different levels and products to a Kickstarter campaign



* Why Kickstarter vs. other publishing methods



* The importance of marketing




You can find Jeremy at JeremyBassetti.com, his podcast at TravelWritingWorld.com,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:02:57 Lessons Learned from 12 Years as an Author Entrepreneur https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/18/lessons-learned-from-12-years-as-an-author-entrepreneur/ Mon, 18 Sep 2023 07:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35581 <p>In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 12 years as a full-time author entrepreneur. You can read/listen to previous updates at TheCreativePenn.com/timeline. In the intro, Finding readers [ALLi blog]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/18/lessons-learned-from-12-years-as-an-author-entrepreneur/">Lessons Learned from 12 Years as an Author Entrepreneur</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 12 years as a full-time author entrepreneur. You can read/listen to previous updates at TheCreativePenn.com/timeline. In the intro, Finding readers [ALLi blog]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter. In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 12 years as a full-time author entrepreneur. You can read/listen to previous updates at TheCreativePenn.com/timeline.



In the intro, Finding readers [ALLi blog]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Memoir is one of the hardest and most rewarding genres



* Disruption is inevitable. If you don't disrupt yourself, you will be disrupted.



* Disrupting my creative process with generative AI tools



* Disrupting my publishing and marketing process with Kickstarter and Shopify



* How much do I rely on Amazon for book sales and total business income?




You can support the podcast on Patreon.com/thecreativepenn and get a lot more behind-the-scenes business and AI insights. You can sign up for my Author Blueprint here.



You can buy my books for authors at www.CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at www.JFPennBooks.com.



Sign up for my next Kickstarter here: Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words.






Lessons Learned from 12 Years as an Author Entrepreneur



Twelve years ago, in Sept...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 49:21
Writing And Producing Audio Drama With Joanne Phillips https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/11/writing-and-producing-audio-drama-with-joanne-phillips/ Mon, 11 Sep 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35718 <p>What's the difference between an audio book and an audio drama? What are the steps to write a script and produce it? Joanne Phillips gives her tips. In the intro, Amazon KDP's new AI content guidelines; AI at the heart of what Amazon does [The Verge]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter; 1000 Libraries Kickstarter; Today's show […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/11/writing-and-producing-audio-drama-with-joanne-phillips/">Writing And Producing Audio Drama With Joanne Phillips</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What's the difference between an audio book and an audio drama? What are the steps to write a script and produce it? Joanne Phillips gives her tips. In the intro, Amazon KDP's new AI content guidelines; AI at the heart of what Amazon does [The Verge]; ... What's the difference between an audio book and an audio drama? What are the steps to write a script and produce it? Joanne Phillips gives her tips.



In the intro,
Amazon KDP's new AI content guidelines; AI at the heart of what Amazon does [The Verge]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter; 1000 Libraries Kickstarter;










Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Joanne Phillips is the author of 14 books, including romantic comedy, literary fiction, mysteries, and self-help books. She's also the scriptwriter, showrunner, and executive producer for GravyTree Media, specializing in audio drama, with Everyone's Happy out now.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* What an audio drama is compared to an audiobook or podcast



* The process of writing and adapting an audio drama



* How to cast voice actors



* Details on creating the raw audio, editing, and adding sound effects



* Time and cost commitment of creating an audio drama



* Incorporating AI tools into the audio production



* Marketing tips for fiction audio




You can find Joanne at GravyTreeMedia.com



Transcript of Interview with Joanne Phillips



Joanna: Joanne Phillips is the author of 14 books, including romantic comedy, literary fiction, mysteries, and self-help books. She's also the scriptwriter, showrunner, and executive producer for GravyTree Media, specializing in audio drama, with Everyone's Happy out now. So welcome to the show, Jo.



Joanne: Hi, Jo. It's great to be here.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you about this topic because it's so interesting. But first up—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



Joanne: So I've always written and made up stories, like most writers, really. I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing and creating narratives. I think it's how I make sense of the world. It's how I escaped, that sounds terrible?!



Joanna: No, not at all.



Joanne: It's how I kept myself company,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:13:07 Using AI Images In Your Book Cover Design Process With Damon Freeman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/07/using-ai-images-in-your-book-cover-design-process-with-damon-freeman/ Thu, 07 Sep 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35749 <p>How can you expand the possibilities of book cover images with AI? What are some of the controversies and how can authors and designers work together with AI tools to create original design? Book cover designer Damon Freeman discusses his views. There are lots of links in the show notes below to specific resources, but […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/07/using-ai-images-in-your-book-cover-design-process-with-damon-freeman/">Using AI Images In Your Book Cover Design Process With Damon Freeman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you expand the possibilities of book cover images with AI? What are some of the controversies and how can authors and designers work together with AI tools to create original design? Book cover designer Damon Freeman discusses his views. How can you expand the possibilities of book cover images with AI? What are some of the controversies and how can authors and designers work together with AI tools to create original design? Book cover designer Damon Freeman discusses his views.



There are lots of links in the show notes below to specific resources, but of course, the AI space moves fast, so always check the Terms and Conditions of any site you want to investigate further. I also mention the free webinar on AI Ads for Authors with Mark Dawson and James Blatch.






Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio — and my tutorial on how I use Midjourney. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Damon Freeman is the founder and creative director of Damonza.com, creating custom book cover design and interior formatting for authors.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Using AI tools as part of the creative process



* How Midjourney works



* Discussion on copyright



* How AI tools are enabling the creation of unique cover images that have been almost impossible before



* If AI will be able to do everything, how will creatives make a living?



* Tips for working with your cover designer and incorporating AI



* Damon has some great articles on AI images in book covers here, and he also mentions James at GoOnWrite who has an article for self-published authors around AI and images here.




You can find Damon at Damonza.com.



Transcript of Interview with Damon Freeman



Joanna: Damon Freeman is the founder and creative director of Damonza.com, creating custom book cover design and interior formatting for authors. So welcome to the show, Damon.



Damon: Thank you, Joanna. Thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to chat. I'm really looking forward to it.



Joanna: Oh, me too. So we're going to talk specifically about AI images as part of the design process today. But first up—



Tell us a bit more about you, your design background, and how you've been working with authors for over a decade.



Damon: I trained as a graphic designer, and I was working in normal graphic design businesses.



I started my own company as a general kind of graphic design...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 46:01
Producing Visual, High Quality Books, Thinking Differently, and Kickstarter Lessons With Holger Nils Pohl https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/04/producing-visual-high-quality-books-thinking-differently-and-kickstarter-lessons-with-holger-nils-pohl/ Mon, 04 Sep 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35710 <p>How might thinking differently help you create clarity in our noisy world? How can you produce a high-quality print book — and successfully fund it on Kickstarter? Holger Nils Pohl discusses these things and more. In the intro, Copyright in an age of AI [Self Publishing Advice, Monica Leonelle, Ars Technica, The Verge, The Atlantic; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/09/04/producing-visual-high-quality-books-thinking-differently-and-kickstarter-lessons-with-holger-nils-pohl/">Producing Visual, High Quality Books, Thinking Differently, and Kickstarter Lessons With Holger Nils Pohl</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How might thinking differently help you create clarity in our noisy world? How can you produce a high-quality print book — and successfully fund it on Kickstarter? Holger Nils Pohl discusses these things and more. In the intro, How might thinking differently help you create clarity in our noisy world? How can you produce a high-quality print book — and successfully fund it on Kickstarter? Holger Nils Pohl discusses these things and more.



In the intro, Copyright in an age of AI [Self Publishing Advice, Monica Leonelle, Ars Technica, The Verge, The Atlantic; Insider; Kathryn Goldman; US Government Copyright Office AI Submission]; Writing the Shadow Kickstarter; Lesbians Who Write; Pretty Links;






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Holger Nils Pohl is a visual strategist, professional speaker, trainer, and coach. He's also the author of multiple books, from business to children's books, as well as the co-creator of an award-winning business board game.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Breaking out of the traditional publishing mindset



* The creative process — distilling ideas into visual images versus words



* Neurodiversity as a creative



* Living authentically and breaking out of ‘masking'



* Challenges of creating a high-quality book



* Return on investment for nonfiction authors on Kickstarter



* Six tips for a successful Kickstarter



* How creatives can create clarity and choose the right direction




You can find Holger at HolgerNilsPohl.com.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:17:00
Writing Poetry In The Dark With Stephanie Wytovich https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/28/writing-poetry-in-the-dark-with-stephanie-wytovich/ Mon, 28 Aug 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35579 <p>How can you stop self-censoring your writing and share the deepest aspects of yourself with your readers? How can you break poetry out of the restraints that many try to put upon it? Stephanie Wytovich talks about these things and more. In the intro, 5 trends that are shifting the future of publishing with Monica […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/28/writing-poetry-in-the-dark-with-stephanie-wytovich/">Writing Poetry In The Dark With Stephanie Wytovich</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you stop self-censoring your writing and share the deepest aspects of yourself with your readers? How can you break poetry out of the restraints that many try to put upon it? Stephanie Wytovich talks about these things and more. In the intro, How can you stop self-censoring your writing and share the deepest aspects of yourself with your readers? How can you break poetry out of the restraints that many try to put upon it? Stephanie Wytovich talks about these things and more.



In the intro, 5 trends that are shifting the future of publishing with Monica Leonelle & Russell Nohelty; Direct Sales Strategies We Love from 36 Authors from BookBub; JFPennBooks Reading Order; AI Training Permission from Hugh Howey; Eleven Labs for AI voices and VoiceSwitcher with Storytel;



Plus, Kickstarter for Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words; Chuck Palahniuk on James Altucher talking about unmasking shadows; Carl Jung's Red Book, which features in Stone of Fire.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.






Stephanie M. Wytovich is a Bram Stoker award-winning poet, as well as a horror novelist and essayist. She's also the poetry editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press and the editor of Writing Poetry in the Dark.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Allowing poetry to break out from fitting in a box



* How to put together a poetry collection



* Balancing writing for therapy and writing for the reader



* Ways to stop ourselves from self-censoring



* Where the darker sides of ourselves come from



* The horror genre and what it encompasses



* Differences between mainstream books and award winners



* Benefits of being involved with a community of writers

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:22
Build A Successful Author Business For The Long Term With Joe Solari https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/21/build-a-successful-author-business-for-the-long-term-with-joe-solari/ Mon, 21 Aug 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35570 <p>How can you build an author business for the long term, and not just for the launch of one book? How do you ensure secure cash flow and profits, instead of focusing on short-term spike sales? Joe Solari discusses key aspects of your author business. In the intro, Kobo Plus expands to audiobooks in Australia […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/21/build-a-successful-author-business-for-the-long-term-with-joe-solari/">Build A Successful Author Business For The Long Term With Joe Solari</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you build an author business for the long term, and not just for the launch of one book? How do you ensure secure cash flow and profits, instead of focusing on short-term spike sales? Joe Solari discusses key aspects of your author business. How can you build an author business for the long term, and not just for the launch of one book? How do you ensure secure cash flow and profits, instead of focusing on short-term spike sales? Joe Solari discusses key aspects of your author business.



In the intro, Kobo Plus expands to audiobooks in Australia & New Zealand; Thoughts on the changing publishing environment based on Thrillerfest Audios (well worth buying!), and you can book for Thrillerfest 2024 here; Letter to the FTC from The Authors Guild, American Booksellers Association and the Open Markets Institute on Amazon dominance in the industry.



Plus, my next book for authors Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words will be out on Kickstarter in October, sign up for the pre-launch here; Great examples of creative extras in Sara Rosett's campaign Murder in the Alps; and I'm on the Travelling Through Podcast on a walk and talk along the canal.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Joe Solari helps authors build great businesses through books, courses, podcasting, as well as strategy and operations consulting. He is the author of Advantage: Harnessing Cumulative Advantage in the Winner Takes All Publishing Market and May I Have a Moment of Your Attention: How to Be Heard in a Noisy Market.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Can every author learn to be a business person?



* Budgeting as an author and solving cashflow issues



* Business models for fiction vs nonfiction authors



* Managing the problem of scale as your audience grows



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:28:57
Publishing Books For Children And Profitable School Visits With Tonya Ellis https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/14/publishing-books-for-children-and-profitable-school-visits-with-tonya-ellis/ Mon, 14 Aug 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35557 <p>How can you create a book series that children love — and that you can expand into multiple streams of income? How can you offer a fantastic experience to schools — and get paid well for your time? Tonya Duncan Ellis gives her tips. In the intro, investment firm KKR will buy Simon & Schuster […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/14/publishing-books-for-children-and-profitable-school-visits-with-tonya-ellis/">Publishing Books For Children And Profitable School Visits With Tonya Ellis</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create a book series that children love — and that you can expand into multiple streams of income? How can you offer a fantastic experience to schools — and get paid well for your time? Tonya Duncan Ellis gives her tips. In the intro, How can you create a book series that children love — and that you can expand into multiple streams of income? How can you offer a fantastic experience to schools — and get paid well for your time? Tonya Duncan Ellis gives her tips.



In the intro, investment firm KKR will buy Simon & Schuster [Publishing Perspectives]; Subscriber Surge Giveaways [Written Word Media]; Key Book Publishing Paths [Jane Friedman].



Plus, lots happening with Amazon. I would rather see my books get pirated than this (Or why Goodreads and Amazon are becoming dumpster fires) by Jane Friedman; Blockchain for provenance and copyright with Roanie Levy; “Every single one” of Amazon’s businesses has “multiple generative AI initiatives going right now.” [The Verge]; Amazon AI tool coming for writing product descriptions [The Information]; FTC antitrust lawsuit [Politico]; Amazon is “eliminating dozens of its private label brands” which may help “placate antitrust regulators” [Wall St Journal]; “Amazon will be disrupted,” says Jeff Bezos (in 2013) [Insider].






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Tonya Duncan Ellis is the award-winning author of the Sophie Washington chapter book series and activity books, as well as a professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Beginning your career as a self-published author



* Tips for working with an illustrator



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:12:17
How AI Tools Are Useful For Writers With Disabilities And Health Issues With S.J. Pajonas https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/11/how-ai-tools-are-useful-for-writers-with-disabilities-and-health-issues-with-s-j-pajonas/ Thu, 10 Aug 2023 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35587 <p>How can AI tools help authors who struggle with energy and time because of disability, chronic pain, health conditions, post-viral fatigue, or other unavoidable life issues? Steph Pajonas explains why AI is important for accessibility and more. Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/11/how-ai-tools-are-useful-for-writers-with-disabilities-and-health-issues-with-s-j-pajonas/">How AI Tools Are Useful For Writers With Disabilities And Health Issues With S.J. Pajonas</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can AI tools help authors who struggle with energy and time because of disability, chronic pain, health conditions, post-viral fatigue, or other unavoidable life issues? Steph Pajonas explains why AI is important for accessibility and more. How can AI tools help authors who struggle with energy and time because of disability, chronic pain, health conditions, post-viral fatigue, or other unavoidable life issues? Steph Pajonas explains why AI is important for accessibility and more.






Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn






S.J. Pajonas is the USA Today Best Selling author of science fiction, romance and cozy mystery, with over 30 books under two pen names. She also started the Facebook group AI Writing for Authors, and is one of the founders of the Future Fiction Academy, teaching authors how to harness the power of AI to revolutionize the world of fiction writing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Using AI tools to overcome brain fog and help brainstorm



* AI tools to help writers with disabilities



* How to stand out in a saturated market



* Generative search for creating a more nuanced search



* Using AI as a co-writer and having fun



* What is the Future Fiction Academy and how does it help others?




You can find Steph at SPajonas.com, FutureFictionAcademy.com, or at the AI Writing for Authors Facebook Group.



Transcript of Interview with Steph Pajonas



Joanna: S.J. Pajonas is the USA Today Best Selling author of science fiction, romance and cozy mystery, with over 30 books under two pen names. She also started the Facebook group AI Writing for Authors, and is one of the founders of the Future Fiction Academy, teaching authors how to harness the power of AI to revolutionize the world of fiction writing. So welcome, Steph.



Steph: Thank you so much for having me, Joanna. I'm so excited to be here. You have no idea.



Joanna: Well, it's funny because you and I have been connected for probably a decade. We've been on social media and like comments and all of this, but this is the first time you're on the show. So first up—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



Steph: I think that my story about writing is pretty similar to most people. I started writing at a young age. I really enjoyed writing fanfiction and screenplays when I was in high school. I did some co-writing with a friend of mine, and we really enjoyed coming up and using other people's worlds to tell stories. So that was a lot of fun for me. 



Then when I went to university, I went to Michigan State University, I studied a field that is not really in use anymore, telecommunications.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 48:48
The Marketing Mind Shift And The Power Of Ad Stacking With Ricci Wolman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/07/the-marketing-mind-shift-and-the-power-of-ad-stacking-with-ricci-wolman/ Mon, 07 Aug 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35555 <p>How can you shift your mindset in order to reach more readers with your books? How can you leverage the tools available for authors to sell more copies? Ricci Wolman from Written Word Media gives her tips. In the intro, The Hotsheet useful newsletter; Book publishing is broken; In the US, the Federal Trade Commission […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/08/07/the-marketing-mind-shift-and-the-power-of-ad-stacking-with-ricci-wolman/">The Marketing Mind Shift And The Power Of Ad Stacking With Ricci Wolman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you shift your mindset in order to reach more readers with your books? How can you leverage the tools available for authors to sell more copies? Ricci Wolman from Written Word Media gives her tips. In the intro, How can you shift your mindset in order to reach more readers with your books? How can you leverage the tools available for authors to sell more copies? Ricci Wolman from Written Word Media gives her tips.



In the intro, The Hotsheet useful newsletter; Book publishing is broken; In the US, the Federal Trade Commission is about to launch the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon [Politico] and a thought experiment; The Authors Guild trains authors on AI tools, and so does the IPG, and so does Publishers Weekly. Google rolls AI writing into Docs and Gmail.



JFPennBooks.com is live — use discount coupon LAUNCH for 15% off all books in all formats until the end of August 2023. Catacomb is available on my store and also everywhere else.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Ricci Wolman is the founder and CEO of Written Word Media, a marketing platform that empowers authors to market and sell their books. Ricci has been in the self-publishing space for nearly a decade. She holds an MBA from Harvard, and is passionate about using her marketing powers for good.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Creating a positive attitude towards marketing



* Separating ourselves from our art to become business-minded



* What Written Word Media offers authors and readers



* Ad stacking — what it is and why it's so successful



* Price differences when marketing different genres



* The many aspects that make up the marketing ecosystem



* The future of selling direct while utilizing promo services




You can find Ricci at WrittenWo...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:39
Writing Fast, Collaboration, And Author Mindset With Daniel Willcocks https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/31/writing-fast-collaboration-and-author-mindset-with-daniel-willcocks/ Mon, 31 Jul 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35527 <p>How can you write fast but also make your creative process sustainable for the long term? How can you collaborate effectively with other authors in your genre? Dan Willcocks talks about his creative and business approach. In the intro, Draft2Digital acquires SelfPubBookCovers; Different types of creative energy [Self Publishing Advice]; Twitter becomes X [The Verge]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/31/writing-fast-collaboration-and-author-mindset-with-daniel-willcocks/">Writing Fast, Collaboration, And Author Mindset With Daniel Willcocks</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write fast but also make your creative process sustainable for the long term? How can you collaborate effectively with other authors in your genre? Dan Willcocks talks about his creative and business approach. In the intro, How can you write fast but also make your creative process sustainable for the long term? How can you collaborate effectively with other authors in your genre? Dan Willcocks talks about his creative and business approach.



In the intro,
Draft2Digital acquires SelfPubBookCovers; Different types of creative energy [Self Publishing Advice]; Twitter becomes X [The Verge]; TikTok text posts [The Verge]; What AI can help you do in 30 mins [Ethan Mollick]; Discovery Writing with ChatGPT by J. Thorn; Claude 100K model on Poe.com; Facebook AI Writing for Authors.



Please join my shadow survey for my next book: www.jfpenn.com/shadowsurvey.



Plus Catacomb is available now! Walker Kane didn't believe in monsters … Until they came for his daughter. Buy now on my new store, www.JFPennBooks.com – use discount coupon LAUNCH for 15% off.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Daniel Willcocks is the international bestselling author of over 60 books, including horror, sci-fi, and nonfiction. He's also an award-winning podcaster, author coach and speaker, and runs the Activated Author community.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Tips for being a prolific writer



* Reasons why authors write darker books



* Scheduling separate times for writing different genres



* Creating a successful co-writing relationship



* What is a series of standalone?



* How to manage your time when you juggle multiple projects



* Optimizing your strengths to best run an author business



* Ambition and working to reach long-term goals Joanna Penn full false 1:07:54 Writing From Your Shadow Side With Michaelbrent Collings https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/24/writing-from-your-shadow-side-with-michaelbrent-collings/ Mon, 24 Jul 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35542 <p>How can you use what you're scared of to write better stories that resonate with readers? How can you acknowledge your shadow side and bring aspects of it into the light in a healthy way that serves you and your customers? Michaelbrent Collings talks about his experiences — and you can do my Shadow Survey […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/24/writing-from-your-shadow-side-with-michaelbrent-collings/">Writing From Your Shadow Side With Michaelbrent Collings</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use what you're scared of to write better stories that resonate with readers? How can you acknowledge your shadow side and bring aspects of it into the light in a healthy way that serves you and your customers? How can you use what you're scared of to write better stories that resonate with readers? How can you acknowledge your shadow side and bring aspects of it into the light in a healthy way that serves you and your customers?



Michaelbrent Collings talks about his experiences — and you can do my Shadow Survey here (before 31 Aug 2023).



In the intro, The Inner Work of Age by Connie Zweig; different kinds of direct sales [Wish I'd Known Then]; QuitCast on productivity and burnout with Becca Syme; 7 success factors for neurodivergent and cognitively impaired self-published authors [Self-Publishing Advice]; Outcomes of an AI Future [Moonshots and Mindsets]






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Michaelbrent Collings is the multi-award-nominated internationally bestselling author of over 50 books across horror, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi and more, as well as a produced screenwriter and speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Writing from the shadow side of the self



* Bringing your fears and guilts into your writing



* How to bring your shadows to the surface in a helpful way



* Differences in what we find appropriate based on culture and upbringing



* The underlying hope when reading and writing horror



* Hiding our shame in our shadows



* Tips for overcoming self-censorship




You can find Michaelbrent at WrittenInsomnia.com and his Bestseller Life course at BestsellerLife.com



Transcript of Interview with Michaelbrent Collings



Joanna: Michaelbrent Collings is the multi-award-nominated internationally bestselling author of over 50 books across horror, thriller, fantasy, sci fi and more, as well as a produced screenwriter and speaker. So welcome back to the show, Michaelbrent.

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:43
Your Publishing Options With Rachael Herron https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/17/your-publishing-options-with-rachael-herron/ Mon, 17 Jul 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35537 <p>What are the pros and cons of traditional publishing vs self-publishing? How can you combine multiple options for a more creatively satisfying — and profitable — author career? Rachael Herron gives her tips. In the intro, Power Thesaurus and editing tips for audio; How Writers Fail — Kris Rusch; Finishing energy; Sidekick for Shopify; Shadow […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/17/your-publishing-options-with-rachael-herron/">Your Publishing Options With Rachael Herron</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the pros and cons of traditional publishing vs self-publishing? How can you combine multiple options for a more creatively satisfying — and profitable — author career? Rachael Herron gives her tips. In the intro, What are the pros and cons of traditional publishing vs self-publishing? How can you combine multiple options for a more creatively satisfying — and profitable — author career? Rachael Herron gives her tips.



In the intro, Power Thesaurus and editing tips for audio; How Writers Fail — Kris Rusch; Finishing energy; Sidekick for Shopify; Shadow Survey (please complete before 31 Aug 2023).










Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thrillers, romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She has taught writing at both UC Berkeley and Stanford, and now teaches authors online with courses and coaching, as well as through her podcast, How Do You Write.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Combining traditional and indie publishing



* Deciding which route to go with each project



* The locus of control with indie publishing



* Publishing a series — indie or trad?



* Pitching an agent as an already independently published author



* Differences in money between indie and trad publishing



* Tips for developing author friendships




You can find Rachael at RachaelHerron.com where you can find her latest course and Magic Query Letter.



Transcript of Interview with Rachael Herron



Joanna: Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thrillers, romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:37
Writing Tips From The Movies With John Gaspard https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/10/writing-tips-from-the-movies-with-john-gaspard/ Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35509 <p>How can you exploit the unique in your stories, as well as amp up the conflict? John Gaspard gives writing and creative business tips based on movies and TV. In the intro, Meta launches Threads, the new Twitter-like app — you can follow me @jfpennauthor; Possible Podcast episode with Ethan Mollick; Moonshots and Mindsets podcast […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/10/writing-tips-from-the-movies-with-john-gaspard/">Writing Tips From The Movies With John Gaspard</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you exploit the unique in your stories, as well as amp up the conflict? John Gaspard gives writing and creative business tips based on movies and TV. In the intro, Meta launches Threads, the new Twitter-like app — you can follow me @jfpennautho... How can you exploit the unique in your stories, as well as amp up the conflict? John Gaspard gives writing and creative business tips based on movies and TV.



In the intro, Meta launches Threads, the new Twitter-like app — you can follow me @jfpennauthor; Possible Podcast episode with Ethan Mollick; Moonshots and Mindsets podcast about De-extinction; Copyright and AI with Kathryn Goldman; plus, adapting Catacomb to a screenplay, and I'm speaking in Paris in Oct.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






John Gaspard is the author of mysteries and nonfiction film books, a podcast host, and film director. His latest book is The Popcorn Principles: A Novelist's Guide to Learning from Movies.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How to “exploit the unique” to help our books stand out



* Ways to add more conflict, regardless of genre



* Creating a satisfying ending for your readers — and when cliffhangers are a good option



* Contracts and the importance of reading the fine print



* Thoughts on the best way to get your book onto the screen




You can find John and his books at AlbertsBridgeBooks.com and listen to his podcast Behind the Page: The Eli Marks Podcast



Transcript of Interview with John Gaspard



Joanna: John Gaspard is the author of mysteries and nonfiction film books, a podcast host, and film director. His latest book is The Popcorn Principles: A Novelist's Guide to Learning from Movies. So welcome to the show, John.



John: It is so great to be here. I'm such a fan. I'm going to try not to fanboy out on you.



Joanna: Oh, thank you so much.



John: The podcast has been so helpful for me as I've gone along this journey. You do a great job.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:00:45
9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors And The Publishing Industry. An Update With Joanna Penn And Nick Thacker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/03/9-ways-that-artificial-intelligence-ai-will-disrupt-authors-and-the-publishing-industry-an-update-with-joanna-penn-and-nick-thacker/ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35508 <p>Four years ago, in July 2019, I put out a podcast episode that went through the 9 disruptions I saw coming for authors and publishing in the next decade. It turns out that most are happening faster than even I expected. In this episode, Nick Thacker and I discuss some of the main points. In […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/07/03/9-ways-that-artificial-intelligence-ai-will-disrupt-authors-and-the-publishing-industry-an-update-with-joanna-penn-and-nick-thacker/">9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors And The Publishing Industry. An Update With Joanna Penn And Nick Thacker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Four years ago, in July 2019, I put out a podcast episode that went through the 9 disruptions I saw coming for authors and publishing in the next decade. It turns out that most are happening faster than even I expected. In this episode, Four years ago, in July 2019, I put out a podcast episode that went through the 9 disruptions I saw coming for authors and publishing in the next decade. It turns out that most are happening faster than even I expected. In this episode, Nick Thacker and I discuss some of the main points.



In the intro, I go through other aspects of the nine ways (notes and links below), the USA Today Bestseller list is back; TikTok moves into eCommerce [The Verge]; and Orna Ross and I discuss generative AI for authors on the Self Publishing Advice Podcast.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.






Nick Thacker is the USA Today bestselling author of over 40 books, including thrillers, action-adventure, and nonfiction. He also helps indie authors through his courses, coaching, and also by working with Draft2Digital.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Enthusiasm for AI tools as part of the creative process



* Collaborating with AI as an author



* Using AI for tasks outside of your “zone of genius”



* How Draft2Digital may handle the explosion of content



* The future of generative search for book discoverability



* Creating audiobooks with voice clones



* Copyright issues around AI-generated content



* How to stay positive and what to focus on




You can find Nick at NickThacker.com



Overview of the 9 disruptions



Here’s the overview. These are in no particular order. Click here to read or listen to the original episode. You can also find more podcast episodes, articles etc here on my Future page.




* Non-fiction books, blog posts, and news articles will be written by AI [discussed with Nick below]



* Copyright law will be challenged as books are used to train AIs which then produ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:16:22
Using Sudowrite For Writing Fiction With Amit Gupta https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/29/using-sudowrite-for-writing-fiction-with-amit-gupta/ Thu, 29 Jun 2023 06:33:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35506 <p>How can fiction authors use Sudowrite to assist with writing tasks they need help with? What functionality does Sudowrite have that will be useful to different types of writers? Amit Gupta gives his tips in this interview. I use and recommend Sudowrite as part of my creative process. You can try Sudowrite through my affiliate […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/29/using-sudowrite-for-writing-fiction-with-amit-gupta/">Using Sudowrite For Writing Fiction With Amit Gupta</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can fiction authors use Sudowrite to assist with writing tasks they need help with? What functionality does Sudowrite have that will be useful to different types of writers? Amit Gupta gives his tips in this interview. How can fiction authors use Sudowrite to assist with writing tasks they need help with? What functionality does Sudowrite have that will be useful to different types of writers? Amit Gupta gives his tips in this interview.



I use and recommend Sudowrite as part of my creative process. You can try Sudowrite through my affiliate link: www.TheCreativePenn.com/sudowrite






Amit Gupta is a science fiction writer, entrepreneur, and founder of Sudowrite, an AI-powered creative writing tool.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* What is Sudowrite and how can it help authors



* Using Story Engine to write faster



* How to train AI tools to write in your voice and style



* Dealing with criticism of using AI as a writer



* Possible legal issues when using AI tools as a collaborative approach



* Should authors discuss their AI usage?



* The changing view of AI tools as they become mainstream




You can find Amit and more about Sudowrite at Sudowrite.com



Transcript of Interview with Amit Gupta



Joanna: Amit Gupta is a science fiction writer, entrepreneur, and founder of Sudowrite, an AI-powered creative writing tool. So welcome back to the show, Amit.



Amit: Thanks, Joanna. Happy to be here.



Joanna: So you were last on the show two years ago in June 2021, when we talked more about your origin story. So we're just going to get straight into the topic today. So if people don't know—



What is Sudowrite? And how can it help authors?



Amit: Sure. Sudowrite is an AI writing partner for authors.



It's the first AI tool built specifically for writing fiction.



My co-founder, James and I, we're both writers ourselves, we began experimenting with writing with AI back in 2020. Initially, we built it to help us with some of the problems that we encountered ourselves, like getting unblocked or, for me, suggesting rich, evocative description, or automatically rewriting passages to improve pacing or conflict or tension, that kind of thing.



Over time, it's grown a lot as people have suggested new ideas. We have thousands of authors who are always kind of suggesting what we should be doing with it. So now, it also helps with a bunch of other things, like creating or fixing outlines, or writing dialogue, or even taking writers step by step from idea all the way to first draft with AI assistants.



So the way we think about it, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, other artists all have had powerful tools like Photoshop, or Final Cut Pro, and so on, to execute on their creative vision for decades now. And our ultimate goal here with Sudowrite, is to create something just as powerful as those tools,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 44:42
The Craft And Business Of Writing Non-Fiction Books With Stephanie Chandler https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/26/the-craft-and-business-of-writing-non-fiction-books-with-stephanie-chandler/ Mon, 26 Jun 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35507 <p>How can you stand out in a crowded market of non-fiction books? How can you build a business around your central topic? How can you deal with failure to move on to success? Stephanie Chandler shares her experience and tips. In the intro, HarperCollins and KKR make bids for Simon & Schuster [The Hotsheet]; more […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/26/the-craft-and-business-of-writing-non-fiction-books-with-stephanie-chandler/">The Craft And Business Of Writing Non-Fiction Books With Stephanie Chandler</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you stand out in a crowded market of non-fiction books? How can you build a business around your central topic? How can you deal with failure to move on to success? Stephanie Chandler shares her experience and tips. In the intro, How can you stand out in a crowded market of non-fiction books? How can you build a business around your central topic?



How can you deal with failure to move on to success? Stephanie Chandler shares her experience and tips.



In the intro, HarperCollins and KKR make bids for Simon & Schuster [The Hotsheet]; more details from the Indie Author Earnings report [ALLi]; Thoughts from SPS Live; Photo of my boxed set (in a box); Amazon launch their Generative AI Innovation Centre. My books related to this interview: Career Change, How to Write Non-Fiction, Your Author Business Plan, Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives, and Other Introverts.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Stephanie Chandler is the author of multiple nonfiction books, a professional speaker, and CEO of the Nonfiction Authors Association and Writers Conference.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Changes in publishing and marketing for nonfiction authors over time and what still works



* How to stand out and build your community



* Content marketing and long-term marketing strategies



* Deciding what nonfiction book to write—should you stay in your lane?



* Letting go, quitting, and moving on



* Dealing with failure and using it to find the right direction for your writing — and your life



* How nonfiction authors can leverage their book to generate multiple streams of income



* The Nonfiction Authors Association and how it is useful to authors




You can find Stephanie at NonfictionAuthorsAssociation.com



Transcript of Interview with Stephanie Chandler

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:35
How Authors Can Use Bookfunnel To Reach Readers And Sell Direct With Damon Courtney https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/19/how-authors-can-use-bookfunnel-to-read-readers-and-sell-direct-with-damon-courtney/ Sun, 18 Jun 2023 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35505 <p>How can Bookfunnel help authors reach more readers, sell more books, and sell direct? Damon Courtney outlines features of Bookfunnel that you might not know about. In the intro, Hello Books and Written Word Media have joined forces for promo stacking; Call to Action (CTA) tips [ALLi]; my free Author Blueprint; Bundle for writers [Storybundle]. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/19/how-authors-can-use-bookfunnel-to-read-readers-and-sell-direct-with-damon-courtney/">How Authors Can Use Bookfunnel To Reach Readers And Sell Direct With Damon Courtney</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can Bookfunnel help authors reach more readers, sell more books, and sell direct? Damon Courtney outlines features of Bookfunnel that you might not know about. In the intro, Hello Books and Written Word Media have joined forces for promo stacking; ... How can Bookfunnel help authors reach more readers, sell more books, and sell direct? Damon Courtney outlines features of Bookfunnel that you might not know about.



In the intro, Hello Books and Written Word Media have joined forces for promo stacking; Call to Action (CTA) tips [ALLi]; my free Author Blueprint; Bundle for writers [Storybundle].



Plus, Paul McCartney is using AI to create a new and final Beatles song [The Guardian]; Boosting creativity, AI, and book cover design [Damonza]; Storytel has invested in ElevenLabs and the possibility of voice switching [Publishing Perspectives]; The Ethical Writers Guide to Harnessing the Power of AI: Using AI with Integrity – HJ Philips; my live AI webinars.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener amongst other software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Damon Courtney is a fantasy author, entrepreneur, and founder of BookFunnel.com, which I consider one of my must-use tools as part of my author business.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show notes




* Damon's journey to creating BookFunnel



* The struggles of sharing Reader Magnets and ‘side-loading' before BookFunnel



* How to use BookFunnel for list building



* More BookFunnel features — Gift a Book, ARC delivery and Print Codes



* Author Swaps vs Group Promotions



* Tips for using BookFunnel for direct sales



* The benefits of going wide with audiobooks




You can find Damon at BookFunnel.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:11:19
Novel Marketing And Christian Publishing With Thomas Umstattd Jr. https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/12/novel-marketing-and-christian-publishing-with-thomas-umstattd-jr/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35464 <p>What are some of the most effective ways to market your book? What strategies have remained the same despite the rise of new tactics? What are the best ways to reach a Christian audience? Thomas Umstattd Jr. gives plenty of tips in this interview. In the intro, Freedom, fame, or fortune — what do you […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/12/novel-marketing-and-christian-publishing-with-thomas-umstattd-jr/">Novel Marketing And Christian Publishing With Thomas Umstattd Jr.</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are some of the most effective ways to market your book? What strategies have remained the same despite the rise of new tactics? What are the best ways to reach a Christian audience? Thomas Umstattd Jr. gives plenty of tips in this interview. What are some of the most effective ways to market your book? What strategies have remained the same despite the rise of new tactics?



What are the best ways to reach a Christian audience? Thomas Umstattd Jr. gives plenty of tips in this interview.



In the intro, Freedom, fame, or fortune — what do you want as an author?;
Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully by Kelly and Juliet Starrett; and my AI for authors webinars, plus Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies, and money books.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Thomas Umstattd Jr. is the CEO of AuthorMedia.com, an award-winning professional speaker, nonfiction author, and host of the Novel Marketing Podcast and the Christian Publishing Show.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The fundamentals of marketing fiction



* Content marketing for fiction



* Utilizing the nonfiction themes beneath your fiction for marketing



* The hallmarks and history of Christian publishing



* Why readers choose certain genres



* Tips for pitching a podcast




You can find Thomas at AuthorMedia.com and listen to his podcasts at NovelMarketing.com and ChristianPublishingShow.com



Transcript of Interview with Thomas Umstattd Jr.



Joanna: Thomas Umstattd Jr. is the CEO of authormedia.com, an award-winning professional speaker, nonfiction author, and host of the Novel Marketing Podcast and the Christian Publishing Show. So welcome to the show, Thomas.



Thomas: Thanks, Joanna. It's great to be here.



Joanna: Oh, yes. It's exciting to talk to you. But first up—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and podcasting, and now running a business for writers.



Thomas: So back when I was in college, I started writing a book, as many college students do. I went to a writers' conference to sell my book,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:04:36 Writing Your Transcendent Change: Memoir With Marion Roach Smith https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/05/writing-your-transcendent-change-memoir-with-marion-roach-smith/ Mon, 05 Jun 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35478 <p>Memoir can be one of the most challenging forms to write, but it can also be the most rewarding. Marion Roach Smith talks about facing your fears, as well as giving practical tips on structuring and writing your memoir. In the intro, Amazon's category changes [KDP Help; Kindlepreneur; Publisher Rocket]; Book description generation with AI; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/06/05/writing-your-transcendent-change-memoir-with-marion-roach-smith/">Writing Your Transcendent Change: Memoir With Marion Roach Smith</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Memoir can be one of the most challenging forms to write, but it can also be the most rewarding. Marion Roach Smith talks about facing your fears, as well as giving practical tips on structuring and writing your memoir. In the intro, Memoir can be one of the most challenging forms to write, but it can also be the most rewarding. Marion Roach Smith talks about facing your fears, as well as giving practical tips on structuring and writing your memoir.



In the intro, Amazon's category changes [KDP Help; Kindlepreneur; Publisher Rocket]; Book description generation with AI; Thoughts on New Zealand and how the river forks; AI is about to turn book publishing upside down [Publishers Weekly]; Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.



Plus, Japan and copyright for AI training; Microsoft rolls out Designer to Teams; Google Docs text generation with Bard [Ethan Mollick]; Photoshop and generative fill [NY Times]; Drug discovery with AI [BBC; Alpha Fold]; Amazon generative search job listing [Venture Beat]; ChatGPT official app; My webinars on using AI.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Marion Roach Smith is an author, memoir coach and teacher of memoir writing. She has online courses on writing memoir and hosts the Qwerty Podcast about memoir. Her books include The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.



You can listen above or on https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35420 <p>What are the crucial linchpin moments in your novel and how can you keep a reader turning the pages? John Fox gives fiction writing tips in this interview. In the intro, writing and publishing across multiple genres [Ask ALLi]; Pilgrimage and solo walking [Women Who Walk]; My live webinars on using AI tools as an […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/29/crafting-your-novels-key-moments-with-john-matthew-fox/">Crafting Your Novel’s Key Moments With John Matthew Fox</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the crucial linchpin moments in your novel and how can you keep a reader turning the pages? John Fox gives fiction writing tips in this interview. In the intro, writing and publishing across multiple genres [Ask ALLi]; Pilgrimage and solo walk... What are the crucial linchpin moments in your novel and how can you keep a reader turning the pages? John Fox gives fiction writing tips in this interview.



In the intro,
writing and publishing across multiple genres [Ask ALLi]; Pilgrimage and solo walking [Women Who Walk]; My live webinars on using AI tools as an author; Cowriting with ChatGPT: AI-Powered Storytelling by J. Thorn.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






John Matthew Fox is an award-winning short story writer, a developmental editor, writing teacher and blogger. His latest book is The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Writing a book based on a blog — what needs to change?



* Linchpin moments and why they are important



* How to write emotionally moving stories



* The difference between scenes and chapters



* How to write wonder



* Writing better endings



* Using AI tools when writing fiction and editing




You can find John at TheJohnFox.com or on TikTok @johnmatthewfox. John has courses for writers here.



Transcript of Interview with John Matthew Fox



Joanna: John Matthew Fox is an award-winning short story writer, a developmental editor, writing teacher and blogger. His latest book is The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments. So welcome back to the show, John.



John: Thank you, so wonderful to be back.



Joanna: Yes, indeed. Just in case people don't know you—



Tell us a bit more about how you got into writing and publishing.



John: I started my blog way back in the day, 2006, just to join the literary conversation. And over time, it evolved from a blog on literary news and commentary into more of a craft blog,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 52:29
Writing Novels Inspired By Place With Tony Park https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/22/writing-novels-inspired-by-place-with-tony-park/ Mon, 22 May 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35419 <p>How can we write about places that inspire us in an authentic way even when they are not our own country? Tony Park gives his tips for writing setting, and also outlines how his publishing experience has changed over the last two decades. In the intro, KDP printing costs are changing from 20 June; plus, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/22/writing-novels-inspired-by-place-with-tony-park/">Writing Novels Inspired By Place With Tony Park</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we write about places that inspire us in an authentic way even when they are not our own country? Tony Park gives his tips for writing setting, and also outlines how his publishing experience has changed over the last two decades. How can we write about places that inspire us in an authentic way even when they are not our own country? Tony Park gives his tips for writing setting, and also outlines how his publishing experience has changed over the last two decades.



In the intro, KDP printing costs are changing from 20 June; plus, join me for AI for Writers online webinars.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Tony Park is the author of 20 thriller novels set in Africa, as well as the co-writer of several biographies.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How Tony's publishing experience has changed over two decades



* Splitting territories when licensing your rights and tips for rights reversion



* Tips for writing setting and how it incorporates into all aspects of your book



* Research and avoiding stereotypes



* Writing outside of your own country and personal experience



* Balancing writing a compelling story with advocating for a cause (without lecturing)




You can find Tony at TonyPark.net



Transcript of Interview with Tony Park



Joanna: Tony Park is the author of 20 thriller novels set in Africa, as well as the co-writer of several biographies. So welcome, Tony.



Tony: Oh, Joanna, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. I'm a huge fan.



Joanna: Thank you so much. First off—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Tony: Look, it might sound a bit cliche, but it's absolutely true, that the only thing I ever wanted to do in life, from the time I was a little boy growing up in Sydney, in Australia, was to write a book.



My family weren't particularly well off, and my mum was working two jobs and used to leave us in the library after school. I just thought, wouldn't it be cool if this could be your job to write books. Of course, as we all know, listening to this podcast, it's not like you can wake up one day and say, okay, I'm going to write a book, and publish it, and away we go.



I loved writing as a kid. I wasn't any good at English or maths at school, and so I pinned my hopes on writing. After I left school, I got a job working in local newspapers, and that cemented my love of writing. Then I just tried and tried and tried. I had a number of false starts over the years as my life progressed....]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:23
Making Art From Life. Mental Health For Writers With Toby Neal https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/15/making-art-from-life-mental-health-for-writers-with-toby-neal/ Mon, 15 May 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35421 <p>What are some of the common mental health issues that writers face? How can we use writing to help us process our problems, and turn our life into art through our books? Author and mental health therapist Toby Neal shares her thoughts and tips. It's Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK with a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/15/making-art-from-life-mental-health-for-writers-with-toby-neal/">Making Art From Life. Mental Health For Writers With Toby Neal</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are some of the common mental health issues that writers face? How can we use writing to help us process our problems, and turn our life into art through our books? Author and mental health therapist Toby Neal shares her thoughts and tips. What are some of the common mental health issues that writers face? How can we use writing to help us process our problems, and turn our life into art through our books? Author and mental health therapist Toby Neal shares her thoughts and tips.



It's Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK with a special focus on anxiety, which so many of us experience in different ways. Get 20% off The Healthy Writer, The Relaxed Author and The Successful Author Mindset on my store using discount code: HEALTH.



In the introduction, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr Peter Attia; Menopausing by Davina McCall; Ultimate Guide to Selling Print Books Online [ALLi]; TikTok publishing? [TechCrunch]; Google rolling out generative AI, Duet for Workspace; Generative Search, Marketing Against the Grain podcast; Did we consent to our data training generative AI? [The Author Analyst]; Writing memoir & Pilgrimage.






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Toby Neal is the award-winning USA Today best-selling author of mysteries, thrillers, and romance, with over 40 titles, as well as writing memoir and travel. She's also a mental health therapist, which is what we're talking about today.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Common mental health challenges for authors



* Tips for dealing with post-COVID anxiety



* Dealing with the overwhelm of social media



* Journaling as a tool to help process and make sense of our lives



* Writing as a way to turn life into art



* Tracking self-care

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 57:14
Intentionality, Beauty, and Authorship. Co-Writing With AI With Stephen Marche https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/12/intentionality-beauty-and-authorship-co-writing-with-ai-with-stephen-marche/ Fri, 12 May 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35450 <p>AI tools can generate words, but the human intention behind it, as well as the skill of the author, drives the machine. Stephen Marche talks about the creative process behind Death of an Author, 95% written by AI, out now from Pushkin Industries. Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/12/intentionality-beauty-and-authorship-co-writing-with-ai-with-stephen-marche/">Intentionality, Beauty, and Authorship. Co-Writing With AI With Stephen Marche</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> AI tools can generate words, but the human intention behind it, as well as the skill of the author, drives the machine. Stephen Marche talks about the creative process behind Death of an Author, 95% written by AI, out now from Pushkin Industries. AI tools can generate words, but the human intention behind it, as well as the skill of the author, drives the machine. Stephen Marche talks about the creative process behind Death of an Author, 95% written by AI, out now from Pushkin Industries.






Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Stephen Marche is a Canadian novelist and journalist. He's also the creator of Death of an Author by Aiden Marchine, a novella written 95% by AI tools out now from Pushkin Industries.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* How Stephen co-created Death of an Author with various AI tools: ChatGPT, Sudowrite, and Cohere



* The importance of specificity in prompts and why those who know what they want, and have experience with writing and different forms of literature have an advantage



* Why the intellectual process is more important than the mechanical process



* Why co-creating with AI tools is like being a hip-hop producer



* On copyright: “I am its author legally, but a machine wrote it based on my instructions.”



* How authors might approach co-creating with AI if they want to work with traditional publishers



* What remains the same despite advances in technology: “Creative AI is going to change everything. It's also going to change nothing.”




Death of an Author is out now from Pushkin Industries in audiobook and ebook formats. The press release also has more details about the process, and there is an Afterword in the book where Stephen goes into more detail. You can find Stephen at StephenMarche.com



Header image created on Midjourney by Joanna Penn.



Transcript of the interview



Joanna Penn: Stephen Marche is a Canadian novelist and journalist. He's also the creator of Death of an Author by Aiden Marchine, a novella written 95% by AI tools out now from Pushkin Industries. So welcome to the show, Stephen.



Stephen Marche: Hi, how are you?



Joanna Penn: I am good. So first up, tell us a bit more about you and your writing background and how you came to become interested in AI.



Stephen Marche: Well, am I speaking to a robot at this moment?



Joanna Penn: No. No!



Stephen Marche: Okay. I just had a sudden sense that I was, I don't know why but like,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 33:17
Generative AI And The Indie Author Community With Michael Anderle And Dan Wood https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/08/generative-ai-and-the-indie-author-community-with-michael-anderle-and-dan-wood/ Sun, 07 May 2023 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35449 <p>What are the implications of generative AI for the indie author community? How can we make choices for our own creative business while respecting the decisions of others? Dan Wood (Draft2Digital) and Michael Anderle (20BooksTo50K, LMBPN) and I discuss our recommendations for the way forward. In the intro, Ingram Spark offers free title setup and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/08/generative-ai-and-the-indie-author-community-with-michael-anderle-and-dan-wood/">Generative AI And The Indie Author Community With Michael Anderle And Dan Wood</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the implications of generative AI for the indie author community? How can we make choices for our own creative business while respecting the decisions of others? Dan Wood (Draft2Digital) and Michael Anderle (20BooksTo50K, What are the implications of generative AI for the indie author community? How can we make choices for our own creative business while respecting the decisions of others? Dan Wood (Draft2Digital) and Michael Anderle (20BooksTo50K, LMBPN) and I discuss our recommendations for the way forward.



In the intro, Ingram Spark offers free title setup and revisions (up to 60 days); Findaway Voices cuts Spotify distribution fee; Lessons learned from selling a million books; Go Wide or Run Away or Amazon Fail by Kris Rusch; Reputation Revolution Podcast; Pilgrimage is out on every store and in every format; Cover design split testing with Pickfu; A Note from the Author by Kevin Tumlinson.











This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.



Michael Anderle (LMBPN), Joanna Penn (The Creative Penn), and Dan Wood (DRaft2Digital) at London Book Fair, April 2023


Dan Wood is the COO of Draft2Digital, which helps authors self-publish alongside excellent support.



Michael Anderle is the award-nominated internationally bestselling author of more than 40 urban fantasy and science fiction novels. He's also the co-author of many more with other authors under his company LMBPN Publishing. Michael is also the founder of the 20 Books to 50 K Facebook group and community.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why generative AI offers opportunities for authors



* Michael explains his audacious publishing goal and breaks down how it could be achieved across multiple formats and languages, along with the help of generative AI



* Tackling some of the fears and anxieties that authors have — flood of content, quality, marketing competition, copyright, and more


]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:22
The AI-Assisted Artisan Author With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/05/ai-assisted-artisan-author/ Fri, 05 May 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35448 <p>What is the AI-Assisted Artisan Author? How can we use AI tools in our creative and business processes while still keeping our humanity at the core of our books? As generative AI development continues apace and new possibilities emerge every week, the focus of AI discussions in the author community has been centered around productivity […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/05/ai-assisted-artisan-author/">The AI-Assisted Artisan Author With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is the AI-Assisted Artisan Author? How can we use AI tools in our creative and business processes while still keeping our humanity at the core of our books? As generative AI development continues apace and new possibilities emerge every week, What is the AI-Assisted Artisan Author? How can we use AI tools in our creative and business processes while still keeping our humanity at the core of our books?



As generative AI development continues apace and new possibilities emerge every week, the focus of AI discussions in the author community has been centered around productivity gains and high-volume output; copyright, plagiarism and piracy; and the fear of losing the artistic human aspect of being an author. 



But there is much to be excited about if we can move past fear and doubt, and approach these tools with curiosity and a sense of wonder. We are only at the beginning of the opportunities of AI for wider society as well as for creativity and art, and it’s important that authors, writers, and other creatives be involved in order to shape the future as we want it to be.



In this article, I’ll outline the concept of the AI-Assisted Artisan Author, which is how I intend to surf the wave of change ahead, rather than drown in the deluge.






Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller and dark fantasy author as J.F. Penn. She has sold almost a million books across 169 countries and 5 languages. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. Her latest book is Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Acknowledge the risks and understand the human response to change



* How generative AI has made me re-examine my self-definition



* Adopt an AI-curious attitude



* What is an AI-Assisted Artisan Author (or A4 for short)?  



* Create beautiful books and products



* Double down on being human



* Write the books only you can write and include personal elements that can only come from you



* Foster connection and community with other humans



* Sell direct so readers connect you, the human, with your books (and other products)



* How to move forward




You can find more future-focused episodes here.







Acknowledge the risks and understand the human response to change



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 51:39
Excellent Advice For Living With Kevin Kelly https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/01/excellent-advice-for-living-with-kevin-kelly/ Mon, 01 May 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35278 <p>How can we build a creative life based on following our curiosity? What are some important attitudes to hold that will help us with a sustainable life and career? Kevin Kelly shares some Excellent Advice for Living. In the intro, author newsletter tips [BookBub]; Mark Dawson's 20+ year writing journey; Thoughts on 20Books Seville and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/05/01/excellent-advice-for-living-with-kevin-kelly/">Excellent Advice For Living With Kevin Kelly</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we build a creative life based on following our curiosity? What are some important attitudes to hold that will help us with a sustainable life and career? Kevin Kelly shares some Excellent Advice for Living. In the intro, How can we build a creative life based on following our curiosity? What are some important attitudes to hold that will help us with a sustainable life and career? Kevin Kelly shares some Excellent Advice for Living.



In the intro, author newsletter tips [BookBub]; Mark Dawson's 20+ year writing journey; Thoughts on 20Books Seville and London Book Fair with me and Orna Ross [Ask ALLi]; HarperCollins is testing AI-generated content, reported by Jane Friedman [The Hotsheet].






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Kevin Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books, including The Inevitable, Cool Tools, and Vanishing Asia, as well as being a Technologist Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine and co-chair of the Long Now Foundation. His latest book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Following your curiosity for an interesting, long-term, project-based career



* Experiencing different cultures and the creative process



* Creating art as “imperfect beings”



* Letting your author voice emerge instead of finding it



* Reasons for optimism for writers with generative AI



* Why 1000 true fans is still relevant




You can find Kevin Kelly at KK.org or on socials @Kevin2Kelly



Header image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Kevin Kelly



Joanna: Kevin Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books, including The Inevitable, Cool Tools, and Vanishing Asia, as well as being a Technologist Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine and co-chair of the Long Now Foundation. His latest book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier. So welcome to the show, Kevin.



Kevin: Oh, I'm really delighted to be here.]]>
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Book Marketing: How To Get Publicity For Your Book With Halima Khatun https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/24/book-marketing-how-to-get-publicity-for-your-book-with-halima-khatun/ Mon, 24 Apr 2023 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35326 <p>How can publicity form part of your book marketing strategy? How can you research the best media and craft a pitch or a press release that might get you and your book some attention? Why is publicity still useful in an age of pay-per-click direct advertising? Halima Khatun shares her valuable tips and experience. In […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/24/book-marketing-how-to-get-publicity-for-your-book-with-halima-khatun/">Book Marketing: How To Get Publicity For Your Book With Halima Khatun</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can publicity form part of your book marketing strategy? How can you research the best media and craft a pitch or a press release that might get you and your book some attention? Why is publicity still useful in an age of pay-per-click direct adver... How can publicity form part of your book marketing strategy? How can you research the best media and craft a pitch or a press release that might get you and your book some attention? Why is publicity still useful in an age of pay-per-click direct advertising? Halima Khatun shares her valuable tips and experience.



In the intro, Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author Income Survey results; Experience of book to TV show [and previous episode, Johnny B Truant's creative pivots]; Michael Anderle expands on his AI-assisted goals [20Books To 50K Facebook]; Loop earplugs.



Plus, Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing your Career by Jason Feifer; The future of publishing is now on the Dialogue Doctor podcast; Content vs connection [Jay Acunzo on Twitter]; Why I'm focusing on being an AI-assisted artisan author; Death of an Author, from Pushkin Press.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Halima Khatun is the award-winning author of romantic comedy novels, including The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage. Today we're talking about her nonfiction book, Priceless Publicity: How to get money-can't-buy media coverage for your business.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Halima's writing and PR journey



* Finding the “story behind the story”



* Pitching your story from different angles



* Balancing PR and protecting personal stories/privacy



* Tailoring your press release



* How to prepare for an interview



* Is PR worth it?




You can find Halima at HalimaKhatun.co.uk



Transcript of Interview with Halima Khatun



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The Challenges Of Small Press Publishing With Jon Barton https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/17/the-challenges-of-small-press-publishing-with-jon-barton/ Mon, 17 Apr 2023 06:12:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35293 <p>What are the most important aspects of becoming a successful publisher? Jon Barton talks about his lessons learned and how to avoid the pitfalls. In the intro, Amazon AWS Bedrock for generative AI; Impromptu: Amplifying our Humanity Through AI by Reid Hoffman and co-written with GPT4; reflections on the fantastic 20BooksSpain Seville conference; Ideas and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/17/the-challenges-of-small-press-publishing-with-jon-barton/">The Challenges Of Small Press Publishing With Jon Barton</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the most important aspects of becoming a successful publisher? Jon Barton talks about his lessons learned and how to avoid the pitfalls. In the intro, Amazon AWS Bedrock for generative AI; Impromptu: Amplifying our Humanity Through AI by Reid ... What are the most important aspects of becoming a successful publisher? Jon Barton talks about his lessons learned and how to avoid the pitfalls.



In the intro, Amazon AWS Bedrock for generative AI; Impromptu: Amplifying our Humanity Through AI by Reid Hoffman and co-written with GPT4; reflections on the fantastic 20BooksSpain Seville conference; Ideas and execution by Hugh Howey; The Creator Economy course; AI Cover Design for Authors;






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Jon Barton is the founder and managing director of the award-winning independent publisher Vertebrate Publishing, as well as the author of several bestselling mountain biking guides.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Challenges in publishing other people's works



* The ecosystem of Vertebrate Publishing



* Pivoting business models



* Sticking to a niche and why it works



* Tips for pitching to a publisher



* RRP royalty rate vs. net royalty rate



* Understanding contracts and seeking outside advice




You can find Jon and Vertebrate Publishing at AdventureBooks.com



Transcript of Interview with Jon Barton



Joanna: Jon Barton is the founder and managing director of the award-winning independent publisher Vertebrate Publishing, as well as the author of several bestselling mountain biking guides. So welcome to the show, Jon.



Jon: Hi, Jo. How goes it?



Joanna: Good. I'm excited to talk to you today.



First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



Jon: Well, the one thing that's worth knowing about me is I've never had a CV and never been to a job interview, I'm older than I sound as well. I discovered rock climbing when I was probably 13 or 14, and that's pretty much all I did until I was about 30.



In fact, when I met my wife and I was about 31, 32, and she just presumed I'd been working for a decade and had savings and houses and all the rest of i...]]>
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How To Use ProWritingAid To Improve Your Writing With Chris Banks https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/14/how-to-use-prowritingaid-to-improve-your-writing-with-chris-banks/ Fri, 14 Apr 2023 06:20:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35294 <p>You cannot see many of the problems with your own writing, as you are so close to the manuscript. ProWritingAid can help you self-edit your work before you take it on to a human editor, so they can focus on the bigger issues. In this episode, Chris Banks, the CEO of ProWritingAid talks about how […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/14/how-to-use-prowritingaid-to-improve-your-writing-with-chris-banks/">How To Use ProWritingAid To Improve Your Writing With Chris Banks</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> You cannot see many of the problems with your own writing, as you are so close to the manuscript. ProWritingAid can help you self-edit your work before you take it on to a human editor, so they can focus on the bigger issues. In this episode, You cannot see many of the problems with your own writing, as you are so close to the manuscript. ProWritingAid can help you self-edit your work before you take it on to a human editor, so they can focus on the bigger issues.



In this episode, Chris Banks, the CEO of ProWritingAid talks about how developments in AI have added functionality to the software to help writers even more.



If you'd like to support the podcast, you can use my affiliate link, www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid and check out my tutorial here. Or you can just go to ProWritingAid.com.






Chris Banks is the CEO and founder of ProWritingAid, which has over 1.5 million users worldwide.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* The key benefits of ProWritingAid



* The evolution of grammar tools as technology accelerates



* Skepticism about using AI tools in your writing and how to overcome it



* AI tools as a creative companion



* Can using AI tools lead to plagiarism?



* Problems with tools that ‘detect' AI-generated writing



* Why this is such an exciting time for creatives




You can find Chris at ProWritingAid.com



Transcript of Interview with Chris Banks



Chris: Chris Banks is the CEO and founder of ProWritingAid, which has over 1.5 million users worldwide, including myself. So welcome back to the show, Chris.



Thanks, Joanna. It's a pleasure to be here.



Joanna: Oh, yes. We were talking before about how we're so excited right now about all the things going on. But before we look forward—



Let's just tell people a bit more about ProWritingAid.



So if anyone doesn't know it, can you give us just a brief overview of some of the key benefits?



Chris: Yes. Well, the tool basically is designed to make writing fun and easy. We try and do all of the heavy lifting and take away the difficult bits of writing. So all of the kind of boring bits that you might struggle with, all of the things that take a lot of time and don't bring you any joy, ProWritingAid is designed to help you get rid of those and to make your life a lot easier and fun.



Joanna: And just some of the specifics. So I use it for editing, and it does things like pick up my terrible comma usage and some of my passive language, which I always use. Anything else that you think is commonly used by authors?



Chris: Yes, I think I designed the tool to help myself and to criticize myself, to find all of the mistakes that I was making when I was writing. I think when you're doing a first draft, I always think of the first draft as a  quote by Shannon Hale, where “you're just piling up sand so that later you can build castles out of it.”
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Writing Nature Memoir With Merryn Glover https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/10/writing-nature-memoir-with-merryn-glover/ Mon, 10 Apr 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35292 <p>How can we bring a place alive in our writing? How can we tackle the challenges of writing different types of books at different times in our writing career? Merryn Glover talks about her experience in this episode. In the intro, Kobo launches Kobo Plus in the US and UK; Amazon is closing Book Depository; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/10/writing-nature-memoir-with-merryn-glover/">Writing Nature Memoir With Merryn Glover</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we bring a place alive in our writing? How can we tackle the challenges of writing different types of books at different times in our writing career? Merryn Glover talks about her experience in this episode. In the intro, How can we bring a place alive in our writing? How can we tackle the challenges of writing different types of books at different times in our writing career? Merryn Glover talks about her experience in this episode.



In the intro, Kobo launches Kobo Plus in the US and UK; Amazon is closing Book Depository; Amazon layoffs in devices and books; end of Kindle newsstand; Moonshots and Mindsets with Emad Mostaque; Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation by Kevin Roose.



Plus, the tools and services I use in my author business; Get 15% off any of my books, digital or print, bundles or individual books — valid for one purchase per customer — use PODCAST15 at checkout on CreativePennBooks.com.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Merryn Glover is the award-winning author of historical fiction and narrative nonfiction nature books, as well as writing plays and radio drama. Her latest book is The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Writing a book based on someone else's work



* How Nan Shepherd's books started in obscurity and later became well-known



* Hallmarks of the nature writing genre



* Legality of using someone else's name and works in your novel, copyright, and permissions needed



* The process of writing a sense of place



* Radio drama and dramatic adaptations of written works



* How to deal with a failed publisher




You can find Merryn at MerrynGlover.com or on Twitter @MerrynGlover



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Legal Aspects Of Generative AI And Copyright With Kathryn Goldman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/03/legal-aspects-of-generative-ai-and-copyright-with-kathryn-goldman/ Sun, 02 Apr 2023 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35331 <p>As generative AI tools continue to expand the possibilities for creators, what does this mean for aspects of copyright? Intellectual property lawyer, Kathryn Goldman, talks about the possible ramifications. In the intro, Ben's Bites newsletter, Microsoft Co-Pilot for Office tools [The Verge]; Canva Create AI-powered design tools; Adobe Firefly for generative images; OpenAI ChatGPT Plugins […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/04/03/legal-aspects-of-generative-ai-and-copyright-with-kathryn-goldman/">Legal Aspects Of Generative AI And Copyright With Kathryn Goldman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> As generative AI tools continue to expand the possibilities for creators, what does this mean for aspects of copyright? Intellectual property lawyer, Kathryn Goldman, talks about the possible ramifications. In the intro, Ben's Bites newsletter, As generative AI tools continue to expand the possibilities for creators, what does this mean for aspects of copyright? Intellectual property lawyer, Kathryn Goldman, talks about the possible ramifications.



In the intro, Ben's Bites newsletter, Microsoft Co-Pilot for Office tools [The Verge]; Canva Create AI-powered design tools; Adobe Firefly for generative images; OpenAI ChatGPT Plugins including Shopify; Examples of people using ChatGPT in normal life [Hard Fork]; Sam Altman on Lex Fridman podcast.



Plus, US AI copyright guidance; Human Artistry Campaign; New rules of publishing [Becca Syme]; Tsunami of crap + double down on being human; Generating fiction with GPT-4 [Medium]; Pause giant AI experiments letter; The age of AI has begun [Bill Gates];






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.







Kathryn Goldman is a copyright and trademark attorney and has worked in intellectual property for over 30 years. She runs CreativeLawCenter.com, which offers resources, workshops, and advice for creative professionals, including authors, artists, designers, and more.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* The perils and promise of AI in creative works



* Some of the legal cases against aspects of generative AI ...]]>
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Lessons Learned And Tips From Pilgrimage, My First Kickstarter Campaign https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/27/lessons-learned-and-tips-from-pilgrimage-my-first-kickstarter-campaign/ Mon, 27 Mar 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35112 <p>My Kickstarter campaign for my travel memoir, Pilgrimage, funded within minutes and raised over £26,000 (over US$31,000) for a niche book in a new market. In this episode, I share my lessons learned and tips for a successful campaign. In the intro, I mention the 6 Figure Author Podcast, The Writers Well Podcast, and Reid […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/27/lessons-learned-and-tips-from-pilgrimage-my-first-kickstarter-campaign/">Lessons Learned And Tips From Pilgrimage, My First Kickstarter Campaign</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> My Kickstarter campaign for my travel memoir, Pilgrimage, funded within minutes and raised over £26,000 (over US$31,000) for a niche book in a new market. In this episode, I share my lessons learned and tips for a successful campaign. In the intro, My Kickstarter campaign for my travel memoir, Pilgrimage, funded within minutes and raised over £26,000 (over US$31,000) for a niche book in a new market. In this episode, I share my lessons learned and tips for a successful campaign.



In the intro, I mention the 6 Figure Author Podcast, The Writers Well Podcast, and Reid Hoffman's new Possible podcast.










Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller and dark fantasy author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. Her latest book is Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show notes:




* Overview of the Pilgrimage campaign including rewards, add-ons, and the result



* Why Kickstarter for this project, and why now for me



* Tips for success: Learn about the platform beforehand. It is a new ecosystem for authors and different from those we are used to



* Prepare to face your fears



* The importance of getting your costs right in terms of production and international shipping



* Set aside more time than you need



* How did I market the campaign?



* Was it worth it? Will I do another Kickstarter campaign?



* What happens to Pilgrimage now?




If you want to stay in touch, sign up for my free Author Blueprint here, subscribe to The Creative Penn podcast on your favorite app, or follow me on social media.



Twitter

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Prolific Writing, Diversification, And Using Emerging Technologies With Joseph Nassise https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/20/prolific-writing-diversification-and-using-emerging-technologies-with-joseph-nassise/ Mon, 20 Mar 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35291 <p>If you want a long-term successful career as an author, you need to learn the craft and the business of writing. Joseph Nassise talks about his writing process, how he diversifies his business across different publishers, different products, and different technologies, as well as how he is embracing new options for his books. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/20/prolific-writing-diversification-and-using-emerging-technologies-with-joseph-nassise/">Prolific Writing, Diversification, And Using Emerging Technologies With Joseph Nassise</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you want a long-term successful career as an author, you need to learn the craft and the business of writing. Joseph Nassise talks about his writing process, how he diversifies his business across different publishers, different products, If you want a long-term successful career as an author, you need to learn the craft and the business of writing. Joseph Nassise talks about his writing process, how he diversifies his business across different publishers, different products, and different technologies, as well as how he is embracing new options for his books.



In the intro, Draft2Digital opens up Print for everyone; Future Today Institute Trends report; Microsoft introduces the AI-powered 365 Co-pilot; Google unveils generative AI tools; Ethical AI Publishing newsletter from Monica Leonelle.



Plus, pictures from Wales on Instagram @jfpennauthor and Facebook @jfpennauthor; my new craft course on Writing Setting and Sense of Place; With a Demon's Eye on my store, and everywhere else.










Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Joseph Nassise is the award-nominated New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 50 books across horror, urban fantasy, supernatural thrillers, as well as epic fantasy and Arthurian mythos under other pen names.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* The story of how Joseph's first book became a success



* Deciding between the traditional or indie route for individual projects



* Diversification and creating multiple streams of income from your intellectual property



* StoryCraft — Tips for learning how to write a commercial novel and publish/sell it



* Why create NFT editions of your book



* The future of NFTs and how they will become normalized



* Using generative AI as part of your creative process

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Writing Fiction With Sudowrite With Leanne Leeds https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/17/writing-fiction-with-sudowrite-with-leanne-leeds/ Fri, 17 Mar 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35269 <p>We all use tools to help us improve our skills, and in this episode, Leanne Leeds explains how she uses the generative AI tool, Sudowrite, to write better books and serve her readership more effectively. In the intro, OpenAI launches GPT4, and how it can be used for accessibility with Be My Eyes. Other tools […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/17/writing-fiction-with-sudowrite-with-leanne-leeds/">Writing Fiction With Sudowrite With Leanne Leeds</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We all use tools to help us improve our skills, and in this episode, Leanne Leeds explains how she uses the generative AI tool, Sudowrite, to write better books and serve her readership more effectively. In the intro, OpenAI launches GPT4, We all use tools to help us improve our skills, and in this episode, Leanne Leeds explains how she uses the generative AI tool, Sudowrite, to write better books and serve her readership more effectively.



In the intro, OpenAI launches GPT4, and how it can be used for accessibility with Be My Eyes. Other tools include ProWritingAid's Rephrase, and upcoming GrammarlyGo, plus keep up with the news on AI with Ben's Bites and/or The Algorithmic Bridge.



You can find Sudowrite through my affiliate link at www.TheCreativePenn.com/sudowrite, and I also have a tutorial on how I use Sudowrite here.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.







Leanne Leeds is the author of 27 novels across contemporary paranormal, fantasy and midlife cozy mystery. She also uses AI tools as part of her creative process, which is what we're talking about today.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* What is Sudowrite?



* Incorporating Sudowrite into your creative process



* Using AI tools to help improve certain aspects of your writing



* AI tools for beginners, and how to use them better



* Common objections to using AI tools



* Potential legal issues (or non-issues) around AI



* How AI will change how we market our books




You can find Leanne Leeds at LeanneLeeds.com and her articles on Sudowrite tips at https://blog.sudowrite.com/



You can find Sudowrite through my affiliate link at www.TheCreativePenn.com/sudowrite, and I also have a tutorial on how I use Sudowrite here.



Transcript of Interview with Leanne Leeds



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Content For Everyone: Accessibility For Authors With Jeff Adams https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/13/content-for-everyone-accessibility-for-authors-with-jeff-adams/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35270 <p>Writers and readers are a diverse bunch, and we all want to do our best to make sure our content is accessible to all. But how do we do that when it seems like a huge (and time-consuming) challenge for an individual creator? Jeff Adams gives some tips for getting started. In the intro, making […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/13/content-for-everyone-accessibility-for-authors-with-jeff-adams/">Content For Everyone: Accessibility For Authors With Jeff Adams</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writers and readers are a diverse bunch, and we all want to do our best to make sure our content is accessible to all. But how do we do that when it seems like a huge (and time-consuming) challenge for an individual creator? Writers and readers are a diverse bunch, and we all want to do our best to make sure our content is accessible to all. But how do we do that when it seems like a huge (and time-consuming) challenge for an individual creator? Jeff Adams gives some tips for getting started.



In the intro, making as marketing [Ryan Holiday]; Enter awards but make sure they are worthwhile [ALLi; Reedsy; BookAwardPro]; The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Jeff Adams is the author of YA thrillers and gay romance, as well as the co-host of The Big Gay Fiction Podcast with his husband and business partner, Will. Jeff's latest book is Content for Everyone, A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content, co-written with Michele Lucchini.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Staying involved in the author community when you're not writing



* What is accessible content? Why is it important?



* How to address the associated cost of making content more accessible



* Using alternative text tags on images



* Improving link text to be more descriptive



* How screen readers process emojis and image text—and how to improve this



* Tips for improving accessibility of print books



* Publishing in multiple formats to improve accessibility




You can find Jeff at JeffAdamsWrites.com, his podcast at BigGayFictionPodcast.com, and his latest book at ContentForEveryone.info



Header image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Jeff Adams



Jeff: Jeff Adams is the author of YA thrillers and gay romance, as well as the co-host of The Big Gay Fiction Podcast with his husband and business partner, Will. Jeff's latest book is Content for Everyone,]]>
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Writing And Investing For A Long Term Indie Author Career With Lindsay Buroker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/06/writing-and-investing-for-a-long-term-indie-author-career-with-lindsay-buroker/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35268 <p>What are the core fundamentals of a successful independent author business? How can you focus on writing, as well as sell more books, and stay healthy? Prolific fantasy author Lindsay Buroker shares her tips. In the intro, YouTube gets into audio-only podcasts; Seth Godin's book marketing for The Song of Significance; How to make more […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/03/06/writing-and-investing-for-a-long-term-indie-author-career-with-lindsay-buroker/">Writing And Investing For A Long Term Indie Author Career With Lindsay Buroker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the core fundamentals of a successful independent author business? How can you focus on writing, as well as sell more books, and stay healthy? Prolific fantasy author Lindsay Buroker shares her tips. In the intro, What are the core fundamentals of a successful independent author business? How can you focus on writing, as well as sell more books, and stay healthy? Prolific fantasy author Lindsay Buroker shares her tips.



In the intro, YouTube gets into audio-only podcasts; Seth Godin's book marketing for The Song of Significance; How to make more money than the average author [Ask ALLi]; Independent author income survey from ALLi; The Authors Guild updated their model contract with a new clause: No Generative AI Training Use.



Plus, my photos from Washington D.C.; I'm on the Write Now with Scrivener Podcast; Pictures from signing hardbacks at Bookvault in Peterborough.






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Lindsay Buroker is the author of over 100 books across epic fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and more.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How Lindsay's current business works, and how she's ready to pivot and is considering other things, like Kickstarter



* The core fundamentals for a long-term author business



* What changes and what stays the same



* Pros and cons of writing under a pen name



* Dealing with negative feedback



* Investing, and thinking about the future for our intellectual property




You can find Lindsay at LindsayBuroker.com and listen to the backlist at https://6figureauthors.com/.



Header image created by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Lindsay Buroker



Joanna: Lindsay Buroker is the author of over 100 books across epic fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and more. So welcome back to the show, Lindsay.



Lindsay: Hey, thanks for having me.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:51
How To Build A Seven Figure Book Business Selling Direct To Readers With Pierre Jeanty https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/27/how-to-build-a-seven-figure-book-business-selling-direct-to-readers-with-pierre-jeanty/ Mon, 27 Feb 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35267 <p>Write and publish what you want, get paid every day for your books, and control your customer data and relationships. It's possible if you sell direct, as Pierre Jeanty talks about in this interview. In the intro, the author income survey [ALLi]; publishing clauses to avoid [Writer Unboxed; Writer Beware]; copyright registration for AI-assisted comic […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/27/how-to-build-a-seven-figure-book-business-selling-direct-to-readers-with-pierre-jeanty/">How To Build A Seven Figure Book Business Selling Direct To Readers With Pierre Jeanty</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Write and publish what you want, get paid every day for your books, and control your customer data and relationships. It's possible if you sell direct, as Pierre Jeanty talks about in this interview. In the intro, Write and publish what you want, get paid every day for your books, and control your customer data and relationships. It's possible if you sell direct, as Pierre Jeanty talks about in this interview.



In the intro, the author income survey [ALLi]; publishing clauses to avoid [Writer Unboxed; Writer Beware]; copyright registration for AI-assisted comic Zarya of the Dawn [Process Mechanics]; tips for writing with AI [Self Publishing Show]; my Sudowrite tutorial.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Pierre Jeanty is a poet and inspirational author, publisher and entrepreneur. He specializes in selling through Shopify and teaches authors his methods through 7figurebookbusiness.com.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How Pierre started selling direct early, and how sales on other stores like Amazon happen even when he focuses on selling to Shopify first



* The importance of changing your mindset



* Flipping the business model to selling direct first



* Changes in the indie zeitgeist with more authors wanting more independence



* Best ways to market your Shopify store



* Separating your store by brand and genre




You can find Pierre Jeanty at PierreJeanty.com or 7figurebookbusiness.com



Transcript of Interview with Pierre Jeanty



Pierre: Pierre Jeanty is a poet and inspirational author, publisher and entrepreneur. He specializes in selling through Shopify, and teaches authors his methods through 7figurebookbusiness.com, which I can highly recommend, and I'm personally going through at the moment. So welcome, Pierre.



Thank you. Thank you for having me, Joanna.



]]>
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The Tsunami Of Crap, Misinformation, And Responsible Use Of AI With Tim Boucher https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/24/the-tsunami-of-crap-misinformation-and-responsible-use-of-ai-with-tim-boucher/ Fri, 24 Feb 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35266 <p>After many years of people saying, “AI can never be creative, AI could never write fiction (i.e. make things up), it's now evident that the generative AI tools make a lot up — and we need to be aware of the potential ramifications. How can we use the tools to achieve our creative purpose in […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/24/the-tsunami-of-crap-misinformation-and-responsible-use-of-ai-with-tim-boucher/">The Tsunami Of Crap, Misinformation, And Responsible Use Of AI With Tim Boucher</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> After many years of people saying, “AI can never be creative, AI could never write fiction (i.e. make things up), it's now evident that the generative AI tools make a lot up — and we need to be aware of the potential ramifications. After many years of people saying, “AI can never be creative, AI could never write fiction (i.e. make things up), it's now evident that the generative AI tools make a lot up — and we need to be aware of the potential ramifications.



How can we use the tools to achieve our creative purpose in an ethical manner, and understand that we need to curate, edit, and take responsibility for any usage? How can we educate ourselves and others on the way these AI models work? Tim Boucher and I have a challenging, wide-ranging discussion in this interview.



In the intro, I comment on ‘A concerning trend of AI-generated submissions' to short story market, Clarkesworld, and the ‘tsunami of crap' all over again [JA Konrath], and how we can use AI tools in a responsible manner.



Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Tim Boucher is a hyperrealist AI artist and writer specializing in questionable alternative realities. He's worked professionally in content moderation policy, and counter-disinformation efforts on behalf of a major web platform, a blockchain protocol. And he has advised nonprofits and governments on related issues



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* How Tim started writing and publishing, and why he decided to experiment with AI tools for images and words



* Misinformation by humans and AI hallucinations, how we need to fact check , edit, curate, and manage outputs — and how these can be used in fiction



* Tim's AI-collaborative creative process and the tools he uses for words and images



* Labeling and ethical use of AI [see the Alliance of Independent Authors guidelines here]



* Why Tim uses Gumroad to sell direct and doesn't publish on Amazon



* How authors need to engage with the technology, experiment, and learn to stand out in an ever-increasingly crowded market




You can find Tim at TimBoucher.ca and his books at LostBooks.gumroad.com



Header image created by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.







Introduction: Addressing the flood of AI-generated content/books



In this introductory section, I want to talk about some of the news items that have arisen this week, and that fit into this episode very well.



From the headlines this week,]]>
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Co-Writing In A Shared Universe And Changing Indie Business Models With Martha Carr https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/20/co-writing-in-a-shared-universe-and-changing-indie-business-models-with-martha-carr/ Mon, 20 Feb 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35132 <p>How can you create a universe big enough for multiple series? How can you co-write successfully? How can you pivot your business model to achieve your creative, financial, and lifestyle goals? Martha Carr talks about these things and more. In the intro, Simon & Schuster is back up for sale [Reuters, Episode 662 with Jane […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/20/co-writing-in-a-shared-universe-and-changing-indie-business-models-with-martha-carr/">Co-Writing In A Shared Universe And Changing Indie Business Models With Martha Carr</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create a universe big enough for multiple series? How can you co-write successfully? How can you pivot your business model to achieve your creative, financial, and lifestyle goals? Martha Carr talks about these things and more. How can you create a universe big enough for multiple series? How can you co-write successfully? How can you pivot your business model to achieve your creative, financial, and lifestyle goals? Martha Carr talks about these things and more.



In the intro, Simon & Schuster is back up for sale [Reuters, Episode 662 with Jane Friedman]; The New Gatekeepers report [Ben Evans]; Marvellous Maps.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Martha Carr is the best-selling author of over 200 urban fantasy novels. Her newest series, Queen of the Flightless Dragons, will be coming out on Kickstarter in May 2023 with Book One, Eamon.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The mindset shift when switching from traditional to indie publishing



* How to take notes, and then turn those notes into books



* How to know when an idea is big enough for a universe



* Rules to follow when creating different series arcs within a universe



* Pros and cons of co-writing



* Establishing contracts and protecting intellectual property when co-writing



* How the business model is continually changing for indie authors



* Kickstarter and why it is valuable to growing your audience




You can find Martha Carr at MarthaCarr.com



Header image created by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Martha Carr



Joanna: Martha Carr is the best-selling author of over 200 urban fantasy novels. Her newest series, Queen of the Flightless Dragons, will be coming out on Kickstarter in May 2023 with Book One, Eamon. So welcome to the show, Martha.



Martha: Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for asking me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. So first up—



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing.



Martha: So I started writing actually, shoot, about 35 years ago,]]>
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Book Marketing Mindset, Ideas, And Ambition With Honoree Corder https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/13/book-marketing-mindset-ideas-and-ambition-with-honoree-corder/ Mon, 13 Feb 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35131 <p>How can you embrace book marketing as a creative part of your author business? How can you effectively market your backlist over time? How can you tap into ambition and drive your author business onward and upward? Honoree Corder talks about all this and more. In the intro, Draft2Digital add a new library marketplace [D2D]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/13/book-marketing-mindset-ideas-and-ambition-with-honoree-corder/">Book Marketing Mindset, Ideas, And Ambition With Honoree Corder</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you embrace book marketing as a creative part of your author business? How can you effectively market your backlist over time? How can you tap into ambition and drive your author business onward and upward? How can you embrace book marketing as a creative part of your author business? How can you effectively market your backlist over time? How can you tap into ambition and drive your author business onward and upward? Honoree Corder talks about all this and more.



In the intro, Draft2Digital add a new library marketplace [D2D]; Running a publishing house is not as much fun as it used to be [Mike Shatzkin]; Microsoft launches the new Bing with ChatGPT-style co-pilot, and soon to be rolled out in other products like MS Word, Teams, etc [The Verge]; My future of publishing talk, 22 Feb [register here]; Thanks for joining the Pilgrimage Kickstarter, and pre-order on other stores; Superstars writing conference.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Honoree Corder is the author of over 50 books, with more than 4.5 million sold worldwide. She's also a strategic book coach, professional speaker, and host of the Empire Builders Mastermind. Her latest book is, You Must Market Your Book: Increase Your Impact, Sell More Books, and Make More Money.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* The book marketing mindset and why it is important



* Scheduling creative time vs. business time



* How to find the book marketing options that work for your personality



* Email marketing and how it has stayed consistent over the years



* Marketing your backlist books effectively



* How personal development can help your author business




You can find Honoree at HonoreeCorder.com



Transcript of Interview with Honoree Corder



Joanna: Honoree Corder is the author of over 50 books, with more than 4.5 million sold worldwide. She's also a strategic book coach, professional speaker, and host of the Empire Builders Mastermind. Her latest book is, You Must Market Your Book: Increase Your Impact, Sell More Books,]]>
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Writing Choctaw Characters And Diversity In Fiction With Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/06/writing-choctaw-characters-and-diversity-in-fiction-with-sarah-elisabeth-sawyer/ Mon, 06 Feb 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35130 <p>Who are the Choctaw people and how can authors write authentic Native Americans in their books? How can we research diverse characters and include a diverse cast without worrying about cancel culture? Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer talks about how her Choctaw heritage influences her books. In the intro, the Pilgrimage Kickstarter is done — thanks to […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/02/06/writing-choctaw-characters-and-diversity-in-fiction-with-sarah-elisabeth-sawyer/">Writing Choctaw Characters And Diversity In Fiction With Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Who are the Choctaw people and how can authors write authentic Native Americans in their books? How can we research diverse characters and include a diverse cast without worrying about cancel culture? Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer talks about how her Choctaw ... Who are the Choctaw people and how can authors write authentic Native Americans in their books? How can we research diverse characters and include a diverse cast without worrying about cancel culture? Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer talks about how her Choctaw heritage influences her books.



In the intro, the Pilgrimage Kickstarter is done — thanks to all backers and I'll be in touch soon; With a Demon's Eye on my store and pre-order elsewhere; Opportunities in 2023 [Ask ALLi Podcast].






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer is a historical fiction author, speaker, course creator and Choctaw storyteller. The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian honored her as a literary artist for her work in preserving Choctaw Trail of Tears stories, and she is the creator of the Fiction Writing: American Indians digital course.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Who are the Choctaw people?



* How to include representation without being stereotypical



* Researching cultural callbacks to include in your writing



* How to use oral history from tribes in your research



* Writing diverse characters outside of our personal experience



* Creating well-rounded characters when writing diversity




You can find Sarah at ChoctawSpirit.com or her course at AmericanIndians.FictionCourses.com



Image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer



Joanna: Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer is a historical fiction author, speaker, course creator and Choctaw storyteller. The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian honored her as a literary artist for her work in preserving Choctaw Trail of Tears stories. And she is the creator of the Fiction Writing: American Indians digital course. So welcome to the show, Sarah.



Sarah: Thank you, Joanna. Halito. Sv hohchifo yvt Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. Chahta Sia Hoke. Hi, everyone. My name is Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer, and I am Choctaw. And it's just such a delight to be on your podcast, Joanna.



Joanna: I love that. And of course, we have listeners from over 200 countries.



Perhaps you can first explain, what is Choctaw,]]>
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The Empowerment Of Selling Books Direct To Your Readers With Steve Pieper https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/30/the-empowerment-of-selling-books-direct-to-your-readers-with-steve-pieper/ Mon, 30 Jan 2023 06:10:43 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35076 <p>What are the benefits of selling direct? Why might using your face to advertise your books be a good idea? What might be the future of selling direct? Steve Pieper talks about these things and more. In the intro, ACX lowering audiobook prices, Chokepoint Capitalism, Audiblegate, Copyright valuation [Dean Wesley Smith]; courses on copyright; Happy […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/30/the-empowerment-of-selling-books-direct-to-your-readers-with-steve-pieper/">The Empowerment Of Selling Books Direct To Your Readers With Steve Pieper</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the benefits of selling direct? Why might using your face to advertise your books be a good idea? What might be the future of selling direct? Steve Pieper talks about these things and more. In the intro, ACX lowering audiobook prices, What are the benefits of selling direct? Why might using your face to advertise your books be a good idea? What might be the future of selling direct? Steve Pieper talks about these things and more.



In the intro, ACX lowering audiobook prices, Chokepoint Capitalism, Audiblegate, Copyright valuation [Dean Wesley Smith]; courses on copyright; Happy Money; Write to Riches; Failing to predict the future [James Altucher]; Pilgrimage Kickstarter (until 5 Feb, 2023), then find it here.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna






Steve Pieper is a USA Today best-selling thriller author under the name Lars Emmerich. He's also an entrepreneur and business consultant, specializing in digital marketing and selling direct.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Reasons to write under a pen name



* Selling wide to create multiple income streams



* Potential problems with exclusivity



* Benefits of selling direct and accessing customer data



* The empowerment of controlling your intellectual property and author business



* Humanizing yourself as an author to create a more relatable brand



* Author marketing mastery through optimization



* NFTs and how they tie into the future of direct sales




You can find Steve Pieper at AMMOauthor.com or under his pen name at Lars.buzz



Transcript of Interview with Steve Pieper



Joanna: Steve Pieper is a USA Today best-selling thriller author under the name Lars Emmerich.]]>
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Writing Travel Memoir, Fear Of Judgment, Fear Of Failure, And Journaling With J.F. Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/28/writing-travel-memoir-fear-of-judgment-fear-of-failure-and-journaling-with-j-f-penn/ Sat, 28 Jan 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35204 <p>What do you need to consider when writing travel memoir? How fear of judgment and fear of failure are real issues even for established authors, and more in these selected excerpts from interviews with J.F. Penn around Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways. In this episode, I talk about: I have a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/28/writing-travel-memoir-fear-of-judgment-fear-of-failure-and-journaling-with-j-f-penn/">Writing Travel Memoir, Fear Of Judgment, Fear Of Failure, And Journaling With J.F. Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What do you need to consider when writing travel memoir? How fear of judgment and fear of failure are real issues even for established authors, and more in these selected excerpts from interviews with J.F. Penn around Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from S... What do you need to consider when writing travel memoir? How fear of judgment and fear of failure are real issues even for established authors, and more in these selected excerpts from interviews with J.F. Penn around Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways.



In this episode, I talk about:




* How Pilgrimage fits across several sub-categories of the travel genre and the perils of writing cross-genre 



* Fear of sharing personal aspects in the memoir, fear of launch, fear of failure, fear of judgment, and being terrified of doing a Kickstarter (recorded several days before the launch)



* How journals can be the basis of writing a travel memoir, structuring a book around theme, and why you have to think of the reader




Jo Frances Penn with Pilgrimage


I have a Kickstarter running as this goes out for my new travel memoir / solo walking book, Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways, and I’ve been doing interviews on the topic on various shows, so I wanted to share some snippets.



It might also introduce you to new shows that you might enjoy and you can find them all on your podcast app, wherever you’re listening to this. The clips are from Travel Writing World, Wish I’d Known Then, and Sacred Steps, and I was also on Into the Woods.



I’ve included different clips on my Books and Travel Podcast, more about the walking than the writing side, so you can also listen there. 



I also wanted to let you know that we reached the stretch goal — even though I was scared of not making it!






All backers will get an extra audio with a transcript on how I turned hundreds of pages of hand-written journal entries and hundreds of photos into a finished travel memoir.



This will only go to backers, so even if you’re not that interested in pilgrimage, you might want my tips on writing travel memoir, and you can back the campaign with just a few pounds. 



Just go to JFPenn.com/pilgrimage and that will redirect to the Kickstarter until 5 Feb, after which it will take you to where the book will be available later in the year. So let’s get into it. 







In this clip from the Travel Writing World podcast with Jeremy Bassetti, I talk about how Pilgrimage is sits across different sub-genres of the travel niche. 




J.F. Penn – Pilgrimage and Perspective




Transcript of the clip from Travel Writing World

]]>
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The Importance Of Confident Creative Direction, Voice, And Taste, In Generative AI Art With Oliver Altair https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/26/the-importance-of-confident-creative-direction-voice-and-taste-in-generative-ai-art-with-oliver-altair/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 05:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35129 <p>How can you use AI tools to ethically and responsibly create in whatever sphere you love? What are some of the tools and why are creative direction, voice, and taste, so important? I discuss these issues and more in a solo introduction and an interview with Oliver Altair. In the first 28 mins of the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/26/the-importance-of-confident-creative-direction-voice-and-taste-in-generative-ai-art-with-oliver-altair/">The Importance Of Confident Creative Direction, Voice, And Taste, In Generative AI Art With Oliver Altair</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use AI tools to ethically and responsibly create in whatever sphere you love? What are some of the tools and why are creative direction, voice, and taste, so important? I discuss these issues and more in a solo introduction and an interview... How can you use AI tools to ethically and responsibly create in whatever sphere you love? What are some of the tools and why are creative direction, voice, and taste, so important? I discuss these issues and more in a solo introduction and an interview with Oliver Altair.



In the first 28 mins of the podcast, I give an extended introduction about the various legal cases around AI and copyright, my thoughts on the best way to approach it for your creative work, and how to use AI tools ethically and responsibly. I've included the transcript below with lots of links and further resources, and you can find more at TheCreativePenn.com/future.



If you'd like to learn more, you can get 50% off my ebook and audiobook on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds if you buy direct, and you can get 50% off my course, The AI-Assisted Author. Just use discount code: FEB23 at checkout for either.






Today's show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who fund my brain so I have time to think about and discuss these futurist topics impacting authors. If you support the show, you also get the extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. You can support the show at www.patreon.com/thecreativepenn






Oliver Altair is a dark fantasy author, a digital artist and creator of the Ravensfield Collection.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. The interview starts at 28:33 mins.



Show Notes




* The creation of the Ravensfield Collection using AI art



* How AI art can be used as a marketing tool for authors



* Available tools for an AI-augmented creative



* How to write AI prompts to achieve the best results



* Concerns about intellectual property when training models



* What are the different kinds of Creative Commons licenses?



* The importance of creative confidence, voice, and taste, for making art with AI tools



* Generative writing tools as a brainstorming co-pilot




You can find Oliver Altair at OliverAltair.com. You can view the Ravensfield Collection at Ravensfield.art.



Header image by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.







Transcript of the solo introduction on generative AI with Joanna Penn



Before we get into the interview, I just want to add some over-arching comments as I’m getting a lot of emails about generative AI for art and obviously for words.



It feels like a lot of people are going through now what I did a few years back when I first heard about all this,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:13:05
Multi-Six Figure Book Sales And The Power Of Daily Habits With Marc Reklau https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/23/multi-six-figure-book-sales-and-the-power-of-daily-habits-with-marc-reklau/ Mon, 23 Jan 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35117 <p>How can small, daily habits make you more successful as an author? How can you use the 80/20 rule in your author business? How can you create multiple streams of income when you sell mostly print? Marc Reklau shares his tips in the interview. In the intro, my Kickstarter for Pilgrimage is live!; Spotify's promotion […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/23/multi-six-figure-book-sales-and-the-power-of-daily-habits-with-marc-reklau/">Multi-Six Figure Book Sales And The Power Of Daily Habits With Marc Reklau</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can small, daily habits make you more successful as an author? How can you use the 80/20 rule in your author business? How can you create multiple streams of income when you sell mostly print? Marc Reklau shares his tips in the interview. How can small, daily habits make you more successful as an author? How can you use the 80/20 rule in your author business? How can you create multiple streams of income when you sell mostly print? Marc Reklau shares his tips in the interview.



In the intro, my Kickstarter for Pilgrimage is live!; Spotify's promotion codes [The Hotsheet, FindawayVoices]; publishing 2023 [Carly Watters]; Writer Beware round-up; Hitting bestseller lists [Reedsy; my USA Today breakdown]; Mark Dawson's Ads for Authors; Nick Thacker's dictation course;






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.






Marc Reklau is the best-selling author of 13 books on habits, productivity and happiness. He's also a speaker, consultant and coach.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* The importance of consistency to reach your goals



* Different streams of income as a nonfiction author



* Creating a series from your nonfiction books to increase sales



* How to make money in foreign language markets



* Taking your books wide to expand your income streams



* Why successful authors sell more books than struggling authors




You can find Marc at MarcReklau.com



Transcript of Interview with Mark Reklau



Joanna: Marc Reklau is the best-selling author of 13 books on habits, productivity and happiness. He's also a speaker, consultant and coach. So welcome to the show, Marc.



Marc: Hello. It's such a pleasure to be on your show, Joanna.



Joanna: Oh, I'm excited to talk to you. So first up —



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Marc: Yeah, that's a good story. Because actually, I never had it in my life plan to become a wri...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:11:26
Intuitive Writing And Book Marketing With Becca Syme https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/16/intuitive-writing-and-book-marketing-with-becca-syme/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35077 <p>Do you sometimes just ‘know' when a story is right? Does something ‘click' during the writing process and suddenly things make sense? Do you lean into your curiosity and emotion when it comes to writing and marketing? If yes, you might be an intuitive writer, as Becca Syme explains in this interview. In the intro, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/16/intuitive-writing-and-book-marketing-with-becca-syme/">Intuitive Writing And Book Marketing With Becca Syme</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Do you sometimes just ‘know' when a story is right? Does something ‘click' during the writing process and suddenly things make sense? Do you lean into your curiosity and emotion when it comes to writing and marketing? If yes, Do you sometimes just ‘know' when a story is right? Does something ‘click' during the writing process and suddenly things make sense? Do you lean into your curiosity and emotion when it comes to writing and marketing? If yes, you might be an intuitive writer, as Becca Syme explains in this interview.



In the intro, Chokepoint Capitalism [Decoder]; Direct sales [Kris Rusch]; Amazon Ads for Authors by Ricardo Fayet; Ads for Authors course; Why I Ignored Target Reader Feedback for my Book Cover Design; ChatGPT for teachers [Hard Fork]; Pilgrimage Kickstarter.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. You can find my books for authors and my fiction here on Kobo.






Becca Syme is an author, coach, and creator of the Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery and also writes the ‘Dear Writer' series of non-fiction books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* How a writer knows if they are intuitive



* The data-gathering process of intuitive writers



* Learning to apply feedback while trusting your intuition



* Knowing when it's the right time to write your book



* Standing out in a crowded market by using your intuition



* Tips for avoiding burnout to have a sustainable author career



* Why we make decisions based on fear — and how to stop




You can find Becca at BetterFasterAcademy.com or on her QuitCast on YouTube



Image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.
]]>
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How To (Finally) Finish Your Book With Roz Morris https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/09/how-to-finally-finish-your-book-with-roz-morris/ Mon, 09 Jan 2023 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35043 <p>What are the most common reasons why writers don't finish their books —and how can you overcome them in order to finish yours this year? Roz Morris gives practical writing and mindset tips. In the intro, Spotify promo codes [FindawayVoices]; Rachael Herron's money episode [How Do You Write?]; Changes at Amazon [Kris Writes, BBC]; AI […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/09/how-to-finally-finish-your-book-with-roz-morris/">How To (Finally) Finish Your Book With Roz Morris</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the most common reasons why writers don't finish their books —and how can you overcome them in order to finish yours this year? Roz Morris gives practical writing and mindset tips. In the intro, Spotify promo codes [FindawayVoices]; Rachael He... What are the most common reasons why writers don't finish their books —and how can you overcome them in order to finish yours this year? Roz Morris gives practical writing and mindset tips.



In the intro, Spotify promo codes [FindawayVoices]; Rachael Herron's money episode [How Do You Write?]; Changes at Amazon [Kris Writes, BBC]; AI as a writing co-pilot [Stark Reflections]; Hindenburg Narrator for audiobook mastering; Pilgrimage audiobook chapters [Books and Travel].






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.






Roz Morris is a best-selling author as a ghostwriter and an award-nominated author with her own literary novels. She writes writing craft books for authors under the Nail Your Novel brand, and is also an editor, speaker and writing coach.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* The most common reasons that writers abandon books



* Creating a system for your creative process



* Finding the motivation to finish your book even when it gets tough



* The importance of research to help you keep going



* How to commit to finishing one project when you have multiple started



* Staying confident when you start doubting your book



* Knowing when to park a project




You can find Roz at RozMorris.org



Transcript of Interview with Roz Morris



Joanna: Roz Morris is a best-selling author as a ghostwriter and an award nominated author with her own literary novels. She writes writing craft books for authors under the Nail Your Novel brand, and is also an editor, speaker and writing coach.



Today, we're talking about why writers abandon books and how you can draft, fix and finish with confidence. And we'll have tips for both fiction and nonfiction authors. So welcome back to the show, Roz.



Roz: Thank you, Joanna. It's so nice to be here again.



]]>
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How To Use Paid Advertising As Part Of Your Book Marketing With Mark Dawson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/06/how-to-use-paid-advertising-as-part-of-your-book-marketing-with-mark-dawson/ Fri, 06 Jan 2023 06:10:42 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35075 <p>How can you use paid advertising as part of your book marketing strategy? How can you reach more readers and sell more books in the year ahead? Mark Dawson provides strategies and tips in this interview. In the intro, publishing trends for 2023 [Written Word Media]; Apple AI narration; ChatGPT into Bing [The Verge]; Comments […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/06/how-to-use-paid-advertising-as-part-of-your-book-marketing-with-mark-dawson/">How To Use Paid Advertising As Part Of Your Book Marketing With Mark Dawson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use paid advertising as part of your book marketing strategy? How can you reach more readers and sell more books in the year ahead? Mark Dawson provides strategies and tips in this interview. In the intro, How can you use paid advertising as part of your book marketing strategy? How can you reach more readers and sell more books in the year ahead? Mark Dawson provides strategies and tips in this interview.



In the intro, publishing trends for 2023 [Written Word Media]; Apple AI narration; ChatGPT into Bing [The Verge]; Comments on Audible [Brandon Sanderson, Audiblegate]; TikTok ban and problems [Reuters, Rolling Stone]; my Pilgrimage Kickstarter.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn







Mark Dawson is the award-winning USA Today best-selling author of the John Milton series and other thrillers, with over 6 million copies sold. He's also the co-founder of SelfPublishingFormula.com, with books, courses and events for indie authors who want to sell more books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How advertising has changed in the past decade



* The difference between paid advertising and other forms of marketing



* Why building your mailing list can be your best free advertising option



* Is it worth it to advertise a standalone book?



* Different ways to monetize your brand to make ads profitable



* What is the biggest mistake indie authors make with advertising?



* The effect of Apple's privacy rules on Facebook ads



* Using AI to create more and sell more




You can find Mark at MarkJDawson.com and SelfPublishingFormula.com.



Image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Mark Dawson



Joanna: Mark Dawson is the award-winning USA Today best-selling author of the John Milton series and other thriller...]]>
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My 2023 Creative and Business Goals With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/01/my-2023-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/ Sun, 01 Jan 2023 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34840 <p>Happy New Year 2023! I am more excited than ever this year about the books I want to write and publish. I've had a difficult few years (haven't we all?!) but now I'm ready to create at full throttle in 2023, aided by the incredible AI-powered tools emerging for writers. Here's an overview of my […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2023/01/01/my-2023-creative-and-business-goals-with-joanna-penn/">My 2023 Creative and Business Goals With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Happy New Year 2023! I am more excited than ever this year about the books I want to write and publish. I've had a difficult few years (haven't we all?!) but now I'm ready to create at full throttle in 2023, Happy New Year 2023!



I am more excited than ever this year about the books I want to write and publish.



I've had a difficult few years (haven't we all?!) but now I'm ready to create at full throttle in 2023, aided by the incredible AI-powered tools emerging for writers.



Here's an overview of my 2023 goals:




* J.F. Penn — Pilgrimage (and my first Kickstarter); Catacomb book, ARKANE 13, and some short stories



* Joanna Penn — The Shadow Book (and maybe another Kickstarter), The Creator Economy for Authors, and maybe The AI-Assisted Author



* Continue The Creative Penn Podcast



* Experiment with futurist technologies and share what I learn with you along the way



* More digital, more physical. Focus on optimizing my health, and do more in-person travel and events.



* Financial goals




As ever, I am a full-time author-entrepreneur and this is my job, so I have a lot of goals. If your goals are simpler — like finishing your book, or publishing for the first time, or selling 1000 copies, then fantastic! You don’t have to have such extensive goals as me.



Please share your goals in the comments so we can keep each other accountable.







J.F. Penn — Kickstarter for Pilgrimage with a special signed hardback edition



I have finished Pilgrimage and am currently narrating the audiobook as well as formatting the print edition.



It's a very personal book, and so I want to do a special signed hardback edition that won't be available anywhere else.



The best way to do that is to know how many people want to buy it, so I can order the books, have them shipped here, sign them, and then send them out myself.



So I'm (finally) going to do a Kickstarter!



Click here to sign up for the pre-launch list (no commitment to buy)



You'll be notified of the campaign when it launches on 23 Jan, 2023.



The Kickstarter will also have the ebook and audiobook (narrated by me), as well as the special edition hardback (signed and unsigned available), a special edition paperback edition (POD, not signed) and a Pilgrimage workbook, with guided prompts so you can plan your own pilgrimage.



My plan is to sell direct through the Kickstarter, and then put the books in all formats (except for the special edition hardback) up on my store, www.CreativePennBooks.com and available everywhere wide a month later.



character and setting Images for the Catacomb book, generated by joanna penn on midjourney



J.F. Penn — Write and publish the ‘catacomb' book, ARKANE #13, and some short stories — and maybe other fiction



The catacomb book is a stand-alone story I have had on my mind for a while, and I want to get it out of my head and onto the page. I'm not sure if it's a novel or a novella yet.



At the end of Tomb of Relics, ARKANE #12, I left Morgan and Jake heading to Vienna for the next adventure, but until recently, I didn't know what they would find there.



]]>
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Review Of My 2022 Creative Business Goals https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/30/review-of-my-2022-creative-business-goals/ Fri, 30 Dec 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34924 <p>Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you will take the time to review your goals, and leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? You can read my 2022 goals here and I reflect on what I […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/30/review-of-my-2022-creative-business-goals/">Review Of My 2022 Creative Business Goals</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you will take the time to review your goals, and leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you will take the time to review your goals, and leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to?



You can read my 2022 goals here and I reflect on what I achieved below.




* Books for authors — Joanna Penn



* Fiction as J.F. Penn — thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror, short stories



* Shift to the Creator Economy and focus on selling direct



* Embrace multi-passionate creativity — and optimize for curiosity — as we move into The Creative Future.



* Generative AI, NFTs, and more



* The Creative Penn website and podcast



* Book-binding: Limited hand-bound edition of A Thousand Fiendish Angels



* I achieved a lifetime goal of walking the Camino de Santiago — and finished my Pilgrimage book



* The end of my Books and Travel Podcast



* Travel and speaking, health and personal things




Header image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.







Books for authors — Joanna Penn







I've had a draft of How to Write a Novel in my Work In Progress drive for over five years, but this year, I overcame resistance and finally finished it.



I was worried that I didn't have anything to add to the millions of other books on writing craft, but it turned out to be useful for some people, especially those who write out of order and are discovery writers.



I launched the book direct on my Shopify store, CreativePennBooks.com and sold it exclusively direct for a month before publishing it wide. It's now available on all platforms, in all formats, including the audiobook narrated by me.



Click here to buy it direct from me.



Click here to buy it from other stores.






Fiction as J.F. Penn — thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror, short stories



In the first quarter of 2022, I re-edited my first novel, Stone of Fire, and the subsequent two novels, Crypt of Bone, and Ark of Blood.



Click here for my lessons learned from re-editing.



Was it worth it?



Yes, creatively, because I am much happier about advertising the early books in the series now. Financially, I can't see any impact, but it was still personally worth it, especially as it helped me see how far my writing has come since that first novel in 2009 and the lessons helped me to finish https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35031 <p>“If you just keep writing/querying/marketing/etc you will eventually be successful. Just don't give up.” We've all heard a variation of this, but what if it isn't true? When is quitting worthwhile? Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss Quit: The Power of Knowing When To Walk Away by Annie Duke and give examples of what they […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/26/what-do-you-need-to-quit-with-joanna-penn-and-orna-ross/">What Do You Need To Quit? With Joanna Penn And Orna Ross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> “If you just keep writing/querying/marketing/etc you will eventually be successful. Just don't give up.” We've all heard a variation of this, but what if it isn't true? When is quitting worthwhile? Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss Quit: The Power of K... “If you just keep writing/querying/marketing/etc you will eventually be successful. Just don't give up.” We've all heard a variation of this, but what if it isn't true? When is quitting worthwhile?



Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss
Quit: The Power of Knowing When To Walk Away by Annie Duke and give examples of what they have quit around writing, book marketing, and more.



In the intro, book recommendations, and Pilgrimage Kickstarter pre-launch page.



Get 33% off my ebooks, audiobooks and courses for the rest of 2022. Use coupon 2022 at checkout at CreativePennBooks.com (ebooks and audio, not print), and/or TheCreativePenn.com/learn for courses. Valid until the end of 2022.






This episode is supported by my patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. If you support the show, you get the extra Q&A episode for patrons only.



Joanna Penn and Orna Ross


Joanna Penn writes nonfiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F.Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



Orna Ross is a novelist, poet, and non-fiction author. She's also the founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, a professional speaker and creative coach.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Why we need to reframe quitting — and why it's so hard to do



* Getting over sunk cost fallacy



* Why Orna quit a whole series of non-fiction books



* Why I quit my Books and Travel Podcast



* Other things you might want to quit: social media platforms, blogging, an author name, a book series, writing a book that's taking forever, marketing a book that isn't selling, a business model, a day job, being a full-time author, a city or even a country



* How quitting makes room for you to create something new




You can find Orna Ross at www.OrnaRoss.com and listen to the Ask ALLi Podcast on your favorite podcast app.



This episode originally went out on the Ask ALLi Podcast, 2 Dec 2022. Shareable image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of the discussion



Joanna Penn: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Alliance of Independent Auth...]]>
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Changes In Publishing With Jane Friedman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/19/changes-in-publishing-with-jane-friedman/ Mon, 19 Dec 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=35012 <p>What has changed in the publishing industry over the last few years? What can authors learn from the DOJ vs PRH court case? How can mid-list authors thrive in uncertain times? Jane Friedman talks about these things and more. In the intro, USA Today list is on indefinite hiatus [US News]; Paid for bestseller list; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/19/changes-in-publishing-with-jane-friedman/">Changes In Publishing With Jane Friedman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What has changed in the publishing industry over the last few years? What can authors learn from the DOJ vs PRH court case? How can mid-list authors thrive in uncertain times? Jane Friedman talks about these things and more. In the intro, What has changed in the publishing industry over the last few years? What can authors learn from the DOJ vs PRH court case? How can mid-list authors thrive in uncertain times? Jane Friedman talks about these things and more.



In the intro, USA Today list is on indefinite hiatus [US News]; Paid for bestseller list; Recommended books; My scallop shell custom ornamental break; A Midwinter Sacrifice; The Author’s Mindset Podcast; What do you do if your book isn’t selling? [Rachael Herron]; My Pilgrimage Kickstarter pre-launch page; History Quill Writer's Conference;



Get 33% off my ebooks, audiobooks and courses for the rest of 2022. Use coupon 2022 at checkout at CreativePennBooks.com (ebooks and audio, not print), and/or TheCreativePenn.com/learn for courses. Valid until the end of 2022.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Jane Friedman is the author of The Business of Being a Writer, as well as other nonfiction books. She's also an award-winning publishing commentator, writer, editor, professional speaker and teacher.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* How the pandemic and increasing online sales have changed traditional publishing



* Thoughts on the DOJ vs PRH legal case (lots more at Publishers Weekly)



* Why backlist sales are so important

]]>
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Choosing Your Route To Publication With Barnaby Jameson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/12/self-publishing-for-the-first-time/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34938 <p>Why might a first-time author choose to independently publish? Barnaby Jameson talks about his experience with his first historical novel, and why valuing intellectual property is critical for authors to understand. Plus tips for self-publishing and marketing. In the intro, Draft2Digital distributing to Smashwords store [D2D], expansion of Google Play Books auto-narration into more countries, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/12/self-publishing-for-the-first-time/">Choosing Your Route To Publication With Barnaby Jameson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why might a first-time author choose to independently publish? Barnaby Jameson talks about his experience with his first historical novel, and why valuing intellectual property is critical for authors to understand. Why might a first-time author choose to independently publish? Barnaby Jameson talks about his experience with his first historical novel, and why valuing intellectual property is critical for authors to understand. Plus tips for self-publishing and marketing.



In the intro, Draft2Digital distributing to Smashwords store [D2D], expansion of Google Play Books auto-narration into more countries, and multiple voices per audio production, with more detail in episode 642; 3 surveys on author income [ASA; CREATe UK; Written Word Media] and why you need to choose your path.



Get 33% off my ebooks, audiobooks and courses for the rest of 2022. Use coupon 2022 at checkout at CreativePennBooks.com (ebooks and audio, not print), and/or TheCreativePenn.com/learn for courses. Valid until the end of 2022.






Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com. Use promo code PENN at checkout for 1 free book upload, print, ebook, or both, if uploaded at the same time—until December 31, 2022.







Barnaby Jameson is an English barrister specializing in terrorism and counterterrorism. His first novel is Codename: Madeleine, a historical espionage thriller.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Research for writing historical fiction



* The challenges of switching to fiction as a non-fiction expert — especially with writing dialogue



* Deciding to use a pen name vs your own name



* The benefits of self-publishing — and the importance of valuing your intellectual property



* Becoming the CEO of your own creative endeavor



* Publishing services for self-published authors — and why Barnaby recommends White Fox as a premium publishing partner.]]>
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Co-writing Fiction With Generative AI With Charlene Putney https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/09/writing-fiction-with-generative-ai/ Fri, 09 Dec 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34947 <p>How can authors use generative AI as a co-writing tool? How can creatives approach AI possibilities with curiosity rather than fear? Charlene Putney talks about writing with LAIKA. In the intro, ChatGPT, thoughts on the GitHub Co-Pilot case [WIRED]; and why digital abundance is an opportunity for curious creatives, not a threat. I also mention […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/09/writing-fiction-with-generative-ai/">Co-writing Fiction With Generative AI With Charlene Putney</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can authors use generative AI as a co-writing tool? How can creatives approach AI possibilities with curiosity rather than fear? Charlene Putney talks about writing with LAIKA. In the intro, ChatGPT, thoughts on the GitHub Co-Pilot case [WIRED]; an... How can authors use generative AI as a co-writing tool? How can creatives approach AI possibilities with curiosity rather than fear? Charlene Putney talks about writing with LAIKA.



In the intro, ChatGPT, thoughts on the GitHub Co-Pilot case [WIRED]; and why digital abundance is an opportunity for curious creatives, not a threat. I also mention my book, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry, and you can find more interviews and resources on my Future of Creativity page.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.






Charlene Putney is an award-winning writer, professional speaker and university lecturer. She's also the co-creator of LAIKA, an AI-powered creativity tool.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why people with arts backgrounds need to get more involved in AI



* AI-powered creativity tools for writers



* Using your own backlist to train an AI brain



* Tips for approaching AI tools as an author



* Copyright, bias, and plagiarism



* Data licensing and how fine-tuning models might benefit creatives



* The importance of personal branding, author voice, and connection with readers in a future of digital abundance




You can find Charlene Putney at AlphaChar.com and on Twitter @alphachar. You can try LAIKA at WriteWithLAIKA.com



Header image by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Charlene Putney



Joanna: Charlene Putney is an award-winning writer, professional speaker and university lecturer. She's also the co-creator of LAIKA, an AI-powered creativity tool. So welcome to the show, Charlene.



Charlene: Thanks so much, Joanna. It's really great to be here. Thanks for inviting me.



Joanna: Oh, I'm excited to talk to you about this. So first up –



Tell us a bit more about your background at the intersection o...]]>
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Pivoting Genres And Mindset Tips For Success With Dan Padavona https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/05/pivoting-genres-and-mindset-tips-for-success/ Mon, 05 Dec 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34936 <p>If you're not making the money you expected from your books, how can you pivot genres in order to write what you enjoy AND make a living? How can you change your mindset to one of creative abundance and productivity? Dan Padavona talks about these topics and more. In the intro, publishing year in review […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/12/05/pivoting-genres-and-mindset-tips-for-success/">Pivoting Genres And Mindset Tips For Success With Dan Padavona</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you're not making the money you expected from your books, how can you pivot genres in order to write what you enjoy AND make a living? How can you change your mindset to one of creative abundance and productivity? If you're not making the money you expected from your books, how can you pivot genres in order to write what you enjoy AND make a living? How can you change your mindset to one of creative abundance and productivity? Dan Padavona talks about these topics and more.



In the intro, publishing year in review [Kris Rusch]; how you can use ChatGPT with examples; Collaborative writing with AI [Andrew Mayne]; Open AI usage guidelines; Ethical AI usage for authors [ALLi].



Get 33% off my ebooks, audiobooks and courses for the rest of 2022. Use coupon 2022 at checkout at CreativePennBooks.com (ebooks and audio, not print), and/or TheCreativePenn.com/learn for courses. Valid until end of 2022.






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Dan Padavona is the best-selling and award-nominated author of thrillers and mysteries, including the Wolf Lake Thrillers and Logan and Scarlett Serial Killer thrillers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* How — and why — to pivot genres * Combining what you want to write and what sells* Creating a new audience when pivoting genres* Are Facebook ads and AMS ads still worth it?* Financial factors that influence the decision to become a full-time writer* Revitalizing a series with Facebook ads* The importance of a positive mindset and how to stay motivated for the long term



You can find Dan at DanPadavona.com



Dan has now started The Author's Mindset series.



Image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Dan Padavona



Joanna: Dan Padavona is the best-selling and award-nominated author of thrillers and mysteries, including the Wolf Lake Thrillers and Logan and Scarlett Serial Killer thrillers. So welcome to the show, Dan.



Dan: Thank you so much, Joanna. It's a pleasure to be here.
]]>
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Writing Tips: The Anatomy Of Genres With John Truby https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/28/anatomy-of-genre/ Mon, 28 Nov 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34937 <p>What is genre, and how can transcending it improve your fiction? How can you effectively write cross genre? John Truby gives an overview of the Anatomy of Genres. In the intro, the PRH acquisition of S&S is over [The Guardian]; Amazon Advertising Everywhere [Vox]; Spotify expands audiobooks to more markets [TechCrunch]; Plus, 20BooksVegas recordings; Machines […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/28/anatomy-of-genre/">Writing Tips: The Anatomy Of Genres With John Truby</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is genre, and how can transcending it improve your fiction? How can you effectively write cross genre? John Truby gives an overview of the Anatomy of Genres. In the intro, the PRH acquisition of S&S is over [The Guardian]; Amazon Advertising Every... What is genre, and how can transcending it improve your fiction? How can you effectively write cross genre? John Truby gives an overview of the Anatomy of Genres.



In the intro, the PRH acquisition of S&S is over [The Guardian]; Amazon Advertising Everywhere [Vox]; Spotify expands audiobooks to more markets [TechCrunch]; Plus, 20BooksVegas recordings; Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI by Toby Walsh; A16Z podcast with Neal Stephenson; Jane McGonigal on Moonshots and Mindsets;



Join me for this Webinar on Amazon data and trends for 2023 – 1 Dec. Plus, my mermaid images on Midjourney @jfpennauthor.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn







John Truby is the founder and director of Truby's Writers Studio, and teaches story principles and techniques through books, courses and audio programs, as well as speaking and story consulting. He's also the author of The Anatomy of Story. And today we're talking about his new book, The Anatomy of Genres.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How John became an expert on story* Defining genre — and examples from science fiction* Genre vs. Amazon Subcategories* How to transcend genre * How to successfully write cross-genre stories* Tips for editing and rewriting * The importance of advanced theme and complex plot* The future of storytelling as an immersive experience



You can find John at Truby.com



Header image by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with John Truby



Joanna: John Truby is the founder and director of Truby's Writers Studio, and teaches story principles and techniques thro...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:46
The Long Game With Dorie Clark https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/21/the-long-game-with-dorie-clark/ Mon, 21 Nov 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34730 <p>How can we shift our mindset to thinking about a long-term creative career? What can we do now that will make our future selves happy? Dorie Clark gives some ideas for playing the long game. In the intro, sell books directly on TikTok Shop [The Guardian]; Plan for author success in 2023 [K-lytics webinar, 1 […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/21/the-long-game-with-dorie-clark/">The Long Game With Dorie Clark</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we shift our mindset to thinking about a long-term creative career? What can we do now that will make our future selves happy? Dorie Clark gives some ideas for playing the long game. In the intro, sell books directly on TikTok Shop [The Guardia... How can we shift our mindset to thinking about a long-term creative career? What can we do now that will make our future selves happy? Dorie Clark gives some ideas for playing the long game.



In the intro, sell books directly on TikTok Shop [The Guardian]; Plan for author success in 2023 [K-lytics webinar, 1 Dec]; PDF workbooks for authors [CreativePennBooks.com]






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 









Dorie Clark is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, executive educator, film director and producer for a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album. Her books include Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, which we're talking about today.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* How to balance your time as a multi-passionate creator* Learning how to say no in order to reach your goals* Figuring out what your goals are* Practicing long-term thinking in your author career* What can you can do now to make your future self happy?* How your (non-fiction) book can open up other business opportunities* The strategy behind deciding what to write* Adapting to changing technology — the potential impact of generative AI* Marketing the same book for the next 5 years



You can find Dorie Clark at DorieClark.com



Image generated by Joanna Penn with Midjourney



Transcript of Interview with Dorie Clark



Joanna: Dorie Clark is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, executive educator, film director, and producer for a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album. Her books include Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, which we're talking about today. So welcome, Dorie.



Dorie: Joanna, I'm so glad to be here. Thank you.



Joanna: Now, I'm excited to talk about this. But I want to ask you first, because as I was looking at your bio, I'm like, ‘oh, my goodness, you are such a multi-passionate creator,' and a lot of people listening are as well. And you've got this visual art thing, the music thing, writing, teaching, speaking.



How do you balance your time between everything you do and prioritize?



Dorie: Well,]]>
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Using Generative AI For Digital Collectibles And NFTs With J. Thorn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/18/generative-ai-digital-collectibles-nfts/ Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34955 <p>How can generative AI tools augment and amplify your creativity? How can digital originals/collectibles (NFTs) add value to authors and readers? In the intro, my solo episode on Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Cash: NFTs for Authors (also in video); Midjourney v4 [Ars Technica]; Deviant Art launches their own generative AI tool [Engadget]; Rumors of GPT-4 […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/18/generative-ai-digital-collectibles-nfts/">Using Generative AI For Digital Collectibles And NFTs With J. Thorn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can generative AI tools augment and amplify your creativity? How can digital originals/collectibles (NFTs) add value to authors and readers? In the intro, my solo episode on Creativity, Collaboration, Community, How can generative AI tools augment and amplify your creativity? How can digital originals/collectibles (NFTs) add value to authors and readers?



In the intro, my solo episode on Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Cash: NFTs for Authors (also in video); Midjourney v4 [Ars Technica]; Deviant Art launches their own generative AI tool [Engadget]; Rumors of GPT-4 [Robert Scoble]; The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly; Other futurist episodes on AI and NFTs; The AI-Assisted Author, The Creator Economy for Authors.






This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.



This podcast is also sponsored by my wonderful patrons, www.Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







J. Thorn is a bestselling horror and dark fantasy writer, and he also writes nonfiction for authors. He's a podcaster at Writer's Ink and the Music NFT Show. J and I have co-written several books together, including Risen Gods, Co-writing a book, and American Demon Hunter's Sacrifice.



* How J is using generative AI tools for NFTs featuring music and images* The creative appeal of generative AI and how it augments and amplifies the direction of the creator* How J's opinion on generative AI has shifted* AI prompt generation as potentially a new job* Web 3 = general wave of technology that is going to transform our lives in a way that hasn't happened in decades* NFTs as digital collectibles, and how we see them being applicable for authors, and how they might fit as a new layer on top of the existing digital market for ebooks and audiobooks* An attitude of playfulness and creative experimentation, rather than commerce



You can find J. Thorn at TheAuthorLife.com and g3arz.com, and on Twitter @jthorn_



Transcript of the interview



Joanna Penn: J. Thorn is a bestselling horror and dark fantasy writer, and he also writes nonfiction for authors.]]>
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5 Steps To Author Success With Rachel McLean https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/14/5-steps-to-author-success/ Mon, 14 Nov 2022 06:10:33 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34941 <p>How can you find the intersection between what the market wants and what you love to read? How can you strategically seed book sales to improve your marketing? Rachel McLean talks about her 5 steps to indie author success. In the intro, how to predict and profit from publishing trends [ALLi blog]; my live, in-person […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/14/5-steps-to-author-success/">5 Steps To Author Success With Rachel McLean</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you find the intersection between what the market wants and what you love to read? How can you strategically seed book sales to improve your marketing? Rachel McLean talks about her 5 steps to indie author success. In the intro, How can you find the intersection between what the market wants and what you love to read? How can you strategically seed book sales to improve your marketing? Rachel McLean talks about her 5 steps to indie author success.



In the intro, how to predict and profit from publishing trends [ALLi blog]; my live, in-person events IRL and online; Trends for 2023 webinar with Alex Newton, K-lytics.






Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com. Use promo code PENN at checkout for 1 free book upload, print, ebook, or both, if uploaded at the same time—until December 31, 2022.






Rachel McLean is the award-winning and best-selling author of the Dorset Crime novels and the Zoe Finch detective series, and she writes nonfiction for writers under Rachel McCollin. Today we're talking about Five Steps to Author Success: Write Books Readers Love and Become a Full-Time Writer.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why Rachel chose to become an indie author — and why her first books didn't sell so well* How to find the intersection between what the market wants and what you want to write* The importance of characters in a series* Researching locations* Strategically seeding book sales to improve book marketing* Adapting to change as an author



You can find Rachel at RachelMcLean.com



Header image by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Rachel McLean



Joanna: Rachel McLean is the award-winning and best-selling author of the Dorset Crime novels and the Zoe Finch detective series, and she writes nonfiction for writers under Rachel McCollin. Today we're talking about Five Steps to Author Success: Write Books Readers Love and Become a Full Time Writer. So welcome, Rachel.



Rachel: Thank you for having me on. It's lovely to be here.



Joanna: Oh, yeah, this is gonna be so fascinating.



But first up, just tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing?



Rachel: Well, I mean, like many writers I've been writing since I was in primary school. I think I wrote my first serialized story when I was about nine. And I loved to write stories when I was a child, and then went to secondary school and had it drummed out of me and had to write essays, went to university much the same process.



And then quite a few years later, I was working at the Environment Agency and I was responsible for communication skills training.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:46
Self-Publishing LaunchPad With James Blatch https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/09/launch-your-book-successfully/ Wed, 09 Nov 2022 07:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34946 <p>What are some of the fundamentals behind self-publishing success? James Blatch shares tips and insights. James Blatch is a historical military thriller author. He’s also the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books, and the co-host of The Self-Publishing Show.  You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/09/launch-your-book-successfully/">Self-Publishing LaunchPad With James Blatch</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are some of the fundamentals behind self-publishing success? James Blatch shares tips and insights. James Blatch is a historical military thriller author. He’s also the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books, What are some of the fundamentals behind self-publishing success? James Blatch shares tips and insights.







James Blatch is a historical military thriller author. He’s also the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books, and the co-host of The Self-Publishing Show. 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Lessons learned from writing a second book in the series — and why ‘show, don't tell' is so difficult for new authors. You can also find James's interview about his first book here.



* How marketing a second book differs and why free books still work for finding readers



* Different measurements of success when you're starting out, and writing for love vs commercial success



* Why the ‘language' of self-publishing is important to learn — and it might take a little time, but you will get there!



* How to navigate the choices as a self-publishing author



* Some fundamentals of marketing — using email lists, and free books in KU or permafree



* Tips for rebooting an older series, or when you've got your rights back on older books




You can find James at www.JamesBlatch.com and on Twitter @jamesblatch and also @selfpubform



You can listen to the Self Publishing Show on your favorite podcast app and find the backlist here.



Header image generated by Joanna Penn with DALL-E 2



Transcript of the interview with James Blatch



Joanna Penn: James Blatch is a historical military thriller author. He's also the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books and the co-host of the Self-Publishing Show. So welcome back to the podcast, James.



James Blatch: Hello Jo. Thank you so much for having me back on. I'm, excited to be here as always.



Joanna Penn: Well, it's good to talk to you again now. You were on the show last year, May, 2021, which I guess is almost 18 months now, talking about the launch of your first novel, the Final Flight, and now you have a second book out in the series, Dark Flight.



And I wanted to talk to you a bit about this because many authors obviously put out their first book and they do all the stuff, and then they put out a second book in the series and it's quite different.



What did you do differently with your second book in terms of the creative writing side, since you must have learned a lot?



James Blatch: Yeah, I did. I mean, writing the first one was a ramshackle, ridiculously long-winded process of me having no idea what I was doing and gradually over four years, probably of the intense part of it, learning parts about the trade and what I should be doing and being directed and finding it hard to learn.



]]>
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Writing And Marketing Diverse Books For Children With Ada-Ari https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/07/writing-and-marketing-diverse-books-for-children-with-ada-ari/ Mon, 07 Nov 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34822 <p>How can you create an ecosystem of children's books around a central idea? How can you market books for children? Ada-Ari talks about how she writes, publishes and markets her children's books based on African folk tales and African languages in the USA. In the intro, Court blocks the PRH S&S merger [PublishersWeekly]; Spoken Word […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/07/writing-and-marketing-diverse-books-for-children-with-ada-ari/">Writing And Marketing Diverse Books For Children With Ada-Ari</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create an ecosystem of children's books around a central idea? How can you market books for children? Ada-Ari talks about how she writes, publishes and markets her children's books based on African folk tales and African languages in the US... How can you create an ecosystem of children's books around a central idea? How can you market books for children? Ada-Ari talks about how she writes, publishes and markets her children's books based on African folk tales and African languages in the USA.



In the intro, Court blocks the PRH S&S merger [PublishersWeekly]; Spoken Word Audio report; Amazon Prime includes 100m songs [TechCrunch]; Spotify pulls audiobook purchases on Apple [The Verge]; Changes to Twitter Blue [The Verge]; Facebook and Instagram are introducing digital collectibles – yes, NFTs. [FB] Join me for Your Author Business Plan Live.






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Ada-Ari is the author of books for children, including The Spider's Thin Legs, and The Turtle's Cracked Shell, as well as language learning books for African languages.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Creating books for children as a connection to African cultural heritage* Finding an illustrator outside the usual freelance platforms* Working with a printer and distributor vs. print-on-demand* On book sales expectations vs. reality* Marketing books for children in schools and stores* What keeps us going when the going gets tough* Turning a book idea into a much bigger vision for a creative business with a mission



You can find Ada-Ari at Ada-Ari.com.



Header image generated by Joanna Penn with DALL-E2.



Transcript of Interview with Ada Ari



Joanna: Ada-Ari is the author of books for children, including The Spider's Thin Legs, and The Turtle's Cracked Shell, as well as language learning books for African languages. Welcome, Ada.



]]>
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Using Tropes To Strengthen Your Fiction With Jennifer Hilt https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/31/using-tropes-to-strengthen-your-fiction/ Mon, 31 Oct 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34823 <p>What are tropes and how can you use them to strengthen your fiction? What are some examples of horror tropes, in particular? With Jennifer Hilt. In the intro, Why book sales are down and what to do about it [6 Figure Authors]; Undisruptible: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations, and Life by Aidan […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/31/using-tropes-to-strengthen-your-fiction/">Using Tropes To Strengthen Your Fiction With Jennifer Hilt</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are tropes and how can you use them to strengthen your fiction? What are some examples of horror tropes, in particular? With Jennifer Hilt. In the intro, Why book sales are down and what to do about it [6 Figure Authors]; Undisruptible: A Mindset ... What are tropes and how can you use them to strengthen your fiction? What are some examples of horror tropes, in particular? With Jennifer Hilt.



In the intro, Why book sales are down and what to do about it [6 Figure Authors]; Undisruptible: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations, and Life by Aidan McCullen; Sadness about sales [@LouiseVoss1]; How pop stars really make money [The Telegraph], Impact of subscription models [Ask ALLi]; Shutterstock will sell AI-generated stock images [Digital Trends]; Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Virtual Worlds; The Creator Economy for Authors.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Jennifer Hilt is the USA Today best-selling author of over 24 books across four pen names, writing in urban fantasy, supernatural suspense and paranormal romance. Her books for authors include The Trope Thesaurus, Trope Your Way to a Stronger Story, and appropriately for Halloween, The Horror Trope Thesaurus: Killing it with Tropes.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Creating the time to write despite a full life* What is a trope and why are they important?* The five categories of tropes* The diversity of the horror genres* Writing familiar tropes without becoming cliché* Examples from horror TV — Stranger Things and Midnight Mass — as well as books* Using tropes in book marketing



You can find Jennifer Hilt at jenniferhilt.com and on Twitter @jenehilt



Shareable image generated by Joanna Penn with DALL-E2



Transcript of Interview with Jennifer Hilt



Joanna: Jennifer Hilt is the USA Today best-selling author of over 24 books across four pen names,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:14:04
Writing Beginnings with Shane Millar https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/24/writing-beginnings/ Mon, 24 Oct 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34821 <p>What do you need in the beginning of your novel so your reader buys your book? Shane Millar shares tips for writing brilliant beginnings, regardless of your genre. In the intro, trends in what publishers want at Frankfurt Book Fair [Publishing Perspectives] Adobe incorporating AI-generation alongside a Content Authenticity Initiative [Adobe blog]; Bertelsmann-owned venture capital […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/24/writing-beginnings/">Writing Beginnings with Shane Millar</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What do you need in the beginning of your novel so your reader buys your book? Shane Millar shares tips for writing brilliant beginnings, regardless of your genre. In the intro, trends in what publishers want at Frankfurt Book Fair [Publishing Perspect... What do you need in the beginning of your novel so your reader buys your book? Shane Millar shares tips for writing brilliant beginnings, regardless of your genre.



In the intro, trends in what publishers want at Frankfurt Book Fair [Publishing Perspectives] Adobe incorporating AI-generation alongside a Content Authenticity Initiative [Adobe blog]; Bertelsmann-owned venture capital firm BDMI invests in NFT book company, Book.io [Yahoo Finance]; NFTs for books overview [The Future of Publishing]; NFTs and copyright with Kathryn Goldman; NFTs for authors;



Plus, Writing Career Toolkit Storybundle (limited time); A pilgrim in the path of history [Books and Travel]; Sign up to be notified of my Pilgrimage book; and Your Author Business Plan workshop live sessions.






Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com. Use promo code PENN at checkout for 1 free book upload, print, ebook, or both, if uploaded at the same time—until December 31, 2022.







Shane Millar is the author of urban fantasy thrillers and craft guides for writers, as well as a story coach and editor.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* How Shane started his indie career with rapid release in 2022 across multiple genres* Why the beginning of a novel it matters so much* Examples of different types of beginnings for different types of novels* The importance of reading for pleasure* How to signal genre to readers so they know the book is for them* How much of a character should be revealed early in a book?* Different writing processes for fiction and non-fiction* How the basics of marketing don’t change and what is working for Shane since he started earlier in 2022, 15 years after Joanna.



You can find Shane Millar at swmillar.com



]]>
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How Creativity Rules the World With Maria Brito https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/17/creativity-rules-the-world/ Mon, 17 Oct 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34820 <p>How does curiosity fuel creativity? How can we balance consumption and creation in an ever-busier digital life? How can you break out of the myth of the ‘starving artist'? Maria Brito talks about How Creativity Rules the World. In the intro, insights into Colleen Hoover's popularity [NY Times]; Amazon bugs [Kindlepreneur]; Ingram invests in Book.io […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/17/creativity-rules-the-world/">How Creativity Rules the World With Maria Brito</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How does curiosity fuel creativity? How can we balance consumption and creation in an ever-busier digital life? How can you break out of the myth of the ‘starving artist'? Maria Brito talks about How Creativity Rules the World. In the intro, How does curiosity fuel creativity? How can we balance consumption and creation in an ever-busier digital life? How can you break out of the myth of the ‘starving artist'? Maria Brito talks about How Creativity Rules the World.



In the intro, insights into Colleen Hoover's popularity [NY Times]; Amazon bugs [Kindlepreneur]; Ingram invests in Book.io for NFT ebooks and audio [PR News Wire]; The Matter of Everything by Dr Suzie Sheehy; Solid with Tim Berners-Lee [Inrupt]; Microsoft including DALL-E 2 into Designer products [TechCrunch]; Microsoft partnering with Meta for enterprise [Oculus].






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author, and curator. Her latest book is How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Finding the courage to start a creative business when you have a steady, well-paid job* How curiosity drives creativity, and how to tap into it* Balancing consumption and creation* Why creativity is important for you — and the world* The complex relationship between money and art* Embracing technological change in the creative arts — and sharing yourself as the artist in order to connect



You can find Maria Brito at MariaBrito.com and on Twitter @MariaBrito_NY



Header and shareable image generated by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.



Transcript of Interview with Maria Brito



Joanna: Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author, and curator. Her latest book is How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Idea...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:11
Using AI For Art, Images, And Book Covers With Derek Murphy https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/14/ai-generative-art-midjourney-dall-e/ Thu, 13 Oct 2022 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34825 <p>Generative art tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion are taking AI art into the mainstream. What are the opportunities for authors? What are the problems and controversies to be aware of? I talk about these issues and more with Derek Murphy. In the intro, I mention my J.F. Penn NFTs with AI-generated art based […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/14/ai-generative-art-midjourney-dall-e/">Using AI For Art, Images, And Book Covers With Derek Murphy</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Generative art tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion are taking AI art into the mainstream. What are the opportunities for authors? What are the problems and controversies to be aware of? I talk about these issues and more with Derek Murp... Generative art tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion are taking AI art into the mainstream. What are the opportunities for authors? What are the problems and controversies to be aware of? I talk about these issues and more with Derek Murphy.



In the intro, I mention my J.F. Penn NFTs with AI-generated art based on words from my novels; Microsoft will incorporate DALL-E into design products [TechCrunch]; Meta's Make-A-Video and Google's Imagen Video [TechMonitor]. You can also find more podcast episodes and tools at TheCreativePenn.com/future.







Derek Murphy writes urban fantasy, YA, and romance fiction as D.S. Murphy, as well as books for authors on writing and marketing. He has a Ph.D. in literature and is also a visual artist, designer, and course creator.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why AI art is such a fascinating emerging area — and how it can help existing artists improve and iterate their creative ideas faster



* The tools available — DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion



* How prompting works and determines the quality of your output, and why iterations and curation are so important as a creative director with a vision



* How AI art generation tools might replace stock photography sites



* The problems with AI-generated art, including the use of living artists as models, copyright, and more



* Using AI images for ads and emotion-driven content that might help sell more books



* How book cover designers and other artists can use AI tools in an effective way




You can find Derek at www.Creativindie.com and on Twitter @creativindie. You can go through Derek's Midjourney tutorial here.



Transcript of the interview (lightly edited)



Joanna PennDerek Murphy writes urban fantasy, YA and romance fiction, as well as books for authors on writing and marketing. He has a PhD in literature and is also a visual artist, designer and course creator. So welcome back to the show, Derek.



Derek MurphyHi, thanks for having me on. It's been a long time since we've talked.



Joanna PennIt has indeed. And I mean, you and I go way back. Now you designed some of my early book covers —
...]]>
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The Way Of The Fearless Writer With Beth Kempton https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/10/the-way-of-the-fearless-writer/ Mon, 10 Oct 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34824 <p>How can we accept imperfection as writers while still striving for excellence? How can we make space for going deeper into our writing while managing a busy life? Beth Kempton talks about The Way of the Fearless Writer in this wide-ranging interview on the creative mindset. In the intro, when life throws a curveball and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/10/the-way-of-the-fearless-writer/">The Way Of The Fearless Writer With Beth Kempton</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we accept imperfection as writers while still striving for excellence? How can we make space for going deeper into our writing while managing a busy life? Beth Kempton talks about The Way of the Fearless Writer in this wide-ranging interview on... How can we accept imperfection as writers while still striving for excellence? How can we make space for going deeper into our writing while managing a busy life? Beth Kempton talks about The Way of the Fearless Writer in this wide-ranging interview on the creative mindset.



In the intro, when life throws a curveball and writing in the midst of chaos, Useful tutorials for writers including Scrivener, Rule of the Robots by Martin Ford, Moonshots and Mindsets; and AI narrated audio on KWL.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn






Beth Kempton is a Japanologist and the author of multiple non-fiction books including Freedom Seeker, Wabi Sabi, and her latest book, The Way of the Fearless Writer. She also runs multiple creative businesses, and is a podcaster, speaker, course creator, and also co-hosts retreats.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How Beth's disillusionment with the corporate world led to her business, starting with courses, and the books emerged from that* Integrating a passion for all things Japanese with creativity and business* How the concept of wabi-sabi can help writers with an acceptance and appreciation of the impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete nature of everything* Embracing the imperfection of being human, not a machine — and how we can apply that to our writing and our books* Writing fearlessly, tapping into flow, and keep a part of your writing practice sacred* Balancing time between books, business, creativity, and family — and how Beth utilizes planning and seasonality* The importance of saying ‘no'



You can find Beth at BethKempton.com, on Instagram @BethKempton, and her courses at DoWhatYouLoveForLife.com.



Transcript of the interview



Joanna: Beth Kempton is a Japanologist, and the author of multiple nonfiction books, including ‘Freedom Seeker,' ‘Wabi Sabi,' and her latest book, ‘The Way of the Fearless Writer.' She also runs multiple creative businesses and is a podcaster, speaker, course creator, and also co-hosts retreats. So welcome, Beth.



Beth: Thank you so much. What a joy to be here, Joanna. Thanks for having me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. So, first off,



Tell us a bit more about how you became a writer and a creative entrepreneur,...]]>
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Different Traditional Publishing Experiences With Georgina Cross https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/03/different-traditional-publishing-experiences-with-georgina-cross/ Mon, 03 Oct 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34592 <p>Traditional publishing is not a monolithic thing. There are different kinds of publishers, and authors want different things out of a publishing deal and relationship. Georgina Cross talks about her experience with two different traditional publishers and the pros and cons of each. In the intro, new e-reading devices, Kobo Clara 2E and Kindle Scribe; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/10/03/different-traditional-publishing-experiences-with-georgina-cross/">Different Traditional Publishing Experiences With Georgina Cross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Traditional publishing is not a monolithic thing. There are different kinds of publishers, and authors want different things out of a publishing deal and relationship. Georgina Cross talks about her experience with two different traditional publishers ... Traditional publishing is not a monolithic thing. There are different kinds of publishers, and authors want different things out of a publishing deal and relationship. Georgina Cross talks about her experience with two different traditional publishers and the pros and cons of each.



In the intro, new e-reading devices, Kobo Clara 2E and Kindle Scribe; Findaway Voices now allows you to do audiobook promotional pricing for Spotify (as well as Chirp, Apple, B&N Audio); YouTube Learning; Change in Google Search [Search Engine Journal]; Writing Career Toolkit ebook Bundle (limited time); Stepping back to step forward with me and Orna Ross [Ask ALLi Podcast].



Plus all the pictures from my Camino de Santiago Portuguese Coastal pilgrimage, and last chance to do my survey before 7 Oct, 2022 — TheCreativePenn.com/survey22






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Georgina Cross is the best-selling author of five suspense thriller novels with Bantam, Penguin Random House and Bookouture, Hachette Publishing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Making the decision to pursue traditional publishing — and the patience needed along the way



* The need for validation



* The pros and cons of an agile, fast-moving publisher vs a bigger imprint at a larger publishing



* How much marketing does a traditional publisher do for you?



* Tips for getting a traditional publishing deal



* How the money works with a traditional deal



* What do you want — and what are you willing to give up for that? Aspects of control.




You can find Georgina Cross at Georgina-Cross-Author.com and on Twitter @GCrossAuthor



]]>
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Writing Tips: Outlining/Plotting Vs Discovery Writing/Pantsing https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/09/30/outlining-plotting-discovery-writing-pantsing/ Fri, 30 Sep 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34831 <p>Every fiction author will (eventually) find their own method for writing but all fall somewhere on the spectrum between outlining/plotting and discovery writing/pantsing/writing into the dark. In this excerpt from How To Write a Novel, I share two chapters on the topic from the audiobook, narrated by me (Joanna Penn). You can listen above or […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/09/30/outlining-plotting-discovery-writing-pantsing/">Writing Tips: Outlining/Plotting Vs Discovery Writing/Pantsing</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Every fiction author will (eventually) find their own method for writing but all fall somewhere on the spectrum between outlining/plotting and discovery writing/pantsing/writing into the dark. In this excerpt from How To Write a Novel, Every fiction author will (eventually) find their own method for writing but all fall somewhere on the spectrum between outlining/plotting and discovery writing/pantsing/writing into the dark.



In this excerpt from How To Write a Novel, I share two chapters on the topic from the audiobook, narrated by me (Joanna Penn).







You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show notes:




* The benefits and difficulties of outlining



* How to outline and examples from authors who use this method



* The benefits and difficulties of discovery writing (and why I hate the term pantsing!)



* Examples of authors who discovery write



* My writing process: Discovery writing with a hint of plotting



* Links to books and resources that might help you




This is an excerpt from my audiobook of How to Write a Novel, narrated by me.



If you'd like more on How To Write a Novel: From Idea to Book, you can buy in multiple formats directly from me here, and you can find it on your favorite online store, order from your local independent bookstore, or borrow from your library (just ask your librarian to order it).



Outlining (or plotting)




“Outlining is the most efficient way to structure a novel to achieve the greatest emotional impact… Outlining lets you create a framework that compels your audience to keep reading from the first page to the last.” — Jeffery Deaver, Wall St Journal




Writers who outline or plot spend more time upfront considering aspects of the novel and know how the story will progress before they start writing the manuscript. It’s a spectrum, with some outlines consisting of a page or so and others stretching to thousands of words of preparation.



The benefits of outlining



While discovery writers jump into writing and spend more time later cleaning up their drafts, outliners or plotters spend time beforehand so they can write faster in the first draft.



When it’s time to write, outliners focus on writing words on the page to fulfil their vision rather than figuring out what’s going on. Outlining can result in more intricate plots and twists, deeper characters, less time rewriting, and faster production time.



If you co-write, outlining is the only way to ensure your process works smoothly. As a discovery writer, I have found it particularly challenging to co-write fiction, which is why I rarely do it!



If you have an agent or a publisher, or you want an agent or a publisher, you might have to write an outline anyway, so learning how to do it well can help. If you’re a discovery writer, you can always outline after the book is finished, if you need to.




]]>
Joanna Penn full false 28:03
Transmedia And Publishing Comics And Graphic Novels With Barry Nugent https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/09/26/transmedia-comics-graphic-novels/ Mon, 26 Sep 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34595 <p>How can you adapt your novel into a comic or graphic form? What are the different types? How does a creative career develop over the long term and when do you need to take a step back to consider how to move forward? Barry Nugent talks about all this and more. In the intro, Amazon […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/09/26/transmedia-comics-graphic-novels/">Transmedia And Publishing Comics And Graphic Novels With Barry Nugent</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you adapt your novel into a comic or graphic form? What are the different types? How does a creative career develop over the long term and when do you need to take a step back to consider how to move forward? How can you adapt your novel into a comic or graphic form? What are the different types? How does a creative career develop over the long term and when do you need to take a step back to consider how to move forward? Barry Nugent talks about all this and more.



In the intro, Amazon changes ebook return policy [Society of Authors]; Spotify introduces audiobooks [Spotify; FindawayVoices; Publishing Perspectives]; Neal Stephenson on The Sword Guy podcast.



Please complete my Creative Penn Survey 2022 here (by 7 Oct). You can also get 30% off my courses here until the end of Sept with discount coupon: SUMMER22






This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com







Barry Nugent is the author of the supernatural adventure Unseen Shadows Transmedia Universe, as well as the middle-grade adventure Trail of the Cursed Cobras. He's also the co-host of the Geek Syndicate podcast.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Shifting from traditional to indie publishing in the early days



* What is transmedia?



* The production and sales of full-color comics



* Different formats of graphic novels



* Crowdsourcing to cover the expense of creating a graphic novel



* The different artists that are needed for comics and graphic novels



* In the intro, I mentioned AI comic creation [Twist Street; Campfire]




You can find Barry Nugent at BarryNugent.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:55
Lessons Learned From 11 Years As An Author Entrepreneur https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/29/lessons-learned-from-11-years-as-an-author-entrepreneur/ Mon, 29 Aug 2022 06:10:15 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34778 <p>In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 11 years as a full-time author entrepreneur, and why I am (finally) taking some time off. In the intro, Soldiers of God short story, The Creator Economy for Authors course (use coupon SUMMER22 for 30% off), Science Fiction Writing online conference, Author Tech Summit; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/29/lessons-learned-from-11-years-as-an-author-entrepreneur/">Lessons Learned From 11 Years As An Author Entrepreneur</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 11 years as a full-time author entrepreneur, and why I am (finally) taking some time off. In the intro, Soldiers of God short story, The Creator Economy for Authors course (use coupon SUMMER22 ... In this solo episode, I talk about my lessons learned from 11 years as a full-time author entrepreneur, and why I am (finally) taking some time off.



In the intro,
Soldiers of God short story, The Creator Economy for Authors course (use coupon SUMMER22 for 30% off), Science Fiction Writing online conference, Author Tech Summit; Pilgrimage on Books and Travel.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* It can take a long time to figure out what you think about a topic — but writing a book can help* Physical sickness and mental health issues can have a bigger impact than expected * Pivoting a business model takes time* If you can’t take time out for life events and goals after more than a decade running your own business, you’re doing something wrong! 



You can follow my pilgrimage on Instagram @jfpennauthor and Facebook @jfpennauthor and Twitter @thecreativepenn







Lessons Learned from 11 Years as an Author Entrepreneur



(Almost) eleven years ago, in Sept 2011, I left my day job to become a full-time author-entrepreneur. Every year since I have reflected on the journey and what I learn along the way.



My challenges change and grow along with the business and you will likely be at a different stage, but I hope that you find my lessons learned useful along your own author path.



You can read all my lessons learned from previous years on my timeline so far – and remember, just like everyone else, I started out by writing my first book with no audience!
]]> Joanna Penn full false 28:21 Estate Planning For Authors With Michael La Ronn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/22/estate-planning-for-authors/ Mon, 22 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34423 <p>How can you make sure your heirs and successors are able to manage your books and copyright licensing after your death? What aspects do you need to think about in terms of your author estate? Michael La Ronn explains this important topic in clear terms. In the intro, more quotes from the DOJ vs PRH […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/22/estate-planning-for-authors/">Estate Planning For Authors With Michael La Ronn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you make sure your heirs and successors are able to manage your books and copyright licensing after your death? What aspects do you need to think about in terms of your author estate? Michael La Ronn explains this important topic in clear terms... How can you make sure your heirs and successors are able to manage your books and copyright licensing after your death? What aspects do you need to think about in terms of your author estate? Michael La Ronn explains this important topic in clear terms.



In the intro, more quotes from the DOJ vs PRH hearing [The Hotsheet]; Direct by Kathryn Judge; Chokepoint Capitalism Kickstarter by Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin; Soldiers of God, an ARKANE Short Story [Available now from CreativePennBooks.com; or preorder on the other stores for 29 Aug.]







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn







Michael La Ronn is the author of over 80 books across science fiction, fantasy, and self-help books for authors, including The Author Estate Handbook: How to Organize Your Affairs and Leave a Legacy, and The Author Heir Handbook: How to Manage an Author Estate.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Coming to terms with our mortality* How planning your estate is an act of love* The importance of a living will as well as a last will* Figuring out how much time and effort an heir wants to put into the writing business* Managing passwords for your successor* Should authors think of selling their IP before they die?



You can find Michael La Ronn at AuthorLevelUp.com and on Twitter @MichaelLaRonn



Transcript of Interview with Michael La Ronn



Joanna: Michael La Ronn is the author of over 80 books across science fiction, fantasy, and self-help books for authors, including The Author Estate Handbook: How to Organize Your Affairs and Leave a Legacy, and The Author Heir Handbook: How to Manage an Author Estate, which we're talking about today. Welcome back to the show, Michael.



Michael: Hi, Joanna. Great to be back.



Joanna: This is such an interesting topic. You've been on the show several times before, so we're going to just jump straight into it today.



Why did you want to write about this topic of estates and heirs — basically death — and how does your professional and personal background play into that?



Michael: Yes, I have this morbid fascination with death…


]]>
Joanna Penn full false 54:52
Auto-Narrated Audiobooks With Ryan Dingler From Google Play Books https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/19/auto-narrated-audiobooks-google-play-books/ Fri, 19 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34593 <p>What is auto-narration of audiobooks and how can it benefit authors and rights-holders as well as listeners? What are some of the common objections to auto-narration and how can we keep a positive attitude to embracing change? Ryan Dingler from Google Play Books goes into detail on these questions and more. You can also listen […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/19/auto-narrated-audiobooks-google-play-books/">Auto-Narrated Audiobooks With Ryan Dingler From Google Play Books</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is auto-narration of audiobooks and how can it benefit authors and rights-holders as well as listeners? What are some of the common objections to auto-narration and how can we keep a positive attitude to embracing change? What is auto-narration of audiobooks and how can it benefit authors and rights-holders as well as listeners? What are some of the common objections to auto-narration and how can we keep a positive attitude to embracing change? Ryan Dingler from Google Play Books goes into detail on these questions and more.



You can also listen to my recent round-up of AI narration options across multiple platforms in episode 623.






Ryan Dingler is a product manager at Google and also writes about the intersection of technology and business.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* What is auto-narration? Who can use it and what languages and accents are available?



* Tackling common objections to auto-narration — “the voices aren't good enough;” and narration should be “kept for humans”



* Stratification of audio rights and how both human and AI narration fit into the audio ecosystem



* Multi-cast audiobooks



* The potential for growth in non-English-speaking markets



* Pricing an AI narrated audiobook



* How will the market change in the coming year?




You can find Google Play Books at play.google.com/store/books and you can publish at Play.google.com/books/publish/u/0/



g.co/play/autonarrated – Publisher website for auto-narrated audiobooks



g.co/play/narrator-library – Narrator library



g.co/play/autonarrated-help – Help center



Transcript of Interview with Ryan Dingler



Joanna: Ryan Dingler is a product manager at Google and also writes about the intersection of technology and business. Welcome back to the show, Ryan.



Ryan: Thanks for having me on.



Joanna: It's good to talk to you again. You were on the show in April 2021, talking about publishing on Google Play Books in general. And we just mentioned auto-narration for audio, which was in beta at the time, but we're going to go into that in detail today.



What is auto-narration for audiobooks? Give us an update on where the program is now.



Ryan: We've come a long way since I last spoke with you both in terms of the beta and in terms of what we've done with the product.



But just to start off, what are auto-narrated audiobooks, it's very simply, instead of being read by a person, auto-narrated audiobooks are read using Google's text-to-speech technology.



]]>
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Writing Conflict With Becca Puglisi https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/15/writing-conflict-with-becca-puglisi/ Mon, 15 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34425 <p>How can you intensify the conflict in your books to hook readers? How can you introduce different types and layers of conflict to improve your story? Becca Puglisi explains why and how to write conflict. In the intro, thoughts on the DOJ vs PRH trial [Twitter @JohnHMaher] and Publishers Weekly round-up; my thoughts on subscription […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/15/writing-conflict-with-becca-puglisi/">Writing Conflict With Becca Puglisi</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you intensify the conflict in your books to hook readers? How can you introduce different types and layers of conflict to improve your story? Becca Puglisi explains why and how to write conflict. In the intro, How can you intensify the conflict in your books to hook readers? How can you introduce different types and layers of conflict to improve your story? Becca Puglisi explains why and how to write conflict.



In the intro, thoughts on the DOJ vs PRH trial [Twitter @JohnHMaher] and Publishers Weekly round-up; my thoughts on subscription models; D2D and Humble Bundle; Apple Books Promotions page; How to Write a Novel is now available in all formats on all stores; My non-fiction books in Italian; Digital nomad [Books and Travel].







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach and bestselling author of the “Thesaurus Series for Writers,” including the latest volume of The Conflict Thesaurus. Becca also writes YA and historical fiction, and can be found at writershelpingwriters.net, along with her co-author Angela Ackerman.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* What is story conflict and why do we need it?* Examples of different kinds of conflicts, from large to small* How conflict creates reader interest and empathy* The importance of internal conflict as well as external* Mistakes to watch out for when writing conflict* Tips for co-writing a book* Intellectual property licensing and foreign rights



You can find Becca Puglisi at WritersHelpingWriters.net and on Twitter @beccapuglisi



The Conflict Thesaurus Vol 2 is out on 6 September 2022.



Transcript of Interview with Becca Puglisi



Joanna: Welcome back to the show, Becca.



Becca: Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be back.



Joanna: An exciting topic today. Now, you've been on the show twice before, and I will mention those episodes in the introduction. So,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:50
Selling Books Direct With Shopify: The Minimum Viable Store https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/12/selling-books-direct-with-shopify-minimum-viable-store/ Fri, 12 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34682 <p>In July 2022, I launched my online shop at www.CreativePennBooks.com. It’s built on Shopify’s eCommerce platform, and in this solo episode, I’ll explain why I built the store, my lessons learned, tips if you want to build your own, and how I intend to expand it over time.  This episode is sponsored by my wonderful […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/12/selling-books-direct-with-shopify-minimum-viable-store/">Selling Books Direct With Shopify: The Minimum Viable Store</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In July 2022, I launched my online shop at www.CreativePennBooks.com. It’s built on Shopify’s eCommerce platform, and in this solo episode, I’ll explain why I built the store, my lessons learned, tips if you want to build your own, In July 2022, I launched my online shop at www.CreativePennBooks.com. It’s built on Shopify’s eCommerce platform, and in this solo episode, I’ll explain why I built the store, my lessons learned, tips if you want to build your own, and how I intend to expand it over time. 







This episode is sponsored by my wonderful patrons. If you find the podcast useful, you can support the show at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn and you'll get discounts on my books and products, plus you can ask your questions in my private monthly Q&A.







Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* What is selling direct? Why sell direct?* Why I switched from Payhip to Shopify* Why a separate store, www.CreativePennBooks.com instead of WooCommerce within my existing sites?* Why Shopify rather than Kickstarter?* The Minimum Viable Store approach* Software and integrations — what else do you need? * Options for drop-shipping print-on-demand books — Lulu Direct and Bookvault.app and why I made the choice I did * How does the money work? What are the costs? How do I get paid?* What about sales tax / VAT?* How long does the setup take? * What about support issues? How time-consuming is it?* What about marketing? How do you get traffic to your store?* What are my plans for the store?* Are direct sales for you?* Free books if you buy direct — and where to find help if you need it



You can find my store at www.CreativePennBooks.com and linked in the menu as Shop and also on every book page.







Imagine this… 



You write what you want, with no concern about how an algorithm will treat your release.



You’re in control of the site and your sales pages, with no other ads on your page to distract potential readers.



You release your books in multiple formats, direct to your readers and listeners. You don’t have to store and ship books since they are printed on demand and sent straight to the buyer. Customer service for ebooks and audiobooks is even taken care of by the wonderful team at Bookfunnel.



The customer receives a fantastic product and you get money in your bank account within a day or two, or even within the hour. 



You also get the customer’s name, email, and address as well as details about what they bought and when, so you can foster an ongoing relationship.



You can expand your store into different kinds of products through other print-on-demand services — merchandise related to your books,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:47
Selling Books Direct On Shopify With Morgana Best https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/08/selling-books-direct-on-shopify-with-morgana-best/ Mon, 08 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34597 <p>Selling your books direct to readers and listeners can bring you more money, faster, and allow you to control your customer's experience and data. Morgana Best explains why selling direct is so important for an author business, and some of her tips for implementing a Shopify store. In the intro, the publishing court case of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/08/selling-books-direct-on-shopify-with-morgana-best/">Selling Books Direct On Shopify With Morgana Best</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Selling your books direct to readers and listeners can bring you more money, faster, and allow you to control your customer's experience and data. Morgana Best explains why selling direct is so important for an author business, Selling your books direct to readers and listeners can bring you more money, faster, and allow you to control your customer's experience and data. Morgana Best explains why selling direct is so important for an author business, and some of her tips for implementing a Shopify store.



In the intro, the publishing court case of the DOJ vs PRH and S&S merger [New York Times; Vanity Fair; The Hotsheet]; Publisher Pearson is planning to use NFTs [The Guardian]; More on NFTs and blockchain [Future]; Mark Dawson's Ads for Authors opens this week (affiliate link); my bookbinding project from print on demand to leather-bound original.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Morgana Best is the ‘USA Today' Bestselling Author of over 50 cozy mysteries. She has been selling direct from her website for many years, and shares all her tips in her new book, Stop Making Others Rich: How Authors Can Make Bank Selling Direct.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Why sell direct? * The mindset you need to sell direct* Cost of your own store vs cost of selling through the retailers (and of course, you can do both!)* Delivering ebooks, audiobooks, and print-on-demand books when selling direct?* Using customer data in an ethical manner, and how to optimize your store by utilizing data* Don't get overwhelmed. Start with a minimum viable store* Direct book marketing — how to drive traffic to a Shopify store



You can find Morgana Best at MorganaBest.com and on Twitter @MorganaBest



Transcript of Interview with Morgana Best



Joanna: Morgana Best is the ‘USA Today' Bestselling Author of over 50 cozy mysteries. She has been selling direct from her website for many years, and shares all her tips in her new book, Stop Making Others Rich: How Authors Can Make Bank Selling Direct. Welcome, Morgana.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 57:36
Lessons Learned From 3 Years As A Full-Time Author with Sacha Black https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/01/lessons-learned-from-3-years-as-a-full-time-author/ Mon, 01 Aug 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34424 <p>What do you need to consider if you want to go full time as an author entrepreneur? What challenges might you face in your first few years? Sacha Black shared her lessons learned from 3 years full-time. In the intro, PRH and S&S merger heads to trial [Publishers Weekly]; Pilgrimage episodes on my Books and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/08/01/lessons-learned-from-3-years-as-a-full-time-author/">Lessons Learned From 3 Years As A Full-Time Author with Sacha Black</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What do you need to consider if you want to go full time as an author entrepreneur? What challenges might you face in your first few years? Sacha Black shared her lessons learned from 3 years full-time. In the intro, What do you need to consider if you want to go full time as an author entrepreneur? What challenges might you face in your first few years? Sacha Black shared her lessons learned from 3 years full-time.



In the intro, PRH and S&S merger heads to trial [Publishers Weekly]; Pilgrimage episodes on my Books and Travel Podcast; plus, Steven Pressfield's new ‘tough love for creatives' book, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be.







This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com







Sacha Black is an author, rebel podcaster and professional speaker. She writes educational nonfiction books for writers and sapphic books for young adults.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Important things to consider when leaving a day job* Building confidence in the first year of full-time authorship* Multiple streams of income — and when to say ‘no' * Why self-care matters so much * Leaning in to authentic branding* What makes writers good publishers?



You can find Sacha Black at SachaBlack.co.uk and on Twitter @sacha_black. Her latest book is The Anatomy of a Bestseller.



Transcript of Interview with Sacha Black



Joanna: Sacha Black is an author, rebel podcaster and professional speaker. She writes educational nonfiction books for writers and sapphic books for young adults. Welcome back to the show, Sacha.



Sacha: Thank you for having me. It's always a massive giddy honor, and pleasure to be here. So, thank you.



Joanna: Oh, well, it's great to talk to you again. You were last on the show in March 2019, talking about writing heroes and villains. And you left your job a couple of months after that.



Take us back to how you made that decision. What were you doing before? And why did you decide to make the jump?



Sacha: I think my decision to leave the day job is probably a little bit different to a lot of writers who are very keen on leaving just to purely write books. Whereas I really didn't like my day job, I was very low, and I didn't fit.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:11
Blockchain For Copyright And Intellectual Property With Roanie Levy https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/29/blockchain-for-copyright-and-intellectual-property/ Fri, 29 Jul 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34421 <p>How will blockchain technology change the way creatives register copyright, as well as monetize their work? Roanie Levy explains how blockchain can solve the attribution problem, and how smart contracts will allow new business models with ownership of digital assets in web 3. This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/29/blockchain-for-copyright-and-intellectual-property/">Blockchain For Copyright And Intellectual Property With Roanie Levy</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How will blockchain technology change the way creatives register copyright, as well as monetize their work? Roanie Levy explains how blockchain can solve the attribution problem, and how smart contracts will allow new business models with ownership of ... How will blockchain technology change the way creatives register copyright, as well as monetize their work? Roanie Levy explains how blockchain can solve the attribution problem, and how smart contracts will allow new business models with ownership of digital assets in web 3.







This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.



This podcast is also sponsored by my wonderful patrons, www.Patreon.com/thecreativepenn







Roanie Levy is the CEO of Access Copyright, a collective that distributes licensing royalties to creator and publishing affiliates. She also leads Prescient, Access Copyright's creative-focused innovation lab dedicated to exploring the future of rights management and content monetization through blockchain and other technologies.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* What is blockchain technology and how will it change business models for creatives?* Smart contracts related to book sales* Solving the attribution problem for copyright* The differences between Web 1, 2 and 3* How long will it take for the publishing industry to adopt these new technologies — or will new companies start new businesses first?



You can find Roanie Levy at Imprimo.ca and on LinkedIn / RoanieLevy.



Transcript of Interview with Roanie Levy



Joanna: Roanie Levy is the CEO of Access Copyright, a collective that distributes licensing royalties to creator and publishing affiliates. She also leads Prescient, Access Copyright's creative-focused innovation lab dedicated to exploring the future of rights management and content monetization through blockchain and other technologies. Welcome, Roanie.



Roanie: Thank you very much for inviting me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. So, first up, tell us a bit more about your career.



How did you become interested in aspects of IP (intellectual property) and copyright?



Roanie: Well, actually, one of my first jobs, when I became a lawyer, was to work for the Canadian federal government on copyright policy, way back, I guess, the early days of web 1 when we were talking about the internet as the ‘information superhighway.'



So, that's when I started to get interested about copyright, the impact that it has on the creative sector, and how technology interacts with those copyright concepts.



Joanna: So, you're actually a copyright lawyer?



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 45:19
Writing A Bestseller With A.G. Riddle https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/25/writing-a-bestseller-with-a-g-riddle/ Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34524 <p>How can you lean into your strengths as a writer to find the genre — and the business model — that suits you best? A.G. Riddle talks about his writing process, his publishing choices, and how he's planning to pivot into the next phase of his career. In the intro, I talk about my experience […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/25/writing-a-bestseller-with-a-g-riddle/">Writing A Bestseller With A.G. Riddle</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you lean into your strengths as a writer to find the genre — and the business model — that suits you best? A.G. Riddle talks about his writing process, his publishing choices, and how he's planning to pivot into the next phase of his career. How can you lean into your strengths as a writer to find the genre — and the business model — that suits you best? A.G. Riddle talks about his writing process, his publishing choices, and how he's planning to pivot into the next phase of his career.



In the intro, I talk about my experience at Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing festival this week, and how we all have to decide which game we want to play.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







A.G. Riddle is the bestselling author of 11 books with over 4 million copies sold and translated into 24 languages. His latest novel is Lost in Time, a time travel thriller.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Reflecting on success — or lack of it — and assessing a career after a decade* Crafting a bestseller* Focusing on your strengths as a writer* Researching a novel, and Gerry's writing process* Why the ‘job' of being an author is different now* Moving from indie to hybrid to traditional publishing — and movie deals* What do you want to control — and what are you willing to let go of to achieve what you want?



You can find A.G. Riddle at AGRiddle.com and on Twitter @Riddlist



Transcript of Interview with A.G. Riddle



Joanna: A.G. Riddle is the bestselling author of 11 books with over 4 million copies sold and translated into 24 languages. His latest novel is Lost in Time, a time travel thriller. Welcome to the show, Gerry.



Gerry: Thank you for having me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing after quite a different original career.



Gerry: I'm someone who didn't grow up wanting to be a writer. It's something that is a second career for me that I came to in my late 20s, early 30s. I started an internet company in college, and I did that for 10 years. I really enjoyed it. I like creating software and loved the startup environment.



I had had some success in my career, but I didn't really feel that I had found that thing that I felt I was really qualified to do and was meant to do with my life. So I was just at this point in my life where I was reflecting to say, ‘When I leave this earth, what do I want to be proud that I've worked on?'



I think if you get 10 years into a career, you learn a lot about yourself and your own strengths and weaknesses.



And it's incumbent upon all of us to periodically reflect and say, ‘Why am I not achieving the success I want, or what went well, what didn't?'


]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:45
Reach: Create The Biggest Audience For Your Book With Becky Robinson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/18/reach-readers-book-marketing/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34422 <p>Tools and tactics may change, but the principles of book marketing remain the same whatever the situation. Becky Robinson gives advice on how to reach readers and market your books for the long term. In the intro, The Things You Think Matter — Don’t [Ryan Holiday]; Boost Your Backlist [ALLi]; Craving Independence [The Bookseller]; 21st […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/18/reach-readers-book-marketing/">Reach: Create The Biggest Audience For Your Book With Becky Robinson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Tools and tactics may change, but the principles of book marketing remain the same whatever the situation. Becky Robinson gives advice on how to reach readers and market your books for the long term. In the intro, Tools and tactics may change, but the principles of book marketing remain the same whatever the situation. Becky Robinson gives advice on how to reach readers and market your books for the long term.



In the intro, The Things You Think Matter — Don’t [Ryan Holiday]; Boost Your Backlist [ALLi]; Craving Independence [The Bookseller]; 21st Century Creative [Mark McGuinness]; My Shopify store is live [CreativePennBooks.com]; Thoughts from the Pilgrim's Way [Books and Travel].






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Becky Robinson is the author of Reach: Create the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause. She is also the founder and CEO of the digital marketing agency, Weaving Influence.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Reframing marketing



* Providing value to your audience



* Generosity and social karma



* Curated authenticity



* Figuring out your author brand



* Keeping ambition alive while building for the long-term



* What has changed, and what has stayed the same in book marketing




You can find Becky Robinson at BeckyRobinson.com and on Twitter @beckyrbnsn



Transcript of Interview with Becky Robinson



Joanna: Becky Robinson is the author of Reach: Create the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause. She is also the founder and CEO of the digital marketing agency, Weaving Influence. Welcome to the show, Becky.



Becky: Thank you so much, Joanna. It's great to be with you.



Joanna: This is such a great topic, and many authors need this. But let's start with an attitude question, because many authors actually hate the idea of marketing.



How can authors reframe marketing as valuable and important for reaching readers?



Becky: I think one thing is to really focus on the reason why you wrote the book in the first place.



Most people who write nonfiction write it because they have a valuable message to add to the world,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 57:21
Writing A Novel Will Change Your Life. Audiobook Introduction Of How To Write A Novel. https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/15/writing-a-novel-will-change-your-life/ Fri, 15 Jul 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34522 <p>How To Write a Novel: From Idea to Book is out now if you buy direct from my store, www.CreativePennBooks.com for ebook, audiobook, paperback, or workbook editions. It will be out everywhere on your favorite store in your preferred format from 13 August 2022. More details and links here. In today's special inbetweenisode, I share […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/15/writing-a-novel-will-change-your-life/">Writing A Novel Will Change Your Life. Audiobook Introduction Of How To Write A Novel.</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How To Write a Novel: From Idea to Book is out now if you buy direct from my store, www.CreativePennBooks.com for ebook, audiobook, paperback, or workbook editions. It will be out everywhere on your favorite store in your preferred format from 13 Augus... How To Write a Novel: From Idea to Book is out now if you buy direct from my store, www.CreativePennBooks.com for ebook, audiobook, paperback, or workbook editions.



It will be out everywhere on your favorite store in your preferred format from 13 August 2022. More details and links here.



In today's special inbetweenisode, I share the Introduction from the audiobook edition of How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book, written and narrated by me, Joanna Penn.







Introduction to How to Write a Novel



Writing a novel will change your life.



It might not be in the way that you expect, but when you hold your book in your hand and say, “I made this,” something will shift. The process of getting to that point will light a spark in your creative soul and help you discover unexpected aspects of yourself. It will be one of the things you are most proud of in your life. It will be worth the effort.



My goal with this book is to help you get there.



But How to Write a Novel is not an exhaustive tome of everything you could ever learn about writing. I have deliberately cut it down as much as possible.



The writing craft is like an iceberg.



You can write a novel with the basic knowledge that you can see above the surface. The hidden depths of the writing craft, like the iceberg, go much deeper than you can imagine. Learning it all cannot be achieved in a single lifetime, and that is part of the joy of being a writer. You learn something new with every story you write and every book that emerges into the world.



But you don’t need to know it all in order to get started.



In fact, if you wait until you know everything about the writing craft before you start your novel, you will be overwhelmed with too much information and, most likely, never finish.



This book will help those writing their first novel and also those who want to revisit the creative process. It covers the basic knowledge above the surface of the iceberg and hints at the depths beneath.



What sets this book apart is that I’m an intuitive discovery writer. I don’t plot or outline. Most craft books are written by plotters, outliners, and linear thinkers, so hopefully, I can also provide a different perspective.



You can certainly write and finish a novel with the information in this book, but there’s always more to learn. The writing craft is the journey of a lifetime. Let’s take the first step together.



You can learn how to write a novel



I used to think that authors sat at their desks, and perfect words flowed effortlessly from their fingertips. I thought that the sentences in the pages of a finished book emerged from the author’s mind fully formed. That writers entered a state of flow and wrote without effort. In fact, if it was difficult, and they struggled, perhaps they weren’t a ‘real’ writer after all. Perhaps they didn’t have talent or a gift for writing and, of course, that meant I could never write a novel because I, too, had neither.



But that is not the reality of the writing life.



The words you read in a finished novel result from hard work,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 12:57
Writing For The Long-Term With Tess Gerritsen https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/11/writing-for-the-long-term-with-tess-gerritsen/ Mon, 11 Jul 2022 06:11:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34352 <p>How can you write a series which keeps your readers engaged, while still keeping your creative spark alive? How can you sustain a writing career for the long term? With Tess Gerritsen. In the intro, The Creator Economy report [The Tilt]; Publisher Rocket tutorial. Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/11/writing-for-the-long-term-with-tess-gerritsen/">Writing For The Long-Term With Tess Gerritsen</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write a series which keeps your readers engaged, while still keeping your creative spark alive? How can you sustain a writing career for the long term? With Tess Gerritsen. In the intro, The Creator Economy report [The Tilt]; Publisher Rock... How can you write a series which keeps your readers engaged, while still keeping your creative spark alive? How can you sustain a writing career for the long term? With Tess Gerritsen.



In the intro, The Creator Economy report [The Tilt]; Publisher Rocket tutorial.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Tess Gerritsen is the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author of the ‘Rizzoli & Isles' series adapted for TV and other medical thrillers and suspense novels with over 40 million copies sold. She's also a filmmaker, director, and screenwriter, and her latest novel is Listen to Me.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Tips for discovery writing* Keeping readers engaged over a long series* Staying creatively engaged and making time for writing ideas that might not fit anywhere* The differences between writing books and writing for TV* Tapping into creative darkness without being overwhelmed by it* Changes in the publishing industry and increased responsibility for marketing* Tips for a long-term writing career



You can find Tess Gerritsen at TessGerritsen.com and on Twitter @tessgerritsen



Transcript of Interview with Tess Gerritsen



Joanna: Tess Gerritsen is the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author of the ‘Rizzoli & Isles' series adapted for TV and other medical thrillers and suspense novels with over 40 million copies sold. She's also a filmmaker, director, and screenwriter, and her latest novel is Listen to Me. Welcome to the show, Tess.



Tess: Thank you for inviting me. I'm happy to be here.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you. So let's wind the clock back. You were a medical doctor before you started writing.



How do you incorporate that medical background into your novels even many years after you stopped practicing?



Tess: The funny thing is, when I first started writing books, I didn't incorporate any medicine into it because I was writing romantic suspense, and I thought, ‘Oh, nobody cares about medicine. It's a day job for me,' and I think that most of us who have day jobs think of them as humdrum.



It wasn't until I wrote a book called Harvest and that was published in 1996 where the medicine came into play. And I found out, hey, audiences do like these details. So I incorporate my memories of what it's like to ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 48:36
Publishing Special Print Editions And Crowdfunding with John Bond and Chris Wold from White Fox https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/08/self-publishing-crowdfunding-special-print-editions/ Fri, 08 Jul 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34350 <p>Print on demand makes it easy to sell print books without the hassle of storage and shipping — but it's limited to what the established POD printers allow. What if you want to do a special print run, either for a crowdfunding project, or because you want higher quality print production with extras? White Fox […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/08/self-publishing-crowdfunding-special-print-editions/">Publishing Special Print Editions And Crowdfunding with John Bond and Chris Wold from White Fox</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Print on demand makes it easy to sell print books without the hassle of storage and shipping — but it's limited to what the established POD printers allow. What if you want to do a special print run, either for a crowdfunding project, Print on demand makes it easy to sell print books without the hassle of storage and shipping — but it's limited to what the established POD printers allow. What if you want to do a special print run, either for a crowdfunding project, or because you want higher quality print production with extras?



White Fox help authors with special print design and publishing, as well as other aspects of the author business. In this episode, we talk about some of the options available to authors. WhiteFox also have a great free resource on crowdfunding your book.







John Bond is the CEO of White Fox, a premium publishing and book marketing partner based in the UK and U.S. Chris Wold is the sales and business development director at White Fox.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes




* Why are print books still so important even as digital continues to rise?



* When might an author consider a special print run? Slow, artisanal printing vs fast POD



* Design options for special print runs — and how they might impact price



* How timelines compare to POD — and why that might not matter for a crowdfunding project, as long as you communicate timings to backers.




You can find White Fox at WeAreWhiteFox.com and on Twitter @wearewhitefox. Check out the free crowdfunding resource here.



Transcript of Interview with John Bond and Chris Wold



Joanna: John Bond is the CEO of White Fox, a premium publishing and book marketing partner based in the UK and U.S. Chris Wold is the sales and business development director at White Fox. Welcome back to the show, John, and hello, Chris.



John: Thank you very, very much for having us.



Chris: Thank you.



Joanna: It's good to talk about this today. I think this question's important. It's crazy really, but:



Why are print books still so important and beloved in a world that also feels increasingly digital?



John: That's such a good question. When we started in 2012 in London so we just had our 10th anniversary and when we got going, we imagined a world where every project would include an app or an enhanced ebook. And we have done some of those things, but nothing like the amount that I imagined was going to happen.



What's just been astonishing is how many people are still in love with this format that's been around for centuries and which still seems to resonate with people as something which has authority and gravitas and which is the opposite of ephemera.



You can't delete it. It's a rather extraordinary thing.



What seems to have happened actually is the opposite. Maybe of what we thought was going to happen, which is that more and more people want to put more effort into creating more beautiful objects with higher specification and better paper.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 40:42
Different Kinds Of Editing, And How To Find An Editor With Kristen Tate https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/04/different-kinds-of-editing-and-how-to-find-an-editor-with-kristen-tate/ Mon, 04 Jul 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34351 <p>What are the different types of editing? How can you find and work effectively with the best editor for your book? What are some editing tips to watch out for in your fiction or non-fiction manuscript? With Kristen Tate from The Blue Garret. In the intro, hiring virtual assistants [ALLi]; and I'm recording my audiobook […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/07/04/different-kinds-of-editing-and-how-to-find-an-editor-with-kristen-tate/">Different Kinds Of Editing, And How To Find An Editor With Kristen Tate</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the different types of editing? How can you find and work effectively with the best editor for your book? What are some editing tips to watch out for in your fiction or non-fiction manuscript? With Kristen Tate from The Blue Garret. What are the different types of editing? How can you find and work effectively with the best editor for your book? What are some editing tips to watch out for in your fiction or non-fiction manuscript? With Kristen Tate from The Blue Garret.



In the intro, hiring virtual assistants [ALLi]; and I'm recording my audiobook of How to Write a Novel, launching in the next few weeks.







Do you need a professional editor for your book? Check out my list of recommended editors and proofreaders here.







Kristen Tate is an editor and founder of The Blue Garret, which offers editing services and advice for authors. She has a Ph.D. in English, from Columbia University, focusing on novels and publishing history. And she's the author of All The Words: A Year of Reading About Writing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* The three phases of editing and when an author would use them* With AI tools available, why do we need human editors?* Common issues that editors find in fiction and non-fiction* When to consider rewriting or re-editing a book* Tips for how to approach a rewrite and re-edit* How to find an editor who’s a good fit for you



You can find Kristen Tate at TheBlueGarret.com and on Twitter @KristenTateSF



Transcript of Interview with Kristen Tate



Joanna: Kristen Tate is an editor and founder of The Blue Garret, which offers editing services and advice for authors. She has a Ph.D. in English, from Columbia University, focusing on novels and publishing history. And she's the author of All The Words: A Year of Reading About Writing. Kristen is also my editor mostly for fiction, but also for my recent, How To Write a Novel book. Welcome to the show, Kristen.



Kristen: Thanks, Joanna. It's so great to be having a real-life conversation with you, not just in the Microsoft Word comments. I'm thrilled to be here.



Joanna: That is funny. And maybe we'll come back to this, but you and I have never spoken before today, which is brilliant. And of course, introvert writers, introvert editors. I mean, why do we need to speak? It's just not necessary!



Kristen: We communicate very well in those document comments.



Joanna: Exactly, in writing.



Before we get into that, tell us a bit more about you and why you chose to become an editor?



Kristen: I think as is the case for many of us, this was very much a winding path for me. But when I look back and I follow all the threads, I can see that really what I was trying to do all along was find a job that would allow me to spend most of my time reading and thinking about words.



As you said, I have a Ph.D. in English from Columbia, and I thought at one point I was going to become an English professor and I did love being a graduate student. I really did get to spend the bulk of my time reading and thinking,]]>
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Writing Twists And Marketing As A Traditionally Published Author With Clare Mackintosh https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/27/writing-twists-and-book-marketing/ Mon, 27 Jun 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34349 <p>How can you write twists that surprise a reader? How can you market your books effectively as a traditionally published author? Clare Mackintosh talks about her creative process, and how she works with her publisher to reach more readers. In the intro, Kate Bush is “the world’s biggest independent artist” right now and more on […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/27/writing-twists-and-book-marketing/">Writing Twists And Marketing As A Traditionally Published Author With Clare Mackintosh</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write twists that surprise a reader? How can you market your books effectively as a traditionally published author? Clare Mackintosh talks about her creative process, and how she works with her publisher to reach more readers. How can you write twists that surprise a reader? How can you market your books effectively as a traditionally published author? Clare Mackintosh talks about her creative process, and how she works with her publisher to reach more readers.



In the intro, Kate Bush is “the world’s biggest independent artist” right now and more on intellectual property rights [Music Business Worldwide]; A long-term view of IP [Kris Rusch]; Rethinking the Writing Business by Kris Rusch; 24 Assets by Daniel Priestley; Cosmopolitan uses AI-generated cover; My interview on AI and writing with Andrew Mayne, and more on AI + the future of creativity.






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at draft2digital.com/penn







Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels. Translated into 40 languages, her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and have been New York Times and international bestsellers. Her latest book, The Last Party is the first in a new crime series.



Show Notes



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.




* How being a police detective is like being a writer



* The difference between a twist and a reveal, and how Clare plots her novels



* Why marketing is important, even for traditionally published authors



* Why authors need an email list, regardless of how you choose to publish



* Using video in book marketing



* How networking has played an important part in Clare's publishing journey




You can find Clare Mackintosh at ClareMackintosh.com and on Twitter @claremackint0sh



Transcript of Interview with Clare Mackintosh



Joanna Penn: Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels. Translated into 40 languages,]]>
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Writing With Artificial Intelligence With Andrew Mayne https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/24/writing-with-artificial-intelligence-with-andrew-mayne/ Fri, 24 Jun 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34385 <p>What is GPT-3 and how can writers use it responsibly as part of their creative process? How can we approach AI tools with curiosity, rather than fear? Thriller author Andrew Mayne talks about these aspects and more. In the intro, I mention the discussion about whether Google’s language model, LaMDA, could be sentient [The Verge]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/24/writing-with-artificial-intelligence-with-andrew-mayne/">Writing With Artificial Intelligence With Andrew Mayne</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is GPT-3 and how can writers use it responsibly as part of their creative process? How can we approach AI tools with curiosity, rather than fear? Thriller author Andrew Mayne talks about these aspects and more. In the intro, What is GPT-3 and how can writers use it responsibly as part of their creative process? How can we approach AI tools with curiosity, rather than fear? Thriller author Andrew Mayne talks about these aspects and more.



In the intro, I mention the discussion about whether Google’s language model, LaMDA, could be sentient [The Verge]; and the Alliance of Independent Authors Ethical Usage of AI tools.



If you'd like to know more about using AI for writing, images, marketing, voice, translation, and more, check out my course, The AI-Assisted Author.







Andrew Mayne is the multi-award-nominated and internationally best-selling author of thrillers. He's also a magician, a magic consultant, and the author of over 50 books on magic. He invented an underwater stealth suit for shark diving, and he works with OpenAI as a science communicator. He also has books for authors, including, ‘How to Write a Novella in 24 hours,' and a co-hosts the podcast ‘Weird Things.'



Show notes:



* How Andrew got into AI and first used a vision model for his shark suit* What is GPT-3 and what is DALL-E? (You can find out more on OpenAI.com* How writers can use GPT-3 as an amplifier, and how to prompt it to get an effective response, as well as the different applications* Approaching AI with an attitude of curiosity, rather than fear* What is ‘AI-assisted' and why we should label AI-generated words and art* Ways to address the lack of diversity and bias in AI models



You can find Andrew at www.AndrewMayne.com and his blog here which includes articles on using GPT-3. You can find GPT-3 on OpenAI.com. You can also follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewmayne



There are many tools built on top of GPT-3. Here's my list of AI writing tools. I use and recommend Sudowrite for fiction, in particular.



Transcript of Interview with Andrew Mayne



Joanna: Andrew Mayne is the multi-award-nominated and internationally best-selling author of thrillers. He's also a magician, a magic consultant, and author of over 50 books on magic. He invented an underwater stealth suit for shark diving, and he works with OpenAI as a science communicator. He also has books for authors, including, ‘How to Write a Novella in 24 hours,' and a co-hosts the podcast ‘Weird Things.' So, welcome to the show, Andrew.



Andrew: Hey, thank you for having me.



Joanna: Oh, you do so many things. But we are actually going to talk about AI today. But I wanted to first ask you:



With your background in magic, and also creativity, how did you become interested in AI?

]]>
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Selling Books Direct on Shopify with Katie Cross https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/20/selling-books-direct-on-shopify/ Mon, 20 Jun 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34348 <p>How can you sell books direct to your readers for all formats without dealing with the pain of shipping print books? How can you automate sales with email? How can you earn 80-90% of the sales price and have it go into your bank account in days or even hours, instead of months? Katie Cross […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/20/selling-books-direct-on-shopify/">Selling Books Direct on Shopify with Katie Cross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you sell books direct to your readers for all formats without dealing with the pain of shipping print books? How can you automate sales with email? How can you earn 80-90% of the sales price and have it go into your bank account in days or even... How can you sell books direct to your readers for all formats without dealing with the pain of shipping print books? How can you automate sales with email? How can you earn 80-90% of the sales price and have it go into your bank account in days or even hours, instead of months?



Katie Cross talks about the benefits of selling direct and practical tips if you want to use Shopify.



In the intro, Spotify acquires AI voice company, Sonantic [Spotify]; and Return on Investment for Authors [The Indy Author].







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna  







Katie Cross is the author of over 30 books across fantasy, chick lit, and contemporary romance.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Why sell direct? More money, more quickly. Connection with readers and access to customer data* How to sell ebooks, audiobooks and print books direct* Shopify apps, including integration with Lulu for print-on-demand, and Bookfunnel for delivery and customer service* International shipping* Email automation and customer data* What about the tax?* The long game, control over your business, and a mindset shift



You can find Katie Cross at KatieCrossBooks.com and on Twitter @kcrosswriting



Thanks also to MorganaBest.com for her help with my Shopify store.



Transcript of Interview with Katie Cross



Joanna: Katie Cross is the author of over 30 books across fantasy, chick lit, and contemporary romance. Today we're talking about selling books on Shopify. Welcome, Katie.



Katie: Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited about this conversation.



Joanna: Oh, me too. I will have explained in the introduction that this is something I'm focusing on, but let's start with a high-level question.



Why did you decide to start focusing on selling direct as a priority rather than an afterthought?



Katie: I think at first the desire for a little more control over my career is what drove me into the arms of direct sales.



I got really frustrated with looking at Amazon and trying to do everything I could. I had over 20 books,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:26
Kickstarter And Multiple Streams Of Non-Fiction Income With Bryan Cohen https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/13/kickstarter-and-multiple-streams-of-non-fiction-income/ Mon, 13 Jun 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34220 <p>How can you manage a successful Kickstarter campaign without burning out? How can you expand into multiple streams of income? Bryan Cohen talks about crowdfunding, changes in his business model, and more. In the intro, 10th year of double-digit audiobook growth [Publishing Perspectives]; Spotify's plans for audiobook expansion [Spotify]; Free webinars for audiobook month [FindawayVoices]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/13/kickstarter-and-multiple-streams-of-non-fiction-income/">Kickstarter And Multiple Streams Of Non-Fiction Income With Bryan Cohen</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you manage a successful Kickstarter campaign without burning out? How can you expand into multiple streams of income? Bryan Cohen talks about crowdfunding, changes in his business model, and more. In the intro, How can you manage a successful Kickstarter campaign without burning out? How can you expand into multiple streams of income? Bryan Cohen talks about crowdfunding, changes in his business model, and more.



In the intro, 10th year of double-digit audiobook growth [Publishing Perspectives]; Spotify's plans for audiobook expansion [Spotify]; Free webinars for audiobook month [FindawayVoices]; Val Kilmer's AI voice in Top Gun Maverick [Fortune]; Transitions, Endings, and New Beginnings [Ask ALLi]; The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Bryan Cohen is the author of non-fiction and superhero fiction, and the co-host of the ‘Sell More Books Show.' He's also the founder of Best Page Forward, which writes book descriptions for authors, and he teaches authors how to use Amazon ads more effectively.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Advantages of Kickstarter — for fans and your bank account* Challenges and lessons learned from Bryan's first Kickstarter — and what he'll do differently next time* Ideas for backer rewards and extras* Timing issues for fulfillment and managing backer expectations* Why indies are moving toward selling direct, before publishing to stores* How Bryan went from books into multiple streams of income* Scaling a business and tips for hiring freelancers* How podcasting plays a part in his business



You can find links to everything Bryan does at BryanCohen.com and his next Kickstarter campaign at KickYourEmail.com and on Twitter @bryancohenbooks



Transcript of Interview with Bryan Cohen



Joanna: Bryan Cohen is the author of non-fiction and superhero fiction, and the co-host of the ‘Sell More Books Show.' He's also the founder of Best Page Forward, which writes book descriptions for authors,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:22
How To Get Your Self-Published Book Into Libraries With Eric Otis Simmons https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/06/get-your-self-published-book-into-libraries/ Mon, 06 Jun 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34303 <p>How can you make your self-published books available to libraries in every format? How can you pitch librarians so they are interested in ordering your books? Eric Otis Simmons explains how he successfully pitches and sells to libraries throughout the USA. In the intro, Books2Read is useful for sharing wide links; Lindsay Buroker gives long […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/06/06/get-your-self-published-book-into-libraries/">How To Get Your Self-Published Book Into Libraries With Eric Otis Simmons</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you make your self-published books available to libraries in every format? How can you pitch librarians so they are interested in ordering your books? Eric Otis Simmons explains how he successfully pitches and sells to libraries throughout the ... How can you make your self-published books available to libraries in every format? How can you pitch librarians so they are interested in ordering your books? Eric Otis Simmons explains how he successfully pitches and sells to libraries throughout the USA.



In the intro, Books2Read is useful for sharing wide links; Lindsay Buroker gives long term career advice [Twitter thread]; Pics from Rhodes, Instagram @jfpennauthor; Into The Briny Deep, short stories set in the sea with all kinds of monsters, includes my short story, The Dark Queen; Abba Voyage with the augmented reality Abba-tars; Thoughts on visiting the USA again post-pandemic [Books and Travel]







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Eric Otis Simmons is the author of the memoir, Not Far From The Tree, and books for authors, including Getting Your Book Into Libraries. He's the CEO of ESE, Inc., which builds custom websites, and he's also a speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why authors should consider having their books in libraries* What services can you use to reach libraries with ebook, print, and audio?* How do libraries find books to buy?* How to pitch your book to libraries* Resources available to assist getting your book into libraries



You can find Eric Simmons at www.eseinc1.com/library-marketing-services and on Twitter @eseinc1



Transcript of Interview with Eric Simmons



Joanna Penn: Eric Otis Simmons is the author of the memoir, Not Far From The Tree, and books for authors, including Getting Your Book Into Libraries. He's the CEO of ESE, Inc., which builds custom websites, and he's also a speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Welcome to the show, Eric.



Eric Simmons: Joanna, thank you so much for having me today.



Joanna Penn: I'm excited to talk to you about this.



Before we get into libraries, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



]]>
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Build Your Email List With Reader Magnets With Tammi Labrecque https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/30/build-email-list-with-reader-magnets/ Mon, 30 May 2022 06:12:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34221 <p>Why do you need an email list when you can just reach readers with social media? How can you use reader magnets to build your email list? Tammi Labrecque gives beginner and advanced tips for book marketing. In the intro, The state of the Creator Economy report from ConvertKit; and I use and recommend ConvertKit […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/30/build-email-list-with-reader-magnets/">Build Your Email List With Reader Magnets With Tammi Labrecque</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why do you need an email list when you can just reach readers with social media? How can you use reader magnets to build your email list? Tammi Labrecque gives beginner and advanced tips for book marketing. In the intro, Why do you need an email list when you can just reach readers with social media? How can you use reader magnets to build your email list? Tammi Labrecque gives beginner and advanced tips for book marketing.



In the intro, The state of the Creator Economy report from ConvertKit; and I use and recommend ConvertKit for my email service provider. Also, check out my Instagram @jfpennauthor for Greece pics.






Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.






Tammi Labrecque writes urban fantasy, thrillers, and LitRPG under pen names. She's also the author of Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert, which we discussed a few years ago, back in episode 414. Her latest book is Newsletter Ninja 2: If You Give the Reader a Cookie: Supercharge Your Author Mailing List With the Perfect Reader Magnet, which we are talking about today.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why do authors need an email list?



* What is a reader magnet and why do authors need one?



* On what works well as a reader magnet for non-fiction and fiction



* Key elements for a ‘convertible cookie’



* Tips for building an email list and finding new readers



* Why finding readers in your specific niche or sub-niche matters



* Ideas for what to talk to your newsletter subscribers about



* Why it’s okay if people unsubscribe from your list




You can find Tammi Labrecque at NewsletterNinja.net and on Twitter @tammi_ninja



Transcript of Interview with Tammi Labrecque



Joanna: Tammi Labrecque writes urban fantasy, thrillers, and LitRPG under pen names. She's also the author of Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert, which we discussed a few years ago, back in episode 414. Her latest book is Newsletter Ninja 2: If You Give the Reader a Cookie: Supercharge Your Author Mailing List With the Perfect Reader Magnet, which we are talking about today. Welcome back to the show, Tammi.



Tammi: Hi, it's so good to be back again.



Joanna: I'm glad to talk about this new topic. But before we get into ‘Reader Magnet,' I just wanted to play devil's advocate and do some email basics because these days we have social media, we have TikTok, we have Amazon ads. We have loads of ways to reach readers.



]]>
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Writing Characters With Matt Bird https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/23/writing-characters-with-matt-bird/ Mon, 23 May 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34218 <p>How do we decide on the hero for our story? How can we write distinctive — but still believable — characters? Matt Bird talks about aspects of writing character. In the intro, a guide to UBLs, Universal Book Links [Draft2Digital]; Your author brand [Ask ALLi with me and Orna Ross]; The Creator Economy in Bath. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/23/writing-characters-with-matt-bird/">Writing Characters With Matt Bird</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do we decide on the hero for our story? How can we write distinctive — but still believable — characters? Matt Bird talks about aspects of writing character. In the intro, a guide to UBLs, Universal Book Links [Draft2Digital]; Your author brand [As... How do we decide on the hero for our story? How can we write distinctive — but still believable — characters? Matt Bird talks about aspects of writing character.



In the intro, a guide to UBLs, Universal Book Links [Draft2Digital]; Your author brand [Ask ALLi with me and Orna Ross]; The Creator Economy in Bath.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Matt Bird is an author, screenwriter, podcaster, and blogger. His latest book is The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Matt's journey from indie filmmaking and screenwriting to non-fiction, blogging, and podcasting* How do we decide on the hero of the story — and how readers sometimes choose someone else anyway* Deep point of view (POV)* Writing distinctive — but still believable — characters * Mining real life for character details* Does a character have to be likable?



You can find Matt Bird at TheSecretsofStory.com.



Transcript of Interview with Matt Bird



Joanna: Matt Bird is an author, screenwriter, podcaster, and blogger. His latest book is The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love. Welcome, Matt.



Matt: Thanks so much for having me on.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Matt: Oh, I wrote a lot. I was an English major. I always liked writing. I always liked creative writing. I decided to become a filmmaker. I wrote and directed many, I would call them indie films, but what is below indie film, DIY, no money changing hands in any way, shape, or form movies.



Then I decided to go ahead and go to film school. I went to Columbia Film School in New York and decided to focus. Very quickly, I realized that I was more of a screenwriter than a director. I focused on screenwriting, got frustrated with the program in various ways.



I talk about in my first book, how it was basically a fantasy camp, and you weren't allowed to criticize anybody for anything they had done, well, not even criticize people that sounds bad, but, if were to ever go, you may have to reconceive this then they were like,]]>
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An Update On AI-Narrated Audiobooks [May 2022] https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/20/ai-narrated-audiobooks/ Fri, 20 May 2022 04:00:59 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34316 <p>I've been talking about AI narration for several years now, but it's just starting to go mainstream and I've been getting emails every day recently asking the same questions, so this is a round-up article with the most important information. For context, I am an audiobook narrator. I narrate my own non-fiction and short stories. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/20/ai-narrated-audiobooks/">An Update On AI-Narrated Audiobooks [May 2022]</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> I've been talking about AI narration for several years now, but it's just starting to go mainstream and I've been getting emails every day recently asking the same questions, so this is a round-up article with the most important information. I've been talking about AI narration for several years now, but it's just starting to go mainstream and I've been getting emails every day recently asking the same questions, so this is a round-up article with the most important information.



For context, I am an audiobook narrator. I narrate my own non-fiction and short stories. I absolutely value human narrators, and I have spent tens of thousands of dollars hiring professional narrators for my novels and non-fiction over the last decade. I am also a futurist and I embrace AI tools as part of my creative and business practice.



This episode covers:




* Why are AI-narrated audiobooks an important development?



* “AI voices are robotic and don't have the right intonation. No one wants to listen to that.”



* Will AI-narrated audiobooks put real human narrators out of a job?



* What services can you use to create AI-narrated audiobooks? How much does it cost?



* Can anyone create an AI-narrated audiobook? What intellectual property rights do you need to hold?



* Where can you sell AI-narrated audiobooks? Can you just upload them everywhere?



* What price should an AI narrated audiobook be?



* How can you make sure that listeners know this is AI-narrated? Why is labeling important?



* How do you market AI-narrated audiobooks?



* Where is AI narration heading in the next few years?




This episode is sponsored by my patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Thank you for enabling me to continue exploring the future of creativity and the author business model.



I'd love to know what you think. Please leave a comment here or tweet me @thecreativepenn or email me if it's more personal.



Why are AI-narrated audiobooks an important development?



Most content in written words is not available in audio format, primarily because it is expensive to produce, and many countries and languages don't have an established audiobook production ecosystem.



It's important to have written word content in audio for accessibility reasons, but also because many people choose to consume in audio. It's easier to listen than read with your eyes because you can do other things at the same time, driving, exercising, chores, etc.



There is room for all formats and our job is to make sure our books are available in whatever format the customer chooses. Personally, I listen to a lot of non-fiction audiobooks while exercising, cooking, cleaning, and doing chores, as well as when traveling to rest my eyes. My husband listens to epic fantasy audiobooks every evening for relaxation.



Audio content also needs to be more diverse. Why do I always have to listen to business books read by a US male voice? Why can't I choose the voice of the narrator?



People identify with people who speak like them. Why can't someone choose the accent they prefer as well as the language and gender in the same way we choose the voice of our Google Assistant, Siri, or Alexa?



It would be prohibitively expensive to create multiple versions of audiobooks with different voices, but it could be achieved with AI narration.



You can listen to https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34245 <p>Why is writing so important? How can we pursue true independence as authors? How can we stay open to technological change while still focusing on the fundamentals of craft? Derek Sivers talks about these things and more. In the intro, How to know if you are putting too much pressure on yourself [Holly Worton]; Breaking […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/16/selling-books-direct-derek-sivers/">Writing, Independence, And Selling Books Direct With Derek Sivers</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why is writing so important? How can we pursue true independence as authors? How can we stay open to technological change while still focusing on the fundamentals of craft? Derek Sivers talks about these things and more. In the intro, Why is writing so important? How can we pursue true independence as authors? How can we stay open to technological change while still focusing on the fundamentals of craft? Derek Sivers talks about these things and more.



In the intro, How to know if you are putting too much pressure on yourself [
Holly Worton]; Breaking down language barriers with augmented reality [Google].






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.







Derek Sivers is the author of four non-fiction books, as well as a musician, entrepreneur, and book publisher. His latest book is How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why focus on writing?



* Decentralization and why selling direct is so important for authors who value independence



* Tips for selling direct — for digital and print



* Taking the long-term view



* Thoughts of blockchain, GPT-3, and AI translation



* Giving everything to one book — and starting again for the next one




You can find Derek Sivers at sive.rs and on Twitter @sivers



Transcript of Interview with Derek Sivers



[Note: Derek provided his notes which have been added to the transcript, so we hope you find them useful!]



Joanna: Derek Sivers is the author of four non-fiction books, as well as a musician, entrepreneur, and book publisher. His latest book is How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion. Welcome to the show, Derek.



Derek: Thanks, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. So, my first question is, you are a multi-passionate creator and your bio says, ‘I'm ambitiously focused on creating.'



What part does writing play in your creative life and your business these days?



Derek: First, listeners should know I'm not doing any of this for the money.  My cost of living is paid for by past investments, and I give all my profits to charity. So filter my answers accordingly.



If you're listening to this wondering how to get rich or something, I will not be giving a formula for how to get rich because I'm doing this for other reasons. So, what part does it play in my life?



I'm trying to better understand the world.I want to figure out life.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:34
Financial And Tax Implications Of NFTs With Joe David, Crypto Accountant https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/13/nfts-crypto-tax/ Fri, 13 May 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34219 <p>If you want to create, sell, buy, or trade NFTs, you need to understand the financial and tax implications. In this interview, Joe David explains the important aspects of blockchain assets and cryptocurrency. [Disclaimer: This is not financial or legal advice. This is just a conversation based on our interest and experience. Please consult a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/13/nfts-crypto-tax/">Financial And Tax Implications Of NFTs With Joe David, Crypto Accountant</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you want to create, sell, buy, or trade NFTs, you need to understand the financial and tax implications. In this interview, Joe David explains the important aspects of blockchain assets and cryptocurrency. If you want to create, sell, buy, or trade NFTs, you need to understand the financial and tax implications. In this interview, Joe David explains the important aspects of blockchain assets and cryptocurrency.



[Disclaimer: This is not financial or legal advice. This is just a conversation based on our interest and experience. Please consult a professional about your situation.]



In the intro, I mention the bear market and recommend Unshakeable. Your Financial Freedom Playbook. Creating Peace of Mind in a World of Volatility by Tony Robbins, as well as my list of other money books, plus my NFTs on OpenSea; Future Freedom community; and podcasts I listen to at the moment: Crypto Business; Azeem Azar's Exponential View; Exponential Wisdom.



If you're just getting started, listen or read episode 610 on NFTs for Authors, which covers the basics and different types of NFTs. You can also watch the presentation as a video here.







This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.







Joe David is the founder and managing director of UK-based Nephos Group, which helps businesses with tax, technology, and business planning. Nephos includes Myna Accountants, which is the UK's leading dedicated cryptocurrency accountancy.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is an accountant interested in crypto?* Is cryptocurrency ‘real' money?* Why blockchain transactions are transparent and trackable and how exchanges require KYC (know your customer) setup* Global vs local rules for cryptocurrency* Are NFT books assets or products and how do we account for them?* The types of tax you need to think about: income tax, and capital gains (and loss)* Taxable events include ‘disposal' of assets, which can be transferring one currency into another (e.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 48:14
Writing A Successful Crime Thriller Series With Angela Marsons https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/09/writing-a-successful-crime-thriller-series/ Mon, 09 May 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34199 <p>In this inspirational interview, crime writer Angela Marsons talks about how she overcame years of rejection and broke out of societal expectations to reach writing and publishing success. She also talks about tips for writing a long-running crime series, and how she weaves her home of the Black Country into her stories. In the intro, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/09/writing-a-successful-crime-thriller-series/">Writing A Successful Crime Thriller Series With Angela Marsons</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In this inspirational interview, crime writer Angela Marsons talks about how she overcame years of rejection and broke out of societal expectations to reach writing and publishing success. She also talks about tips for writing a long-running crime seri... In this inspirational interview, crime writer Angela Marsons talks about how she overcame years of rejection and broke out of societal expectations to reach writing and publishing success. She also talks about tips for writing a long-running crime series, and how she weaves her home of the Black Country into her stories.



In the intro, pics from Arizona, Dear Writer, Are You Intuitive? by Becca Syme and Susan Bischoff and 5 Key Tips for Profitable Book Marketing webinar, 18 May, 2022.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Angela Marsons is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of crime thrillers with over 5 million books sold and translations into 29 different languages.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The long journey to publication — with plenty of rejection and difficulties along the way* Overcoming the mindset of ‘writing isn't for people like me'* Tips on writing a long-running book series with characters that readers want to return to* Discovery writing by following your curiosity* Writing darker themes* Working with a digital-first publisher



You can find Angela Marsons at AngelaMarsons-books.com and on Twitter @WriteAngie



Transcript of Interview with Angela Marsons



Joanna: Angela Marsons is the ‘Wall Street Journal' and ‘USA Today' bestselling author of crime thrillers with over 5 million books sold and translations into 29 different languages. Welcome to the show, Angela.



Angela: Thank you very much. I'm so pleased to be here. I've listened to the podcast many times, it's fabulous. So, I'm absolutely thrilled to get the chance to have a chat.



Joanna: Oh, brilliant.



First up, tell us a bit about you and how you got into writing.



Angela: I always loved writing at school. I used to love the feel of a pencil on paper and just getting the ideas down, and exploring my feelings, and that kind of thing. I wasn't really good a lot at school.



Then my English teacher, and when I was about 12, 13, asked if she could bring in a couple of books that were above my reading age, and they were Andrea Newman books. I read them and they got me totally hooked on exploring emotions, and frailties, and just people, in general.



That was when I realized that, as well as loving reading, I wanted to be the person telling some stories as well.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 51:52
Tiny Business, Big Money With Elaine Pofeldt https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/02/tiny-business-big-money/ Mon, 02 May 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34150 <p>How can you make more money without growing the size of your business? What systems and mindset do you need to focus on in order to leverage your limited time? Elaine Pofeldt talks about Tiny Business, Big Money in this interview. In the intro, Google Play Books opens up their AI narration for audiobooks; thoughts […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/05/02/tiny-business-big-money/">Tiny Business, Big Money With Elaine Pofeldt</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you make more money without growing the size of your business? What systems and mindset do you need to focus on in order to leverage your limited time? Elaine Pofeldt talks about Tiny Business, Big Money in this interview. In the intro, How can you make more money without growing the size of your business? What systems and mindset do you need to focus on in order to leverage your limited time? Elaine Pofeldt talks about Tiny Business, Big Money in this interview.



In the intro, Google Play Books opens up their AI narration for audiobooks; thoughts on Twitter and Elon Musk [PR Newswire], and Imaginable: How to see the future coming and be ready for anything, by Jane McGonigal.



Plus, limited time: Writing Craft and Business ebook and course bundle [Storybundle.com/writing]; and Self Publishing 101 by Mark Dawson course (affiliate link).







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist specializing in small business and entrepreneurship, as well as an author, editor, and ghostwriter. Elaine was previously on the show in 2020 talking about her previous book The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business. Today we're talking about her latest book Tiny Business, Big Money, Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The definition of a microbusiness, and how that applies to solopreneurs* How successful microbusinesses survived the pandemic by diversifying* Why we need to separate the ‘writer' from the ‘business owner' and work out what's really important* Tools and strategies of successful microbusinesses* The importance of long-term thinking and building relationships* Breaking through the ‘low price' barrier to sell higher value products* What works for marketing non-fiction books?



You can find Elaine Pofeldt at TinyBusinessBigMoney.com and on Twitter @ElainePofeldt



Transcript of Interview with Elaine Pofeldt



Jo: Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist specializing in small business and entrepreneurship, as well as an author, editor, and ghostwriter. Elaine was previously on the show in 2020 talking about her previous book The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:32
7 Figure Fiction With Theodora Taylor https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/25/7-figure-fiction/ Mon, 25 Apr 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34149 <p>How can you hook readers into your story by using universal human desires and motivations? How can you write what you love, run your author business your way, and still maintain the ambition for a 7-figure author business? Theodora Taylor gives her thoughts in this interview. In the intro, self-publishing predictions for the 2020s [ALLi]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/25/7-figure-fiction/">7 Figure Fiction With Theodora Taylor</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you hook readers into your story by using universal human desires and motivations? How can you write what you love, run your author business your way, and still maintain the ambition for a 7-figure author business? How can you hook readers into your story by using universal human desires and motivations? How can you write what you love, run your author business your way, and still maintain the ambition for a 7-figure author business? Theodora Taylor gives her thoughts in this interview.



In the intro, self-publishing predictions for the 2020s [ALLi]; The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life [Books and Travel]; Craft and business of writing limited-time bundle available now! [Storybundle.com/writing]







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Theodora Taylor is the best-selling author of over 50 books across contemporary, sci-fi, shifter, and interracial romance. She's also the author of 7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to Sell Your Books to Anyone, under T. Taylor.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* From traditional publishing to indie — and discovering the joy of being a one-person independent business as an author* Why romance authors are always ahead of the curve* What are universal fantasies and how are they different from tropes?* Your market may be bigger than you think* Consistency and time as the pillars of a successful author career* Embracing our author ambition* Creating assets that bring in multiple streams of income for the long term



You can find Theodora Taylor at 7FigureFiction.com and on Twitter @Theodorawrites



Transcript of Interview with Theodora Taylor



Joanna: Theodora Taylor is the best-selling author of over 50 books across contemporary, sci-fi, shifter, and interracial romance. She's also the author of 7 Figure Fiction: How to Use Universal Fantasy to Sell Your Books to Anyone, under T. Taylor. Welcome Theodora.



Theodora: Thank you for having me, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you about this. I bought the book, I think it was last year. And I was like, ‘This is amazing. I want everyone to read this.'



Tell us a bit more about you and your writing journey, and also how you transitioned from traditional to indie publishing.



Theodora: The short version is that I was a writer. I spent two years pouring my heart and soul into a book, a women's fiction novel.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:31
Creating A Fictional World In Web 3 With Rae Wojcik and Stephen Poynter https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/22/creating-a-fictional-world-in-web-3/ Fri, 22 Apr 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34207 <p>Why are digital scarcity and ownership so important to the business model of creators in web 3? How can an author use a wider fictional world for creative and business goals? Rae and Stephen talk about why creators need web 3 and their fantasy universe, SitkaWorld. In the intro, I mention the Creatokia podcast with […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/22/creating-a-fictional-world-in-web-3/">Creating A Fictional World In Web 3 With Rae Wojcik and Stephen Poynter</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why are digital scarcity and ownership so important to the business model of creators in web 3? How can an author use a wider fictional world for creative and business goals? Rae and Stephen talk about why creators need web 3 and their fantasy universe... Why are digital scarcity and ownership so important to the business model of creators in web 3? How can an author use a wider fictional world for creative and business goals? Rae and Stephen talk about why creators need web 3 and their fantasy universe, SitkaWorld.



In the intro, I mention the Creatokia podcast with Elf from the Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult, a world of story, built upon characters licensed through NFTs. I'm also creating 1 of 1 generative art NFTs from my fiction words on Opensea.io/jfpenn.







This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.







Rae Wojcik is a speculative fiction author, freelance editor and journalist. Stephen Poynter is an online entrepreneur, film professional and NFT enthusiast.



Rae and Steven are the creators of Sitka World, a community-driven, community rewarded literature movement based around a fantasy world.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The importance of community ownership* The difference between web 2 and web 3 tools — and attitudes* Why digital scarcity and the ownership and resale of assets could transform the business model for creators who value their intellectual property over the long term. Rae also has a great article on Why content creators need Web3* Different types of NFTs for different levels* How the NFT model benefits readers* Using existing digital publishing options alongside blockchain and web 3 options* How long will adoption take?



You can find Sitka World at SitkaWorld.com and on Twitter @SitkaWorldNFT. You can also check out their Discord here.



Transcript of Interview with Rae Wojcik and Stephen Poynter



Joanna: Rae Wojcik is a speculative fiction author, freelance editor and journalist. And Stephen Poynter is an online entrepreneur, film professional and NFT enthusiast. Rae and Steven are the creators of Sitka World, a community-driven, community rewarded literature movement based around a fantasy world. Welcome to the show, Rae and Stephen.



Rae: Thank you.



Stephen: Thank you. Glad to be here.



Joanna: I'm very excited to talk to you about this. So let's start with, we've established that you're authors, creators.

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 48:09
From Big Idea To Book With Jessie Kwak https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/18/from-big-idea-to-book/ Mon, 18 Apr 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34148 <p>How can you turn one idea into a short story or expand it into a novel? How can you find a writing process that brings you joy for the long term? Jessie Kwak talks about writing craft tips in this interview. In the intro, I comment on Andy Jassy's letter to shareholders and the importance […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/18/from-big-idea-to-book/">From Big Idea To Book With Jessie Kwak</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you turn one idea into a short story or expand it into a novel? How can you find a writing process that brings you joy for the long term? Jessie Kwak talks about writing craft tips in this interview. In the intro, How can you turn one idea into a short story or expand it into a novel? How can you find a writing process that brings you joy for the long term? Jessie Kwak talks about writing craft tips in this interview.



In the intro, I comment on Andy Jassy's letter to shareholders and the importance of long-term thinking.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.







Jessie Kwak is the author of gangster sci-fi supernatural thrillers and nonfiction for creatives. She's also a ghostwriter and freelance marketing copywriter. Her latest book is From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Practice That Brings You Joy.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Planning, plotting, and discovery writing* Finding ideas, and turning them into short stories, or expanding them into novels * Tips for dealing with critical voice* Developing theme* The pros and cons of working with small press* Using Kickstarter as a pre-order* How to put the joy back into writing* Jessie was also on the show previously, talking about From Chaos to Creativity: Productivity for Writers.



You can find Jessie Kwak at JessieKwak.com and on Twitter @jkwak



Transcript of Interview with Jessie Kwak



Joanna: Jessie Kwak is the author of gangster sci-fi supernatural thrillers and nonfiction for creatives. She's also a ghostwriter and freelance marketing copywriter. Her latest book is From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Practice That Brings You Joy. Welcome back to the show, Jessie.



Jessie: Thank you for having me. This is super fun.



Joanna: Always good to talk to you. You've been on the show before. We talked a bit about your journey and how you manage everything. So we're just going to get straight into the topic today.



Now, I should say upfront, this is a really great book, there's so much in it and I found it very hard to choose the questions.



I want to start with the plotting versus discovery writing because there's this tension for both fiction and nonfiction. You say in the book that “every author plans, but the extent to which they plan differs.”



Talk about planning, and how we can find the best way for our writing style.



Jessie: I think there tends to be a lot of emphasis on what's the right way to write, should I outline, am I supposed to be doing this or that or the other thing. My very first piece of advice, as we get into talking about writing advice, is, don't really worry about what's right.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 59:14
Creating And Selling Books For Children With Daniel Miller https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/11/selling-childrens-books-direct/ Mon, 11 Apr 2022 06:20:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34147 <p>How can you write a book that children will love? How can you reach schools and libraries with your books? What might you be leaving on the table in terms of revenue in your author business? Daniel Miller shares his tips, and we also discuss the potential opportunities in his business model. In the intro, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/11/selling-childrens-books-direct/">Creating And Selling Books For Children With Daniel Miller</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write a book that children will love? How can you reach schools and libraries with your books? What might you be leaving on the table in terms of revenue in your author business? Daniel Miller shares his tips, How can you write a book that children will love? How can you reach schools and libraries with your books? What might you be leaving on the table in terms of revenue in your author business? Daniel Miller shares his tips, and we also discuss the potential opportunities in his business model.



In the intro, I talk about London Book Fair 2022, petition against Amazon's ebook return policy [Change.org], Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives, and Other Introverts.



Plus, want to win 14 crime/thriller/mystery novels? Enter the Easter giveaway (8-18 April 2022)







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Daniel Jude Miller is the author and illustrator of seven children's books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* From illustration to writing* Tips for authors who want to work with an illustrator* Why publishing independently is worth the ‘necessary evil' of the business side in order to retain creative control* Print runs vs print-on-demand for illustrated books — and are you leaving money on the table?* Selling children’s books direct through classroom visits, and on an author website



You can find Daniel Miller at djudemiller.com and on Twitter @djudemiller



Transcript of Interview with Daniel Miller



Joanna: Daniel Jude Miller is the author and illustrator of seven children's books. Welcome to the show, Daniel.



Daniel: Hello, and thank you for having me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today.



Tell us a little bit more about you, and how you got into writing books for children.



Daniel: Well, that's an interesting story because I did not want to write books for children. In fact, I didn't want to write books for anyone. I actually started out as an illustrator.



I was the kid that was drawing in school, I was the one who went to a special art high school, I went to art college, and I only wanted to be an illustrator. I had no plans on writing. I never actually even tried.



Growing up, when I was in school, it wasn't really a thing that they focused on, so I never even attempted it. When I was about 25, I got an idea for a story, and I had a problem because I had two choices, either I was going to let somebody else write it and just do the illustrations for my own idea, or I'd have to actually learn how to write.



So,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:57
Intuitive Editing With Tiffany Yates Martin https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/04/intuitive-editing/ Mon, 04 Apr 2022 06:12:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34050 <p>How can you create distance from your manuscript in order to see it as a reader does and edit effectively? What are some of the biggest issues with editing a manuscript? How can you edit on a budget? Tiffany Yates Martin talks all about editing in this interview. In the intro, 10 years of the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/04/intuitive-editing/">Intuitive Editing With Tiffany Yates Martin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create distance from your manuscript in order to see it as a reader does and edit effectively? What are some of the biggest issues with editing a manuscript? How can you edit on a budget? Tiffany Yates Martin talks all about editing in this... How can you create distance from your manuscript in order to see it as a reader does and edit effectively? What are some of the biggest issues with editing a manuscript? How can you edit on a budget? Tiffany Yates Martin talks all about editing in this interview.



In the intro, 10 years of the Alliance of Independent Authors [ALLi]; Re-calibrating [Seth Godin]; NFTs for Authors, episode 610.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just typos and grammar checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener MS Word, Chrome and more, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Tiffany Yates Martin is an editor, speaker, and teacher with almost 30 years in the publishing industry. She writes contemporary women's fiction as Phoebe Fox, and her latest non-fiction book is Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* * The three ‘brains’ we need: writer, reader, editor* Tips for creating distance from your manuscript so that you can see it the way a reader does* The importance of writing characters that readers care about — and making their stakes clear* Momentum vs. pace* Finding your author voice* Editing support on a budget



You can find Tiffany Yates Martin at FoxPrintEditorial.com and on Twitter @FoxPrintEd



Transcript of Interview with Tiffany Yates Martin



Joanna: Tiffany Yates Martin is an editor, speaker, and teacher with almost 30 years in the publishing industry. She writes contemporary women's fiction as Phoebe Fox, and her latest non-fiction book is Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing. Welcome, Tiffany.



Tiffany: Thank you, Joanna. Thanks for inviting me onto the show.



Joanna: Ah, it's good to talk about this topic.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and editing.



Tiffany: The writing I'd always done. Like most of us, I started from the time I was very young. My mom recently gave me back a copy of a book I must have written in elementary school, called, embarrassingly enough, My Autobiography About Me: I Wrote It Myself.



Joanna: Brilliant.



Tiffany: It's full of gems, like ‘my brother is annoying,' that kind of thing.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:59
Kickstarter For Authors With Monica Leonelle https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/28/kickstarter-for-authors/ Mon, 28 Mar 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33896 <p>Would you like to successfully crowdfund your book on Kickstarter? Monica Leonelle shares practical and mindset tips for creating the right kind of project, as well as mistakes to avoid, and how to satisfy fans — and make money with your books. Monica and I recorded this before Brandon Sanderson's epic Kickstarter which has raised […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/28/kickstarter-for-authors/">Kickstarter For Authors With Monica Leonelle</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Would you like to successfully crowdfund your book on Kickstarter? Monica Leonelle shares practical and mindset tips for creating the right kind of project, as well as mistakes to avoid, and how to satisfy fans — and make money with your books. Would you like to successfully crowdfund your book on Kickstarter? Monica Leonelle shares practical and mindset tips for creating the right kind of project, as well as mistakes to avoid, and how to satisfy fans — and make money with your books.



Monica and I recorded this before Brandon Sanderson's epic Kickstarter which has raised over $32m, which is why we didn't mention it. But clearly, it's a fascinating business model!



In the intro, Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri re-edits, re-titles a book to deepen the theme [The Guardian]; and bookbinding fun (pic).







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Monica Leonelle is the author of ‘The Productive Novelist' and ‘Book Sales Supercharged' series of non-fiction books, as well as a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and paranormal romance, under the pen name Solo Storm. Her latest book for authors is Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter, co-written with Russell Nohelty, which I supported as a Kickstarter project.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is crowdfunding and how does it work for authors?* Different kinds of reward tiers and how to make them financially successful as well as rewarding to fans* Common Kickstarter mistakes to avoid* Direct sales and revenue per customer* Factors to consider when fulfilling your orders* Tackling fears around a Kickstarter campaign* Marketing tips and what not to do



You can find Monica Leonelle at TheWorldNeedsYourBook.com and at KickStartYourNovel.com and on Twitter @monicaleonelle



Transcript of Interview with Monica Leonelle



Joanna Penn: Monica Leonelle is the author of ‘The Productive Novelist' and ‘Book Sales Supercharged' series of non-fiction books, as well as a ‘USA Today' bestselling author of fantasy and paranormal romance, under the pen name Solo Storm. Her latest book for authors is Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter, co-written with Russell Nohelty, which I supported as a Kickstarter project. Welcome back to the show, Monica.



Monica Leonelle: Hi. Thank you so much for having me on again.



Joanna Penn: This is such an interesting topic. Last time you were on, https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33898 <p>How can you future-proof your author career by being careful with the publishing clauses you sign? Why are NFTs so interesting for intellectual property? How might DAOs help authors with estate planning? Copyright and trademark attorney Kathryn Goldman talks about these things and more. In the intro, I talk about my art NFTs [JFPenn & […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/25/legal-side-of-nfts-daos/">The Legal Side Of Intellectual Property, NFTs, and DAOs With Kathryn Goldman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you future-proof your author career by being careful with the publishing clauses you sign? Why are NFTs so interesting for intellectual property? How might DAOs help authors with estate planning? Copyright and trademark attorney Kathryn Goldman... How can you future-proof your author career by being careful with the publishing clauses you sign? Why are NFTs so interesting for intellectual property? How might DAOs help authors with estate planning? Copyright and trademark attorney Kathryn Goldman talks about these things and more.



In the intro, I talk about my art NFTs [
JFPenn & OpenSea] and using generative AI through Conjure.art.







This podcast is sponsored by Written Word Media, which makes book marketing a breeze by offering quick, easy and effective ways for authors to promote their books. You can also subscribe to the Written Word Media email newsletter for book marketing tips.







Kathryn Goldman is a copyright and trademark attorney, and has worked in intellectual property for over 30 years. She runs creativelawcenter.com, which offers resources, workshops, and advice for creative professionals, including authors, artists, designers, and more.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why are NFTs so exciting for intellectual property?* Clauses in publishing contracts that might stop you creating or controlling NFTs in the future — and what language to watch out for* Special editions, smart contracts, and other possibilities for contracts* What does the end of the term of copyright mean for NFTs?* How DAOs could be used by authors and the publishing industry — estate management, author organizations and collectives* Acceleration of blockchain regulations due to President Biden's Executive Order (signed March 2022)



You can find Kathryn Goldman at CreativeLawCenter.com and on Twitter @KathrynGoldman



Transcript of Interview with Kathryn Goldman



Joanna: Kathryn Goldman is a copyright and trademark attorney, and has worked in intellectual property for over 30 years. She runs creativelawcenter.com, which offers resources, workshops, and advice for creative professionals, including authors, artists, designers, and more.



Kathryn's been on the show before, talking about estate planning and protecting your intellectual property. Today, we're talking about web3, NFTs, and DAOs. Welcome back to the show, Kathryn.



Kathryn: Oh, thank you for having me.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you about this. Let's start with more of an attitude question.

]]>
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Your Story Matters With Nikesh Shukla https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/21/your-story-matters-with-nikesh-shukla/ Mon, 21 Mar 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34008 <p>How do we tell the deeper story that matters in a way that engages readers? How can we tackle the inner critic, self-censorship and fear of judgment? And does social media actually sell books? Nikesh Shukla talks about why Your Story Matters and gives his writing tips. In the intro, Amazon opens up Ads to […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/21/your-story-matters-with-nikesh-shukla/">Your Story Matters With Nikesh Shukla</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do we tell the deeper story that matters in a way that engages readers? How can we tackle the inner critic, self-censorship and fear of judgment? And does social media actually sell books? Nikesh Shukla talks about why Your Story Matters and gives ... How do we tell the deeper story that matters in a way that engages readers? How can we tackle the inner critic, self-censorship and fear of judgment? And does social media actually sell books? Nikesh Shukla talks about why Your Story Matters and gives his writing tips.



In the intro, Amazon opens up Ads to traditionally published authors; How to Make a Living with your Writing; Ultimate Guide to Multiple Streams of Income [ALLi]; Cemeteries and Graveyards [Books and Travel]; Death's Garden Revisited Kickstarter. Plus, From $0 to $1K in book sales, free book marketing webinar with Nick Stephenson.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Nikesh Shukla is a best-selling novelist as well as a screenwriter, editor, podcaster and essayist. He has been named one of Time magazine's cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine's 100 global thinkers, and he's a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His latest nonfiction book is Your Story Matters: Find Your Voice, Sharpen Your Skills, Tell Your Story.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Learning a hard publishing lesson early on* Finding our author voice* How to deal with fear of judgment and self-censorship* Planning a novel and shaping a story* The two different types of writer procrastination* Searching for the emotional truth of a story* Does social media sell books?



You can find Nikesh Shukla at Nikesh-Shukla.com, Nikesh.substack.com and on Twitter @nikeshshukla



Transcript of Interview with Nikesh Shukla



Joanna: Nikesh Shukla is a best-selling novelist as well as a screenwriter, editor, podcaster and essayist. He has been named one of Time magazine's cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine's 100 global thinkers, and he's a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His latest nonfiction book is Your Story Matters: Find Your Voice, Sharpen Your Skills, Tell Your Story. Welcome Nikesh.



Nikesh: Hello.



Joanna: Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



]]>
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Different Ways Of Publishing Through Substack And NFTs With Elle Griffin https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/18/substack-and-nfts/ Fri, 18 Mar 2022 06:30:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34007 <p>What if the traditional publishing model is not the best way to publish a book in a digital age? What if publishing it as an ebook on Amazon is not the best way, either? Elle Griffin questions the established ways of publishing a book and explains how she is using SubStack and NFTs for her […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/18/substack-and-nfts/">Different Ways Of Publishing Through Substack And NFTs With Elle Griffin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What if the traditional publishing model is not the best way to publish a book in a digital age? What if publishing it as an ebook on Amazon is not the best way, either? Elle Griffin questions the established ways of publishing a book and explains how ... What if the traditional publishing model is not the best way to publish a book in a digital age? What if publishing it as an ebook on Amazon is not the best way, either? Elle Griffin questions the established ways of publishing a book and explains how she is using SubStack and NFTs for her words.







Elle Griffin is an author, editor, freelance journalist, and creative entrepreneur, using new methods of publishing to reach readers and make multiple streams of income with her work.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why the economics of publishing most books don't add up* Tips for authors who want to use SubStack* How SubStack differs from Patreon* Ideas for authors who want to get into blockchain and NFTs with their words* Embracing change and technology as a creator



You can find Elle Griffin at ellegriffin.substack.com and on Twitter @novelleist



Transcript of Interview with Elle Griffin



Joanna: Elle Griffin is an author, editor, freelance journalist, and creative entrepreneur, using new methods of publishing to reach readers and make multiple streams of income with her work. Welcome, Elle.



Elle: Thanks, thank you so much for having me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today.



Before we get into more of the technology, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Elle: I've been a writer for a really long time. I actually started my career in the content marketing side of things, and then moved my way over toward editorial. Now I've been an editorial journalist for a number of years.



While I was working on that, on the side, I wanted to write a novel. So I wrote a gothic novel called Obscurity and when I finished it, I did all the normal things first. I sent it out to agents and I was thinking maybe that would be a good idea.



But as I was doing that I was researching publishing as my own, like a journalist would, researching the industry, trying to figure out how my book could best be successful. That's when I decided that my book was not a mass-appealed kind of book, it was not going to have 100,000 followers, or buys, purchases.



So I decided that it would be better off for a couple of thousand people that would really love it. And if that was the case, I was interested in doing that as part of the Creator Economy, which is a newer idea where the idea is that the author or writer gets paid monthly.



People subscribe to that author monthly, as opposed to, ‘Let's pay this author $10 every time, every five years when they have a book come out.'



The idea is you subscribe to an author ongoing, and they provide behind-the-scenes access and things as you're going there, similar to your strategy because I know you have a blog and a podcast on the side of writing fiction.



So that's what I've been doing. I did a newsletter on SubStack, about a year ago, which has explored all of this and has been a very interesting experiment.



Joanna: I want to start with the SubStack experience because one of the reasons I wanted...]]>
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Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Cash. NFTs For Authors [Audio] With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/16/creativity-collaboration-community-and-cash-nfts-for-authors-joanna-penn/ Wed, 16 Mar 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34126 <p>I've spent the last 15 years building an author business on Web 2 — digital publishing, blogging and podcasting, social media, and more. But as Web 3 begins to emerge through blockchain, NFTs, AI, and the metaverse, I want to make sure I still have a thriving business over the next 15 years. NFTs are an […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/16/creativity-collaboration-community-and-cash-nfts-for-authors-joanna-penn/">Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Cash. NFTs For Authors [Audio] With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> I've spent the last 15 years building an author business on Web 2 — digital publishing, blogging and podcasting, social media, and more. But as Web 3 begins to emerge through blockchain, NFTs, AI, and the metaverse, I've spent the last 15 years building an author business on Web 2 — digital publishing, blogging and podcasting, social media, and more.



But as Web 3 begins to emerge through blockchain, NFTs, AI, and the metaverse, I want to make sure I still have a thriving business over the next 15 years.



NFTs are an important part of the future business model in the Creator Economy and in this presentation, I explain why they're important and how authors can consider using them.



In the intro, I give an update on my first couple of NFTs, minted on OpenSea, the potential impact of President Biden's blockchain and crypto Executive Order [The Verge];



In the main section, I go through:



* Who am I, and why am I talking about NFTs? My technical background and how I've embraced technology early in my author career so far* What is an NFT?* Different blockchains — and energy requirements* Why do we need NFTs? Ownership and resale; flexing in the metaverse, and erosion of royalties + paid ads + inflation = we need more income streams from our IP* Six different types of NFTs that authors can consider, and how they are being used in other industries* Why digital scarcity enables more creativity and collaboration* How smart contracts enable easier collaboration and a simplified payment system* How blockchain and smart contracts (and DAOs) could change royalty payments, estate management, and more* What we need in an NFT solution for publishing* How do NFTs fit into the current business model? What is a potential future state once the technology goes mainstream?* What action should you take right now?



You can find more resources at thecreativepenn.com/future



For a broader look at web 3 and emerging technologies, check out my book, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry



If you have any comments, tweet me @thecreativepenn or leave a comment under the video or on the post.



Thanks again to my patrons who sponsor these futurist episodes, and if you find them useful, you can support the show at patreon.com/thecreativepenn and get the monthly Q&A coming soon for March. 



Or if you don’t want to commit for a monthly payment. you can also buy me a coffee or two at BuyMeACoffee.com/thecreativepenn 







Transcript of the introduction



I put the main section out as a video on YouTube and on the blog, but I know many of you prefer audio only — I do too! So I wanted to put it out on the audio feed as well, but I also have an extra section upfront, an update — as I mentioned on Monday’s show, I minted my first NFT on Opensea, and it sold immediately, so I minted another one, which also sold immediately! I wanted to talk briefly about this before playing the presentation as things move on apace.



First of all,]]>
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Improve Your Creativity With Dan Holloway https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/14/improve-your-creativity/ Mon, 14 Mar 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34027 <p>How can we improve our creativity and release our self-censorship to write more freely? Dan Holloway talks about aspects of creativity as well as physical challenges, neurodiversity, and how technology might augment us in this interview. In the intro, thoughts on Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter [Kris Rusch]; Guide to Multiple Streams of Income [Self Publishing Advice]; Thoughts […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/14/improve-your-creativity/">Improve Your Creativity With Dan Holloway</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we improve our creativity and release our self-censorship to write more freely? Dan Holloway talks about aspects of creativity as well as physical challenges, neurodiversity, and how technology might augment us in this interview. In the intro, How can we improve our creativity and release our self-censorship to write more freely? Dan Holloway talks about aspects of creativity as well as physical challenges, neurodiversity, and how technology might augment us in this interview.



In the intro, thoughts on Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter [Kris Rusch]; Guide to Multiple Streams of Income [Self Publishing Advice]; Thoughts on President Biden's Executive Order on crypto and blockchain [The Verge]; My first NFT — Rain Soaked The Ashes of the Dead; Crypto Business Podcast; The AI-Assisted Author and generative art (50% off with coupon MARCH22)







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.







Dan Holloway is the author of 9 books across dark fiction, poetry and non-fiction, a performance poet, professional speaker, podcaster, and creativity consultant. 



He’s won the Creative Thinking World Championships three times as well as the World Intelligence Championship. He’s also the founder of Rogue Interrobang, dedicated to helping individuals and companies expand their creativity. 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* From performance poetry to using storytelling and communication as a way to engage audiences with non-fiction* What is creativity and how can we develop more of it?* How Dan's creativity game, Mycelium, can help* How physical health underpins creativity* Dan's physical transformation and how he stays consistent over time* Neurodiversity and how writing ‘rules' don't apply* How we are augmented already — and thoughts on VR, AR, and AI



You can find Dan Holloway at Rogueinterrobang.com and on Twitter @agnieszkasshoes



Dan has chapters in The Healthy Writer on writing with depression, and also in https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33895 <p>How can we overcome self-doubt to write the books we really want to? How can we move past writer's block? How can we reshape our definition of success and return to the joy of writing? Dharma Kelleher talks about the author mindset and more. In the intro, Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter, Bookstore consolidation [The Guardian]; Amazon […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/03/07/self-doubt-and-writers-block/">Dealing With Self-Doubt And Writer’s Block With Dharma Kelleher</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we overcome self-doubt to write the books we really want to? How can we move past writer's block? How can we reshape our definition of success and return to the joy of writing? Dharma Kelleher talks about the author mindset and more. How can we overcome self-doubt to write the books we really want to? How can we move past writer's block? How can we reshape our definition of success and return to the joy of writing? Dharma Kelleher talks about the author mindset and more.



In the intro,
Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter, Bookstore consolidation [The Guardian]; Amazon closes bookstores and a thought experiment about what else they might do [Digital Trends]; Pen-names [6 Figure Authors]; Wise for business multicurrency income [Wise affiliate link];



Plus, it's my birthday month! Get 50% off my courses, ebooks, and audiobooks. Use coupon: MARCH22 at TheCreativePenn.com/learn (courses) and Payhip.com/thecreativepenn (ebooks & audiobooks). Valid until 31 March 2022.







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Dharma Kelleher is the author of crime and action-adventure thrillers featuring queer women across three different series. She's also the author of Breakthrough, Overcoming Creative Self-Doubt, Writer's Block, and Imposter Syndrome.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* From traditional publishing to indie* Addressing low self-esteem and imposter syndrome as writers* Writing with beginner's mind* Getting past writer’s block* Learning to accept our imperfections* Finding the joy in writing again* Balancing self-care with getting things done* Writing in an era of ‘cancel culture’* How to write about characters outside your lived experience* Is success a delusion?



You can find Dharma Kelleher at DharmaKelleher.com and on Twitter @zenpunkdharma



Transcript of Interview with Dharma Kelleher



Joanna: Dharma Kelleher is the author of crime and action-adventure thrillers featuring queer women across three different series. She's also the author of Breakthrough, Overcoming Creative Self-Doubt,]]>
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Pivoting On The Creative Journey With Johnny B Truant https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/28/pivoting-on-the-creative-journey/ Mon, 28 Feb 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33901 <p>The creative journey is often a winding path to success, but our experiences along the way can enrich our writing and help us develop a unique author voice. Johnny B Truant talks about his journey from scientist to non-fiction/self-help, to over 100 books and a TV show based on his novels. In the intro, What […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/28/pivoting-on-the-creative-journey/">Pivoting On The Creative Journey With Johnny B Truant</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The creative journey is often a winding path to success, but our experiences along the way can enrich our writing and help us develop a unique author voice. Johnny B Truant talks about his journey from scientist to non-fiction/self-help, The creative journey is often a winding path to success, but our experiences along the way can enrich our writing and help us develop a unique author voice. Johnny B Truant talks about his journey from scientist to non-fiction/self-help, to over 100 books and a TV show based on his novels.



In the intro, What Sells Books in 2022: at Kobo Writing Life [ALLi]; How to Survive Book Marketing Burnout [Kindlepreneur]; Introvert Writers Summit; Self-Publishing Show Live, London in June; Chirp Audiobook special on Map of Shadows; plus book recommendations: Life Force by Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis, and The Genesis Machine by Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000+ retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Johnny B. Truant is the author and co-author of over 100 books across multiple genres, and the co-founder of Sterling & Stone, a multimedia story studio, along with Sean Platt and David Wright. One of Johnny's books, Fat Vampire, sold to NBC Universal for production in 2021 as a SYFY original.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* No experience is ever wasted — and may end up inspiring your writing* From copywriting and courses to writing fiction* A very slow first novel — to writing fast* Collaboration and writing partnerships* Letting go of what might be working in order to do more of what we love* Knowing when a business relationship needs to end* On planning and following an inner compass



You can find Johnny B. Truant at SterlingAndStone.net.



Transcript of Interview with Johnny B. Truant



Joanna: Johnny B. Truant is the author and co-author of over 100 books across multiple genres, and the co-founder of Sterling & Stone, a multimedia story studio, along with Sean Platt and David Wright.



One of Johnny's books, Fat Vampire, sold to NBC Universal for production in 2021 as a sci-fi original, and some of you might even remember when he came up the idea live on the ‘Better Off Undead Podcast' years ago. Welcome back to the show, Johnny.



Johnny: Hey, Joanna, it's so great to be back here. You and I go back just about as long as I've been doing internet ...]]>
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Writing Tips: Lessons Learned From Rewriting My First Novel Over A Decade Later https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/25/writing-tips-rewriting-my-first-novel/ Fri, 25 Feb 2022 08:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33900 <p>In January 2022, I re-edited my first novel, Stone of Fire, which I started during NaNoWriMo in 2009 and published in April 2011. In this episode, I explain why and how I re-edited the book, as well as some lessons learned from revisiting my writer self of over a decade ago. This episode includes: Why […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/25/writing-tips-rewriting-my-first-novel/">Writing Tips: Lessons Learned From Rewriting My First Novel Over A Decade Later</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In January 2022, I re-edited my first novel, Stone of Fire, which I started during NaNoWriMo in 2009 and published in April 2011. In this episode, I explain why and how I re-edited the book, as well as some lessons learned from revisiting my writer sel... In January 2022, I re-edited my first novel, Stone of Fire, which I started during NaNoWriMo in 2009 and published in April 2011. In this episode, I explain why and how I re-edited the book, as well as some lessons learned from revisiting my writer self of over a decade ago.



This episode includes:



* Why I decided to rewrite when so much advice says ‘never go back’* How Stone of Fire developed from 2011 to 2022 * My re-writing process * Practicalities of publishing a new edition* Craft notes from rewriting, including character, pacing, grammar and sentence structure, author voice, dialogue, and more* Was it worth it?!



Why I decided to rewrite when so much advice says ‘never go back’



There’s nothing really wrong with the book. As I write this, Stone of Fire has 1374 reviews on Amazon US with a 4.1 star average (and many more reviews on other stores and platforms) so clearly, readers enjoy it. 







But I know I can improve it. 



Stone of Fire was my first novel — but it’s also the first in my 12-book ARKANE action-adventure thriller series. It’s my permafree first in series ebook, the one I repeatedly put ads on to bring readers into my writing. It’s pretty important for my fiction marketing efforts!



Morgan Sierra, the main character of my ARKANE series, is also my alter-ego. Sure, she’s an ex-Israeli military psychologist, Oxford University professor, and Krav Maga expert — but her thoughts are often my own, or at least represent some facet of my personality.



Like me, Morgan is fascinated with religion and travels the world, but of course, I just visit exciting locations, whereas she investigates supernatural mysteries in each one alongside Jake Timber and the rest of the ARKANE team. 



The advice from many writing coaches and experts is to leave your old series behind, and write a new one. In this way, you can improve your work without rewriting old books. 



But I can’t leave Morgan behind. And neither can my hardcore readers who love the ARKANE series and demand a new one as soon as I deliver the next story!



In Jerusalem for book research! (Is that Morgan or Jo?!)



I’ve written other series — my Mapwalker fantasy trilogy, my Brooke & Daniel crime thrillers, and various stand-alone stories. But in terms of action-adventure books, I’m invested in Morgan and the ARKANE team. 



The ARKANE series appeals to fans of James Rollins’ Sigma series, Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone books, Lincoln & Child’s Pendergast, and thrillers by Greig Beck, Matthew Reilly, Ernest Dempsey, J Robert Kennedy, and R.D. Brady. They are action-adventure/conspiracy thriller with aspects of the supernatural. 



I wrote them because I love these kinds of long-running thriller series and always set out to write something for the ‘old me’ who used to read thrillers on the commuter train every weekday to a job I hated. 



My writing has improved after almost 13 years and writin...]]>
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Tips For Indie Author Success With Craig Martelle https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/21/tips-for-indie-author-success/ Mon, 21 Feb 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33897 <p>It's never too late to start writing and there are many pro writers ahead of you on the path lead the way. Craig Martelle shares tips on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing, as well as how he believes in the rising tide that lifts all boats, and how helping each other is the best way […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/21/tips-for-indie-author-success/">Tips For Indie Author Success With Craig Martelle</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> It's never too late to start writing and there are many pro writers ahead of you on the path lead the way. Craig Martelle shares tips on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing, as well as how he believes in the rising tide that lifts all boats, It's never too late to start writing and there are many pro writers ahead of you on the path lead the way. Craig Martelle shares tips on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing, as well as how he believes in the rising tide that lifts all boats, and how helping each other is the best way for indies to prosper.



In the intro, the Findaway Voices Marketplace for audiobook narrators is now live; and I recommend Skip The Line by James Altucher.






Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just typos and grammar checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener MS Word, Chrome and more, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Craig Martelle is the author of over 70 books alone and co-author of over 50 more, spanning science fiction, thrillers, and fantasy, as well as nonfiction for indie authors. He also co-hosts and runs the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group and live events.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Transitioning from the Marines, to law, to consulting, to writing



* From struggling with the first book to finding a process that works



* Quality control as an indie author



* Collaboration and building a team



* Tips for success in self-publishing



* Feeding your readership without having to write a book a month



* What happens at 20BooksVegas and can an introvert survive?



* Check out the free replays of 20Books Live events on YouTube here




You can find Craig Martelle at craigmartelle.com 



Transcript of Interview with Craig Martelle



Joanna: Craig Martelle is the author of over 70 books alone and co-author of over 50 more, spanning science fiction, thrillers, and fantasy, as well as nonfiction for indie authors. He also co-hosts and runs the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group and live events. Welcome, Craig.



Craig: Thank you. Thank you for having me.



Joanna: I'm really interested to talk to you. So before we get into now, let's take a step back because you have some really interesting former careers in the Marine Corps, the Military Intelligence, law school, and business consulting.


]]>
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Draft2Digital Acquires Smashwords. The Opportunities Ahead For Wide Publishing With Mark Coker And Kevin Tumlinson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/18/draft2digital-acquires-smashwords/ Fri, 18 Feb 2022 06:45:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=34006 <p>Smashwords was the original distribution service for indie authors and Mark Coker has been an advocate for wide publishing for over 14 years. Draft2Digital has been a fantastic service for indies over the last decade, moving into new markets, providing great tools, and helping authors sell more books. On Feb 8, 2022, Draft2Digital announced they […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/18/draft2digital-acquires-smashwords/">Draft2Digital Acquires Smashwords. The Opportunities Ahead For Wide Publishing With Mark Coker And Kevin Tumlinson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Smashwords was the original distribution service for indie authors and Mark Coker has been an advocate for wide publishing for over 14 years. Draft2Digital has been a fantastic service for indies over the last decade, moving into new markets, Smashwords was the original distribution service for indie authors and Mark Coker has been an advocate for wide publishing for over 14 years. Draft2Digital has been a fantastic service for indies over the last decade, moving into new markets, providing great tools, and helping authors sell more books.



On Feb 8, 2022, Draft2Digital announced they were acquiring Smashwords. Mark Coker and his team would be joining Draft2Digital and the combined company would consolidate systems and processes, improving services for authors.



In this discussion, I ask Mark Coker and Kevin Tumlinson about the acquisition and how it will impact indie authors who publish with either service, as well as discuss the opportunities ahead.







Mark Coker is the founder and CEO of Smashwords, the original ebook publishing platform for Indies, established in 2008.



Kevin Tumlinson is Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Draft2Digital, established in 2012.



Both Mark and Kevin are also authors and they understand the author perspective when it comes to publishing. 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* What the acquisition of Smashwords means for authors who publish on Smashwords — and what it means for those who publish on Draft2Digital



* Some of the concerns and how they will be addressed



* The implications of a company serving over 250,000 authors and how it shifts the power imbalance in publishing



* Why Mark was excited about the possibilities for authors when we met in 2010 (video here) and why things are even more exciting now



* Opportunities ahead for the bigger Draft2Digital




You can contact Draft2Digital with any questions at support@Draft2Digital.com



Transcript of the discussion



Joanna: Mark Coker is the founder and CEO of Smashwords, the original ebook publishing platform for indies, established in 2008. Kevin Tumlinson is director of marketing and public relations at Draft2Digital, established in 2012. Both Mark and Kevin are also authors, and they understand the author perspective when it comes to publishing, and we've got some exciting things to talk about today. Welcome, Mark and Kevin.



Mark: Hi, Joanna.



Kevin: Hey, there.



Joanna: Hey. It's good to have you both on the show. So, let's start with the news.



Kevin, what has just happened or is happening?



Kevin: You may or may not have heard by this point, but Draft2Digital is acquiring Smashwords as of March 1st, 2022. So, very big, very exciting news.



We have been keeping our lips sealed for the past couple of months, but we are very excited to have that out there in the wild now.



Mark: I'm really excited about this. I think that our two companies coming together that sprouted from the same seed.]]>
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Self-Publishing In Jamaica And The Caribbean And The Importance Of Diverse Voices With C. Ruth Taylor https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/14/self-publishing-in-jamaica-and-the-caribbean-and-the-importance-of-diverse-voices/ Mon, 14 Feb 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33733 <p>The self-publishing movement is just getting started in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands, and authors are discovering they can tell their stories in their own way. C. Ruth Taylor talks about how she became an authorpreneur and why she believes in an indie-first, empowering ecosystem. In the intro, Draft2Digital acquires Smashwords [D2D; Mark Coker]; Impact […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/14/self-publishing-in-jamaica-and-the-caribbean-and-the-importance-of-diverse-voices/">Self-Publishing In Jamaica And The Caribbean And The Importance Of Diverse Voices With C. Ruth Taylor</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The self-publishing movement is just getting started in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands, and authors are discovering they can tell their stories in their own way. C. Ruth Taylor talks about how she became an authorpreneur and why she believes in an i... The self-publishing movement is just getting started in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands, and authors are discovering they can tell their stories in their own way. C. Ruth Taylor talks about how she became an authorpreneur and why she believes in an indie-first, empowering ecosystem.



In the intro, Draft2Digital acquires Smashwords [D2D; Mark Coker]; Impact of streaming on audiobook revenue and AI narration [Ask ALLi]; Stone of Fire and thoughts on your ‘writing age.'






This podcast episode is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo ecosystem. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







C. Ruth Taylor is the author of over 20 nonfiction books and a leading Jamaican authorpreneur. She's also a publishing consultant, podcaster, course creator, and founder of Extra Mile Innovators.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* From writing to heal a broken heart to authorpreneur



* The rich literary tradition of Jamaica and the Caribbean diaspora



* The reading and publishing ecosystem in Jamaica



* Turning your books into multiple streams of income



* Creative marketing when you can't afford paid ads



* The importance of telling your story and valuing your experience




You can find C. Ruth Taylor at extramileja.com and on Twitter @cameka12



Transcript of Interview with C. Ruth Taylor



Joanna: C. Ruth Taylor is the author of over 20 nonfiction books and a leading Jamaican authorpreneur. She's also a publishing consultant, podcaster, course creator, and founder of Extra Mile Innovators. Welcome, Ruth.



Ruth: Thank you, Joanna. It's good being here.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you.



First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



Ruth: Oh, that's a good question. I'm going to give you the short version.



I am from the island that has produced the fastest man and woman in the world. That's Usain Bolt and our own Elaine Thompson-Herah, and the island that has given birth to reggae music, Bob Marley. And guess what? The island that gave birth to James Bond. This is where Ian Fleming wrote James Bond,]]>
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Book Marketing Tips For The Long Term With John Kremer https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/07/book-marketing-tips-for-the-long-term/ Mon, 07 Feb 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33894 <p>John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book was the first book I ever bought on marketing way back when I started self-publishing in 2008. He has revised it several times since and is still a prolific content creator around book marketing. I'm thrilled to discuss long-term book marketing for authors in this interview. In […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/07/book-marketing-tips-for-the-long-term/">Book Marketing Tips For The Long Term With John Kremer</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book was the first book I ever bought on marketing way back when I started self-publishing in 2008. He has revised it several times since and is still a prolific content creator around book marketing. John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book was the first book I ever bought on marketing way back when I started self-publishing in 2008. He has revised it several times since and is still a prolific content creator around book marketing. I'm thrilled to discuss long-term book marketing for authors in this interview.



In the intro, Best Book Promotion Sites for 2022 [David Gaughran]; Dean Koontz talks craft and publishing [Writers Ink]; Indie Authors and the Creator Economy [ALLi]; What to give up [SJ Pajonas].






Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







John Kremer is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, as well as other nonfiction titles, and founder of the Billion Book Initiative. Over the past 37 years, he has helped thousands of authors, including me, to sell more books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why time in the market is so important



* Building relationships as the key to long-term book marketing



* Pitching vs attraction marketing



* How to decide what to focus on with marketing — because you can't do everything! 



* Why we both love audio and podcasting for marketing



* How do you know when to give up on a particular way of marketing?



* Ideas for Substack email



* Streams of income from your book



* Take one marketing action a day — and keep going




You can find John Kremer at BookMarketingBestsellers.com and on Twitter @JohnKremer



Transcript of Interview with John Kremer



Joanna: John Kremer is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, as well as other nonfiction titles, and founder of the Billion Book Initiative. Over the past 37 years, he has helped thousands of authors, including me, to sell more books. Welcome, John.



John: Thanks a lot, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you. And you were one of the first people I learned about marketing from, back in 2008, when I self-published my first book.



In case people don't know you, tell us a bit more about your writing and publishing background.



]]>
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The Creative Potential Of NFTs For Authors With J. Thorn And Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/04/the-creative-potential-of-nfts-for-authors-with-j-thorn-and-joanna-penn/ Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:10:31 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33942 <p>J. Thorn and I are both authors and passionate about helping writers find new ways to create, collaborate, reach fans, and make more money in the Creator Economy. We're also both excited about the creative and financial possibilities of emerging blockchain technology, including NFTs. In this discussion, we cover: Explaining NFTs for non-technical people. Some […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/02/04/the-creative-potential-of-nfts-for-authors-with-j-thorn-and-joanna-penn/">The Creative Potential Of NFTs For Authors With J. Thorn And Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> J. Thorn and I are both authors and passionate about helping writers find new ways to create, collaborate, reach fans, and make more money in the Creator Economy. We're also both excited about the creative and financial possibilities of emerging blockc... J. Thorn and I are both authors and passionate about helping writers find new ways to create, collaborate, reach fans, and make more money in the Creator Economy. We're also both excited about the creative and financial possibilities of emerging blockchain technology, including NFTs.



J. Thorn and Joanna (J.F.) Penn in New Orleans, 2017



In this discussion, we cover:



* Explaining NFTs for non-technical people. Some metaphors that might help. * Why are we so excited about NFTs? What are the benefits to authors and other Creators? * Why resale of unique digital assets using smart contracts on a blockchain is such a radically new prospect for authors and the publishing industry — and why it could be so exciting for long-term creators who own and control their intellectual property* What are some of the different kinds of NFTs that authors could use — both for fiction and non-fiction? How might AI-generative art and music play a part in that?* Fractionalization of royalty rights and how this is emerging in the music industry through new platform, Royal, where the co-founder is an independent musician, 3LAU and knows what creators want* How we envisage unique digital originals (NFTs) sitting alongside unique physical products like hand-bound books, or vinyl music, and other ideas for how this could introduce so many opportunities for authors to create more in their worlds* Some of the companies emerging in the NFT for book space and our thoughts on what we want to see before we commit to a platform — since smart contracts can represent a long-term commitment.* Open questions about the financial and tax implications of NFTs that we're still investigating* Our recommendations if you're interested in NFTs for books and blockchain



[Please note: We are not financial or legal professionals, and this is not financial or legal advice. Just a discussion among enthusiastic authors learning along the way!]



This podcast episode is supported by my wonderful Patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn and by tips at BuyMeACoffee.com/thecreativepenn.



You can find more futurist episodes, including more on NFTs and blockchain at www.TheCreativePenn.com/future.







J. Thorn is a best-selling horror and dark fantasy writer, and he also writes non-fiction for authors. He's a podcaster at Writers, Ink, and The Author Success Mastermind, as well as an editor. J and I have co-written several books together, including Risen Gods, Co-Writing A Book, and American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice, the inaugural Authors On A Train event with Zach Bohannon and Lindsay Buroker.



Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F.Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



Transcription of discussion



Now, today, we're talking about NFTs, and in particular, what we want to see in a platform for NFT books that will help authors sell more books, make more money, provide value to readers,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:09:21
Episode 600: Thoughts On Writing Craft, Publishing, Marketing, Mindset, And The Author Business With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/31/episode-600/ Mon, 31 Jan 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33893 <p>Welcome to episode 600! I’m doing a solo show today, answering some questions from my recent podcast survey that cover the different aspects of the author life. From episode 1 to episode 600 I recorded episode 1 in March 2009 when I lived in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane, Australia. I phoned up a bestselling author […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/31/episode-600/">Episode 600: Thoughts On Writing Craft, Publishing, Marketing, Mindset, And The Author Business With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Welcome to episode 600! I’m doing a solo show today, answering some questions from my recent podcast survey that cover the different aspects of the author life. From episode 1 to episode 600 I recorded episode 1 in March 2009 when I lived in Ipswich, Welcome to episode 600! I’m doing a solo show today, answering some questions from my recent podcast survey that cover the different aspects of the author life.




* From episode 1 in March 2009 to episode 600 (Jan 2022)



* How do you balance the artist/writer/creative side with the pragmatic business and marketing side of being an author?



* How do you improve your writing craft, both as a beginner and also as a later stage writer?



* What services and tools do you use right now for writing and publishing?



* What are you doing for marketing fiction and non-fiction now and how has that changed over time?



* It feels like an impossible job to stand out in such a crowded marketplace with millions of other books, as well as TV and film, games, music and other entertainment options. How do you deal with the mindset of feeling like it’s all pointless sometimes?



* What are the different streams of income that you have right now from your author business — and how would you like that to change over the next few years? 



* Questions for you as we head toward episode 700




From episode 1 to episode 600



I recorded episode 1 in March 2009 when I lived in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane, Australia. I phoned up a bestselling author on a landline, put it on speakerphone, and held an MP3 recorder next to the phone.



With some of my early books in 2009 (no longer available in those editions!)


At the time, I worked as an IT consultant specializing in accounts payable within an SAP implementation for an international mining company. I had a couple of non-fiction books out and a few people on my email list. The international Kindle hadn’t yet launched, print-on-demand was only just emerging as a viable option, there were no digital audiobooks — and there was certainly no empowered indie author movement as we have it today. 



Back then, self-publishing was mainly done by professional speakers and business-people who had their own distribution channels. Otherwise, it was considered ‘vanity press,’ and certainly not a viable business option for an author.



2009 really was before the dawn of the Creator Economy — which just shows you how things change over time!



In 2009, I had no author friends, and I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I saw podcasting as a way to connect with writers and somehow market my books. I had a one-page business plan on my wall for The Creative Penn with all the different ways I could make money based around my writing. I absolutely intended to leave my job and run a profitable business as an author, but I had no idea what lay ahead. I was just enthusiastic to get started! 



I created this business plan in March 2009


I started making some money and left my job a few years later in 2011 to focus on the business. I started making six figures in 2015, and then quickly surpassed my old salary with a multi-six-figure annual income, which I’ve sustained since then. You can read and listen to more of my historical lessons learned at TheCreativePenn.com/timeline 



Almost 13 years after that original episode, The Creative Penn Podcast has now been downloaded over 6.4 million times across 227 countries, with the top countries being US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany.



Most episodes get between 9000 – 16,000 downloads per episode, varying by the popularity of the topic, rather than the author,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 40:44
Take Back Your Book: An Author’s Guide to Rights Reversion and Publishing on Your Terms With Katlyn Duncan https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/24/publishing-rights-reversion/ Mon, 24 Jan 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33660 <p>How can you take back your rights when publishing conditions change? How can you make sure you sign contracts that make it easier for rights reversion in the future? Katlyn Duncan talks about these things and more. In the intro, the splits in indie publishing [Kris Writes]; Burnout and Writer's Block [6 Figure Authors]; Publisher […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/24/publishing-rights-reversion/">Take Back Your Book: An Author’s Guide to Rights Reversion and Publishing on Your Terms With Katlyn Duncan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you take back your rights when publishing conditions change? How can you make sure you sign contracts that make it easier for rights reversion in the future? Katlyn Duncan talks about these things and more. In the intro, How can you take back your rights when publishing conditions change? How can you make sure you sign contracts that make it easier for rights reversion in the future? Katlyn Duncan talks about these things and more.



In the intro, the splits in indie publishing [Kris Writes]; Burnout and Writer's Block [6 Figure Authors]; Publisher Rocket now has audio data; Blood, Sweat, and Flame, my glassblowing short story; Atomic Habits and the threat of boredom.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.







Katlyn Duncan is the author of women's fiction, YA, thrillers, and nonfiction under several pen names as well as a ghostwriter of over 40 novels. Today, we're talking about Take Back Your Book: An Author's Guide to Rights Reversion and Publishing on Your Own Terms.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is rights reversion and why is it so important to consider — even before you sign a contract (or upload a book as an indie)?* Clauses to watch out for in publishing contracts — and how to make sure you can get your rights back* How to approach a publisher for rights reversion* What you actually get back when rights are reverted (i.e. it's not your cover or layout)* What to do once your rights are reverted — and why you should stop and think about the long term before re-publishing* What if you're embarrassed or ashamed that it didn't work out with a publisher?



You can find Katlyn Duncan at KatlynDuncan.com and on Twitter @katlyn_duncan



Transcript of Interview with Katlyn Duncan



Joanna: Katlyn Duncan is the author of women's fiction, YA, thrillers, and nonfiction under several pen names as well as a ghostwriter of over 40 novels. Today, we're talking about Take Back Your Book: An Author's Guide to Rights Reversion and Publishing on Your Own Terms. Welcome, Katlyn.



Katlyn: Thank you so much for having me, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk about this topic. It is a fantastic book, so much in it.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



]]>
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The Craft And Business Of Poetry With Rishi Dastidar https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/17/craft-and-business-of-poetry/ Mon, 17 Jan 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33659 <p>How do you turn an idea into a poem? What are the publishing options for poets, and how does marketing work? Rishi Dastidar talks about his life in poetry and provides tips for taking your creative work further. In the intro, What Readers Want in 2022 [ALLi]; Ads for Authors (affiliate link); Submission on AI […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/17/craft-and-business-of-poetry/">The Craft And Business Of Poetry With Rishi Dastidar</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you turn an idea into a poem? What are the publishing options for poets, and how does marketing work? Rishi Dastidar talks about his life in poetry and provides tips for taking your creative work further. In the intro, How do you turn an idea into a poem? What are the publishing options for poets, and how does marketing work? Rishi Dastidar talks about his life in poetry and provides tips for taking your creative work further.



In the intro, What Readers Want in 2022 [ALLi]; Ads for Authors (affiliate link); Submission on AI and copyright [ALLi]; How will Creatokia publish NFT books? [Creatokia Podcast]; AI for Voice series [VO Boss Podcast];







This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount.com, which provides automated sales aggregation from multiple publishing platforms, all combined into user-friendly charts and features, accessible in seconds. Whether you publish wide or exclusive, ScribeCount allows authors to customize reports to fit their individual needs. Check it out at ScribeCount.com.







Rishi Dastidar is a poet, journalist, copywriter, and brand strategist, as well as the editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century, and co-editor of Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika's Poetry Kitchen.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How sound, images and word phrases affect Rishi’s poetry* Tips and tools for capturing ideas* Can we trust our subconscious to provide us with ideas?* How to deal with dry creative periods* The traditional publishing process for poetry* The performance side of being a poet* Pivoting to performing online during the pandemic* The benefits of writers’ collectives



You can find Rishi Dastidar's books at online bookstores and on Twitter @betarish



Transcript of Interview with Rishi Dastidar



Joanna: Rishi Dastidar is a poet, journalist, copywriter, and brand strategist, as well as the editor of ‘The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century,' and co-editor of ‘Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika's Poetry Kitchen.'



We also both went to Mansfield College, at the University of Oxford back in the '90s. So it's been a while. Welcome to the show, Rishi.



Rishi: Hi. Good to see you. And, yes, it hasn't been a while. We're not going to dwell on how many years precisely, I hope.



Joanna: I know, it seems crazy. And it's funny because I always ask, my first question is tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing. I still want to know that, but it's funny because I feel like I know you from a snapshot in time. And of course, things have moved on for both of us.



]]>
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A Writer’s Guide To The End Of Self-Doubt With William Kenower https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/10/a-writers-guide-to-the-end-of-self-doubt/ Mon, 10 Jan 2022 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33645 <p>How can we recognize self-doubt and create alongside it as part of the author journey? How can we write with confidence and double down on what we love the most? William Kenower talks about these aspects and more. In the intro, planning for 2022 [Ask ALLi]; Your publishing options [6 Figure Authors]; Need an audiobook […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/10/a-writers-guide-to-the-end-of-self-doubt/">A Writer’s Guide To The End Of Self-Doubt With William Kenower</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we recognize self-doubt and create alongside it as part of the author journey? How can we write with confidence and double down on what we love the most? William Kenower talks about these aspects and more. In the intro, How can we recognize self-doubt and create alongside it as part of the author journey? How can we write with confidence and double down on what we love the most? William Kenower talks about these aspects and more.



In the intro, planning for 2022 [Ask ALLi]; Your publishing options [6 Figure Authors]; Need an audiobook narrator? Use the Findaway Marketplace; The Successful Author Mindset.







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







William Kenower is the author of nonfiction books on writing, the editor-in-chief of ‘Author Magazine' and the host of the Author2Author podcast. His latest book is Everyone Has What it Takes: A Writer's Guide to the End of Self-Doubt.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* A winding route to writing and publishing* Validation — and the need to find it within ourselves* The different ways that writers experience self-doubt* Learning to recognize self-doubt and create, anyway* When is self-doubt justified, and what can you do about it?* Does everyone have what it takes to be a writer?* Commonalities among successful writers



You can find William Kenower at WilliamKenower.com and on Twitter @wdbk



Transcript of Interview with William Kenower



Joanna: William Kenower is the author of nonfiction books on writing, the editor-in-chief of ‘Author Magazine' and the host of the ‘Author2Author' podcast. His latest book is Everyone Has What it Takes: A Writer's Guide to the End of Self-Doubt. Welcome to the show, Bill.



William: Thank you, Joanna. It's good to be here.



Joanna: It's great to have you on the show.



Tell us a little bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



William: Writing, I got into very young. I knew the arts were really the only path I was interested in. And though I dabbled in theater pretty seriously in my early to mid-20s and I went to Hollywood briefly with the idea of being a screenwriter. Prose was really where I was most comfortable and writing and prose was where I was most comfortable.
]]>
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Improve Your Sleep And Creativity With Dr. Anne D. Bartolucci https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/03/improve-your-sleep-and-creativity-with-dr-anne-d-bartolucci/ Mon, 03 Jan 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33658 <p>If the pandemic has affected your sleep, you are not alone! If you want to sort out your sleep issues and improve your creativity — and your life — as we head into a new year, this episode with Dr. Anne D. Bartolucci will help. In the intro, publishing industry trends for 2022 [Written Word […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/03/improve-your-sleep-and-creativity-with-dr-anne-d-bartolucci/">Improve Your Sleep And Creativity With Dr. Anne D. Bartolucci</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If the pandemic has affected your sleep, you are not alone! If you want to sort out your sleep issues and improve your creativity — and your life — as we head into a new year, this episode with Dr. Anne D. Bartolucci will help. In the intro, If the pandemic has affected your sleep, you are not alone! If you want to sort out your sleep issues and improve your creativity — and your life — as we head into a new year, this episode with Dr. Anne D. Bartolucci will help.



In the intro, publishing industry trends for 2022 [Written Word Media; Stark Reflections; Mark Coker Smashwords]; my Sell Direct Tutorial; Mark Dawson's Ads for Authors, which now includes Booktok; GPT-4 [Towards Data Science]; AI-Assisted Author course.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing, and integration with Scrivener MS Word, Chrome and more, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Dr. Anne Bartolucci is a licensed psychologist and a certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist. She's the author of two non-fiction books, including Better Sleep for the Overachiever, and she's also a best-selling steampunk and urban fantasy author under Cecilia Dominic.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why sleep matters, especially for creatives* How the pandemic has affected sleeping habits* The different sleeping issues we can encounter at different times of life* Busting sleep myths* Different kinds of insomnia* How to improve your falling asleep time* Why the ‘rules’ are less important than what works for us individually* Do mindfulness and meditation help with sleep?* How Anne manages her day job and her author life — and lessons learned



You can find Dr. Anne Bartolucci at OverachieverBook.com and on Twitter @CeciliaDominic



Transcript of Interview with Anne D. Bartolucci



Joanna Penn: Dr. Anne Bartolucci is a licensed psychologist and a certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist. She's the author of two non-fiction books,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:09:38
My Creative And Business Goals For 2022 With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/01/my-creative-and-business-goals-for-2022-with-joanna-penn/ Sat, 01 Jan 2022 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33656 <p>“We make plans, God laughs.” The old Yiddish proverb will no doubt stand true for another year, but I just can’t help myself!  I need to make plans to have something to aim for, but given how 2021 didn’t turn out as expected, for 2022 I will hold my plans and goals loosely and won’t […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/01/01/my-creative-and-business-goals-for-2022-with-joanna-penn/">My Creative And Business Goals For 2022 With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> “We make plans, God laughs.” The old Yiddish proverb will no doubt stand true for another year, but I just can’t help myself!  I need to make plans to have something to aim for, but given how 2021 didn’t turn out as expected, “We make plans, God laughs.” The old Yiddish proverb will no doubt stand true for another year, but I just can’t help myself! 



I need to make plans to have something to aim for, but given how 2021 didn’t turn out as expected, for 2022 I will hold my plans and goals loosely and won’t be surprised if they change. If I start off with lower expectations, perhaps it will turn out to be a spectacular year for us all (fingers crossed!).



Here’s what I’m planning, and I’d love to hear about your goals, so please leave a comment here if you’d like to share and we can keep each other accountable.



* Embrace multi-passionate creativity — and optimize for curiosity* Books for authors — Joanna Penn* Fiction as J.F. Penn — thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror, short stories* The Creative Penn website and podcast* The Creative Future — putting new technologies into practice* Books and Travel* More tech, less tech. Health, travel, and connection* Financial Goals 



Remember, I am a full-time author-entrepreneur so I have a lot going on — if your goals are simpler — like finishing your book, or publishing for the first time, or selling 1000 copies, then fantastic! You don’t have to have such extensive goals as me!



Embrace multi-passionate creativity — and optimize for curiosity



Every year, I think that I “might be more successful” if I can focus on a limited number of things, but as Walt Whitman said, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” As much as I try to say ‘no’ more, life proliferates and I find so many things interesting along the way that I want to do it all, or at least investigate things further. 



As Lisa Cron pointed out in episode 592, “Emotion telegraphs meaning.” If I am excited about a project or a topic, then I need to give it some time, even if the practical application (and the revenue) might not be obvious.



I’m an author (across multiple genres). I’m a podcaster. I’m an audiobook narrator. I’m a course creator. I’m a speaker. I’m a futurist. These days, I optimize more for curiosity than for maintenance of the status quo. 



Following my curiosity, J.F. Penn book research trip, Lisbon 2019 — featured in Tree of Life



Yes, there needs to be a balance, but I’ve been a full-time author entrepreneur since 2011 and so it cannot just be the same old, same old. It can't just be ‘write, publish, repeat.' I cannot write to market, and I cannot write because I have to. I refuse to grind it out. 



I have so many things I want to create in 2022, and so many more things I want to learn about and share with you. I know I can’t do it all, so I will embrace my multi-passionate creativity, follow the paths my curiosity takes me down — and see where the year takes me.



Here are my creative and business goals — some of them will happen, some won't, and I am far more accepting of that these days! 



Books for authors under Joanna Penn



I have three current works in progress, all with significant words in draft form: 



* How to Write a Novel — 95K* The Shadow Book (working title) — 30K* The AI-Assisted Author — 50K



Although I’d love to say I’ll write and publish them all, each is a significant piece of work, and I have a lot of other things I want to do, so there will be at least one non-fiction book for authors— but I don’t know which as yet.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 32:17
Not Quite The Year We Hoped For. Review Of My 2021 Creative Business Goals https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/27/not-quite-the-year-we-hoped-for-review-of-my-2021-creative-business-goals/ Mon, 27 Dec 2021 06:15:34 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33837 <p>As we all look back at the past year, it feels like it’s flown by — but also that time has warped in a way and it feels like we’ve been stuck in this pandemic for much longer than we expected. So here’s my 2021 year in review and an update on whether I managed […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/27/not-quite-the-year-we-hoped-for-review-of-my-2021-creative-business-goals/">Not Quite The Year We Hoped For. Review Of My 2021 Creative Business Goals</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> As we all look back at the past year, it feels like it’s flown by — but also that time has warped in a way and it feels like we’ve been stuck in this pandemic for much longer than we expected. So here’s my 2021 year in review and an update on whether I... As we all look back at the past year, it feels like it’s flown by — but also that time has warped in a way and it feels like we’ve been stuck in this pandemic for much longer than we expected.



So here’s my 2021 year in review and an update on whether I managed to meet my goals. I hope this helps you with your own annual review, and feel free to share your achievements and lessons learned in the comments so we can all celebrate (and/or commiserate) together.



* A year of physical and mental health issues — for all of us. You are not alone!* Joanna Penn — books for authors* The Creative Penn website and podcast * The Creative Future* J.F. Penn — thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror* Books and Travel* Health, travel, walking* Financial goals



I hope that you can look back and celebrate whatever you have achieved — even if that is just making it through alive!



Writing remains for all of us a haven for our thoughts, not just words for publication — so I hope you have some time to step back, think and write about the year that is almost over. 



If you’d like to share your thoughts, please do leave a comment, or blog about it and tweet me the link. I’ll be back soon with my plans and goals for 2021.







Ever the optimist, I wrote on 1 Jan, 2021: “I’m expecting it to be at least a full pandemic year — from March 2020 to March 2021, but I am really hoping to be back in the world in the second half of this year.” 



I also intended 2021 “to be a year of expansion — creatively in terms of what I write, mentally in terms of the things I learn about, and physically, in terms of my health and where I travel (once we're out of the woods with the virus, of course.)”



Well, this year did not turn out as we all hoped, did it?!



Part of me doesn’t want to do this round-up because I don’t really want to relive most of the year. But I’ve always found it incredibly useful to be accountable to you as my audience, and by looking back, we can be thankful to have made it through — and if you’re reading/listening to this, you have made it through — and hopefully, gain some perspective on what might be possible in the year ahead. 



I will talk about some of the creative goals I achieved — and missed — but I want to start with something far more important.



If you’re utterly exhausted and struggling with physical and mental health issues, you’re not alone. 



I’ve talked about my various issues on the podcast over the year but essentially, it’s been one of my worst years ever in terms of mental and physical health. I share these things not for sympathy, but in the hope that it helps you if you have felt or are still feeling the same way, because we are certainly not alone.



The UK winter lockdown (6 Jan – mid-March 2021) was brutal. I always have some form of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) but it was compounded by sleep issues, resulting from a combination of age-related hormonal changes and pandemic anxiety. 







Sleep issues have been reported across the world during the pandemic (APA, https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33802 <p>Our publishing, marketing and author business tasks are important — but at the end of the day, it all comes down to writing. We are authors. We are writers. So as we head toward a new year, how can you find the time to write? How can you make the most of your writing time? […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/20/find-time-to-write-and-make-the-most-of-your-writing-time/">How To Find The Time To Write And Make The Most Of Your Writing Time With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Our publishing, marketing and author business tasks are important — but at the end of the day, it all comes down to writing. We are authors. We are writers. So as we head toward a new year, how can you find the time to write? Our publishing, marketing and author business tasks are important — but at the end of the day, it all comes down to writing. We are authors. We are writers. So as we head toward a new year, how can you find the time to write? How can you make the most of your writing time?



In the intro, The Big Split [
Kris Rusch]; thoughts on long-term creation and serendipity in marketing [Tim Ferriss, 4000 Weeks, Johnny Truant]; Web 3 opportunities [Yaro Starak]; A Midwinter Sacrifice; Risen Gods.



Plus, 30% off my ebooks and audiobooks at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn with coupon: 2021 — and 30% off my courses for authors on Teachable with coupon: 2021 (valid until end of 2021.)







This podcast episode is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo ecosystem. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Today's show features two chapters from Productivity for Authors, written and narrated by Joanna Penn.



Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How to find the time to write — schedule your writing time* Track how you spend your time* How much do you really want this?* Where can you carve out time?* No one said this would be easy* Make the most of your writing time — find the right location* Get into the right mindset — quickly* Turn off distractions* Use timed writing* Stop procrastinating* Measure your progress* Questions to help you



You can find Productivity for Authors: Find Time to Write, Organize Your Author Life, and Decide What Really Matters in ebook, print, workbook,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 49:42
Story Or Die With Lisa Cron https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/13/story-or-die/ Mon, 13 Dec 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33499 <p>Why is story so important — no matter what genre we write? How can we use emotion to hook readers — and also tap into what matters in our own lives? Lisa Cron talks about these questions and more in this discussion about Story or Die. In the intro, Ultimate Guide to Copyright [ALLi]; How […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/13/story-or-die/">Story Or Die With Lisa Cron</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why is story so important — no matter what genre we write? How can we use emotion to hook readers — and also tap into what matters in our own lives? Lisa Cron talks about these questions and more in this discussion about Story or Die. In the intro, Why is story so important — no matter what genre we write? How can we use emotion to hook readers — and also tap into what matters in our own lives? Lisa Cron talks about these questions and more in this discussion about Story or Die.



In the intro, Ultimate Guide to Copyright [ALLi]; How do you see your book — is it a baby, is it art, or is it a product? [Jane Friedman's blog]; The History Quill convention online; The Creative Penn Podcast Survey (by 21 Dec);







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.







Lisa Cron is a story coach for writers and a story consultant for film and TV, as well as a professional speaker. She’s also the author of Wired for Story, Story Genius, and her latest book, Story Or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life.



Show Notes



* Why story is so important for humans — and why it's present in every area of life * What stories are really about* The brain chemicals that a good story will activate — and how to write so they are triggered* Story principles in non-fiction* Emotion telegraphs meaning* The three biggest lies that are taught about writing



You can find Lisa Cron at WiredForStory.com and on Twitter @LisaCron



Transcript of Interview with Lisa Cron



Joanna: Welcome back to the show, Lisa.



Lisa: Thank you. It is an utter pleasure to be here.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk about this again. So, quoting from the book, you say, “Story far predates written language, and evolved as an essential survival tool, long before it was mis-classified as fiction,” which I love.



Why does story matter in every book we write, no matter the genre?



Lisa: Well, because first of all, story is story, regardless of genre, regardless of the format, whether you're talking about a two-word tweet or War and Peace, it is always the same.



And it predates, really, everything. It really goes back to, if you want to think about it, our brains' last, as we've all heard, big growth spurt,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:29
Writing Hooks And Improving Your Fiction Book Description With Michaelbrent Collings https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/06/improve-your-fiction-book-description/ Mon, 06 Dec 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33382 <p>Readers buy or borrow your book based on your cover and book description, so how can we make sure the description is the best it can be? How can we make readers want to click Buy Now and start reading immediately? Michaelbrent Collings provides useful tips — and tough love! — for authors who struggle […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/12/06/improve-your-fiction-book-description/">Writing Hooks And Improving Your Fiction Book Description With Michaelbrent Collings</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Readers buy or borrow your book based on your cover and book description, so how can we make sure the description is the best it can be? How can we make readers want to click Buy Now and start reading immediately? Readers buy or borrow your book based on your cover and book description, so how can we make sure the description is the best it can be? How can we make readers want to click Buy Now and start reading immediately?



Michaelbrent Collings provides useful tips — and tough love! — for authors who struggle with book descriptions (which includes me!)



In the intro, I talk about being back in Auckland and reflect on the passing of time.






This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com







Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally best-selling novelist, and the only author to be a finalist for a Dragon Award, Bram Stoker Award, and RONE Award. A Ranker survey recently named Michaelbrent one of the top 100 Greatest All-Time Horror Writers, but he's written bestsellers in a dozen different genres. His latest book, Malignant, debuted on Amazon's bestseller lists all over the world. 



Michaelbrent is also a screenwriter — and helps authors with their book descriptions over on Fiverr Pro/mbcollings



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* Why is an effective book description so important?



* What authors get wrong with book descriptions



* Thinking about your book like a movie — what are the high points of the trailer?



* Tips for writing a great hook



* How a good book description can help with advertising




You can find Michaelbrent Collings at WrittenInsomnia.com and on Twitter @mbcollings. You can hire Michaelbrent on Fiverr Pro here.



Transcript of Interview with Michaelbrent Collings



Joanna: Welcome back to the show, Michaelbrent.



Michaelbrent: Hello, I'm so happy to be here.



Joanna: It's great to have you back on the show. And you have been on the show a number of times.



Michaelbrent: Yes.



Joanna: So we're not going to go into your backstory, we're going to get straight into the topic today, which is all about book descriptions. And this is a very interesting topic. You have a ton of books, I have quite a lot of books, and I still feel this is an issue.



Why is an effective book description so important, and why are they so difficult?



Michaelbrent: Oh,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:09:04
Patience, Ambition, And Financial Independence With MK Williams https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/29/patience-ambition-financial-independence/ Mon, 29 Nov 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33381 <p>How can you cultivate patience for your long-term author career? How can you figure out your personal, creative and financial goals and make choices toward them? MK Williams talks about these questions, as well as podcast marketing and turning a blog or transcript into a book. In the intro, my reflections on the UK FutureBook […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/29/patience-ambition-financial-independence/">Patience, Ambition, And Financial Independence With MK Williams</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you cultivate patience for your long-term author career? How can you figure out your personal, creative and financial goals and make choices toward them? MK Williams talks about these questions, as well as podcast marketing and turning a blog o... How can you cultivate patience for your long-term author career? How can you figure out your personal, creative and financial goals and make choices toward them? MK Williams talks about these questions, as well as podcast marketing and turning a blog or transcript into a book.



In the intro, my reflections on the UK FutureBook conference, and Tomb of Relics is out this week.







This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount.com, which provides automated sales aggregation from 7+ publishing platforms, all combined into user-friendly charts and features, accessible in seconds. Whether you publish wide or exclusive, ScribeCount allows authors to customize reports to fit their individual needs. Check it out at ScribeCount.com.







MK Williams is the author of eight books across multiple genres, including dystopian sci-fi, literary suspense, and non-fiction for authors, as well as a coach and creative entrepreneur.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The importance of peer support and community for authors* Stop waiting for permission* Cultivating patience* Financial independence on your own terms — and figuring out what you really want. You can find my list of books on money here.* Tips for pitching podcasts and giving great value* How to turn blog posts or interview transcripts into a book



You can find MK Williams at AuthorYourAmbition.com and on Twitter @1mkwilliams



Transcript of interview with MK Williams



Joanna: MK Williams is the author of eight books across multiple genres, including dystopian sci-fi, literary suspense, and non-fiction for authors, as well as a coach and creative entrepreneur. Welcome, MK.



MK: Hi, Joanna. Thank you so much for having me on the show today.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. So let's get started.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.



MK: Well, it was a snowy day in Indiana when I was born! … but I've loved reading my entire life. I was an only child, so books were a great source of entertainment. I love to write. I had my angsty teenage poetry phase, which…



Joanna: Oh, me too.



MK: Yes. So many of us do. And I got to college, and I picked the safe major that was supposed to guarantee me a great job. But I was still able to take some creative writing seminars.



I was very fortunate in my writing killer fiction, which was the title of the course, to have a professor who really encouraged me to keep writing. And so when I graduated into a lousy economy with no job prospects, my hobby just became writing.



I really enjoyed starting to do longer-form fiction and fel...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 57:44
Digital Narration With AI Voices With Taylan From DeepZen https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/26/digital-narration-with-ai-voices-deepzen/ Fri, 26 Nov 2021 00:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33644 <p>Is digital narration with AI voices good enough for non-fiction or fiction audiobooks? Can human narrators benefit through voice licensing? What are the options for sales and distribution? Taylan Kamis from Deep Zen explains digital narration for audiobooks, and I share some samples from my digitally narrated books through Deep Zen. Taylan Kamis is the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/26/digital-narration-with-ai-voices-deepzen/">Digital Narration With AI Voices With Taylan From DeepZen</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Is digital narration with AI voices good enough for non-fiction or fiction audiobooks? Can human narrators benefit through voice licensing? What are the options for sales and distribution? Taylan Kamis from Deep Zen explains digital narration for audio... Is digital narration with AI voices good enough for non-fiction or fiction audiobooks? Can human narrators benefit through voice licensing? What are the options for sales and distribution?



Taylan Kamis from Deep Zen explains digital narration for audiobooks, and I share some samples from my digitally narrated books through Deep Zen.







Taylan Kamis is the CEO and co-founder of Deep Zen Limited.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is Deep Zen?* How good is the quality of AI narration for non-fiction — and for fiction, where emotional resonance is so important?* How AI narration may benefit human narrators with voice licensing, and Deep Zen's Ethical Statement* Where can you distribute and sell AI narrated audiobooks — and when will this expand for indie authors?* Cost and revenue related to AI narration* When will AI narration become mainstream?



You can find Taylan Kamis at deepzen.io and on Twitter @DeepZen4



I also included samples of my fiction and non-fiction books that Deep Zen has digitally narrated. You can listen on the links below:



* Co-Writing a Book: Benefits of Co-Writing. Digitally narrated by Alice (British female)* Sins of Violence, a short story. Digitally narrated by William (British male)



If you'd like to listen to the entire books, you can purchase the digitally narrated audiobooks for 30% off using discount coupon: 2021 (until the end of Dec 2021) directly from me at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn. [Here's how to apply the coupon.] The audiobooks are delivered by Bookfunnel and you can listen on their free app.







Transcript of Interview with Taylan Kamis



Joanna: Taylan Kamis is the CEO and co-founder of Deep Zen Limited. Welcome to the show, Taylan.



Taylan: Thank you. Thanks for having me.



Joanna: It's so interesting to talk to you.



What is Deep Zen and why are you so passionate about AI for voice?



Taylan: Deep Zen is a synthetic voice company focusing on creating human-like speech and emotion using AI.



As a background, I was always interested in human-machine interaction. So the starting idea was to build a system that can read any text as a human would do, and it will be indistinguishable.



Then we start looking into the technical side; what are the obstacles, whether the technology is there. And in the last three,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 42:37
Short Stories As The Basis To An Award-Winning Author Career With Alan Baxter https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/22/short-stories-as-the-basis-to-an-award-winning-author-career-with-alan-baxter/ Mon, 22 Nov 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33380 <p>How do you know when an idea is a short story, a novella, or a full-length novel? How can you turn one story into multiple streams of income? Alan Baxter talks about a long-term craft-centered approach to the author career and how his short stories have won him multiple awards. In the intro, State of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/22/short-stories-as-the-basis-to-an-award-winning-author-career-with-alan-baxter/">Short Stories As The Basis To An Award-Winning Author Career With Alan Baxter</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you know when an idea is a short story, a novella, or a full-length novel? How can you turn one story into multiple streams of income? Alan Baxter talks about a long-term craft-centered approach to the author career and how his short stories hav... How do you know when an idea is a short story, a novella, or a full-length novel? How can you turn one story into multiple streams of income? Alan Baxter talks about a long-term craft-centered approach to the author career and how his short stories have won him multiple awards.



In the intro, State of Indie Authorship 2021 [Written Word Media]; Sessions from 20Books Vegas conference [YouTube]; $0 to $1K a month in book sales webinar [Nick Stephenson];







This episode is sponsored by my Black Friday Promotion. You can get 30% off my ebooks, audiobooks, and courses when you buy direct. Use coupon: 2021 at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn for ebooks and audiobooks (here's how to apply it), and TheCreativePenn.com/learn for my courses. Valid until end 31 Dec 2021.







Alan Baxter is the multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy across more than 20 books as well as many more short stories. He's also a martial arts instructor and his latest book for writers is The Martial Art of Writing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Multiple streams of income from short stories, and tracking your intellectual property* When is an idea a short story vs a novella or a novel? * Does short fiction help to sell longer work?* Award submissions and a long-term approach* How writing is like martial arts



You can find AlanBaxter at AlanBaxterOnline.com and on Twitter @AlanBaxter



Transcript of Interview with Alan Baxter



Joanna: Alan Baxter is the multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy across more than 20 books as well as many more short stories. He's also a martial arts instructor and his latest book for writers is The Martial Art of Writing. Welcome back to the show, Alan.



Alan: Thanks for having me again. It's good to chat with you.



Joanna: We've been doing this once every couple of years for a decade now.



Alan: I know, such a long time.



Joanna: It is. And of course, you were one of the first people I met on Twitter and we've talked over the years, but we've never met in person, which is kind of crazy.



Alan: I know.



Joanna: Give us a bit of an overview of your writing career because you've really combined traditional publishing, indie,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 48:36
Can Stories Save The World? Writing For The Environment With Denise Baden https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/19/writing-for-the-environment/ Fri, 19 Nov 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33732 <p>The relentless news about climate change can leave us despondent — but what if we can use fiction to help people with positive ideas of what the future could look like and the actions we can take to change things? Denise Baden talks about the power of eco-fiction and explains the Green Stories Novel Prize, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/19/writing-for-the-environment/">Can Stories Save The World? Writing For The Environment With Denise Baden</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The relentless news about climate change can leave us despondent — but what if we can use fiction to help people with positive ideas of what the future could look like and the actions we can take to change things? The relentless news about climate change can leave us despondent — but what if we can use fiction to help people with positive ideas of what the future could look like and the actions we can take to change things? Denise Baden talks about the power of eco-fiction and explains the Green Stories Novel Prize, sponsored by Orna Ross.







Denise Baden is Professor of sustainable business at the University of Southampton in the UK. She's also a screenwriter and novelist and founded the series of Green Stories Writing Competitions.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How stories can change minds* How to smuggle green ideas into stories rather than preaching* What is eco-fiction?* The Green Stories Novel and Short Story Competitions* Environmental issues in publishing



Click here to check out the Green Stories Novel Award and remember, there are short story awards and more, so even if the novel one isn't for you, maybe enter something else!



You can find Denise Baden at DABaden.com and on Twitter @DABadenauthor



Transcript of Interview with Denise Baden



Joanna: Denise Baden is a professor of sustainable business at the University of Southampton in the UK. She's also a screenwriter and novelist and founded the series of Green Stories Writing Competitions. Welcome, Denise.



Denise: Hello, nice to be here.



Joanna: Oh, great to talk to you about this topic.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and also sustainability and environmental issues.



Denise: I've had a bit of a butterfly background. I actually worked as a sales rep for publishers many years ago. But I couldn't do that once I became a mum, so I went back to university and I did a bit of psychology.



I was harassing them on their green policies and not having a recycling bin. So when the person teaching business ethics, which is one of the things we're also doing, left, I got put in charge of that, and then I ended up doing stuff on sustainability. So that's my academic career, and also I've done articles on that.



I think I was inspired to be a greeny by a fictional book myself, which is why I'm quite interested in writing fiction. So I read Stark. It must have been back in the early '90s by Ben Elton.



Joanna: Oh, me too. I remember that one.



Denise: I'm not sure if it still stands the test of time, but I thought it was brilliant at the time. It was really fun. And right in the middle of this love story epic adventure, he says something like, ‘Dave was a water birth, but he died soon after being born.' It turns out that Dave is a dolphin that got caught up in a tuna net.



And I thought, ‘Hang on a minute. I can buy dolphin-friendly tuna.'



I never would have chosen to read a green-themed book. I read for fun.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 38:25
Big Ideas In Technology And Publishing With Michael Bhaskar https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/15/big-ideas-in-technology-and-publishing/ Mon, 15 Nov 2021 00:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33643 <p>With so many technological advances in recent years, can publishing keep up? Michael Bhaskar and I discuss AI tools for writing, blockchain and NFTs, digital narration, and impacts on intellectual property rights licensing in this wide-ranging interview. In the intro, Spotify acquires Findaway and my thoughts on what it means for authors, narrators, and rights-holders […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/15/big-ideas-in-technology-and-publishing/">Big Ideas In Technology And Publishing With Michael Bhaskar</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> With so many technological advances in recent years, can publishing keep up? Michael Bhaskar and I discuss AI tools for writing, blockchain and NFTs, digital narration, and impacts on intellectual property rights licensing in this wide-ranging intervie... With so many technological advances in recent years, can publishing keep up? Michael Bhaskar and I discuss AI tools for writing, blockchain and NFTs, digital narration, and impacts on intellectual property rights licensing in this wide-ranging interview.



In the intro, Spotify acquires Findaway and my thoughts on what it means for authors, narrators, and rights-holders [Spotify; Findaway; TechCrunch]; Storytel buys Audiobooks.com [Reuters];







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent, or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Michael Bhaskar is a writer, researcher, and co-founder of publishing company, Canelo. His latest book is Human Frontiers: The Future of Big Ideas in an Age of Small Thinking.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How much does publishing embrace technology?* Why a long-term view is important for both indie and traditional publishing worlds* Implications of Natural Language Generation tools like GPT-3* The need for both creative play in terms of attitude to AI creation but also ethical guidelines around statements of use. [See the Alliance of Independent Ethical Guidelines.]* Thoughts on AI narration for audiobooks* Blockchain and NFTs* Intellectual property rights and new technological possibilities



You can find Michael Bhaskar at MichaelBhaskar.com and on Twitter @michaelbhaskar.



Want more futurist episodes? Check out my resources at www.TheCreativePenn.com/future



Transcript of Interview with Michael Bhaskar



Jo: Michael Bhaskar is a writer, researcher,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:13:06
Amazon Keywords And Atticus For Writing And Book Formatting With Dave Chesson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/12/amazon-keywords-and-atticus-for-book-formatting/ Fri, 12 Nov 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33498 <p>Dave Chesson provides many useful tools and information for authors at Kindlepreneur and he has recently launched Atticus, writing and formatting software that will output both ebook and print formats, as well as providing collaboration and ARC management tools. Dave Chesson is the founder of Kindlepreneur and producer of Publisher Rocket and Atticus, amongst many […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/12/amazon-keywords-and-atticus-for-book-formatting/">Amazon Keywords And Atticus For Writing And Book Formatting With Dave Chesson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Dave Chesson provides many useful tools and information for authors at Kindlepreneur and he has recently launched Atticus, writing and formatting software that will output both ebook and print formats, as well as providing collaboration and ARC managem... Dave Chesson provides many useful tools and information for authors at Kindlepreneur and he has recently launched Atticus, writing and formatting software that will output both ebook and print formats, as well as providing collaboration and ARC management tools.







Dave Chesson is the founder of Kindlepreneur and producer of Publisher Rocket and Atticus, amongst many other useful resources for authors. He's also an author and a military veteran who used to be a nuclear engineer.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How self-publishing has changed in the last decade and why the ‘stigma' no longer exists* Tips for reviving a back-list* Is A+ content woth implementing?* Types of keywords for non-fiction books, and also for fiction. You can do more of your own research at PublisherRocket.* Strategies for keywords across different book formats* Key benefits and features of Atticus including design and output of various ebook and print formats, as well as collaboration and ARC management



You can find Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.com and on Twitter @DaveChesson.



Transcript of interview with Dave Chesson



Joanna: Dave Chesson is the founder of Kindlepreneur and producer of Publisher Rocket and Atticus amongst many other useful resources for authors. He's also an author and a military veteran who used to be a nuclear engineer. Welcome back to the show, Dave.



Dave: Hey, thanks so much for having me, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today. More than a couple of years ago, 2018, you were on this show. We talked about your backstory so we're not going to go into that today.



Before we get into some details, let's have a bit of a wide overview of the industry because you and I have been doing this for probably over a decade. What are some of the significant changes that you've seen? Because you've paid a lot of attention obviously to the whole industry, but Amazon in particular.



What's changed in self-publishing and why is it still interesting?



Dave: There's two big things to it. We'll start with Amazon and then we're going to talk about the industry.



You remember back when the reporting from Amazon was just heinous? There was not even a chart. You had to look at instantaneous data. The fact that Amazon really stank at just telling me how much money I was making was just indicative of their lack of attention.



And they were very slow to roll out or do anything whatsoever. I would say if we're taking a really 20,000-foot view here, I think that over the past couple of years Amazon has been ramping up a lot and changing and adding and doing a lot of things.



This to me gives me a lot of hope in the future because if Amazon is really focused ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 54:12
Pitching A Book For Film Or TV With Chrissy Metge https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/08/pitching-a-book-for-film-or-tv-with-chrissy-metge/ Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33379 <p>What projects are worth pitching for film and TV? What do you need to include in your pitch? Why are there more opportunities for writers now? Chrissy Metge talks about these questions and more. In the intro, the US Justice Department sues to block the Penguin Random House acquisition of Simon & Schuster [The Guardian]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/08/pitching-a-book-for-film-or-tv-with-chrissy-metge/">Pitching A Book For Film Or TV With Chrissy Metge</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What projects are worth pitching for film and TV? What do you need to include in your pitch? Why are there more opportunities for writers now? Chrissy Metge talks about these questions and more. In the intro, What projects are worth pitching for film and TV? What do you need to include in your pitch? Why are there more opportunities for writers now? Chrissy Metge talks about these questions and more.



In the intro, the US Justice Department sues to block the Penguin Random House acquisition of Simon & Schuster [The Guardian]; Kobo Plus launches in Australia and NZ [Kobo]; Audible launches unlimited subscription in India [The New Publishing Standard]; Check your print prices for Ingram [IBPA]; Is it time to raise ebook prices? [6 Figure Authors]







This podcast episode is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo ecosystem. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Chrissy Metge has 20 years animation experience working on projects including The Hobbit, Superman Man of Steel, Fast and Furious 7, and Jungle Book. She's the co-founder of Fuzzy Duckling Media and Duckling Publishing, specializing in books and shows for children, and is also a creative brand consultant.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Changes in the film and TV industry in the last 20 years* The kinds of content that animation studios are interested in* How and when to pitch an idea to a studio* Tips for good pitching technique* Do you need to write the scripts for the stories you’re pitching?* The importance of figuring out your target audience* How does the financial side work?* What the future of entertainment may hold* Balancing business and creativity



You can find Chrissy Metge at ChrissyMetge.com and on Twitter @ChrissyNZ



Transcript of Interview with Chrissy Metge



Joanna: Chrissy Metge has 20 years animation experience working on projects incluing ‘The Hobbit,' ‘Superman Man of Steel,' ‘Fast and Furious 7,' and ‘Jungle Book.' She's the cofounder of Fuzzy Duckling Media and Duckling Publishing, specializing in books and shows for children, and is also a creative brand consultant. Welcome, Chrissy.



Chrissy: Thank you.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:49
Creatokia. The World Of Digital Originals (NFTs) With Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/05/creatokia-digital-originals-nfts/ Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33642 <p>Creatokia is one of the first book-specific NFT platforms and in this interview, co-founders Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann explain what NFTs are and why they are an opportunity for authors and rights-holders. They are also the co-founders of Bookwire, which already provides digital publishing solutions for the publishing industry. After the interview, I reflect on […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/05/creatokia-digital-originals-nfts/">Creatokia. The World Of Digital Originals (NFTs) With Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Creatokia is one of the first book-specific NFT platforms and in this interview, co-founders Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann explain what NFTs are and why they are an opportunity for authors and rights-holders. Creatokia is one of the first book-specific NFT platforms and in this interview, co-founders Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann explain what NFTs are and why they are an opportunity for authors and rights-holders. They are also the co-founders of Bookwire, which already provides digital publishing solutions for the publishing industry.



After the interview, I reflect on key aspects of our conversation, and talk about why the recent YA NFT project Realms of Ruin didn't work, and why we need to ‘jump the S-curve' into a new business model.







Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann are the founders of Bookwire, which provides digital publishing solutions for the publishing industry. They have recently launched Creatokia, the world of digital originals, with an accompanying podcast (currently in German, but will soon be in English.) 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What are NFTs and what is Creatokia?* How will royalties on resale of digital originals help authors and publishers to make more money?* What can go into an NFT? (for example, a limited edition ePub, a virtual ticket, community access, and more)* Will the language change around NFTs? Will it become a normal part of the publishing landscape as ebooks have?* Addressing environmental concerns about NFTs* Intellectual property rights and why you need to specify ‘digital' or ‘ebook' or ‘audiobook' rights in a world of digital originals* How will Creatokia work, and when will it be available?



You can find Jens and John at Creatokia.com and on Twitter @creatokia



Transcript of Interview with Jens and John



Joanna: Welcome to the show, Jens and John.



John: Hello, Joanna.



Jens: Hi.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you today. Let's start with a question that might be basic for us, but maybe not for the listeners.



What are NFTs, and what is Creatokia?



John: I think the interesting things about NFTs are it's the short version of nonfungible tokens. The thing is that NFTs are on a blockchain, and you can collect them, and you can own them, and you can trade them.



It's a decentralized technology. It does mean maybe for the publishing industry that you don't need another organization than the technical idea of the blockchain to trade a book or to trade very rare stuff and to give it to someone who can say, ‘I really own a digital original.' And that's the idea of Creatokia.



Creatokia is the possibility — in a time of limitless supply in a digital era — to bring the original back into our world and connect two worlds, a digital world and a real world. And it's something for fans and creators and for storytellers and out of the perspective of Bookwire, the company that Jens and I founded 10, 11 years ago, the next step of digital publishing.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:50
Writing And Podcasting Poetry With Mark McGuinness https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/01/writing-and-podcasting-poetry/ Mon, 01 Nov 2021 07:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33378 <p>How can we balance creative passion projects with work that brings in an income? What are the different types of poetry and how can we bring them alive through the spoken word? Mark McGuinness talks about how poetry is at the center of his universe, fueling his creativity as well as informing his coaching business. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/11/01/writing-and-podcasting-poetry/">Writing And Podcasting Poetry With Mark McGuinness</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we balance creative passion projects with work that brings in an income? What are the different types of poetry and how can we bring them alive through the spoken word? Mark McGuinness talks about how poetry is at the center of his universe, How can we balance creative passion projects with work that brings in an income? What are the different types of poetry and how can we bring them alive through the spoken word?



Mark McGuinness talks about how poetry is at the center of his universe, fueling his creativity as well as informing his coaching business.



In the intro, Facebook rebrands as Meta [Facebook]; The metaverse for authors and publishing; Is the metaverse already here? [Unchained]; You Are a Writer, You Create and License Intellectual Property Assets; IP is the new frontlist [Kris Rusch].



Plus, Books2Read now has print links; How to Write for Markets That Sell webinar [K-lytics]; and the NaNoWriMo Storybundle for Writers.







Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, non-fiction author, and creative coach. He's also the host of two podcasts, The 21st Century Creative, and his new poetry show, A Mouthful of Air.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How poetry is the center of Mark's creative and business life* Balancing art and commerce* Why launch a poetry podcast?* Different approaches to poetry* Intellectual property issues with poetry* Ego and validation* Funding a podcast



You can find Mark McGuinness at AMouthfulOfAir.fm and on Twitter @amouthfulofair



Transcript of Interview with Mark McGuinness



Joanna: Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, non-fiction author, and creative coach. He's also the host of two podcasts, ‘The 21st Century Creative' and his new poetry show ‘A Mouthful of Air.' Welcome back to the show, Mark.



Mark: Thank you, Jo. It's always nice to be here.



Joanna: Indeed. You've been on the show a number of times, so we're not going to get into all of that. Today we're focusing on your poetry, which is exciting.



I wanted to start by asking about the integration. You've been running a successful creative business for many years.



What part does poetry play in your life in terms of creativity, and does it play any part in the business side?
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:02
The Ownership Economy. Business Models Around NFTs With Jessica Artemisia https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/29/the-ownership-economy-business-models-around-nfts/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 23:10:36 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33621 <p>What are the different ways that authors can use NFTs to reach readers and earn money with blockchain technology? How can we address the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is inevitable when faced with new technological options? Jessica Artemisia Mathieu explains some of the business models with NFTs. In the intro, and in a longer […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/29/the-ownership-economy-business-models-around-nfts/">The Ownership Economy. Business Models Around NFTs With Jessica Artemisia</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the different ways that authors can use NFTs to reach readers and earn money with blockchain technology? How can we address the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is inevitable when faced with new technological options? What are the different ways that authors can use NFTs to reach readers and earn money with blockchain technology? How can we address the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is inevitable when faced with new technological options? Jessica Artemisia Mathieu explains some of the business models with NFTs.



In the intro, and in a longer segment after the interview, I talk about some of the things I'm considering around what could be the ecosystem of the next iteration of online business.







This episode is sponsored by my wonderful patrons, who give me the freedom to investigate the future of creativity and share it with you here. If you find the episode useful, please consider supporting me at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn or buy me a coffee (or two!) at BuyMeACoffee.com/thecreativepenn







Jessica Artemisia Mathieu is a sci-fi fantasy author and digital marketing agency owner. She's also the creator of The Sovereigntii, which uses NFTs on blockchain as a new form of storytelling, community, and income.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Business models that authors can consider with NFTs* The language of NFTs and blockchain* How Jessica manages The Sovereigntii, and her collaborations with other creators in other worlds* How fear, uncertainty and doubt hold creatives back from what is already a thriving creator ecosystem* Copyright and NFTs (Note, it will all depend on your contract, smart or not!)* Addressing the ecological and environmental issues with blockchain* In the extended segment after the interview (at around 42 mins), I talk about what I learned and recap the business models, adding extra ideas around practicality, mindset, and licensing* The 3 things you need to do regardless of technological platform: Create IP, License it, Reach readers/Find an audience



You can find Jessica Artemisia at TheSovereigntii.com and on Twitter @JessArtemisia



Transcript of Interview with Jessica Artemisia



Joanna: Jessica Artemisia Mathieu is a sci-fi fantasy author and digital marketing agency owner. She's also the creator of ‘The Sovereigntii,' which uses NFTs of blockchain as a new form of storytelling, community, and income. Welcome, Jessica.



Jessica: Hi, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here.



Joanna: Oh, I'm excited to talk about this.



First up, tell us a bit more about you and your background in writing and publishing.



Jessica: Writing I started as soon as I could read and write. I've been a fantasy nerd my entire life and I've always dreamed of being a fantasy author. But I didn't start really, really writing until about 10 years ago.



I still didn't share because I never really felt that it made sense to try to pursue it professionally. Because the business models at the time … you could be a best-selling author and still need a day ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:04
Who Killed My Mother? Writing And Podcasting True Crime Memoir With Kory Shrum https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/25/writing-and-podcasting-true-crime-memoir/ Mon, 25 Oct 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33375 <p>On July 4, 2020, Kory Shrum received two phone calls. One from her uncle, saying her mother was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose. A second from a homicide detective saying he believes it was murder—and her uncle is the suspect. In this interview, Kory talks about how she turned her trauma into […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/25/writing-and-podcasting-true-crime-memoir/">Who Killed My Mother? Writing And Podcasting True Crime Memoir With Kory Shrum</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> On July 4, 2020, Kory Shrum received two phone calls. One from her uncle, saying her mother was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose. A second from a homicide detective saying he believes it was murder—and her uncle is the suspect. On July 4, 2020, Kory Shrum received two phone calls. One from her uncle, saying her mother was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose. A second from a homicide detective saying he believes it was murder—and her uncle is the suspect.



In this interview, Kory talks about how she turned her trauma into a true-crime podcast and memoir and how writing helped her process the experience.



In the intro, 6 ways that this is the best time in publishing [Publishing Perspectives]; Content Creators deserve a bigger slice of the pie [Kristin Nelson].







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Kory Shrum is a ‘USA Today' best-selling author of science fiction, fantasy, and thrillers. She's also a true-crime podcaster. Her latest book is a memoir, Who Killed My Mother?



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* Studying poetry as a way to develop skills for fiction* Making the choice to write a memoir about a very difficult subject* Why sharing feelings is so important in memoir* Tips for healthy ways to experience emotions while writing* Seeking the truth in memoir and how memory plays a part* Telling one story in multiple formats; podcast, book and audiobook



You can find Kory Shrum at WhoKilledMyMother.com and on Twitter @koryshrum



Transcript of Interview with Kory Shrum



Joanna: Kory Shrum is a ‘USA Today' best-selling author of science fiction, fantasy, and thrillers. She's also a true crime podcaster. And her latest book is a memoir, Who Killed My Mother? Welcome, Kory.



Kory: Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. I have been a fan of yours for years. I've been stalking you on the internet for years. And then I tried to steal your assistant, Alexandra. So it might be getting a little creepy at this point!



Joanna: I really appreciate your support. And also what we were saying before we started recording that, because of our connection, I've discovered your novels and our readers, but we share some readers in the fiction space.



I think a lot of this stuff is about connecting with people and people who are like us in some way. We've never met in person, maybe we never will, but it's so great to connect across the world, isn't it? So let's start.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Kory: I had loved books and writing and everything about ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:09
How to Research Your Book With Vikki Carter, The Author’s Librarian https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/18/how-to-research-your-book-authors-librarian/ Mon, 18 Oct 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33376 <p>How do you research a book in the most appropriate way? How can you keep track of your sources and attribute them correctly, as well as avoiding inadvertent plagiarism? How can you get your book/s into libraries? Vikki Carter talks about all these questions and more. In the intro, Has Amazon Changed Fiction? [New Republic]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/18/how-to-research-your-book-authors-librarian/">How to Research Your Book With Vikki Carter, The Author’s Librarian</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you research a book in the most appropriate way? How can you keep track of your sources and attribute them correctly, as well as avoiding inadvertent plagiarism? How can you get your book/s into libraries? How do you research a book in the most appropriate way? How can you keep track of your sources and attribute them correctly, as well as avoiding inadvertent plagiarism? How can you get your book/s into libraries? Vikki Carter talks about all these questions and more.



In the intro, Has Amazon Changed Fiction? [New Republic]; The Bigger the Publisher, The Blander the Books [The Atlantic]; A basic income pilot scheme for artists [Irish Times]; Struggles we face as authors [6 Figure Authors]; My 5-day solo walk along the St Cuthbert's Way.







This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com







Vikki Carter is the author of Research Like a Librarian: Research Help and Tips for Writers for Researching in the Digital Age.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Overcoming dyslexia and learning to love books* Research as a discipline* Choosing where to focus research* Different ways to research your book* How do we know when a source is good enough?* How to avoid accidental plagiarism* How to cite sources* How to get your books into libraries — this article will also help.



You can find Vikki Carter at TheAuthorsLibrarian.com and on Twitter @theauthorslib



Transcript of Interview with Vikki Carter



Joanna: Vikki Carter is the author of Research Like a Librarian: Research Help and Tips for Writers for Researching in the Digital Age. Welcome, Vikki.



Vikki: Hi there, Joanna. Hi, everyone.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today about this because I think it's so important.



Before we get into it, tell us a bit more about your background because I know you struggled a bit in your early experiences with books.



Vikki: Oh, I did. And it's such an interesting part of my story and I just actua...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:51
Build Better Worlds: Anthropology For Writers With Michael Kilman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/11/build-better-worlds-anthropology/ Mon, 11 Oct 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33374 <p>How can anthropology — the study of human cultures — teach us to build richer and more convincing worlds for our stories? What questions do we need to ask of our characters and settings to bring them alive? Michael Kilman talks about how anthropology can help with world-building in this episode. In the intro, the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/11/build-better-worlds-anthropology/">Build Better Worlds: Anthropology For Writers With Michael Kilman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can anthropology — the study of human cultures — teach us to build richer and more convincing worlds for our stories? What questions do we need to ask of our characters and settings to bring them alive? How can anthropology — the study of human cultures — teach us to build richer and more convincing worlds for our stories? What questions do we need to ask of our characters and settings to bring them alive? Michael Kilman talks about how anthropology can help with world-building in this episode.



In the intro, the late Sue Grafton's books licensed for film and TV even though she stated otherwise before she died [BookRiot]; Tina Turner sells IP rights [The Guardian]; Estate planning for authors; NaNoWriMo Storybundle; Pics from my St Cuthbert's Way walk on Instagram and Facebook; Relaxed Author interviews – 6 Figure Author and The Indy Author; Focus on your strengths [Ask ALLi]







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000+ retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Michael Kilman is an anthropologist, filmmaker, artist, science fiction author, and musician. Today we're talking about Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers, co-written with Kyra Wellstrom.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How knowing even a little bit about anthropology can support fictional world-building* How artifacts reflect what matters to a society* Important features of urban anthropology* Cautions about info-dumping when describing a world you’ve built* Thinking of cultures in terms of how the pieces work together to form a cohesive whole* Writing about different cultures without straying into cultural appropriation



You can find Michael Kilman at LoridiansLaboratory.com and on Twitter @LoridiansLab



Transcript of the Interview with Michael Kilman



Joanna: Michael Kilman is an anthropologist, filmmaker, artist,]]>
Joanna Penn full false
How To Use Mystery To Hook Your Readers With Jonah Lehrer https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/04/how-to-use-mystery-to-hook-your-readers/ Mon, 04 Oct 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33372 <p>How can you use elements of mystery to hook your readers, regardless of the genre you write? How can you make sure your writing process prevents errors or plagiarism? Jonah Lehrer covers these aspects and more. In the intro, KDP Print available in hardback; Bookvolts book-specific NFT platform [Medium]; Books for writers in the NaNoWriMo […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/10/04/how-to-use-mystery-to-hook-your-readers/">How To Use Mystery To Hook Your Readers With Jonah Lehrer</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use elements of mystery to hook your readers, regardless of the genre you write? How can you make sure your writing process prevents errors or plagiarism? Jonah Lehrer covers these aspects and more. In the intro, How can you use elements of mystery to hook your readers, regardless of the genre you write? How can you make sure your writing process prevents errors or plagiarism? Jonah Lehrer covers these aspects and more.



In the intro, KDP Print available in hardback; Bookvolts book-specific NFT platform [Medium]; Books for writers in the NaNoWriMo Storybundle; ALLi self-publishing conference; Tomb of Relics.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent, or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







Jonah Lehrer is a New York Times bestselling author of non-fiction and a journalist. His latest book is Mystery: A Seduction, A Strategy, A Solution.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How children’s Surprise Egg YouTube videos inspired the book* How do we know when an idea is big enough for a book?* Practical ways of bringing mystery into any story* How spoilers aren’t always bad* Using the rules of mystery in non-fiction* Recovering from a career-changing writing mistake, and how it has changed Jonah's writing process



You can find Jonah Lehrer at JonahLehrer.com.



Transcript of Interview with Jonah Lehrer



Joanna: Jonah Lehrer is a New York Times bestselling author of non-fiction and a journalist. His latest book is Mystery: A Seduction, A Strategy, A Solution. Welcome, Jonah.



Jonah: Thank you so much for having me.



Joanna: Oh, I'm excited to talk to you. So, let's get right into it.



Why a book about mystery? What was it that drew you to write about this topic?



Jonah: The book is full of examples drawn from the canon, from great works of literature, from ‘Hamlet' to Emily Dickinson, but what actually inspired me to write this book was watching my son watch YouTube videos.



He fell down the rabbit hole, this specific genre of kids YouTube video called ‘Surprise Eggs,' which, to make a long story short, if you haven't had the pleasure of watching these inane videos, it's essentially parents make these giant paper mache eggs and stuff th...]]>
Joanna Penn full false
Opportunities For Audiobooks And Introducing The Findaway Voices Marketplace With Will Dages https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/29/opportunities-for-audiobooks-and-introducing-the-findaway-voices-marketplace-with-will-dages/ Wed, 29 Sep 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33304 <p>How can you expand your creative and financial opportunities with audiobooks and podcasting? Will Dages from Findaway Voices talks about options as well as introducing the new Marketplace. Will Dages is the head of Findaway Voices, which helps authors produce and distribute audiobooks to a global network of platforms and listeners. You can listen above […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/29/opportunities-for-audiobooks-and-introducing-the-findaway-voices-marketplace-with-will-dages/">Opportunities For Audiobooks And Introducing The Findaway Voices Marketplace With Will Dages</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you expand your creative and financial opportunities with audiobooks and podcasting? Will Dages from Findaway Voices talks about options as well as introducing the new Marketplace. Will Dages is the head of Findaway Voices, How can you expand your creative and financial opportunities with audiobooks and podcasting? Will Dages from Findaway Voices talks about options as well as introducing the new Marketplace.







Will Dages is the head of Findaway Voices, which helps authors produce and distribute audiobooks to a global network of platforms and listeners.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Current trends and stats in the audiobook industry* Subscription services, libraries, and the future of audiobook consumption* Social audio* The crossover between podcasts and audiobooks and the potential for new forms of creativity when an audio product doesn't have to match a ‘book.'* Introducing Findaway Voices Marketplace, where authors can find and work directly with pro narrators



You can find Will Dages at FindawayVoices.com and on Twitter @FindawayVoices



Transcript of Interview with Will Dages



Joanna: Will Dages is the head of Findaway Voices, which helps authors produce and distribute audiobooks to a global network of platforms and listeners.



Findaway Voices was recently announced as London Book Fair's Audiobook Publisher of the Year in 2021, which is fantastic and well-deserved. Welcome back to the show Will.



Will: Thank you so much, Joanna. Always great to talk to you.



Joanna: We always geek out on audio. You were last on the show in early 2019. And the world has certainly changed since then.



Can you give us a high level overview of what the audiobook market looks like right now? And how has the pandemic changed things?



Will: Absolutely. Man, that feels like a lifetime ago. I'm sure you agree?



Joanna: Yeah.



Will: The world has been through a lot in those last two years. Luckily, though, one thing that has been pretty constant is the growth of audiobooks.



The latest APA stats show another 16% growth in sales year over year, which means eight straight years of double-digit revenue growth for audiobooks, which is fantastic.



Talking about the industry, they also have some interesting stats like 50% of audiobook listeners say they're making new time to listen to audiobooks. And I think the interesting thing there is, more and more surveys are coming out that the home is the most popular place to listen. Where a few years ago, I think that would be much more skewed towards cars and commute.



A lot of people think of audiobooks as being this kind of commute buddy. But more people are really carving out time in their leisure time at home, while doing chores, or housework, or exercising, or going on walks and finding time to listen there, which is helping grow the entire industry.



The other trend that we've been seeing industry-wide is shorter books getting more traction, people picking up books that are one, two, or three hours long. And as the market grows outside of Audible, where the credit model demands longer books.]]>
Joanna Penn full false
Co-Writing The Relaxed Author with Mark Leslie Lefebvre https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/27/co-writing-the-relaxed-author/ Mon, 27 Sep 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33373 <p>How can you be a more relaxed author when there is always so much more to do? How can you co-write a book and retain different voices in written text as well as audio? Mark Leslie Lefebvre and I discuss how we co-wrote The Relaxed Author and how we're publishing and marketing it. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/27/co-writing-the-relaxed-author/">Co-Writing The Relaxed Author with Mark Leslie Lefebvre</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you be a more relaxed author when there is always so much more to do? How can you co-write a book and retain different voices in written text as well as audio? Mark Leslie Lefebvre and I discuss how we co-wrote The Relaxed Author and how we're ... How can you be a more relaxed author when there is always so much more to do? How can you co-write a book and retain different voices in written text as well as audio? Mark Leslie Lefebvre and I discuss how we co-wrote The Relaxed Author and how we're publishing and marketing it.



In the intro, Netflix buys the Roald Dahl catalog [The Verge]; Chuck Palahniuk launches a Substack [LitReactor]; Gillian Flynn launches her own imprint [New York Times]; Tomb of Relics in edits; ProWritingAid tutorial; Selling direct tutorial.







Do you want to be a more relaxed author? The Relaxed Author: Take The Pressure Off Your Art and Enjoy The Creative Journey, out now in all the usual formats in all the usual places. You can also buy the ebook and audiobook direct from us at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn







Mark Leslie Lefebvre is a horror writer, publishing consultant, speaker, author of books for writers, and my co-writer for The Relaxed Author.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What matters when choosing a co-writing partner* Why a legal agreement is so important — even if you're friends* Sharing the various roles while writing and publishing* How royalty splitting works with Draft2Digital* Different styles of working * The benefits of recording conversations to use as a first draft — and the resulting challenges* Sharing launch duties and marketing tasks* Principles for the long-game



You can find Mark Leslie Lefebvre at MarkLeslie.ca and on Twitter @MarkLeslie



Transcript of Interview with Mark Leslie Lefebvre



Joanna: I'm here with Mark Leslie Lefebvre, horror writer, publishing consultant, speaker, author of books for writers and my co-writer for The Relaxed Author. Welcome back to the show, Mark.



Mark: Hey, Joanna. It's great to be here.



Joanna: So here we are finally. We both have the book The Relaxed Author and it's actually very pretty.]]>
Joanna Penn full false
Writing And Producing Audio Drama And Podcast Fiction With Sarah Werner https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/20/audio-drama-podcast-fiction/ Mon, 20 Sep 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33377 <p>The opportunities for creation and marketing in audio format continue to expand and the lines are blurring between audiobooks, podcasts and other forms of audio storytelling. In this episode, Sarah Werner talks about writing for audio first and the challenges of full-cast audio drama and podcast fiction. In the intro, problems with publishing distribution and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/20/audio-drama-podcast-fiction/">Writing And Producing Audio Drama And Podcast Fiction With Sarah Werner</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The opportunities for creation and marketing in audio format continue to expand and the lines are blurring between audiobooks, podcasts and other forms of audio storytelling. In this episode, Sarah Werner talks about writing for audio first and the cha... The opportunities for creation and marketing in audio format continue to expand and the lines are blurring between audiobooks, podcasts and other forms of audio storytelling. In this episode, Sarah Werner talks about writing for audio first and the challenges of full-cast audio drama and podcast fiction.



In the intro, problems with publishing distribution and supply chain for print books [Kris Rusch]; Reader Reach [Written Word Media]; Do authors need to advertise? [6 Figure Authors]; AI-narrated audio and NFTs from virtual Digital Book World sessions; AI 2041: 10 Visions for our Future by Kai-fu Lee and Chen Qiufan; all the future creativity episodes; The Relaxed Author out now; and my pics from the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean @jfpennauthor.







Today's show is sponsored by Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies. Do you want to create, publish and market your audiobooks? Are you ready to use podcasting to grow your author brand and reach more readers with your books? It's still early days for audio and opportunities are expanding all the time. This book will help you get started — or expand your audio reach. Available on all the usual platforms in all the usual formats (and yes, I narrated the audiobook!)







Sarah Rhea Werner is a writer, professional speaker, and executive producer of Girl In Space, a multiple award-winning sci-fi mystery podcast, as well as the host of the Write Now podcast, and executive producer of fantasy audio drama Omen.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Switching from blogging to podcasting* How writing for audio differs from writing a book* Do different kinds of novels work better as audio drama?* Is having a narrator an option for audio drama?* Options for monetizing a podcast or audio drama* On the potential for using AI voices for audio drama* Finding actors, sound effects and music, as well as important copyright issues* Marketing tips for podcasts and audio drama



You can find Sarah Werner at SarahWerner.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:57
Travel Writing With Jeremy Bassetti https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/13/travel-writing-jeremy-bassetti/ Mon, 13 Sep 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32963 <p>What are the different types of travel books and how can you blend them within the genre? How can we tackle our imposter syndrome when writing in a genre we love? Jeremy Bassetti explores these questions and more in today's show. In the intro, my 10-year author entrepreneur lessons learned; the different stages of an […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/13/travel-writing-jeremy-bassetti/">Travel Writing With Jeremy Bassetti</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the different types of travel books and how can you blend them within the genre? How can we tackle our imposter syndrome when writing in a genre we love? Jeremy Bassetti explores these questions and more in today's show. In the intro, What are the different types of travel books and how can you blend them within the genre? How can we tackle our imposter syndrome when writing in a genre we love? Jeremy Bassetti explores these questions and more in today's show.



In the intro,
my 10-year author entrepreneur lessons learned; the different stages of an author business [Ask Alli]; London: A Personal History.







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Jeremy Bassetti is a travel writer, editor, teacher, and author of historical fiction. He's the host of two podcasts, Travel Writing World and Sonus Loci: The Sound of Place.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 



Show Notes



* What drives the human desire for travel?* The different types of travel books. Jeremy has a great article on this: 10 Travel Book Sub-Genres with Examples* Is an emotional journey necessary in a travel memoir?* How nature writing and travel writing overlap* Pitfalls to watch out for in travel writing* Sensory descriptions that bring readers a richer experience* How to deal with travel writer imposter syndrome — and how practice can help you break through it (and I have some personal reflections on this in the show introduction!)



You can find Jeremy Bassetti at JeremyBassetti.com and on Twitter @jeremybassetti



Transcript of Interview with Jeremy Bassetti



Joanna: Jeremy Bassetti is a travel writer, editor, teacher, and author of historical fiction. He's the host of two podcasts, Travel Writing World and Sonus Loci: The Sound of Place. Welcome, Jeremy.



Jeremy: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here, Jo.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



Jeremy: I'm a teacher and I've been doing academic research and writing for literally half of my life since university. My plan was always to turn my attention to creative writing, to creative nonfiction when I finished grad school.



I always said that like I didn't want to be a secondary source. I wanted to be a primary source. I wanted to create the type of things that I was s...]]> Joanna Penn full false 58:49 Author Mindset: Strengths For Writers With Becca Syme https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/06/strengths-for-writers/ Mon, 06 Sep 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33371 <p>We all have different strengths as writers, but sometimes we don't know what they are. Or we get frustrated because we try to succeed at something that just won't work for our personality. In this interview, Becca Syme explains how our strengths can help us and how to ‘question the premise' whenever we face different […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/09/06/strengths-for-writers/">Author Mindset: Strengths For Writers With Becca Syme</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We all have different strengths as writers, but sometimes we don't know what they are. Or we get frustrated because we try to succeed at something that just won't work for our personality. In this interview, We all have different strengths as writers, but sometimes we don't know what they are. Or we get frustrated because we try to succeed at something that just won't work for our personality.



In this interview, Becca Syme explains how our strengths can help us and how to ‘question the premise' whenever we face different career choices and varied writing advice.



In the intro, 14 Reasons Agenting is Harder Now than 20 Years Ago [Kristin Nelson]; Salman Rushdie will release his novel on SubStack [The Guardian]; Tree of Life on special; Transience and Permanence on the Pilgrim's Way [Sacred Steps]







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Becca Syme is an author, coach, and creator of the Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery and also writes the ‘Dear Writer' series of non-fiction books.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Lessons learned from burnout* Why we need to be aware of how we spend energy* Questioning the premise* How knowing our individual strengths can help us as writers. Becca and her team specialize in the Clifton Strengths assessment and coaching. You can also just do the assessment at Gallup, but it's not specifically for writers. [If you're interested, my top 5 strengths are Learner, Intellection, Strategic, Input, and Futuristic.] * How Becca uses video for content marketing and prefers word of mouth to ads for her business.



You can find Becca Syme at BetterFasterAcademy.com and on Twitter @beck_a_tron. Check out her QuitCast on YouTube.



Transcript of Interview with Becca Syme



Joanna: Becca Syme is an author, coach, and creator of the Better-Faster Academy. She is a USA Today bestselling author of small-town romance and cozy mystery,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:27
Narrative Design In The Gaming Industry With Edwin McRae https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/30/narrative-design-in-the-gaming-industry/ Mon, 30 Aug 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33268 <p>How can you design a story that branches into multiple directions? How does writing for games help with writing a novel? Ed McRae explains narrative design and the opportunities for writers in the gaming industry. In the intro, ‘the inevitable decline of open platforms' [Seth Godin]; pros and cons of different print distribution models [Adam […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/30/narrative-design-in-the-gaming-industry/">Narrative Design In The Gaming Industry With Edwin McRae</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you design a story that branches into multiple directions? How does writing for games help with writing a novel? Ed McRae explains narrative design and the opportunities for writers in the gaming industry. In the intro, How can you design a story that branches into multiple directions? How does writing for games help with writing a novel? Ed McRae explains narrative design and the opportunities for writers in the gaming industry.



In the intro, ‘the inevitable decline of open platforms' [Seth Godin]; pros and cons of different print distribution models [Adam Croft; ALLi]; Canterbury: A History of England Written in Stone.







Do you need help with editing and cover design, marketing, or translations? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy







Edwin McRae is a freelance narrative designer for the games industry. He's also a game design teacher, and writer of nonfiction for authors, including Narrative Design for Writers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is narrative design in video games?* Why is gaming important to the entertainment industry?* How writing for games differs from writing a linear book* Creating many options for story beats and character actions* Writing like a reader* The skills needed to break into different areas of writing for games* The increased opportunities for writers with gaming, AI, VR and AR



You can find Edwin McRae at EdMcRae.com and on Twitter @edmcraewriter



Transcript of Interview with Edwin McRae



Joanna: Edwin McRae is a freelance narrative designer for the games industry. He's also a game design teacher, and writer of nonfiction for authors, including Narrative Design for Writers. Welcome, Edwin.



Edwin: Kia ora Joanna, and tena koutou to your audience. It's really cool to be here.



Joanna: You should probably just explain that.



Edwin: I just said, basically, ‘Hello,' and ‘Hello everyone,' in Maori.



Joanna: It's because you're in New Zealand, right?



Edwin: Exactly.



Joanna: Just so everybody knows.



Edwin: Yeah, it's quite nice. A lot of people here we try to use Te Reo, which is Te Reo Maori, in everyday conversation as much as possible these days. So, we're all gradually becoming bilingual.



Joanna: Interesting.



Tell us a bit more about how you got into writing and what your job actually is like.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:08:00
Stories Are What Save Us: Writing About Trauma With David Chrisinger https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/23/writing-trauma-memoir/ Mon, 23 Aug 2021 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33302 <p>Writing can help us process trauma — whatever that means for you — as well as help others through our words. In this episode, David Chrisinger explains why stories can save us. In the intro, thoughts on print distribution [Jane Friedman]; Hachette's acquisition of Workman and why backlist is key [The New Publishing Standard]; Your […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/23/writing-trauma-memoir/">Stories Are What Save Us: Writing About Trauma With David Chrisinger</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing can help us process trauma — whatever that means for you — as well as help others through our words. In this episode, David Chrisinger explains why stories can save us. In the intro, thoughts on print distribution [Jane Friedman]; Hachette's ac... Writing can help us process trauma — whatever that means for you — as well as help others through our words. In this episode, David Chrisinger explains why stories can save us.



In the intro, thoughts on print distribution [Jane Friedman]; Hachette's acquisition of Workman and why backlist is key [The New Publishing Standard]; Your Author Business Plan; The Magic Bakery.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna.







David Chrisinger is an award-winning nonfiction author and teaches writing at the University of Chicago. His latest book is Stories Are What Save Us: A Survivor's Guide to Writing About Trauma.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is trauma and how is it different for different people?* How to write about trauma without suffering further* Is it possible to write a factual memoir?* Tips for creating space between you and the ‘character’ you are writing about* How do we deal with people who might be hurt by what we write?



You can find David Chrisinger at DavidChrisinger.com and on Twitter @StrongerAtBP



Transcript of interview with David Chrisinger



Joanna: David Chrisinger is an award-winning nonfiction author and teaches writing at the University of Chicago. His latest book is Stories Are What Save Us: A Survivor's Guide to Writing About Trauma. Welcome, David.



David: Thank you so much for having me.



Joanna: It's great to have you on the show.



Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.



David: I sometimes joke that I'm about a million miles from where I thought I was going to be when I started college because I went to college initially to be either a wildlife or a forest manager. And I even got certified to fight wildlife and forest fires.



For whatever reason, I realized halfway through that, it was more of an interest or a hobby,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 59:59
Worldbuilding With Angeline Trevena https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/16/worldbuilding/ Mon, 16 Aug 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33159 <p>If you write fiction in any genre, you need to build your world. Whether it's the cozy coffee shop in your romance, or a complete fantasy world, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland, world-building can strengthen your plot and bring depth and conflict to your characters. Angeline Trevena gives plenty of tips in this episode. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/16/worldbuilding/">Worldbuilding With Angeline Trevena</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you write fiction in any genre, you need to build your world. Whether it's the cozy coffee shop in your romance, or a complete fantasy world, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland, world-building can strengthen your plot and bring depth and conflict to yo... If you write fiction in any genre, you need to build your world. Whether it's the cozy coffee shop in your romance, or a complete fantasy world, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland, world-building can strengthen your plot and bring depth and conflict to your characters. Angeline Trevena gives plenty of tips in this episode.



In the intro, the inevitability of unlimited subscription [The New Publishing Standard]; Scarlett Johansson vs Disney [BBC]; Notes from a small London publisher [Publishing Perspectives]; the rise in ecommerce and opportunities for authors [Kris Writes]; my tutorial on selling direct; Continued difficulty in writing during the pandemic [@writermels on Twitter]







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Angeline Trevena is the author of urban fantasy and dystopian fiction, as well as nonfiction for authors. She's the co-host of the Unstoppable Authors podcast and organizes events for authors.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Different types of world-building* Ideas for how to build different worlds* Creating cultures and characters that make good stories* The importance in a culture for the potential for conflict* Guidelines to follow when creating a magic system* The three things world building needs to achieve in a book* Tips on the use of maps and where to find map illustrators or learn how to DIY* Mistakes to avoid when world building* How to backwards engineer an apocalypse



You can find Angeline Trevena at AngelineTrevena.co.uk and on Twitter @AngelineTrevena



Transcript of interview with Angeline Trevena



Joanna: Angeline Trevena is the author of urban fantasy and dystopian fiction, as well as nonfiction for authors. She's the co-host of the ‘Unstoppable Authors' podcast,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:25
The Metaverse For Authors And Publishing. Web 3.0, VR, AR, And The Spatial Web https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/13/the-metaverse-for-authors-and-publishing/ Thu, 12 Aug 2021 23:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33390 <p>Web 2.0 enabled the digital revolution that transformed the possibilities for authors and creators, so how will Web 3.0 transform it again over the next decade? This is a special futurist in-betweenisode on what many are calling Web 3.0 which encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), the metaverse, and the spatial web. It’s intended […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/13/the-metaverse-for-authors-and-publishing/">The Metaverse For Authors And Publishing. Web 3.0, VR, AR, And The Spatial Web</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Web 2.0 enabled the digital revolution that transformed the possibilities for authors and creators, so how will Web 3.0 transform it again over the next decade? This is a special futurist in-betweenisode on what many are calling Web 3. Web 2.0 enabled the digital revolution that transformed the possibilities for authors and creators, so how will Web 3.0 transform it again over the next decade?



This is a special futurist in-betweenisode on what many are calling Web 3.0 which encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), the metaverse, and the spatial web. It’s intended to give you an awareness of what’s coming as opposed to specific advice on what to do about it since this really is an emerging area. 







Thanks to my patrons whose support enables me to do these special extra episodes. If you find this useful, please consider supporting the show at patreon.com/thecreativepenn or BuyMeACoffee.com/thecreativepenn 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Definitions of AR, VR, Web 3.0, the metaverse, and the spatial web* Virtual worlds and augmented reality for authors and publishing — Chapter 5 from Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry* Developments since December 2020 — and the potential opportunities for authors and publishing in the next few years* What you can do now to prepare * Recommended books and resources



You can find more of my future of publishing episodes here.







Definitions of AR, VR, Web 3.0, the metaverse, and the spatial web



AR (Augmented Reality) — AR layers digital over physical reality and this is already available in limited ways through your phone.



For example, you might have played with filters on social media changing the color of your hair, or adding ears or other features. 



AR hair and makeup filters will make it SOOOOOO much easier to do video!



IKEA has an app that will place furniture in your house. Just choose the furniture, hold up your phone and you can see it in your living room. 



There is a 3D option within Google Maps where it will layer directions over the real world, pointing you in the right direction. 



Google Maps 3D overlays directions on top of the real world



You can also use Google real-time translation. Open the Google app and use Google Lens. Choose the Translate option and hold the camera over some text in another language. Here’s one of my ebooks in French which you can see translated in real-time.



translation in google lens. the formatting isn't great but the meaning is clear



AR applications can be accessed through mobile devices with cameras and also wearables like glasses or even contact lenses in coming years. This is already being used at the enterprise level with devices like
Joanna Penn full false 56:46
Lessons Learned From A Decade Of Self-Publishing And Marketing Children’s Books With Karen Inglis https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/09/a-decade-of-self-publishing-and-marketing-childrens-books/ Mon, 09 Aug 2021 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32964 <p>Taking the long-term view plus taking advantage of new marketing tactics can help you sell more books, as Karen Inglis talks about in this interview. In the intro, Pearson launches a subscription app [The Bookseller]; A+ content could help you sell more books [The Hotsheet]; Takeaways from Podcast Movement 2021 around the audio eco-system and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/09/a-decade-of-self-publishing-and-marketing-childrens-books/">Lessons Learned From A Decade Of Self-Publishing And Marketing Children’s Books With Karen Inglis</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Taking the long-term view plus taking advantage of new marketing tactics can help you sell more books, as Karen Inglis talks about in this interview. In the intro, Pearson launches a subscription app [The Bookseller]; A+ content could help you sell mor... Taking the long-term view plus taking advantage of new marketing tactics can help you sell more books, as Karen Inglis talks about in this interview.



In the intro, Pearson launches a subscription app [
The Bookseller]; A+ content could help you sell more books [The Hotsheet]; Takeaways from Podcast Movement 2021 around the audio eco-system and Facebook for Podcasts. Plus, new free video series on book marketing from Nick Stephenson, and Ask an Adventurer by Alastair Humphreys.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content–do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Karen Inglis is the best-selling author of books for children, including The Secret Lake, Eeek! The Runaway Alien and The Tell-Me Tree. Her book for authors, How to Self-Publish and Market a Children's Book has recently been released as a second edition.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Writing children's books across different age groups* Sales split between print and ebook* Quality of picture books from POD suppliers and when it's worth doing a print run* Selling local. Schools, bookstores, and libraries* How marketing children’s books has changed* Why experimenting with ads is key* Licensing foreign rights* The long-term view of success



You can find Karen Inglis at SelfPublishingAdventures.com and on Twitter @kareninglis



Transcript of Interview with Karen Inglis



Joanna: Karen Inglis is the best-selling author of books for children, including The Secret Lake, Eeek! The Runaway Alien and The Tell-Me Tree. Her book for authors, How to Self-Publish and Market a Children's Book has recently been released as a second edition. Welcome back to the show, Karen.



Karen: Oh, thank you for having me again, Joanna. It's lovely to be here.



Joanna: Now, you were last on the show in 2018. And since then, of course, you've written more books.



Give us an overview as to what books you have now and also what age groups because I know that's always important for the children's market.



Karen: In terms of new books beyond those I have already, of course, I've got my picture books, the original ones, Ferdinand Fox picture books. But I now have two new picture books since we last spoke.



I have The Christmas Tree Wish,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:10:16 Bringing Old World Publishing Skills To New World Creators With John Bond From White Fox https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/06/bringing-old-world-publishing-skills-to-new-world-creators/ Fri, 06 Aug 2021 08:44:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33361 <p>What has changed in publishing over the last decade? How can a reputable author services company help you achieve your publishing goals? In this interview with John Bond from White Fox, we discuss aspects of the publishing journey. If you are considering working with an author services company or publishing partner, check whether they are […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/06/bringing-old-world-publishing-skills-to-new-world-creators/">Bringing Old World Publishing Skills To New World Creators With John Bond From White Fox</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What has changed in publishing over the last decade? How can a reputable author services company help you achieve your publishing goals? In this interview with John Bond from White Fox, we discuss aspects of the publishing journey. What has changed in publishing over the last decade? How can a reputable author services company help you achieve your publishing goals? In this interview with John Bond from White Fox, we discuss aspects of the publishing journey.



If you are considering working with an author services company or publishing partner, check whether they are a Partner Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and whether the ALLi Watchdog service rates them well. You can also check for scams and bad companies at Writer Beware.






John Bond is the CEO of White Fox, a premium publishing and book marketing partner for industry leaders, writers, and brands based in the UK and U.S.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* What’s changed in the decade since John started White Fox



* How the pandemic has accelerated changes in publishing



* How attitudes toward independent creatives have changed in the last decade



* Crowdfunding for special limited edition book projects



* How to find a quality publishing partner and avoid getting scammed




You can find John Bond at wearewhitefox.com — or if you want to support the podcast, please use TheCreativePenn.com/whitefox or tell him I sent you! You can also find him on Twitter @wearewhitefox



Transcript of interview with John Bond



Joanna Penn: John Bond is the CEO of whitefox, a premium publishing and book marketing partner for industry leaders, writers, and brands based in the UK and U.S. Welcome, John.



John Bond: Hello, Joanna, how are you?



Joanna Penn: I'm excited to talk to you today. So let's start.



Tell us a bit more about you and your publishing journey.



John Bond: I started, I guess in a bookshop. That was the beginning, a bookshop in North London. I ended up applying for and getting a job as you did in those days as a marketing manager at Penguin, as it was then, now Penguin Random House, in the early 1990s.



I had three interviews for that job. The last one of which was two questions. What are you reading? And do you play golf? So I think that probably says more about that period of publishing.



Joanna Penn: Publishing history, indeed!



John Bond: I ended up being marketing director there and then I went to HarperCollins in the UK and ran sales and marketing there. I ended up running their literary fiction and non-fiction division, including Fourth Estate.



I left HarperCollins in the UK in 2011 and set up White Fox early in 2012 with one of my colleagues from HarperCollins, Annabel Wright. We started working in a cafe in East London with two laptops and trying to organize a diaspora of freelancers around the world.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 35:49
Rediscover Your Creative Free Spirit With Peleg Top https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/02/rediscover-your-creative-free-spirit/ Mon, 02 Aug 2021 06:15:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33301 <p>How can you rediscover your creative free spirit if you're feeling burned out? How can you combine creativity, spirituality and money to experience more in your author life? Peleg Top talks about these things and more in today's interview. In the intro, adding A+ content to your Amazon book pages; Audible launches Premium Plus in […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/08/02/rediscover-your-creative-free-spirit/">Rediscover Your Creative Free Spirit With Peleg Top</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you rediscover your creative free spirit if you're feeling burned out? How can you combine creativity, spirituality and money to experience more in your author life? Peleg Top talks about these things and more in today's interview. How can you rediscover your creative free spirit if you're feeling burned out? How can you combine creativity, spirituality and money to experience more in your author life? Peleg Top talks about these things and more in today's interview.



In the intro, adding A+ content to your Amazon book pages; Audible launches Premium Plus in the UK [The Bookseller]; and Audiblegate goes on. Shopify introduces NFTs [TechCrunch], Jeanette Winterson's 12 Bytes; and A Mid-Life Journey through US National Parks.







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Peleg Top is an artist and a coach, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He serves the accomplished creative community with workshops and retreats, as well as his transformational course, 100 Days of Creative High Growth.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Pivoting to a new type of creative work after burnout* Searching for our creative free spirit* The importance of expanding, moving forward, and taking risks* Facing fear when making a big change* Advice for those creatives who feel stagnant* The importance of creating just for the joy of it* Bringing creativity to the flow of money



You can find Peleg Top at PelegTop.com and on Twitter @pelegtop



Transcript of interview with Peleg Top



Joanna: Peleg Top is an artist and a coach, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He serves the accomplished creative community with workshops and retreats, as well as his transformational course, ‘100 Days of Creative High Growth.' Welcome to the show, Peleg.



Peleg: Thank you. Good to be here.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you, and several of my close creative friends are your clients, and so I'm very excited about today.



Peleg: Me too. Thanks for having me.



Joanna: We're going back in time a bit. You had this incredibly successful career building one of LA's leading creative agencies, and you served clients in the music and entertainment industry; pretty sexy stuff, to be honest.



What made you pivot from what many would consider the height of creative business s...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:52
Writing And Publishing Literary Fiction With Roz Morris https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/26/literary-fiction-roz-morris-2/ Mon, 26 Jul 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32955 <p>How do you know when the seed of an idea is enough for a novel? What makes literary fiction different from other genres? Roz Morris shares her writing process from idea to the publication of Ever Rest. In the intro, my experience of COVID, my interview on Story of a Storyteller, and A Mouthful of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/26/literary-fiction-roz-morris-2/">Writing And Publishing Literary Fiction With Roz Morris</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you know when the seed of an idea is enough for a novel? What makes literary fiction different from other genres? Roz Morris shares her writing process from idea to the publication of Ever Rest. In the intro, my experience of COVID, How do you know when the seed of an idea is enough for a novel? What makes literary fiction different from other genres? Roz Morris shares her writing process from idea to the publication of Ever Rest.



In the intro, my experience of COVID, my interview on Story of a Storyteller, and A Mouthful of Air poetry podcast.







Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna.







Roz Morris is a best-selling author as a ghost writer and an award nominated author with her own literary novels. She writes writing craft books for authors under the Nail Your Novel brand, and is also an editor, speaker, and writing coach. Today, we're talking about writing literary fiction and Roz's latest novel, Ever Rest.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The difference between literary fiction and genre fiction* How to know when an idea is right for exploring in literary fiction* How Roz incorporates music into her writing process* Research and preparation before the writing begins* Revising a book the way music is mixed* Giving a novel space to breathe while it is evolving* How do you design a book cover that doesn’t fit into a genre?



You can find Roz Morris at RozMorris.org and on Twitter @Roz_Morris



Transcription of interview with Roz Morris



Joanna: Roz Morris is a best-selling author as a ghost writer and an award nominated author with her own literary novels. She writes writing craft books for authors under the Nail Your Novel brand, and is also an editor, speaker, and writing coach. Today, we're talking about writing literary fiction and Roz's latest novel, Ever Rest.



Welcome back to the show, Roz.



Roz: Hi, Jo. It's great to be back again. I love these shows.



Joanna: We've literally been doing these on and off for over a decade now. You're one of the regulars on the show.



I'm excited to talk about this. So, as I said, you've been on the show a lot. People can go back and listen to your history, so we're just going to dive into the topic. I wanted to start with a definition.



What is literary fiction as compared to genre fiction? And why is it such an emotional question?



Roz: Usually literary fiction is bigger than just the story and the characters. There's usually a sense of universality. The writing is often more nuanced than…maybe sometimes...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:15
Gentle Book Marketing With Sarah Santacroce https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/19/gentle-book-marketing/ Mon, 19 Jul 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33025 <p>Can book marketing really be gentle, sustainable — and even enjoyable? Sarah Santacroce talks about how to reframe marketing and gives ideas for marketing your books. In the intro, Kindle Vella launches in the US [The Next Web]; A UK report calls for a reset in music streaming revenues to ensure fairer pay for artists […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/19/gentle-book-marketing/">Gentle Book Marketing With Sarah Santacroce</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Can book marketing really be gentle, sustainable — and even enjoyable? Sarah Santacroce talks about how to reframe marketing and gives ideas for marketing your books. In the intro, Kindle Vella launches in the US [The Next Web]; A UK report calls for a... Can book marketing really be gentle, sustainable — and even enjoyable? Sarah Santacroce talks about how to reframe marketing and gives ideas for marketing your books.



In the intro, Kindle Vella launches in the US [The Next Web]; A UK report calls for a reset in music streaming revenues to ensure fairer pay for artists [BBC] and how it relates to authors and publishing [The Bookseller]; are you in a mid-year pandemic slump? and a wet adventure walk [Books and Travel]






This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 






Sarah Santacroce is the author of The Gentle Marketing Revolution: A Radical Business Approach to Getting New Clients with Integrity and Kindness. She's also a business coach, podcaster, LinkedIn specialist, and the founder of The Gentle Business Revolution.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes




* How a breakdown led to a breakthrough



* What does ‘gentle’ mean when it comes to marketing?



* Why client avatars are overrated



* Building a brand around yourself so that when you pivot you can take your audience with you



* Making a book launch about the message, not about you, the author



* Lessons learned from a Kickstarter book launch



* Pitching podcasters




You can find Sarah Santacroce at SarahSantacroce.com and on Twitter @sarahsantacroce



Transcript of interview with Sarah Santacroce



Joanna: Sarah Santacroce is the author of The Gentle Marketing Revolution: A Radical Business Approach to Getting New Clients with Integrity and Kindness. She's also a business coach, podcaster, LinkedIn specialist, and the founder of The Gentle Business Revolution. Welcome, Sarah.



Sarah: Hi, Joanna. Thanks so much for having me. This is fun.



Joanna: Tell us a bit more about you and your background in business and writing, and also where you are in the world as I think people would find that interesting.



Sarah: Off recording, we said we're both Europeans,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:28
Co-Creating With AI Writing And Image Tools With Shane Neeley https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/16/co-creating-with-ai-writing-and-image-tools/ Fri, 16 Jul 2021 16:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33160 <p>How can co-creating with AI tools enhance your writing process — and make it more fun? Shane Neeley talks about his AI-augmented writing and visual art creations. This futurist show is sponsored by my Patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. If you find it useful and you don't want to support every month, you could Buy Me A […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/16/co-creating-with-ai-writing-and-image-tools/">Co-Creating With AI Writing And Image Tools With Shane Neeley</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can co-creating with AI tools enhance your writing process — and make it more fun? Shane Neeley talks about his AI-augmented writing and visual art creations. This futurist show is sponsored by my Patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. How can co-creating with AI tools enhance your writing process — and make it more fun? Shane Neeley talks about his AI-augmented writing and visual art creations.



This futurist show is sponsored by my Patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. If you find it useful and you don't want to support every month, you could Buy Me A Coffee (as I drink a lot of it!).







Shane Neeley is a data scientist and software engineer. He's also the author of AI Art – Poetry and Stone Age Code: From Monkey Business to AI.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Shane's background in bioengineering and programming* How co-creating with AI is fun and brings a different spark to creativity* The co-creation process with AI writing and image tools* Tips for prompt engineering and how to change your mindset around AI* Why it's important to make art with technology* AI-augmented creativity and how we can work with AI tools



You can find Shane Neeley at ShaneNeeley.com and on Twitter @chimpsarehungry



Transcript of Interview with Shane Neeley



Joanna: Shane Neeley is a data scientist and software engineer. He's also the author of AI Art – Poetry and Stone Age Code: From Monkey Business to AI. Welcome, Shane.



Shane: Hey, Joanna. So happy to be here.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. So, first up, tell us a bit about how you went from lab scientist to programmer and then author.



How does your biological background help you to understand AI?



Shane: I worked in laboratories after my undergrad for several years, as one does, looking for stem cells in monkey knee cartilage, engineering new viruses to inject into monkeys, various radioactive things and inhaling formaldehyde, and all of that.



I eventually thought, ‘Yuck. I don't want to do this anymore.' I joined a lab that had a lot of data, because they were doing genetic sequencing, and the boss was using an old programming language from the '90s in some scripts, and I was able to upgrade some of his scripts into some more modern Python programs.



He was super happy with that, so he had me, instead of doing all the monkey procedures and virus work, he had me sit down and program, and help the lab out with that. So that's how I got started and found out being a coder was a much more preferable job for me.



And I've been doing AI writing in the last year, and it's been amazing. It's been, for an engineer biologist like myself, during the pandemic, pretty much exactly when it started was when I had some extra time to become more creative. But I wanted to use the angle of my skills as a programmer in order to do that.



And in my day job right now, I'm at a cancer research search engine. We rank the various documents for clinical trials and publications on cancer treatments. And so we have millions of documents of language.



We built a search engine so that we could rank the most relevant ones for a patient,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 45:07
Writing And Marketing Crime Fiction With Ed James https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/12/writing-and-marketing-crime-fiction/ Mon, 12 Jul 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33011 <p>What are the key elements of a good crime novel? How can you reboot your author career through publishing and marketing changes? Ed James shares insights on his writing craft and author business. In the intro, Jeff Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon [The Verge]; Why this is the best time to be in […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/12/writing-and-marketing-crime-fiction/">Writing And Marketing Crime Fiction With Ed James</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the key elements of a good crime novel? How can you reboot your author career through publishing and marketing changes? Ed James shares insights on his writing craft and author business. In the intro, What are the key elements of a good crime novel? How can you reboot your author career through publishing and marketing changes? Ed James shares insights on his writing craft and author business.



In the intro, Jeff Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon [The Verge]; Why this is the best time to be in publishing [The Hotsheet]; Why enterprise publishing is on the rise [Mike Shatzkin]; plus I'm on the Intermittent Fasting Stories Podcast.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Ed James is a Scottish crime author with over 20 crime and thriller novels spanning five different series set across Edinburgh, Dundee, London and the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The differences between crime audiences in the US vs UK* The essential elements of a crime novel* How Ed’s engineering background influences his writing and plotting* Where ideas come from and how to keep things original while adhering to genre tropes* Curiosity as a muscle* Different publishing choices for different books at different times* The importance of book covers for book marketing



You can find Ed James at EdJames.co.uk and on Twitter @EdJamesAuthor



Transcript of interview with Ed James



Joanna Penn: Ed James is a Scottish crime author with over 20 crime and thriller novels spanning five different series set across Edinburgh, Dundee, London and the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A. Welcome, Ed.



Ed James: Hi, Joanna. It's good to catch up again after so long.



Joanna Penn: Indeed, and we see each other in person occasionally at events.



Tell us a bit more about you, and how you got into writing.



Ed James: My path to writing was because I was looking for a creative outlet as I was growing up, and it used to be music, and I was in bands and so on and so forth, and then that all died a bit in about 2005, 2006 time.



I was very angry about music, and how much time I'd spent on it and a lot of other things, so I just started channeling my energies into writing. And over that next four years, it was a case of writing what people call practice novels, I suppose, over various genres, sending them off to agents, getting absolutely nothing other than maybe a few ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:40
From Self-Published Book To A Life-Changing Health Movement With Gin Stephens https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/05/intermittent-fasting-gin-stephens/ Mon, 05 Jul 2021 06:10:48 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32776 <p>Your personal story can change other people's lives, but only if you get your words into the world. In this episode, Gin Stephens shares how she self-published her first book on intermittent fasting and went on to get a traditional deal for more books, and lead a community of people into a healthier way of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/07/05/intermittent-fasting-gin-stephens/">From Self-Published Book To A Life-Changing Health Movement With Gin Stephens</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Your personal story can change other people's lives, but only if you get your words into the world. In this episode, Gin Stephens shares how she self-published her first book on intermittent fasting and went on to get a traditional deal for more books,... Your personal story can change other people's lives, but only if you get your words into the world.



In this episode, Gin Stephens shares how she self-published her first book on intermittent fasting and went on to get a traditional deal for more books, and lead a community of people into a healthier way of life. [For more on my IF journey, listen to Intermittent Fasting Stories episode 155.]



In the intro, Jane Friedman on SPS; my 2021 book sales revenue breakdown; my Author Timeline; Clifton Strengths Assessment. Plus, I recommend Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention.







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Gin Stephens is the New York Times bestselling author of Fast. Feast. Repeat., Delay, Don't Deny, and Feast Without Fear. She's also a podcaster with three shows, including Intermittent Fasting Stories, which is one of my favorites.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Getting over fear of judgment when writing a personal story* Writing with the aim to teach and help others* The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing* How podcasting sells books* Don't depend on one platform! The importance of owning the tools you use to reach your community and followers. Why Gin gave up Facebook.



You can find Gin Stephens at GinStephens.com and at The DDD Social Network and on Twitter @gin_stephens



Transcript of Interview with Gin Stephens



Joanna: Gin Stephens is the New York Times bestselling author of Fast. Feast. Repeat., Delay, Don't Deny, and Feast Without Fear. She's also a podcaster with three shows, including Intermittent Fasting Stories, which is one of my favorites. Welcome to the show, Gin.



Gin: Thank you for having me. And I'm so glad that's one of your favorites.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:43
Writing Humor And Insights From A Long Term Creative Career With Scott Dikkers https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/28/writing-humor-and-insights-from-a-long-term-creative-career-with-scott-dikkers/ Mon, 28 Jun 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32957 <p>How can you write funny characters and make readers laugh with your writing? Plus the importance of long-term thinking and multiple streams of income when it comes to a career in comedy (or any creative field!). Scott Dikkers talks about these things and more in this episode. In the intro, Draft2Digital announces distribution to library […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/28/writing-humor-and-insights-from-a-long-term-creative-career-with-scott-dikkers/">Writing Humor And Insights From A Long Term Creative Career With Scott Dikkers</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write funny characters and make readers laugh with your writing? Plus the importance of long-term thinking and multiple streams of income when it comes to a career in comedy (or any creative field!). How can you write funny characters and make readers laugh with your writing? Plus the importance of long-term thinking and multiple streams of income when it comes to a career in comedy (or any creative field!). Scott Dikkers talks about these things and more in this episode.



In the intro, Draft2Digital announces distribution to library service BorrowBox; a thought experiment on the US Bills to break up Big Tech [Sway Podcast; Politico; Kris Rusch]; Can you really make passive income as an author? [6 Figure Authors]; List of money books; Wanderland on Books and Travel.







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Scott Dikkers is the number one New York Times bestselling author of non-fiction books, including How to Write Funny, How to Write Funny Characters, and Outrageous Marketing, as well as other non-fiction, fiction, and satire. He co-founded The Onion satirical news site, and he's a podcaster, screenwriter, cartoonist, voice actor, speaker, and teacher of comedy writing.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Experiencing failure on the way to success — and the contract that cost Scott a lot of money!* Why is writing humor difficult?* What authors get wrong when trying to write humor* The importance of feedback * Different approaches to humor and ways to make something funny* Is humor country or culture-specific?* Examples of funny character archetypes* Long term mindset and multiple streams of income



You can find Scott Dikkers at HowToWriteFunny.com and on Twitter @ScottDikkers



Transcript of interview with Scott Dikkers



Joanna: Scott Dikkers is the number one New York Times bestselling author of non-fiction books, including How to Write Funny, How to Write Funny Characters, and Outrageous Marketing, as well as other non-fiction, fiction, and satire. He co-founded ‘The Onion' satirical news site, and he's a podcaster, screenwriter, cartoonist, voice actor, speaker, and teacher of comedy writing. Welcome, Scott.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:06:36
Writing Fiction With AI. Sudowrite With Amit Gupta https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/25/writing-fiction-with-ai-sudowrite-with-amit-gupta/ Thu, 24 Jun 2021 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33013 <p>What if you could use an AI writing tool to help you come up with ideas for sensory detail, character descriptions, story twists, and more? Amit Gupta explains how authors can use Sudowrite in this episode. In the intro, I explain how I'm using Sudowrite, plus AI for Authors: Practical and Ethical Guidelines from the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/25/writing-fiction-with-ai-sudowrite-with-amit-gupta/">Writing Fiction With AI. Sudowrite With Amit Gupta</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What if you could use an AI writing tool to help you come up with ideas for sensory detail, character descriptions, story twists, and more? Amit Gupta explains how authors can use Sudowrite in this episode. In the intro, What if you could use an AI writing tool to help you come up with ideas for sensory detail, character descriptions, story twists, and more? Amit Gupta explains how authors can use Sudowrite in this episode.



In the intro, I explain how I'm using Sudowrite, plus AI for Authors: Practical and Ethical Guidelines from the Alliance of Independent Authors; Wu Dao, 10x bigger than GPT-3 [Towards Data Science]; Open source model by EleutherAI; The Computers are Getting Better At Writing [The New Yorker]. You can find other AI episodes here, and a list of AI writing tools here.



This episode is supported by my wonderful patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Thank you!







Amit Gupta is a science fiction writer and entrepreneur. He's the creator of Sudowrite, an AI creative writing tool. You can watch a demo of Sudowrite here on YouTube.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why GPT-3 is a significant step forward in tools for writers* Features of Sudowrite including the character generator, Describe function, Twists, Expand, Wormhole, and more* Tips for how to use Sudowrite to help your writing* Avoiding copyright and plagiarism issues* What the future might hold for writing with AI



You can find Amit Gupta at sudowrite.com and on Twitter @superamit



Transcript of interview wth Amit Gupta



Joanna: Amit Gupta is a science fiction writer and entrepreneur. He's the creator of Sudowrite, an AI creative writing tool. Welcome, Amit.



Amit: Thanks, Joanna. I'm glad to be here.



Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you.



Before we get into the more technical stuff, tell us a bit more about you and your background in writing and technology and how it led you to creating Sudowrite.



Amit: I have been involved in technology most of my life. Years ago, I started a company called Photojojo that was all about helping photographers be more creative and have more playful fun with their work. I sold that company several years ago.



At that point, I decided to make more time for writing science fiction, because it was something I'd always been interested in. In particular, I'm really keen to explore ways technology can improve our lives to pu...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 44:50
Writing Non-Fiction With Personal Stories with Natalie Sisson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/21/writing-non-fiction-with-personal-stories-with-natalie-sisson/ Mon, 21 Jun 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33112 <p>How can you write a useful self-help book with actionable tips, but also bring it to life with personal stories? How can you use a book title to attract your target market? Natalie Sisson shares her experience in writing her latest non-fiction book. In the intro, 94% of the world’s internet users are not in the USA […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/21/writing-non-fiction-with-personal-stories-with-natalie-sisson/">Writing Non-Fiction With Personal Stories with Natalie Sisson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write a useful self-help book with actionable tips, but also bring it to life with personal stories? How can you use a book title to attract your target market? Natalie Sisson shares her experience in writing her latest non-fiction book. How can you write a useful self-help book with actionable tips, but also bring it to life with personal stories? How can you use a book title to attract your target market? Natalie Sisson shares her experience in writing her latest non-fiction book.



In the intro, 94% of the world’s internet users are not in the USA — what does that mean for your international author business? [The New Publishing Standard]; Marketing tips for driving sales internationally [BookBub]; Facebook brings podcasts onto their platform [The Verge]; plus I answer some questions about the NFT for authors episode, and Tim Berners-Lee's NFT [The Verge].







Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, library distribution, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn







Natalie Sisson is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and host of the Untapped Podcast. Her books include The Suitcase Entrepreneur, The Freedom Plan, and her latest is Suck It Up Princess.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How to know what medium an idea is suited for — book or course* Knowing what to share (and what to leave out) in memoir* The balance between sucking it up and practicing self-care* How to spot burn-out* The importance of taking time off and how to plan for that as an entrepreneur* Pivoting to focus on a specific type of client or customer — and how book titles can help* Lessons learned from crowdfunding a book’s publication



You can find Natalie Sisson at NatalieSisson.com and on Twitter @nataliesisson



Transcript of Interview with Natalie Sisson 



Joanna: Natalie Sisson is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and host of the ‘Untapped Podcast.' Her books include The Suitcase Entrepreneur, The Freedom Plan, and her latest is Suck It Up Princess. Welcome back to the show, Natalie.



Natalie: Thanks. I love the way you were grinning when you said the last one. I'm glad it brings a smile to your face.



Joanna: Oh, it does. Absolutely. And we're going to talk about the book very soon.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:08
Embracing Multi-Passionate Creativity And Running A Small Press With Jessica Bell https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/14/multi-passionate-creative/ Mon, 14 Jun 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32958 <p>Some say you can only be successful if you focus on one thing, but what if you are a multi-passionate creative? What if your Muse is inspired to write song lyrics as well as poetry, non-fiction as well as novels and heart-wrenching memoir? Jessica Bell manages to juggle many aspects of a creative career and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/14/multi-passionate-creative/">Embracing Multi-Passionate Creativity And Running A Small Press With Jessica Bell</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Some say you can only be successful if you focus on one thing, but what if you are a multi-passionate creative? What if your Muse is inspired to write song lyrics as well as poetry, non-fiction as well as novels and heart-wrenching memoir? Some say you can only be successful if you focus on one thing, but what if you are a multi-passionate creative? What if your Muse is inspired to write song lyrics as well as poetry, non-fiction as well as novels and heart-wrenching memoir? Jessica Bell manages to juggle many aspects of a creative career and shares her experiences in this interview.



In the intro, Jeanette Winterson burns her own books in protest at the publisher's rebranding [The Guardian]; book research serendipity [my pics on Instagram]; Hollywood vs the Author book; Ads for Authors open for a limited time.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Jessica Bell is an award-winning author and poet, singer/songwriter, graphic designer, small press publisher, and voice-over actor. Her books include memoir, literary fiction, and the Writing in a Nutshell non-fiction series for writers.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How a creative life can involve many passions* Writing memoir and dealing with self-doubt and vulnerability* What can authors learn from musicians?* Why Jessica made the switch to publishing other authors' books* The challenges of running a small press* What is required from authors who want someone else to publish their book?



You can find Jessica Bell at IAmJessicaBell.com and VineLeavesPress.com and on Twitter @VineLeavesPress



Transcript of interview with Jessica Bell



Joanna: Jessica Bell is an award-winning author and poet, singer/songwriter, graphic designer, small press publisher, and voice-over actor. Her books include memoir, literary fiction, and the ‘Writing in a Nutshell' non-fiction series for writers. Welcome to the show, Jessica.



Jessica: Thank you very much, Joanna. It's great to be here.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you because, of course, we know each other in person but we haven't caught up for years.



Jessica: We met, what, 10 years ago or something?



Joanna: It does feel like a long time. I usually say to people, ‘Tell us a bit about how you got into writing,' but you are a multipreneur. Obviously, you've got all these different strands.



How have the various aspects of your creativity emerged over your career so far?]]>
Joanna Penn full false 53:41
NFTs for Authors And Publishing with John Fox https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/11/nfts-for-authors-publishing/ Thu, 10 Jun 2021 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32959 <p>Why are NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) so exciting for authors and the publishing industry? How will they generate more streams of revenue for creators? What are some ways that authors could use them? All this and more in today's interview. I also mention Bloomberg's article on how NFTs shift power to artists in the intro. Thanks […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/11/nfts-for-authors-publishing/">NFTs for Authors And Publishing with John Fox</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why are NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) so exciting for authors and the publishing industry? How will they generate more streams of revenue for creators? What are some ways that authors could use them? All this and more in today's interview. Why are NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) so exciting for authors and the publishing industry? How will they generate more streams of revenue for creators? What are some ways that authors could use them? All this and more in today's interview. I also mention Bloomberg's article on how NFTs shift power to artists in the intro.



Thanks to my patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn who support these extra futurist episodes.







John Fox is an award-winning short story writer and author of I Will Shout Your Name, a collection of his stories. He's also a developmental editor, creator of writing courses, and a blogger. 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What are NFTs and how do they work?* How authors might benefit from selling NFTs* Questions to ask when you’re thinking about creating an NFT* Ideas for NFTs from authors* Addressing concerns about the environmental impact of NFTs* Exhibiting caution around publishing contracts and their blanket ownership of future formats of a book* Marketing strategies for authors as the world and technology changes



You can find John Fox at thejohnfox.com and on Twitter @bookfox. John has some great courses for authors and if you'd like to support the show, check them out through my link: TheCreativePenn.com/bookfox



Transcript of interview with John Fox



Joanna: John Fox is an award-winning short story writer and author of I Will Shout Your Name, a collection of his stories. He's also a developmental editor, course creator, and blogger. Welcome, John.



John: Thanks for having me.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today.



Before we get into the topic of the show, the technological side, I did want to ask you a bit more about you and your writing journey so people know where you're coming from.



John: I got a couple of graduate degrees in creative writing from New York University, and then an MFA from USC. Way back in 2006, I started blogging. So I've been blogging for 15 years now at Bookfox.



About five or six years ago, I decided to monetize the blog and start selling courses, start doing editing, start to become more of a resource for writers out there, because they may need help, a lot of people need help.



I get emails all the time saying like, ‘How do I self-publish?' Or, ‘How do I find an editor?' Or ‘How do I do this or that?' So I just wanted to help the writing community through Bookfox.



Joanna: It's a goldmine. I spent quite a long time on your site. So we'll definitely direct people there a bit later.



I was interested because you're a literary writer yourself,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 55:11
Transitioning From An In-Person Business To Online Multiple Streams Of Income With Guy Windsor https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/07/from-in-person-business-to-online-multiple-streams-of-income/ Mon, 07 Jun 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32962 <p>The pandemic has favoured digital business models, but how can you transition to online sales when you run an in-person business? How can you move from one stream of income to multiple streams? Guy Windsor has lots of ideas for your author business in this fascinating interview. In the intro, fear-based decision making [Kris Rusch]; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/06/07/from-in-person-business-to-online-multiple-streams-of-income/">Transitioning From An In-Person Business To Online Multiple Streams Of Income With Guy Windsor</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The pandemic has favoured digital business models, but how can you transition to online sales when you run an in-person business? How can you move from one stream of income to multiple streams? Guy Windsor has lots of ideas for your author business in ... The pandemic has favoured digital business models, but how can you transition to online sales when you run an in-person business? How can you move from one stream of income to multiple streams? Guy Windsor has lots of ideas for your author business in this fascinating interview.



In the intro, fear-based decision making [Kris Rusch]; Amazon and MGM; Product focused vs Process focused [Dean Wesley Smith]; Royalties on second-hand print books [Guardian]. Plus, working titles, getting out of the house, and my cycling trip in the Cotswolds.







This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. 







Guy Windsor is a consulting swordsman, teacher, and author specializing in Medieval and Renaissance Italian swordsmanship. He runs Sword School and is the host of The Sword Guy Podcast.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How Guy transitioned to multiple sources of income that have seen him though the pandemic* The challenges of print books and using QR codes to link to videos* Lessons learned from creating online courses* Creating a deck of sword fighting cards as an alternative teaching tool* Guy’s post on the key principles of crowdfunding* On the intersection of podcasts and audiobook sales



You can find Guy Windsor at GuyWindsor.net and on Twitter @guy_windsor. Guy has also created a useful landing page with examples of the things we discussed at Guywindsor.net/joanna/



Transcript of interview with Guy Windsor



Joanna: Guy Windsor is a consulting swordsman, teacher, and author specializing in Medieval and Renaissance Italian swordsmanship. He runs sword school and is the host of ‘The Sword Guy Podcast.' Welcome back to the show, Guy.Guy: Nice to see you, Joanna. Thanks for having me.Joanna: It's great to have you back. Now, for everyone listening, you were on the show back in https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32956 <p>How you can prepare your book before sending it to an editor? What are the different types of edits and editors you can use for different phases of your writing process? When is editing software worth using and when do you really need human eyes on your work? All this and more in the interview […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/31/how-to-edit-your-book/">How To Edit Your Book And The Different Kinds Of Professional Editors With Natasa Lekic</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How you can prepare your book before sending it to an editor? What are the different types of edits and editors you can use for different phases of your writing process? When is editing software worth using and when do you really need human eyes on you... How you can prepare your book before sending it to an editor? What are the different types of edits and editors you can use for different phases of your writing process? When is editing software worth using and when do you really need human eyes on your work? All this and more in the interview with Natasa Lekic.



In the intro, cycling through the Cotswolds (pics here on
Instagram @jfpennauthor); Book marketing for introverts (6 Figure Authors); and limited time 99c/99p books for writers (DavidGaughran.com/writer-blowout)







Do you need an editor for your book? Do you want to know how to find and work with a professional editor? Check out my tutorial and list of editors and resources at www.TheCreativePenn.com/editors







Natasa Lekic is the Founder of New York Book Editors, which matches writers with experienced, vetted, professional editors. She previously worked in publishing and also co-founded an animated story platform for kids.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Why authors use professional editors* How to prepare your manuscript before sending to an editor* The different types of edits and how they work for writers with different levels of experience* What to do with notes from an editor* How much is editing and why is it an investment?



You can find Natasa Lekic at NewYorkBookEditors.com and on Twitter @NYBookEditors



Transcript of Interview with Natasa Lekic



Joanna: Natasa Lekic is the Founder of New York Book Editors, which matches writers with experienced, vetted, professional editors, many of whom have worked with award-winning and bestselling authors. Natasa previously worked in publishing and also co-founded an animated story platform for kids. Welcome back to the show, Natasa.



Natasa: Thank you so much for having me, Joanna.



Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you again. We had such a good chat last time. Let's get straight into the whole topic of editing because it is one of the core things that writers have to deal with.



Why is it worth working with a professional editor anyway? Why not just use people in a writing group or beta readers?



Natasa: Let me explain how editors edit when they're at the very beginning of their careers, because it's the same or similar to how beta readers and writing groups look at material. And it's actually also why we have the longest experience requirements for our editing team. It's something I feel very strongly about.



Early on, as an editorial assistant, or later,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 46:49
Discovery Writing And Sustaining A Long-Term Writing Career With Patricia McLinn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/24/discovery-writing/ Mon, 24 May 2021 06:20:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=33012 <p>What is discovery writing (sometimes known as pantsing)? How can you write a novel with structure if you don't plot in advance? How can you build a writing career for the long-term? All this and more with Patricia McLinn. In the intro, “98 percent of the books that publishers released in 2020 sold fewer than […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/24/discovery-writing/">Discovery Writing And Sustaining A Long-Term Writing Career With Patricia McLinn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is discovery writing (sometimes known as pantsing)? How can you write a novel with structure if you don't plot in advance? How can you build a writing career for the long-term? All this and more with Patricia McLinn. In the intro, What is discovery writing (sometimes known as pantsing)? How can you write a novel with structure if you don't plot in advance? How can you build a writing career for the long-term? All this and more with Patricia McLinn.



In the intro, “98 percent of the books that publishers released in 2020 sold fewer than 5,000 copies,” [NY Times]; How much do authors earn? [BookRiot and Jane Friedman]; All About Audio conference [BookWire]; Google auto-narration video [YouTube]; Spotify partners with Storytel for audiobooks and introduces transcription for podcasts [The Verge].







Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.







Patricia McLinn is the award-winning and multi-USA Today bestselling author of over 50 books across mystery, contemporary, and historical romance, women's fiction, and nonfiction. Today we're talking about discovery writing and the Survival Kit for Writers Who Don't Write Right.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* What is a discovery writer?* How to manage story structure as a discovery writer* On retroactive plotting and how discovery writers use it* Tips for organizing pre-orders* How important is a ‘series bible’?* Tips for a long writing career



You can find Patricia McLinn at PatriciaMcLinn.com and on Twitter @PatriciaMcLinn



Transcript of Interview with Patricia McLinn



Joanna: Patricia McLinn is the award-winning and multi-USA Today bestselling author of over 50 books across mystery, contemporary, and historical romance, women's fiction, and nonfiction. Today we're talking about discovery writing and the Survival Kit for Writers Who Don't Write Right. Welcome, Pat.



Patricia: Well, thank you so much, Joanna. It's wonderful to talk to you. It's been a while.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:25
The Challenges Of A First Novel With James Blatch https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/16/the-challenges-of-a-first-novel/ Sun, 16 May 2021 06:17:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32954 <p>What are the challenges of writing a first novel — even when you think you know what you're doing? How do you define success when you are just starting out on the author journey? James Blatch talks about these questions and more. In the intro, thoughts from attending the Audio Publishers Association conference, and audiobooks […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/16/the-challenges-of-a-first-novel/">The Challenges Of A First Novel With James Blatch</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What are the challenges of writing a first novel — even when you think you know what you're doing? How do you define success when you are just starting out on the author journey? James Blatch talks about these questions and more. In the intro, What are the challenges of writing a first novel — even when you think you know what you're doing? How do you define success when you are just starting out on the author journey? James Blatch talks about these questions and more.



In the intro, thoughts from attending the Audio Publishers Association conference, and audiobooks being delivered by podcast apps [The Verge]; Music industry creator trends for the next decade [Creative Industries]; a tribute to Joel Friedlander and thoughts on estate planning; The Relaxed Author; The Premonition by Michael Lewis; and last chance to get the Writing Storybundle.



Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna







James Blatch is the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books, and the co-host of The Self-Publishing Show. He's also now a fiction author with historical military thriller, The Final Flight. 



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* Learning how to write a novel over 11 years* Lessons learned when publishing a first book, including the importance of proofreading* Marketing strategies when you’ve only got one book* Balancing work and other areas of life* New avenues of book business including HelloBooks and Fuse Books



You can find James Blatch at JamesBlatch.com and on Twitter @JamesBlatch



Transcript of interview with James Blatch



Joanna: James Blatch is the co-founder of Self-Publishing Formula, Fuse Books, Hello Books, and the co-host of ‘The Self-Publishing Show.' He's also now a fiction author with historical military thriller, The Final Flight. Welcome to the show, James.



James: Hey, Jo. I was just saying, this is like self-publishing royalty. I've made it. I can look you in the eye now. When we meet,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:14:13
The Heroine’s Journey with Gail Carriger https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/10/the-heroines-journey-gail-carriger/ Mon, 10 May 2021 06:28:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32922 <p>What is the heroine's journey and how can it help you write a story that readers will love? Gail Carriger shares her writing tips in this interview. In the intro, publishing house mergers [Agent Kristin Nelson]; KDP Print in Australia; Bookwire announces a new NFT marketplace for the publishing and creator industry [Publishing Perspectives]. Plus, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/10/the-heroines-journey-gail-carriger/">The Heroine’s Journey with Gail Carriger</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is the heroine's journey and how can it help you write a story that readers will love? Gail Carriger shares her writing tips in this interview. In the intro, publishing house mergers [Agent Kristin Nelson]; KDP Print in Australia; Bookwire announc... What is the heroine's journey and how can it help you write a story that readers will love? Gail Carriger shares her writing tips in this interview.



In the intro, publishing house mergers [Agent Kristin Nelson]; KDP Print in Australia; Bookwire announces a new NFT marketplace for the publishing and creator industry [Publishing Perspectives].



Plus, limited-time writing Storybundle including ebooks on film/TV rights; London Book Fair online; and Monetize You Summit (affiliate), useful if you want to take your creative business further than books.







Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.







Gail Carriger is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of steampunk and urban fantasy, comedy and queer romance. Her books have sold over a million copies in print and include The Parasol Protectorate and The Finishing SchoolSeries. Her latest nonfiction book is The Heroine's Journey.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* The differences between the Hero’s Journey and the Heroine’s Journey* The importance of supporting characters in a heroine’s journey* How hero and heroine’s journeys endings are different* Why the heroine’s journey has been disenfranchised and how indie publishing has played a part in changing that* Tips for writing non-fiction when you’ve mostly written fiction* Differences between marketing fiction vs. Non-fiction



You can find Gail Carriger at GailCarriger.com and on Twitter @gailcarriger



Transcript of interview with Gail Carriger



Joanna: Gail Carriger is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of steampunk and urban fantasy, comedy and queer romance. Her books have sold over a million copies in print and include The Parasol Protectorate and The Finishing SchoolSeries. Her latest nonfiction book is The Heroine's Journey. Welcome back. Gail.



Gail: Thank you so much for having me back. I'm delighted to be here.



]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:20
The AI-Powered Micro-Business with Ash Fontana https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/07/ai-powered-micro-business/ Fri, 07 May 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32586 <p>Artificial Intelligence is already part of our lives in the tools and services we use every day. As AI development accelerates, how can authors and small businesses use it as leverage to expand income and opportunities? Ash Fontana gives some ideas in this interview on The AI-First Company. In the intro, How GPT-3 is quietly […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/07/ai-powered-micro-business/">The AI-Powered Micro-Business with Ash Fontana</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Artificial Intelligence is already part of our lives in the tools and services we use every day. As AI development accelerates, how can authors and small businesses use it as leverage to expand income and opportunities? Artificial Intelligence is already part of our lives in the tools and services we use every day. As AI development accelerates, how can authors and small businesses use it as leverage to expand income and opportunities? Ash Fontana gives some ideas in this interview on The AI-First Company.



In the intro, How GPT-3 is quietly ushering in the A.I. revolution [Digital Trends]; The Computers Are Getting Better At Writing [The New Yorker]; The Chinese equivalent on GPT-3, PanGu-α [Venture Beat]; List of AI writing tools and GPT-3 Examples.







Ash Fontana is a startup investor and managing director of Zetta, an investment fund focusing on AI. He's also the author of The AI-First Company: How to Compete and Win with Artificial Intelligence.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.



Show Notes



* How AI development has accelerated due to the pandemic* How Natural Language Generation and other aspects of AI can help authors with marketing and content creation * How AI could help stop plagiarism* Licensing works in copyright for training AI models and the impact of AI on copyright law* Generative Adversarial Networks* A positive view of an AI powered future



You can find Ash Fontana at AshFontana.com and on Twitter @ashfontana. You can also find the book website at TheAIFirstCompany.com







Transcript of Interview with Ash Fontana



Joanna Penn: Ash Fontana is a startup investor and managing director of Zetta, an investment fund focusing on AI. He's also the author of The AI-First Company: How to Compete and Win with Artificial Intelligence. Welcome, Ash.



Ash Fontana: Hey, Joanna. Thank you very much for having me.



Joanna Penn: I'm excited to talk to you today. Let's start with a quote from the book. ‘We thought AI was just around the corner for a long time, but it turns out that it was just getting started.' Now, many people in my community think, ‘AI will happen in a decade or longer,' but,



What are you excited about right now and have things accelerated because of the pandemic?



Ash Fontana: In many ways, AI will happen in a decade or longer and it'll keep happening for many decades going forward. We're just at the start of what I call the AI-first century. We're only partway through that.



So bringing it back to today, where are we, and this AI-first century, and what's exciting today, and what's changing today, I'm still excited by a lot of the simple stuff,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:09
Tips For Translation, Self-Publishing, And Marketing In Foreign Languages With Nadine Mutas https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/03/translation-and-marketing-in-foreign-languages/ Mon, 03 May 2021 06:10:00 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32704 <p>The book market is saturated for certain genres in digitally mature markets like the US and UK, but readers in other markets are hungry for books. In this episode, Nadine Mutas talks about self-publishing in German, French and Italian and her tips for finding a translator and marketing the books once they're available. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/05/03/translation-and-marketing-in-foreign-languages/">Tips For Translation, Self-Publishing, And Marketing In Foreign Languages With Nadine Mutas</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The book market is saturated for certain genres in digitally mature markets like the US and UK, but readers in other markets are hungry for books. In this episode, Nadine Mutas talks about self-publishing in German, In this episode, Nadine Mutas talks about self-publishing in German, French and Italian and her tips for finding a translator and marketing the books once they're available.
In the intro, Authors Guild contract template, #disneymustpay [The Guardian]; Movies (and books) changing from ‘event' to ‘pool' [The Future of Publishing]; The increasing issue of selling new or front list books [Publishers Weekly, The Hotsheet]; The Magic Bakery by Dean Wesley Smith; Apple and Spotify introduce paid podcast subscriptions — and why you need to change your perspective on what a podcast is. 
Plus, self-publishing through personal struggles [ALLi blog]; How authors can use affiliate income; and A Speck on the Ocean: Sailing the Pacific on Books and Travel.

Do you need help with editing and cover design, marketing, or translations? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Nadine Mutas is the award-winning author of paranormal romance novels, with books published in German, French, and Italian, as well as English.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* Shaking off the stigma of self-publishing in the early days
* How book-buying habits in a country matter more than population when selling books
* How genre and sub-genre affect book sales in foreign markets
* How do you know if a translator is good if you don’t speak the language?
* The cost-benefit analysis of translation and lessons learned
* Why translating more than one book matters
* Marketing books in a foreign language

You can find Nadine Mutas at NadineMutas....]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:22
Mind Management, Not Time Management With David Kadavy https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/26/mind-management-not-time-management/ Mon, 26 Apr 2021 06:10:02 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32626 <p>How do we make time for original insights that set our creative work apart? How do we reframe productivity so it serves our career for the long term? David Kadavy talks about mind management, not time management in this interview.  In the intro, Jane Friedman reports on how the pandemic is affecting book publishing, lessons […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/26/mind-management-not-time-management/">Mind Management, Not Time Management With David Kadavy</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do we make time for original insights that set our creative work apart? How do we reframe productivity so it serves our career for the long term? David Kadavy talks about mind management, not time management in this interview.  In the intro, How do we make time for original insights that set our creative work apart? How do we reframe productivity so it serves our career for the long term? David Kadavy talks about mind management, not time management in this interview. 



In the intro,
Jane Friedman reports on how the pandemic is affecting book publishing, lessons from Netflix vs the World documentary, news of Joe Biden’s antitrust nominee, Lina Khan, a law professor who has argued that companies like Amazon should be broken up or treated as public utilities (NY Times), Musicians call for the UK government to reform streaming royalties (BBC); and should streaming payments be changed from the shared pool model? (Pitchfork)







Today's show is sponsored by my patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. After 12 years of the podcast, patron support encourages me to continue sharing the author journey. If you find the show useful, please consider becoming a patron.







David Kadavy is a creative entrepreneur, nonfiction author, and podcaster. His latest book is Mind Management, Not Time Management.



You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.



Show Notes



* How creativity is different to productivity* Time spent thinking vs writing words* Unstructured time and its positive effect on creativity and insight* Multiple streams of income



You can find David Kadavy at kdv.co and on Twitter @kadavy







Transcript of Interview with David Kadavy



Joanna: David Kadavy is a creative entrepreneur, nonfiction author, and podcaster. His latest book is Mind Management, Not Time Management. Welcome back to the show, David.



David: Joanna, thank you so much for having me back. It's good to be here.



Joanna: You were last on this show in 2018, so we won't get into your history. People can go listen to that. But let's get straight into the book because this is so important.



I was reading it and it was fascinating to hear about you reaching the end of your tether with productivity hacks and getting things done and all those things. Tell us about that. How did you get to that? Because we're all self-help people here, and that's part of our life usually.



What happened that made you get to the end of your tether with ‘productivity'?



David: I was a Getting Things Done early adopter, I guess.]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:00:23 How To Make A Living With Your Writing: First Principles https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/22/how-to-make-a-living-with-your-writing-principles/ Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:20:10 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32775 <p>If you want to make a living with your writing, you will need the right mindset, as well as the practical skills to write, publish and market your books. In this excerpt from How to Make a Living with Your Writing Third Edition: Turn Your Words into Multiple Streams of Income, I go into the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/22/how-to-make-a-living-with-your-writing-principles/">How To Make A Living With Your Writing: First Principles</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you want to make a living with your writing, you will need the right mindset, as well as the practical skills to write, publish and market your books. In this excerpt from How to Make a Living with Your Writing Third Edition: Turn Your Words into Mu... In this excerpt from How to Make a Living with Your Writing Third Edition: Turn Your Words into Multiple Streams of Income, I go into the first principles you need to address before you take the next step.

You can find the audiobook on your favorite audio store, as well as in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print, and workbook editions.


First Principles

“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.” Debbie Millman, Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design

There are some important first principles to consider before we get into the detail and some questions that will help you to frame the rest of the book.
What is your definition of success? What will you do to achieve it?
This book is about how to make a living with your writing, so financial success is a critical aspect. But before we get started, take a minute to step back and consider your true definition of success.
What do you really want for your writing? For the book you’re working on? For your author career? For your life?
If you don’t know what your definition of success is, how will you know if you achieve it and how will you know what direction to take to get there?
There are a lot of ideas in this book, but you can’t implement them all. You have to choose what will work for your creative path ahead, for your personality, and for your lifestyle.
Your definition of success will determine what you write, how you publish and market your books, and what kind of income streams you choose to create. For example, do you want to win a literary prize? Or do you want to make six figures in a single year from book sales? While a few rare authors can achieve these at the same time, most will have to choose between critical acclaim and significant commercial success.
You can do everything, but not at the same time,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 22:47
Global, Wide Self-Publishing With Mark Leslie Lefebvre https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/19/self-publish-wide/ Mon, 19 Apr 2021 06:10:22 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32279 <p>How can you reach every reader on every platform in a global, distributed reading environment? How can you take a long-term, relaxed attitude to your author career? Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about self-publishing wide in this interview. In the intro, KDP introduces Kindle Vella, a new serial reading platform, perhaps a response to China Literature's […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/19/self-publish-wide/">Global, Wide Self-Publishing With Mark Leslie Lefebvre</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you reach every reader on every platform in a global, distributed reading environment? How can you take a long-term, relaxed attitude to your author career? Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about self-publishing wide in this interview. In the intro,
In the intro, KDP introduces Kindle Vella, a new serial reading platform, perhaps a response to China Literature's entrance into the US market? [The New Publishing Standard]; Microsoft buys Nuance, which makes Dragon Dictation [TechCrunch]; and Exploring Darkness and Accepting our Animal Nature on my Books and Travel Podcast.
Plus, my new theme is Authority Pro by StudioPress; Six Figure Authors on using bonus material to sell more books; BookBub tips on book marketing in 2021; and check out the Adventure Writers Summit (23-25 April);

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Mark Leslie Lefebvre writes horror stories, travel books, and non-fiction for writers. He's a podcaster at Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing, a professional speaker, and a publishing consultant at Draft2Digital. His latest non-fiction book is Wide for the Win, Strategies to Sell Globally via Multiple Platforms and Forge Your Own Path to Success.
You can listen above or your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why is going wide with your books important now?
* Where to start if you want to go wide
* Understanding the way different stores work
* The value in your backlist when you’re selling wide
* The strategy behind first-in-series permafree
* The ‘relaxed' author — playing the long game when your books are wide

You can find Mark Leslie Lefebvre at MarkLeslie.ca and on Twitter @MarkLeslie

Transcript of Interview with Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Joanna: Mark Leslie Lefebvre writes horror stories, travel books,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:18
Writing, Publishing And Marketing Books For Children With Crystal Swain-Bates https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/12/books-for-children/ Mon, 12 Apr 2021 06:10:18 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32693 <p>How can you write a children's story with a message without being preachy? How can you find and work effectively with an illustrator? How can you market your book to kids in schools? Crystal Swain Bates gives her tips on writing, publishing and marketing books for children, as well as how we can make books […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/12/books-for-children/">Writing, Publishing And Marketing Books For Children With Crystal Swain-Bates</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write a children's story with a message without being preachy? How can you find and work effectively with an illustrator? How can you market your book to kids in schools? Crystal Swain Bates gives her tips on writing, Crystal Swain Bates gives her tips on writing, publishing and marketing books for children, as well as how we can make books and the author community more diverse.

In the intro, how library distribution works for indie authors [ALLi]; Constant change and when your winning bet becomes your losing bet [Spotify A Product Story]; Tarzan Economics; 8 Principles for Pivoting Through Disruption by Will Page; Subscription models and streaming and the impact on indie authors [me and Orna Ross on the Ask ALLi Podcast]; The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow; Google update coming in May 2021 for Page Experience and Core Web Vitals [Search Engine Watch], plus ScribeCount for wide reporting.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn 

Crystal Swain-Bates is the best-selling author of children's books, and the founder of Goldest Karat Publishing, which seeks to fill the racial diversity gap in publishing.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The value of making mistakes along the way and learning as you go
* Writing a positioning statement for your book
* Writing a story with a message — but without preaching or lecturing
* How to find and work with illustrators for children’s picture books
* The importance of getting your contract right if you want to create merchandise and other products
* Using print-on-demand for children's books and which services are best
* Marketing children’s books in schools and online
* Encouraging diversity in characters, books and in the author community

You can find Crystal Swain-Bates at CrystalSwainBates.com and on Twitter @CSwainBates

Transcript of Interview with Crystal Swain-Bates
Joanna: Crystal Swain-Bates is the best-selling author of children's books, and the founder of Goldest Karat Publishing, which seeks to fill the racial diversity gap in publishing. Welcome, Crystal.
Crystal: Thank you. Thanks for having me here.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:56
Publish Wide, Sell More Books And AI for Voice. Google Play Books With Ryan Dingler https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/09/google-play-books/ Thu, 08 Apr 2021 23:10:42 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32645 <p>How can you sell more ebooks and audiobooks on Google Play Books to the global market? How can you optimize your books so they are more likely to be discovered? How might auto-narrated audiobooks help expand the market? All this and more in today's interview with Ryan Dingler from Google. Ryan Dingler is a product […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/09/google-play-books/">Publish Wide, Sell More Books And AI for Voice. Google Play Books With Ryan Dingler</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you sell more ebooks and audiobooks on Google Play Books to the global market? How can you optimize your books so they are more likely to be discovered? How might auto-narrated audiobooks help expand the market? How might auto-narrated audiobooks help expand the market? All this and more in today's interview with Ryan Dingler from Google.

Ryan Dingler is a product manager at Google, and also writes about the intersection of technology and business.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* The difference between Google Books and Google Play Books
* How searching and purchasing books works on Android
* Market penetration of Android devices and global reach of Google Play Books
* Publishing books on Google Play Books and international pricing
* Advantages of publishing direct with Google Play Books
* The importance of good metadata for marketing books
* AI-narrated audiobooks and when they might be available for authors

You can find Google Play Books at play.google.com/store/books and you can publish at Play.google.com/books/publish/u/0/
[You can buy my ebooks and audiobooks on Google Play — non-fiction as Joanna Penn, and fiction as J.F.Penn]

Transcript of Interview with Ryan Dingler
Joanna Penn: Ryan Dingler is a product manager at Google, and also writes about the intersection of technology and business. Welcome Ryan.
Ryan Dingler: Hello.
Joanna Penn: It's great to have you on the show. So first up, I have been having a little read of your blog.
Tell us a bit more about you and why you're so interested in books and technology.
Ryan Dingler: Maybe first I'll talk about my background. I am an avid reader of books myself, even before I got into this job, I mostly read nonfiction, although I do enjoy quite a bit of sci-fi and can definitely go on a binge there.
One thing that is unique that I have been able to do is merge my interest in books with my actual job, especially as it relates to technology. As a product manager at Google, I work to develop products for a lot of our users, both on the publisher side and on the consumer side.
So it's been quite interesting to see how books can interplay with technology. Books have a long history with technology dating back to the printing press in the 15th century and really disseminating information. I see my role as doing that today. Maybe on a little bit smaller scale, but allowing anyone to publish their books on our storefront and purchase it and read it in 75 countries.

 
Joanna Penn: Fantastic. You mentioned 75 countries there, and I think this is the biggest issue I see with many self publishers. Obviously there's a huge market in America, but I feel like everyone just thinks America is everything. Give us an overview of Google Play Books in the global ebook ecosystem. Obviously we're not going to list 75 countries.
Where does Google Play Books perform best and give us an idea about the Android ecosystem as well.
Ryan Dingler: I think the best place to start actually is to talk about Google in general.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 41:56
Writing Dialogue And Character Voice With Jeff Elkins https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/05/dialogue-character-voice/ Mon, 05 Apr 2021 06:10:19 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32588 <p>How can we write authentic and engaging character dialogue? How can we incorporate sub-text that deepens our writing? Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor explains more in this interview. In the intro, the new AudibleGate site; scammers using big publisher names [Writer Beware]; Vellum update for Ingram PDF [Vellum software; my tools and tutorials] ; Do BookBub […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/05/dialogue-character-voice/">Writing Dialogue And Character Voice With Jeff Elkins</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we write authentic and engaging character dialogue? How can we incorporate sub-text that deepens our writing? Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor explains more in this interview. In the intro, the new AudibleGate site; scammers using big publisher...
In the intro, the new AudibleGate site; scammers using big publisher names [Writer Beware]; Vellum update for Ingram PDF [Vellum software; my tools and tutorials] ; Do BookBub deals on a permafree first in series work multiple times? [BookBub blog]; audio course on financial independence [JD Roth] and my list of money books. Plus, Secrets and Lies Storybundle; and updates on my books, The Wreck of the Unbelievable, and Damien Hirst's ‘green' NFT [FT].
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Jeff Elkins is the author of 12 thriller and mystery novels, as well as over 100 short stories. He's also a ghostwriter, dialogue editor, and a podcaster at the Dialogue Doctor Podcast.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How getting fired started Jeff’s writing career and how he now manages multiple streams of income
* The two biggest mistakes writers make with dialogue
* Ways to research authentic voices
* How to use subtext in dialogue
* How dialogue helps readers connect with characters
* Making choices about swearing in dialogue based on who your readers are

You can find Jeff Elkins at DialogueDoctor.com and on Twitter @Jffelkins

Transcript of Interview with Jeff Elkins
Joanna: Jeff Elkins is the author of 12 thriller and mystery novels, as well as over 100 short stories. He's also a ghostwriter, dialogue editor, and a podcaster at the Dialogue Doctor Podcast. Welcome, Jeff.
Jeff: Hey, Joanna. Thanks for having me on today.
Joanna: I'm very excited.
Before we get into our topic of dialogue, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:44
Fix Your Writing Tics With Chris Banks From ProWriting Aid https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/02/pro-writing-aid/ Fri, 02 Apr 2021 06:24:24 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32612 <p>What is your writer's tic and how can you fix it with Pro Writing Aid? Why are commas such an issue for writers? (and my own personal nemesis!) How can AI tools enhance our creativity and usher in a new abundant future for writers? I discuss all this and more with Chris Banks from Pro […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/04/02/pro-writing-aid/">Fix Your Writing Tics With Chris Banks From ProWriting Aid</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is your writer's tic and how can you fix it with Pro Writing Aid? Why are commas such an issue for writers? (and my own personal nemesis!) How can AI tools enhance our creativity and usher in a new abundant future for writers? How can AI tools enhance our creativity and usher in a new abundant future for writers? I discuss all this and more with Chris Banks from Pro Writing Aid.

Chris Banks is the CEO and founder of ProWritingAid, which has over 1.5 million users worldwide.

I use ProWritingAid for all my books at various stages of the editing process and I'm a very happy affiliate! You can get 25% off the premium edition using my link: www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid
You can also check out my tutorial: How To Use ProWritingAid To Improve Your Writing And Self-Edit Your Book
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How ProWriting Aid evolved from Chris's desire to improve his own writing
* Passive voice, commas, -ing words, and other common writing tics
* Integration with Scrivener and checking your writing across large documents
* The different types of reports ProWriting Aid generates to support your writing
* How AI is used at ProWriting Aid
* How the demand for writers may increase because of AI, and help enhance our creativity

You can find Chris Banks at ProWritingAid.com and on Twitter @ProWritingAid

Transcript of Interview with Chris Banks
Joanna: Chris Banks is the CEO and founder of ProWritingAid, which has over 1.5 million users worldwide. Welcome, Chris.
Chris: Hi, Joanna. It's nice to be here.
Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you today.
Tell us a bit more about you and your background in writing, because your bio mentions books, but no details. I'm fascinated!
Chris: It's because the books I've written are literally the most boring books you could ever imagine! They're only published in banking, so they're hard to get a hold of as well.
I left University after I studied psychology, and went into management consultancy, and then research. Obviously, that was a lot of writing. Writing business processes, and then research pieces. I was very lucky at that point to have people who spent a lot of time mentoring me in my writing, and showing me how to write business writing well.
I actually wasn't a good writer. I'd never had any guidance with my writing. It was definitely a shock when I arrived in the business world and had to write, to explain things to people rather than at university where you're trying to impress your tutors, because they already know the information you're presenting.
Whereas in the real world, you have to explain things to people, so you have to simplify them and give them easier ways to understand things.
Joanna: That's fascinating. I also went into management consultancy. I was at Accenture.
Chris: I was at a company called CHP Consulting that was set up by ex-Accenture people.
Joanna: Oh, there you go. I feel like many consultants end up in the writing world.
Chris: It is so heavy in writing right? I think writing is a good way of clarifying your thoughts. And I think when you do a lot of thinking for a living,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 39:59
What Can Authors Learn From Digital Changes In The Music Industry? With Tristra Newyear Yeager https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/29/digital-music-industry/ Sun, 28 Mar 2021 23:10:44 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32587 <p>What can authors learn from the digital changes in the music industry? In this interview, Tristra Newyear Yeager talks about the empowerment of the indie musician, multiple streams of income, and the uses of blockchain and AI. In the intro, I report back on attending SXSW and some other online conferences on lessons learned from […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/29/digital-music-industry/">What Can Authors Learn From Digital Changes In The Music Industry? With Tristra Newyear Yeager</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What can authors learn from the digital changes in the music industry? In this interview, Tristra Newyear Yeager talks about the empowerment of the indie musician, multiple streams of income, and the uses of blockchain and AI. In the intro,
In the intro, I report back on attending SXSW and some other online conferences on lessons learned from the acceleration of digital adoption; what the metaverse might mean [Forbes]; Mark Zuckerberg on the next iteration of VR [The Information]; Facebook's wristband wearable [The Next Web]; creating AI avatars [Exponential Wisdom], and Microsoft's identity platform on Bitcoin’s Blockchain.
Plus, the Secrets and Lies mystery/crime Storybundle (limited time); Businessplan für Autoren (German); and Spotify: A Product Story podcast.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Tristra Newyear Yeager is a writer and strategist for music PR firm Rock Paper Scissors. She's the co-host of the Music Tectonics Podcast, which explores the intersection of music and technology. She's also a fantasy novelist as T. Newyear.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Digital shifts in the music industry in the last few years
* The upside, and downside of the digitization of music
* How payouts for streaming works in the music industry
* How musical artists responded to the pandemic when the tour economy was decimated
* The creative ideas musicians have for merchandise that adds to their streams of income
* The effect technology, NFT’s and AI are having on the music industry
* How will copyright be affected by technology and will artists benefit or lose out?

You can find Tristra Newyear Yeager on LinkedIn and at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32443 <p>Why is cozy mystery such a popular genre? What are the important tropes? What are the best ways to market a cozy series? Debbie Young talks about these aspects and more in this interview. In the intro, K-lytics genre reports; Findaway Voices Headphone Report 2020; Edison Research Infinite Dial report on audio; 16 tips on […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/22/how-to-write-a-cozy-mystery/">How To Write A Cozy Mystery With Debbie Young</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why is cozy mystery such a popular genre? What are the important tropes? What are the best ways to market a cozy series? Debbie Young talks about these aspects and more in this interview. In the intro, K-lytics genre reports; Findaway Voices Headphone ...
In the intro, K-lytics genre reports; Findaway Voices Headphone Report 2020; Edison Research Infinite Dial report on audio; 16 tips on how to self-publish audiobooks [BookBub]; Audio cookbooks, a new format? [The Guardian]; IKEA replaces print catalogue with audiobook [Quartz]; Loud and Clear by Spotify; Sell your ebooks and audiobooks direct with Payhip and Bookfunnel; and is a new Nook device coming? [The Verge].
Plus, last chance to get 50% off my ebooks and audiobooks direct from me at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn with coupon: LOCKDOWN until the end of March 2021. Here's how to use the coupon.
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher.
Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Debbie Young is the author of cozy mysteries and feel-good contemporary fiction, set in an English village in the Cotswolds. She also writes books for authors and runs the Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival. [Headshot photo credit: Laura Young]
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The increased need for happy stories during difficult times
* Writing first drafts longhand with a fountain pen
* On the essential tropes of a cozy mystery
* Using village people and experiences in fiction without offending locals
* The importance of book covers for letting the reader know what they’re getting
* Effective ways to market cozy mysteries
* The benefits of in-person events for authors

You can find Debbie Young at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32441 <p>How can you reach more readers worldwide and sell more books on Kobo? What are the advantages to publishing direct with Kobo Writing Life? Tara Cremin gives her tips in today's show. In the intro, the launch of HelloBooks.com; Twitter Spaces for audio-only social [The Verge]; Blockchain, smart contracts, and NFTs; Mapwalker Trilogy available now; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/15/successful-self-publishing-on-kobo/">Publishing On Kobo Writing Life With Tara Cremin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you reach more readers worldwide and sell more books on Kobo? What are the advantages to publishing direct with Kobo Writing Life? Tara Cremin gives her tips in today's show. In the intro, the launch of HelloBooks.
In the intro, the launch of HelloBooks.com; Twitter Spaces for audio-only social [The Verge]; Blockchain, smart contracts, and NFTs; Mapwalker Trilogy available now; Plus, a challenge for you: What book are you scared of writing? What is the book you would regret not writing? When will you write it? (If not now, then when?)

Today's show is sponsored by my new book, How To Make a Living With Your Writing: Turn Your Words Into Multiple Streams of Income. This is the rewritten Third Edition with lots more ideas, information and inspiration on making money with books and other ways to make a living with your words. Available now in ebook, paperback, Large Print, Hardback, and Companion Workbook editions on your favorite store or request from your library.

Tara Cremin is the Senior Manager for Author Experience at Rakuten Kobo heading up the Kobo Writing Life team.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Kobo's core principles and partnerships that enable you to reach readers worldwide
* The long-term view on the shift to digital reading, accelerated by the pandemic
* On Kobo’s (non-exclusive) subscription service, Kobo Plus
* The advantages of publishing directly with Kobo Writing Life
* Pricing tips for international sales
* Book marketing tips for Kobo

You can find Tara Cremin and the friendly KWL team at kobo.com/writinglife and on Twitter @KoboWritingLife. You can also check out the Kobo Writing Life Podcast.

Transcript of Interview with Tara Cremin
Joanna: Tara Cremin is the Senior Manager for Author Experience at Rakuten Kobo heading up the Kobo Writing Life team. Welcome, Tara.
Tara: Thanks, Joanna for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Joanna: It's great to talk about this stuff.
Tell us a bit more about you, and your background in writing, and bookselling, and publishing.
Tara: Sure. I'm originally from Ireland, I've been living in Canada for about eight years. My background has come from American literature. That's what I studied in university. After that, I moved to Canada wanting to live in a very large city, as I like to think of Ireland as one big small town.
I wanted the bigger city life. I've always been really interested in books and reading and bookselling. And when I came here, I was super interested in how books merged with technology. I traveled a little bit after university and read a lot of classics,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:35
Copyright Protection, Smart Contracts, Digital Scarcity And NFTs For Authors. Blockchain For The Publishing Industry With Simon-Pierre Marion https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/12/blockchain-for-publishing/ Fri, 12 Mar 2021 06:15:58 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32579 <p>Blockchain technology offers exciting opportunities for authors and the publishing industry. In this interview, Simon-Pierre Marion and I discuss copyright protection, smart contracts, estate management and faster, more transparent payments, as well as how digital scarcity could expand the revenue potential in the digital supply chain. Plus, I add some extra commentary on the potential […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/12/blockchain-for-publishing/">Copyright Protection, Smart Contracts, Digital Scarcity And NFTs For Authors. Blockchain For The Publishing Industry With Simon-Pierre Marion</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Blockchain technology offers exciting opportunities for authors and the publishing industry. In this interview, Simon-Pierre Marion and I discuss copyright protection, smart contracts, estate management and faster, more transparent payments, In this interview, Simon-Pierre Marion and I discuss copyright protection, smart contracts, estate management and faster, more transparent payments, as well as how digital scarcity could expand the revenue potential in the digital supply chain. Plus, I add some extra commentary on the potential of NFTs for authors since they are in the news a lot at the moment.

Simon-Pierre Marion is the CEO and founder of Scenarex, a Canadian company that builds blockchain publishing solutions. Their site, bookchain.ca, enables authors and publishers to publish on the Ethereum blockchain.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What exactly is blockchain technology? (although you don't need to understand it technically to appreciate its potential!)
* What's the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency?
* Copyright protection with blockchain
* Smart contracts — payment splitting at transaction, reduction in back office overhead, estate management
* Resale of digital products, and payment through the whole chain of transactions
* The opportunities of digital scarcity and NFTs — plus, I add some extra commentary around NFTs for authors [27:12 mins]
* When will blockchain technology go mainstream?

You can find Simon-Pierre Marion at bookchain.ca and on Twitter @bookchainapp
You can also listen or read episode 519 on Copyright Law and Blockchain for Authors in an Age of AI, an excerpt from my book, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies On Authors and the Publishing Industry.

Transcript of Interview with Simon-Pierre Marion
Joanna: Simon-Pierre Marion is the CEO and founder of Scenarex, a Canadian company that builds blockchain publishing solutions. Their site, bookchain.ca, enables authors and publishers to publish on the Ethereum blockchain. Welcome, Simon-Pierre.
Simon-Pierre: Thank you, Joanna. And thank you for your invitation. I'm super happy to participate.
Joanna: It's very exciting to talk about this.
Tell us a bit more about you and why you decided to focus on this intersection of publishing and technology.
Simon-Pierre: It started in 2013, a long time ago already. I started my MBA at that time, specializing in technology. So during the course of my MBA, I've learned different technologies, and, of course, I've learned blockchain at that point.
I was very interested in the digital publishing world because I'm a big reader, a big fan of books, of course, but I'm a very tech-savvy guy. I like digital books a lot more than the regular book, maybe I'm the opposite of a lot of people of my generation. But that's what I am.
So being interested in that, I started to study that domain, because I was wondering why digital books were not more advanced than that. I was comparing that market, to the music industry, to the movie industry. And I was seeing that they were far more advanced in the digital world compared to books. I realized that blockchain could bring a lot to the digital world of the book publishing in...]]>
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Warrior Of The Blank Page. Writing, Marketing And Mindset With Steven Pressfield https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/08/warrior-of-the-blank-page/ Mon, 08 Mar 2021 06:10:18 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32558 <p>How can you write through self-doubt? How can you break through Resistance to write and market your work? How do you decide which book to write next? Steven Pressfield talks about being a warrior of the blank page, how he deals with Resistance around writing and marketing, as well as self-doubt and other aspects of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/08/warrior-of-the-blank-page/">Warrior Of The Blank Page. Writing, Marketing And Mindset With Steven Pressfield</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write through self-doubt? How can you break through Resistance to write and market your work? How do you decide which book to write next? Steven Pressfield talks about being a warrior of the blank page, Steven Pressfield talks about being a warrior of the blank page, how he deals with Resistance around writing and marketing, as well as self-doubt and other aspects of mindset that we all face on the writer's journey.

In the introduction, the first traditional publisher produces an AI-narrated audiobook with Google Play's beta program [Publishing Perspectives]; Deep fake Tom Cruise [The Guardian]; Hyper-realistic, emotionally expressive and controllable artificial voices [Venture Beat]; Spotify rolls out to 80 new markets and 36 languages [Spotify PR]; Clubhouse for Writers.
Plus, I talk about lessons learned on the Wish I'd Known Then Podcast, and about literary prizes and competitions on the Ask ALLi Podcast; and if you love horror/dark fiction, you can be in to win 6 signed paperbacks in this limited-time promo (8-15 March)

This podcast episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, super-useful software that will help you choose the right categories and keywords for your book. It includes Competitor Analysis so you can see what categories other books are in, Keyword and Category search tools, and keyword help for Amazon Ads. Check it out now at www.TheCreativePenn.com/rocket

Steven Pressfield is the international bestselling author of non-fiction books including The War of Art, Turning Pro, and The Lion’s Gate, as well as novels including The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, and Killing Rommel. His latest book is historical thriller, A Man At Arms.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Resistance to marketing and how you have to overcome the feeling that you are a ‘bad person' to want to market your books
* The virtues of the warrior — and how to be a warrior of the blank page
* Researching historical novels … and how much to make up
* What is the story really about?
]]>
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How To Write Authentic Crime Fiction With Patrick O’Donnell From Cops and Writers https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/01/writing-crime-cops-and-writers/ Mon, 01 Mar 2021 06:10:52 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32285 <p>How can you write nuanced police characters in your crime novels? What are some under-used crimes that might make interesting plots? Patrick O'Donnell talks about Cops and Writers in the interview today. In the intro, thoughts on a digital sales webinar from Ingram Content; the Immersive Books & Media 2020 Research Report [Publishers Weekly]; how […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/03/01/writing-crime-cops-and-writers/">How To Write Authentic Crime Fiction With Patrick O’Donnell From Cops and Writers</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write nuanced police characters in your crime novels? What are some under-used crimes that might make interesting plots? Patrick O'Donnell talks about Cops and Writers in the interview today. In the intro,
In the intro, thoughts on a digital sales webinar from Ingram Content; the Immersive Books & Media 2020 Research Report [Publishers Weekly]; how to Audible subscription earnings work [ALLi blog]; and how close I came to being taken in by scammers posing as traditional publishers [Writer Beware].
Plus, my sell direct tutorial; How to Make a Living with Your Writing 3rd edition; talking about the audio eco-system [Music Tectonics]; and a discussion on Your Author Business Plan [Rebel Author]

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Patrick O'Donnell is a retired American police sergeant and the author of the Cops and Writers reference books for authors and screenwriters as well as a technical consultant for crime and police procedural novels.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Common mistakes that writers make about the police
* Writing three-dimensional police characters
* How police officers deal with survivor’s guilt
* What TV and film get wrong about the police
* Ideas for under-used crime plots
* Writing nuanced criminals
* The double-edged sword of technology in the police

You can find Patrick O'Donnell at CopsAndWriters.com.

Transcript of Interview with Patrick O'Donnell
Joanna: Patrick O'Donnell is a retired American police sergeant and the author of the ‘Cops and Writers' reference books for authors and screenwriters as well as a technical consultant for crime and police procedural novels. Welcome, Patrick.
Patrick: Thank you, Joanna, for having me on your show.
]]>
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The AI-Augmented Author. Writing With GPT-3 With Paul Bellow https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/26/ai-augmented-author-gpt3/ Fri, 26 Feb 2021 06:10:58 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32442 <p>How can authors use AI writing tools like GPT-3? What's the best way to prompt the models to output usable text? Are there copyright issues with this approach? Author Paul Bellow explains how he is using the tools and how authors need to embrace the possibilities rather than reject them. In the intro, I talk […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/26/ai-augmented-author-gpt3/">The AI-Augmented Author. Writing With GPT-3 With Paul Bellow</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can authors use AI writing tools like GPT-3? What's the best way to prompt the models to output usable text? Are there copyright issues with this approach? Author Paul Bellow explains how he is using the tools and how authors need to embrace the po... Author Paul Bellow explains how he is using the tools and how authors need to embrace the possibilities rather than reject them.

In the intro, I talk about getting access to the Open AI GPT-3 beta shortly after interviewing Paul and how I used ideas from this interview to generate prompts, plus my thoughts on the tool. You can find some of the sites built on top of GPT-3 at TheCreativePenn.com/AIWriting; plus Will Artificial Intelligence Ever Write a Novel from thriller author, Andrew Mayne. You can find all the AI-related episodes and book recommendations at TheCreativePenn.com/future

Paul Bellow is a LitRPG author. He's also the publisher of LitRPG Forum, LitRPG Reads, and LitRPG Adventures. A writer for over four decades, he's currently tinkering with GPT-3 to create tools for authors and help his own writing too.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What is LitRPG?
* What is Open AI's GPT3?
* Shifting your mindset to embrace AI tools rather than be scared of them
* Ways to use prompts with GPT-3 and other Natural Language Generation tools in order to output coherent and useful text
* Is it cheating to use AI tools to help write your book?
* Copyright issues related to GPT-3 — more in Episode 519: Copyright law and blockchain for authors in an age of AI
* How might AI tools for writing be used in the near future?

You can find Paul Bellow at LitRPGForum.com and on Twitter @LitRPGforum and you can find the D&D character backstory generator at LitRPGAdventures.com

Transcript of Interview with Paul Bellow
Joanna: Paul Bellow is a LitRPG author. He's also the publisher of LitRPG Forum, LitRPG Reads, and LitRPG Adventures. A writer for over four decades, he's currently tinkering with GPT-3 to create tools for authors and help his own writing too. Welcome to the show, Paul.
Paul: Hi. Thanks for having me. It's good to be here.
Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you today. As I was saying before, you've really helped me shift my own mindset around AI writing. We're going to get into so much today.
Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and, also, what is LitRPG?
Paul: I'll start with the LitRPG first. It's basically a genre. The term was coined, back in 2010, I believe, by Russian authors that were putting out a anthology. And stories of this type, the basic trope being you're trapped in a video game or real people going inside a video game, has been around since at least 1978, I think, with ‘Quag Keep' by Andre Norton.
]]>
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Writing Tips: How To Structure And Write A Series With Sara Rosett https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/22/write-a-series/ Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:10:50 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32286 <p>Why is a series the not-so-secret weapon for making a decent living with your writing? What's the difference between episodic series and one with a clear arc across the books? What are some of the best ways to market a series? Sara Rosett talks about all these things and more. In the intro, Facebook shuts […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/22/write-a-series/">Writing Tips: How To Structure And Write A Series With Sara Rosett</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Why is a series the not-so-secret weapon for making a decent living with your writing? What's the difference between episodic series and one with a clear arc across the books? What are some of the best ways to market a series?
In the intro, Facebook shuts down news organizations (and a lot more) in Australia [The Guardian]; The possible impact of Facebook changes on author advertising [Author Media]; my Author Website and Email List Tutorial; my tutorial on how to sell ebooks and audiobooks direct with Payhip and Bookfunnel; and tips on dictation.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn 

Sara Rosett is the USA Today best-selling author of cozy mysteries, travel and historical mysteries, as well as books and courses for writers, including How to Write a Series, and, How to Outline a Cozy Mystery. She's also a podcaster at Wish I'd Known Then with co-host, Jami Albright.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Finding time to write with small children in the house
* The pros and cons of writing a series
* How the hero’s journey fits in with a series
* On the different types of series and where they work best
* How to plan a series
* How to keep track of character continuity in a series
* Different ideas for marketing a book series

You can find Sara Rosett at SaraRosett.com and on Twitter @SaraRosett

Transcript of Interview with Sara Rosett
Joanna: Sara Rosett is the USA Today best-selling author of cozy mysteries, travel and historical mysteries, as well as books and courses for writers, including How to Write a Series, and, How to Outline a Cozy Mystery. She's also a podcaster at Wish I'd Known Then with co-host, Jami Albright. Welcome to the show, Sara.
Sara: Hi, Joanna. It's great to be here.
Joanna: Oh, it's so exciting to have you on the show. So let's get started.
Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
Sara: I've always loved reading. I've always loved books. I've always loved mysteries. And so I read so many books when I was a kid and my dream was to write a fiction novel. So what did I do? I went to school and got a degree in language and litera...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 52:06
How To Write A Non-Fiction Book Proposal With Alison Jones https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/15/non-fiction-book-proposal/ Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:10:33 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32282 <p>What makes a non-fiction book stand out from the crowd? What are the essential elements of a non-fiction book proposal if you want to pitch agents and/or publishers, or if you want to prepare for effective self-publishing? In this interview, Alison Jones goes into detail on these things and how the publishing industry has changed […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/15/non-fiction-book-proposal/">How To Write A Non-Fiction Book Proposal With Alison Jones</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What makes a non-fiction book stand out from the crowd? What are the essential elements of a non-fiction book proposal if you want to pitch agents and/or publishers, or if you want to prepare for effective self-publishing? In this interview, In this interview, Alison Jones goes into detail on these things and how the publishing industry has changed due to the pandemic.

In the intro, how audiobook authors and narrators are paid by Audible-ACX – we think – ALLi blog; iOS14 possible impact on Facebook ads [Facebook]; Taylor Swift and intellectual property rights [The Guardian]; Publishers Weekly backlist titles.
Plus, thoughts on a decade of fiction; How to Make a Living with your Writing Third Edition is up for pre-order; and Your Author Business Plan and Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds are both available everywhere as an audiobook – links to all my books in audio here, or just search your favorite audio app.
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Alison Jones is the CEO of Practical Inspiration Publishing and the author of This Book Means Business, as well as the host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Changes in publishing accelerating as a result of the pandemic
* What makes an extraordinary non-fiction book?
* Why write a proposal for a non-fiction book?
* The elements of a non-fiction proposal
* The importance of having a fair contract for your intellectual property
* What makes a book attractive for foreign rights licensing?

You can find Alison Jones at AlisonJones.com and on Twitter @bookstothesky. Alison also has a 10 Day Book Proposal Challenge.

Transcript of Interview with Alison Jones
Joanna: Alison Jones is the CEO of Practical Inspiration Publishing and the author of This Book Means Bu...]]>
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The Artist In The Machine: The World Of AI-Powered Creativity With Arthur I. Miller https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/12/the-artist-in-the-machine/ Fri, 12 Feb 2021 06:10:33 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32440 <p>Can artificial intelligence augment our human creativity? Will AI ever be able to create art on its own and would we even be able to appreciate it? In this interview, Arthur I. Miller talks about the nature of creativity and The Artist in the Machine. In the intro, I mention my list of AI writing […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/12/the-artist-in-the-machine/">The Artist In The Machine: The World Of AI-Powered Creativity With Arthur I. Miller</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Can artificial intelligence augment our human creativity? Will AI ever be able to create art on its own and would we even be able to appreciate it? In this interview, Arthur I. Miller talks about the nature of creativity and The Artist in the Machine. In this interview, Arthur I. Miller talks about the nature of creativity and The Artist in the Machine. In the intro, I mention my list of AI writing sites, and DALL-E by Open AI, as well as episode 518 on Writing in the Age of AI.

 
Arthur I. Miller, Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, is the author of nine books spanning science, philosophy and creativity. Among them is Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Colliding Worlds: How Cutting-Edge Science is Redefining Contemporary Art.
His latest book is The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity, which we're talking about today.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What is creativity?
* Examples of art created with AI across visual art, music, and writing
* Is AI a tool or a collaborator?
* Copyright issues with work created with AI
* What does the future of AI hold?

You can find Arthur I Miller at ArtistInTheMachine.net and ArthurIMiller.com and on Twitter @ArthurIMiller

Transcript of Interview with Arthur I Miller
Joanna: Welcome to the show, Arthur.
Arthur: Thank you for inviting me, Joanna. It's a pleasure to be here.
Joanna: I'm so excited to talk to you since I read your book. I've given it to several people as well. It's great.
Tell us a bit more about your background and why you became interested in creativity and AI.
Arthur: I became interested in creativity when I was a boy growing up in the Bronx. It's a Bronx story. I was always a voracious reader and I made frequent visits to the local public library which was a magisterial building jam-packed with books and records, too.
One day I was reading at a table that happened to be next to the place where records were stacked. And on the edge of a row of records was one that particularly intrigued me because it had a picture of a man done in a pencil sketch, the man is deeply in thought.
I was always interested in sketching and then art in general. So I decided to borrow it, take it home, and practice copying the sketch on the cover. And I figured, well, since I have the record in my house I might as well listen to it even though I never heard of the composer.
I played it and it just blew my mind, with Tchaikovsky's “Fifth Symphony.” I have never heard anything like that before. I began working back to Tchaikovsky and then gradually working back in time to other composers, too.
The question that was immediately on my mind was how did these people think up that magnificent music?...]]>
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Value Your Books For The Long Term With David Farland https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/08/value-your-books-david-farland/ Mon, 08 Feb 2021 00:10:05 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32283 <p>You are not writing one book. You are creating an intellectual property asset that can make you money for the rest of your life and 50-70 years after you die. In this interview, David Farland talks about the importance of valuing your writing, and how to keep a long-term mindset as an author. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/08/value-your-books-david-farland/">Value Your Books For The Long Term With David Farland</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> You are not writing one book. You are creating an intellectual property asset that can make you money for the rest of your life and 50-70 years after you die. In this interview, David Farland talks about the importance of valuing your writing, In this interview, David Farland talks about the importance of valuing your writing, and how to keep a long-term mindset as an author.

In the intro, Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO [WIRED] and what that might mean for the focus going forward [VentureBeat]; Bill introduced this week to reform antitrust law and retool regulatory agencies to confront anticompetitive behavior by big corporations—notably, tech companies [Fast Company]; Prolific writing on the 6-Figure Author Podcast; and How to Market a Book: Overperform in a crowded market from Reedsy CEO, Ricardo Fayet. 
Plus, Microsoft has launched Custom Neural Voice in limited preview, a service that allows customers to create custom voices with AI [VentureBeat]; and I discuss the current state of writing and artificial intelligence on the Ask ALLi show.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

David Farland is the multi-award-winning and international best-selling author of over 50 novels and anthologies across science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction. His nonfiction books for writers include a Million Dollar Outlines and Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing. And he offers courses and online community and workshops at MyStoryDoctor.com.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How the pandemic has affected publishing and how business models might change moving forward
* Why some contract clauses might be a deal-breaker
* Thinking long-term about your intellectual property
* The different types of audiences that are important for a book
* Constructing a story arc that might work for a TV series

You can find David Farland at MyStoryDoc...]]>
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Stop Worrying, Start Selling. Change Your Author Mindset With Sarah Painter https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/01/stop-worrying-start-selling/ Mon, 01 Feb 2021 06:10:28 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32284 <p>How can we reframe book marketing as a creative and essential part of the author life? How can we manage fear and self-doubt in order to write? How can we embrace our ambition and aim high while still managing the day to day writing life? Sarah Painter talks about all this and more in this […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/01/stop-worrying-start-selling/">Stop Worrying, Start Selling. Change Your Author Mindset With Sarah Painter</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can we reframe book marketing as a creative and essential part of the author life? How can we manage fear and self-doubt in order to write? How can we embrace our ambition and aim high while still managing the day to day writing life?
In the intro, Spotify launches audiobooks [Engadget] and is now the most popular podcast platform [The Drum]; Story Rubric and Non-Fiction Rubric on The Writers Ink Podcast; How to get paid for poetry [Ask ALLi]; plus, we're still in lockdown here in the UK, so you can get 50% off my ebooks and audiobooks with coupon LOCKDOWN at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn and www.TheCreativePenn.com/learn
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher.
Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Sarah Painter is the author of urban fantasy and supernatural thriller novels, as well as nonfiction for authors, including, Stop Worrying; Start Selling: The Introvert Author's Guide To Marketing. She's also the host of The Worried Writer Podcast.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Experience with traditional and indie publishing — and changing your mindset around marketing
* Realizing the dream of hiring a spouse out of their day job
* Acknowledging self-doubt and ways of dealing with it
* Becoming intentional about who we listen to and whether they support our writing goals
* The important pieces of book marketing that authors sometimes miss
* A strategy for book covers that sell
* Why introverts are perfectly suited to book marketing

You can find Sarah Painter at Sarah-Painter.com and on Twitter @sarahrpainter

Transcript of Interview with Sarah Painter
Joanna: Sarah Painter is the author of urban fantasy and s...]]> Joanna Penn full false 57:03 Turn Your Author Failures, Setbacks, And Mistakes Into Success With Joanna Penn And Orna Ross https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/25/failure-to-success/ Mon, 25 Jan 2021 06:10:06 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32281 <p>We all experience failures, setbacks, and mistakes on the author journey — but if we learn from them, they can be the basis for our greatest success. In this episode, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn share their biggest mistakes, failures, and setbacks as well as lessons learned. This interview originally went out on the Ask […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/25/failure-to-success/">Turn Your Author Failures, Setbacks, And Mistakes Into Success With Joanna Penn And Orna Ross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We all experience failures, setbacks, and mistakes on the author journey — but if we learn from them, they can be the basis for our greatest success. In this episode, Orna Ross and Joanna Penn share their biggest mistakes, failures,
This interview originally went out on the Ask ALLi Podcast on 11 December 2020.
In the intro, #1 NY Times bestselling urban fantasy author, Ilona Andrews, shares why going indie is such a good idea; Wattpad has been bought by South Korean company Naver [The New Publishing Standard]; US publishing had its best year in a decade in 2020 according to NPD Bookscan and Overdrive [The Hotsheet] and why we should not feel guilty about a good year of book sales revenue. ACX will be sharing returns data, paying royalties on certain returns, and making opt-out of contracts more flexible, but this does not go far enough according to Susan May and the Fair Deal for Rightsholders and Narrators Group.
Please take my survey on author income streams (by 31 Jan 2021); What to do if you’re not making a profit from your books [6 Figure Authors]; and 9 Characteristics of a Successful Self-Publishing Mindset [Ask ALLi]
Plus, Not Quite Lost: Travels Without a Sense of Direction with Roz Morris on Books and Travel, photos of Bath in the snow, and how awesome is The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks.
Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.
Orna Ross is an award-winning and bestselling indie novelist, poet, and founder-director of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), the global non-profit association for self-publishing authors.]]>
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A Techno-Optimist’s View Of The Creative Future For Authors. Joanna Penn On The Kindle Chronicles Podcast https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/22/techno-optimist-creative-future/ Fri, 22 Jan 2021 06:10:26 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32280 <p>It can be daunting to think about the future for authors and publishing when converging technologies are expanding into the realm of creativity, but there are many opportunities ahead — if you engage with the tools rather than run from them. In this interview, Len Edgerly interviews Joanna Penn about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Worlds: […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/22/techno-optimist-creative-future/">A Techno-Optimist’s View Of The Creative Future For Authors. Joanna Penn On The Kindle Chronicles Podcast</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> It can be daunting to think about the future for authors and publishing when converging technologies are expanding into the realm of creativity, but there are many opportunities ahead — if you engage with the tools rather than run from them.
In this interview, Len Edgerly interviews Joanna Penn about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry. This episode was first broadcast on the Kindle Chronicles Podcast on 19 December 2020, used with permission from Len Edgerly.

Len Edgerly is a nonfiction author with degrees in business and poetry. He's also the host of the long-running Kindle Chronicles Podcast, where he's interviewed Jeff Bezos, Margaret Atwood, and Dean Koontz among many others.
Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F.Penn. She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Writing with Open-AI's GPT-3 and why ‘centaur-writers' might be the future
* Why authors and the publishing industry need to engage with this new technology
* You don't need to know HTML programming to use the internet to sell books — and you don't need to know the technical side of blockchain to understand how it could transform the industry
* How AI might be able to solve problems that are too big for humans, like health care and the environment
* How virtual reality could affect the bookselling business
* How the pandemic accelerated technological change

You can find Len Edgerly at Kindle Chronicles and his podcast on your favorite podcast app. More on AI and the future of creativity here.
You can also find my previous discussion with Len in episode 505 on Changes in the Publishing Industry Over the Last Decade.

Transcript of Interview with Joanna Penn
Len Edgerly: Hi, this is Len Edgerly. Welcome to the ‘Kindle Chronicles.' Today is Friday, December 18, 2020. I'm coming to you from Sanibel Island in Florida.
As we approach the end of a year that has taxed the resilience of any optimist, techno or otherwise, I'm pleased to bring you a full length conversation with Joanna Penn, whose latest book about artificial intelligence, blockchain, and virtual worlds, I think is a terrific jumping-off point for thinking creatively about the future for authors, readers, and the world of publishing. Let's get right to it.
Joanna Penn writes nonfiction for authors and, as J. F. Penn, she writes thrillers and dark fantasy.]]>
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Co-writing With Artificial Intelligence With Yudhanjaya Wijeratne https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/18/co-writing-with-artificial-intelligence-yudhanjaya/ Mon, 18 Jan 2021 06:10:14 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32253 <p>We all use tools as part of the writing process. Other books and internet resources for research, Scrivener for writing the first draft, and a computer for typing or dictating into, as well as editing tools like ProWritingAid. But what if you could use AI tools to help inspire the writing process? In this episode, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/18/co-writing-with-artificial-intelligence-yudhanjaya/">Co-writing With Artificial Intelligence With Yudhanjaya Wijeratne</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We all use tools as part of the writing process. Other books and internet resources for research, Scrivener for writing the first draft, and a computer for typing or dictating into, as well as editing tools like ProWritingAid. In this episode, science fiction author Yudhanjaya Wijeratne talks about how he used artificial intelligence to co-write his novel, The Salvage Crew.

In the intro, I talk about how I've been playing with Inferkit using my own books to train the Natural Language Generation model. More on AI writing tools here. Google announced a model 6x bigger than GPT-3, and Eleuther.ai wants to create an open-source version.
In publishing news, Amazon and the Big 5 publishers have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices [The Guardian], and Amazon is being investigated for potentially anti-competitive behavior in its sale of ebooks [Wall St Journal].
I useful stuff, Mark Dawson's Ads for Authors course is open now and very useful if you want to get to grips with paid ads this year, one of the ways in which big tech definitely impacts authors! Plus, you can get 50% off my online courses during lockdown: www.TheCreativePenn.com/learn Use coupon: LOCKDOWN. Valid until the end of this UK lockdown!
Today's show is sponsored by my patrons at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. They pay for my time so I can think and research the future of creativity and then share it with you. If you find the show useful, please consider supporting for just a few dollars a month and get an extra monthly patron-only Q&A audio. Thank you!

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne is the award-nominated author of science fiction novels including Numbercaste and The Inhuman Race, as well as a Senior Researcher on Data, Algorithms, and Policy for an Asian think tank based in Sri Lanka. His latest novel, The Salvage Crew, features humans working alongside an AI overseer and was written with the help of AI tools.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How code is less like math and more like art
* Co-writing a book with AI tools
* What does it mean for art if art can be automated and humans can't perceive the difference?
]]>
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It’s Never Too Late. How To Achieve Your Goals At Any Age With Kate Champion https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/11/achieve-goals-at-any-age/ Mon, 11 Jan 2021 06:10:48 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32278 <p>If you feel like it's too late to achieve your goals — whether that’s because of your age or your fear of technology or you’re late to the indie author world — or anything else, today's interview with Kate Champion will help you reboot your mindset for the year ahead. In the intro, thoughts on […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/11/achieve-goals-at-any-age/">It’s Never Too Late. How To Achieve Your Goals At Any Age With Kate Champion</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you feel like it's too late to achieve your goals — whether that’s because of your age or your fear of technology or you’re late to the indie author world — or anything else, today's interview with Kate Champion will help you reboot your mindset for...
In the intro, thoughts on the COVID-19 and Book Publishing Report: Impacts and Insights for 2021Top 10 Trends that every author needs to know for 2021 from Written Word Media; positive signs for translation from Ricardo Fayet at Reedsy (where you can also hire translators), plus my experience using AI translation tool Deepl for German translation.
In useful stuff, Mark Dawson's Ads for Authors course is open, which I use and highly recommend; plus if you want to create an online course that sells, check out the free Teachable webinar with everything you need to know. PLUS, if you'd like to do one of my online courses for authors, you can get 50% off until the end of February 2021 (when hopefully, we are out of lockdown!). Just go to TheCreativePenn.com/learn and use coupon: LOCKDOWN

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn 

Kate Champion is the author of Never Too Late and Starting Out or Starting Over, as well as a licensed mental health professional who works with anxiety, loss trauma, with a focus on sustainable wellness and overcoming limiting beliefs.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How writing can help with mental health issues
* Writing as marketing for a small business
* How our limiting beliefs don’t have to stop us from achieving goals
* The importance of discomfort for pushing your boundaries and comfort zone
* Finding mentors to inspire and guide you
* How life is a series of transitions

You can find Kate Champion at KateChampionAuthor.com

Transcript of Interview with Kate Champion
Joanna: Kate Champion is the author of Never Too Late and Starting Out or Starting Over, as well as a licensed mental health professional who works with anxiety, loss trauma, with a focus on sustainable wellness and overcoming limiting beliefs. Welcome to the show, Kate.
Kate: Hello, how are you today?
]]>
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How To Be A Healthy Writer In 2021 With Dr Euan Lawson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/04/healthy-writer-2021/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 06:10:46 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32225 <p>Let's make 2021 a healthy, creative year! In today's show, Dr. Euan Lawson talks about ways to improve your physical and mental health, and how it can impact your creativity in a positive way. In the introduction, some thoughts on the year ahead for authors and publishing, including continued expansion to the global, digital, mobile […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/04/healthy-writer-2021/">How To Be A Healthy Writer In 2021 With Dr Euan Lawson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Let's make 2021 a healthy, creative year! In today's show, Dr. Euan Lawson talks about ways to improve your physical and mental health, and how it can impact your creativity in a positive way. In the introduction,
In the introduction, some thoughts on the year ahead for authors and publishing, including continued expansion to the global, digital, mobile business model and more subscription options for ebooks and audiobooks [Episode 520 – Voice technologies, streaming and subscription audio], Smashwords 2021 predictions, consolidation in publishing and impact on paid ads, Writers Ink state of the industry.
Expansion of audio as Amazon buys Wondery; regulation or possible break up of Big Tech (as discussed in episode 505), and by David Gaughran in his year-end newsletter, plus TechCrunch on European plans for digital rules; PLUS, a useful podcast on doing larger print runs through China on the Self-Publishing Show episode 259. My tutorial on how to set up your email list, and you can buy ebooks and audiobooks directly from me at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn.
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Dr. Euan Lawson is a British medical doctor and a fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He is currently the Acting Editor of the British Journal of General Practice, as well as an educator. He’s the author of GP Wellbeing: Combatting Burnout in General Practice, and the co-author, with Joanna Penn, of The Healthy Writer: Reduce Your Pain, Improve Your Health, and Build a Writing Career for the Long-Term.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Common health issues that may crop up in a year like 2020 — depression,]]>
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Creative Business Goals For 2021 With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/01/2021-goals/ Fri, 01 Jan 2021 06:15:41 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32088 <p>I love the new year! As the calendar turns a new page, we get to start again. After a very strange 2020, it feels like hope is in the air, and I'm ready to embark on the next year of my author journey. Are you ready for a fantastic 2021? Here are my creative and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/01/01/2021-goals/">Creative Business Goals For 2021 With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> I love the new year! As the calendar turns a new page, we get to start again. After a very strange 2020, it feels like hope is in the air, and I'm ready to embark on the next year of my author journey. Are you ready for a fantastic 2021? Here are my creative and business goals for the year ahead. Feel free to add yours in the comments and we can keep each other accountable.

2021: A Year of Expansion
2020 was a year of letting go in so many ways. It was an encounter with mortality and left its mark on many of us with decisions to change our work, our life, and our health; to make more of the precious time we have, and to stop doing those things that don't bring joy in some way, or at least take us a step in the direction we want to travel. I certainly evaluated my creative and business life and pared back a lot of it as part of my Author Business Plan.
It was a year of contraction, of diminishing, in terms of our sense of control (or the illusion of it!) as well as our physical space and freedom to roam. I want my 2021 to be a year of expansion — creatively in terms of what I write, mentally in terms of the things I learn about, and physically, in terms of my health and where I travel (once we're out of the woods with the virus, of course.)
I now have a mature author business and 2020 has proved the resilience of the global, digital, scalable business model. My multiple streams of income remain pretty stable if I keep producing books, podcasting, and marketing. But this year, in Sept 2021, I will hit my 10 year anniversary of going full-time as an author-entrepreneur, and if you're not growing, you're dying, as the old adage goes. I am not content to just write the next book, publish, market, and repeat.
Of course, I will continue to serve this community with useful information about the various aspects of the author life as it is right now, but I also want to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible for authors. Here's how I intend to manage my expansive 2021.
The Creative Penn Books and Podcast
There are some books I want to write and publish early in 2021:

* How to Make a Living with Your Writing – Third Edition. Things have changed a lot since I put out the first edition in 2015, and the second in 2017, and this remains my bestselling non-fiction book, so that will be out by end of Q1.
* How to Write a Novel. I've been sitting on a draft of this for a while and many of you have emailed and asked for it, so expect this by the end of Q2.

Thanks to your enthusiasm, The Creative Penn Podcast continues for another year!
On the days when I wonder whether the show is still useful, I get emails and comments from many of you saying it is worth continuing, and my patrons at Patreon, in particular, keep me enthused. Thank you for your support of the show!
I'll be sticking with the weekly format on Mondays as usual, and I will be adding in some inbetweenisodes on topics that I am investigating on the creative future (more detail below).
Doubling down on selling direct
I've been selling ebooks directly to readers for over a decade from various platforms, but now I have a proven platform with Payhip.com and BookFunnel for both ebooks and audiobooks, I'm going to streamline my direct sales process and be...]]>
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Creative Business Review Of 2020 And Lessons Learned From A Pandemic Year With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/31/2020-review/ Thu, 31 Dec 2020 06:10:42 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32245 <p>Every year, I set creative, financial and health goals and share them on the blog and the podcast. It helps keep me accountable and focused, although, inevitably things change over the year — this year, things changed across the whole world in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic and we all had to pivot to a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/31/2020-review/">Creative Business Review Of 2020 And Lessons Learned From A Pandemic Year With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Every year, I set creative, financial and health goals and share them on the blog and the podcast. It helps keep me accountable and focused, although, inevitably things change over the year — this year, things changed across the whole world in the wake... In this episode, I round up my year in creative business and also reflect on my lessons learned from this very strange year. Here are the things I'm celebrating and you're welcome to leave your thoughts and accomplishments in the comments.

Surviving the pandemic (so far!)
I decided to make this the first thing on my list and if you're reading/listening to this, then you can also celebrate this milestone! It's been a hell of a year, that's for sure.
My (super-fit) cousin got COVID early and ended up in a coma for five weeks. (He's now well on the way to recovery.) I had a conversation with my Mum about whether ventilation was something she wanted, or might not even have the choice to receive. One of my best friends was badly ill (she recovered), another was trapped in Peru, unable to get home. (She made it back). I wrote about the importance of home in difficult times, and the challenges of having a multi-cultural family with loved ones all over the globe at a time when travel is impossible (or ill-advised).
I considered what I would be angry about if I died right now and what I really want out of the next half of my life. I thought deeply about how I want to spend the short, precious years we have in this life, and what I no longer wanted to do. I shared some of that on the podcast and some of it remains locked in my journals in the emotional angst of a rollercoaster year.
There have been moments of fear, panic, and anxiety, as well as grief, sadness, and depression. Plus, a heavy dose of boredom, frustration, anger, and pretty much everything else on the emotional spectrum. Sometimes in the same day as the news cycle amped up everything to the max.
One big lesson learned is to avoid the news as much as possible — although of course, we all want to stay informed. I haven't watched TV news for years but I found myself reading multiple newspapers on my phone every day — definitely doomscrolling!
Unsurprisingly, I found peace of mind when walking the canal, out in nature away from screens. I tackled my fernweh (longing for far-off places) by going for a six-day pilgrimage in October, walking the Pilgrims' Way from Southwark in London to Canterbury Cathedral.
In the early days of the pandemic, I went through a creative ‘freeze' when I wondered if I would be able to write again. Talking to Mark McGuinness about creating in difficult times (episode 484) helped unlock me and I ended up having the most creative year ever in terms of my written (and spoken) output. It's amazing what you can do when everything gets canceled and the only thing to do is work!
I felt deeply grateful for the simple things I take for granted and really want back in my life:

* Spending time with my family and cuddling my little nieces — since I am the eldest of five siblings, we have only been able to catch up once this year in the summer between lockdowns
* Going out for drinks in a crowded bar with friends, or dinner in a busy restaurant,]]>
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Tips For Your Author Business Plan With Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/14/your-author-business-plan/ Mon, 14 Dec 2020 06:10:45 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32240 <p>You are an author. You turn ideas into reality in the shape of a book. You turn the thoughts in your head into valuable intellectual property assets. You understand how powerful the written word can be. Now it's time to use your words to create a business plan to take your writing career to the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/14/your-author-business-plan/">Tips For Your Author Business Plan With Joanna Penn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> You are an author. You turn ideas into reality in the shape of a book. You turn the thoughts in your head into valuable intellectual property assets. You understand how powerful the written word can be. Now it's time to use your words to create a busin... You turn the thoughts in your head into valuable intellectual property assets. You understand how powerful the written word can be. Now it's time to use your words to create a business plan to take your writing career to the next level — whatever that means for your situation.
In this episode, I share some chapters from my new book, Your Author Business Plan, available now.

In the intro, Bob Dylan sold his song catalogue for $300 million [The Guardian] and thoughts on how streaming is impacting revenues [Financial Times]; Spotify and blockchain [Musically]; Daniel Ek interview [Tim Ferriss Podcast]; China's AI audiobook narration in the author's voice [BBC]; Tiktok's owner Bytedance launches an app with AI-narrated audiobooks [RadiiChina].
Google’s next Android update will expand audiobook availability on Google Play Books by auto-generating AI narrations for books that don’t offer an audio version [Techcrunch]. It's already available for public domain books. [Google Play Books]. Plus, Orna Ross and I talk about our Mistakes, Failures and Setbacks on the author journey [Ask ALLi podcast].

Your Author Business Plan: Take Your Author Career to the Next Level is out now in ebook, paperback, large print, and companion workbook editions. Plus, you can get the audiobook directly from me, and available in the other stores in January. You can get 50% off any of my audiobooks and ebooks if you buy direct from me – Payhip.com/thecreativepenn – coupon: DEC20
Here's how to apply the coupon correctly if you're unsure. Plus, I have made Successful Self-Publishing free as an ebook and an audiobook so you can give the Bookfunnel audiobook app a try for free. It could be a gamechanger for selling audio direct.
On this episode, I share two chapters from my [human-narrated!] audiobook, which starts at 26 mins if you want to jump straight to it.

* What is a business plan?
* Business summary and big picture goals
* Marketing Strategy. Author eco-system


Here are the chapters of the audiobook featured in the episode. You can find links to https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32136 <p>How do you balance your time between what you have to do and what you want to do? How do you decide what's most important to work on? How do you make the most of the time you have for writing? I talk about productivity for authors and writers with Jessie Kwak. In the intro, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/07/creative-productivity/">From Chaos to Creativity: Productivity For Writers With Jessie Kwak</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you balance your time between what you have to do and what you want to do? How do you decide what's most important to work on? How do you make the most of the time you have for writing? I talk about productivity for authors and writers with Jess...
In the intro, Penguin Random House owner Bertelsmann to buy Simon & Schuster in a $2bn deal [The Guardian]; some of the regulatory challenges ahead [Publishers Weekly]; Audible/ACX adjusts terms for authors based on returns [The Guardian], but it's not enough. More transparency around reporting is needed [Publishing Perspectives]; Distribute audiobooks directly through Bookfunnel; How to make a fiction podcast [Podcast Host]; Amazon is in talks to buy podcast producer, Wondery [Wall St Journal].
It's been a very productive month of lockdown for me here in the UK! Your Author Business Plan is out this week (+ Workbook Edition), along with Tree of Life, ARKANE thriller #11. Plus Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds is now out in paperback, and my German book, Mindset fur Autoren, is (finally) out in audiobook. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher.
Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Jessie Kwak is the author of gangster sci-fi supernatural thrillers and nonfiction. She's also a freelance ghostwriter and editor, copywriter, and content marketer. Her latest book is From Chaos to Creativity: Building a Productivity System for Artists and Writers.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the n...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:08
Voice Technologies, Streaming And Subscription Audio In A Time Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/04/voice-technologies-streaming-and-subscription-audio-in-a-time-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/ Fri, 04 Dec 2020 06:25:26 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32194 <p>The audiobook market is currently held back by availability and cost of titles, as well as preference for narrators with different voices. The subscription model and AI voice narration will solve these issues — but we need audio rights licensing reform to make it happen. In this solo show: Streaming and subscription models AI voices […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/04/voice-technologies-streaming-and-subscription-audio-in-a-time-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/">Voice Technologies, Streaming And Subscription Audio In A Time Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The audiobook market is currently held back by availability and cost of titles, as well as preference for narrators with different voices. The subscription model and AI voice narration will solve these issues — but we need audio rights licensing reform...
In this solo show:

* Streaming and subscription models
* AI voices will narrate mass-market audio content with human narrators producing artisan audio experiences
* Audio licensing will expand for different levels of listener experience
* Authors and publishers will sell directly from their own platforms to superfans who want to support creators

This is the second in my AI episodes based on my new book, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies On Authors and the Publishing Industry.
Check out previous episodes and resources on AI at www.TheCreativePenn.com/future

The written word is still the primary focus for authors and publishing, but in the last few years, there has been significant growth in audiobook revenue and the use of podcasting for book marketing. A Deloitte paper on audiobooks and podcasting, The Ears Have It, noted that, “at current growth rates, audiobook revenues are on a trajectory to pass e-books by 2023 or so”.
It’s an exciting time to be in audio, and there are some societal trends and technological shifts that will grow the market and expand possibilities even further.
Streaming and subscription models

“Possession is not as important as it once was. Accessing is more important than ever.”
Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

The subscription model for content is great value for consumers. They can watch unlimited movies and TV on Netflix and listen to unlimited music on Spotify, both of which are tailored to individual preferences. They can read on Kindle Unlimited, and there are many more examples of this kind of subscription. It is a mainstream business model and already an option for audio in many markets with Storytel, Scribd and others, even though it has yet to pervade the significant audiobook markets of the US and UK. It will only expand in the years to come.
Publishing has slowly followed the trajectory of the music industry in terms of digital transformation. TechCrunch reported in September 2020 that revenue for recorded music has increased during 2020 owing to the growth in streaming under the pandemic. Paid subscriptions like Spotify and Apple Music are up 24% year-on-year, and “streaming now makes up 85% of all [music] revenue in the U.S.,” with physical sales at 7% and digital downloads at 6%.
The 2020s will bring many more technological options as listeners continue to embrace unlimited subscription models. They can try more varied audio with no risk, and they’re more likely to try it on a platform where they already listen to music and podcasts.
Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, wrote on their company blog in Februa...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 17:58
Copyright Law And Blockchain For Authors And Publishers In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/02/copyright-blockchain/ Wed, 02 Dec 2020 06:30:22 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32170 <p>Should copyright be attributed to original literary and artistic works autonomously generated by AI? How will creators of original material be compensated when their works are used to train natural language generation models? Intellectual property reform in the age of AI is inevitable, and we need our voices to be heard. In this solo show: […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/12/02/copyright-blockchain/">Copyright Law And Blockchain For Authors And Publishers In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Should copyright be attributed to original literary and artistic works autonomously generated by AI? How will creators of original material be compensated when their works are used to train natural language generation models? Intellectual property reform in the age of AI is inevitable, and we need our voices to be heard.

In this solo show:

* How copyright in the age of AI is being discussed amongst governments and global organizations
* Why copyright needs to be international
* How Blockchain technology could be used to facilitate intellectual property management
* Why we must allow the licensing of works in copyright for machine learning in order to combat bias and prejudice
* How licensing could work in a new model

This is the second in my AI episodes based on my new book, 
Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies On Authors and the Publishing Industry.
Check out previous episodes and resources on AI at www.TheCreativePenn.com/future
***
In January 2020, a Chinese court ruled that an AI-written article would be protected by copyright. “The article’s articulation and expression had a ‘certain originality’ and met the legal requirements to be classed as a written work — thus it qualified for copyright protection.” [Venture Beat]
At this stage, there are more questions than answers in the realm of AI and copyright law. During 2020, I’ve worked with Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, to prepare submissions for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and for the UK Government on artificial intelligence and copyright.
Some questions under discussion include:
• Should copyright be attributed to original literary and artistic works that are autonomously generated by AI or should a human creator be required?
• Should the use of the data subsisting in copyright works without authorization for machine learning constitute an infringement of copyright?
• If the use of the data subsisting in copyright works without authorization for machine learning is considered to constitute an infringement of copyright, what would be the impact on the development of AI and on the free flow of data to improve innovation in AI?
As you can imagine, we’ve had a challenge wrapping our creative brains around this area, but it is critically important for authors and the publishing industry. Intellectual property reform in the age of AI is inevitable, and we need our voices to be heard.
Most author organizations and publishers have shown little interest in submissions like this, but assuming it will all work out for the best is not enough.
If creative voices are not in the room when these issues are discussed, then stronger voices will dominate — and these may not benefit creators and rights-holders. Wherever you are in the world, consider investigating what your government is doing around AI and intellectual property, and get involved.
This whole domain is in flux and I am not a copyright lawyer, so the following are merely ideas for consideration and further discussion.
]]> Joanna Penn full false 15:21 Writing In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/30/writing-in-age-of-ai/ Mon, 30 Nov 2020 03:27:23 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=32165 <p>In this solo episode, I discuss the impact of converging technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Generation (NLG) tools like GPT-3, and more on writing, authors, and the publishing industry.   My last AI show was in July 2019, 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors and Publishing in the Next 10 Years, and although I’ve […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/30/writing-in-age-of-ai/">Writing In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In this solo episode, I discuss the impact of converging technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Generation (NLG) tools like GPT-3, and more on writing, authors, and the publishing industry.   My last AI show was in July 2019,
 
My last AI show was in July 2019, 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors and Publishing in the Next 10 Years, and although I’ve shared futurist segments on the show since then, I’ve been working on this as an updated view, and a look forward to the rest of the 2020s.
In this solo show, I discuss:

* Why this era of technological change, accelerated by the pandemic, is so important
* What is GPT-3 and why is it such a big deal?
* AI as co-creator: Embrace curiosity and play with artistic collaboration
* Impact on the commercial business model for writers, authors, and publishing
* What about books?
* Will AI tools make authors obsolete?
* “Data is the new oil,” the wealth generator of the digital age — and publishers have a lot of it. The publishing industry owns and controls the largest dataset of all.
* Why I'm so excited about the next decade of abundance — if we embrace the changes and opportunities ahead!

Check out previous episodes and resources on AI at www.TheCreativePenn.com/future

What started as preparation for this podcast episode actually turned into a book: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies On Authors and the Publishing Industry.

 
Available now as an ebook and coming soon in print and audio. 
It covers:

Writing in the age of AI, including Natural Language Generation models like GPT-3
Copyright law, Blockchain for smart contracts, and micro-payments
AI-assisted translation
Voice technologies, streaming, and subscription
Virtual worlds and augmented reality
Global, digital, mobile. A wave of new writers.

In this episode, I cover Writing in an Age of AI, with extra shows on Copyright law and Blockchain, as well as audiobooks and voice technology also coming shortly. There are links in the show notes and clickable links in the ebook of you want to investigate further.
If the technology language sometimes goes over your head, think of this as an exercise in awareness. We can only learn new things if we learn new language to express a new reality.
Every major industry on our planet is about to be completely reimagined

“Every major industry on our planet is about to be completely reimagined. For entrepreneurs, for innovators, for leaders, for anyone sufficiently nimble and adventurous, the opportunities will be incredible… Welcome to an era of extraordinary.”
Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives

On a societal level, the impact of these converging technologies go far beyond authors and publishing, but as a writer and a reader, I’m deeply committed to the future of books, so that will be my focus here.
It’s time to change our business model. If we embrace this wave of converging technology, we can create abundance in our industry, enabling new forms of creativity, growing the market with new products and experience...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 39:24
Business Mindset And Pivoting Your Author Career With Holly Worton https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/23/business-mindset-pivot-author-career/ Mon, 23 Nov 2020 06:10:50 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31929 <p>How can you prevent self-doubt and fear from blocking your creative expression? What if you've built an audience for your books, but then you want to change direction? I discuss these issues and more with Holly Worton. In the intro, Draft2Digital introduce payment splitting; Long-term and ‘wide' thinking with Sarah Painter on the 6 Figure […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/23/business-mindset-pivot-author-career/">Business Mindset And Pivoting Your Author Career With Holly Worton</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you prevent self-doubt and fear from blocking your creative expression? What if you've built an audience for your books, but then you want to change direction? I discuss these issues and more with Holly Worton. In the intro,
In the intro, Draft2Digital introduce payment splitting; Long-term and ‘wide' thinking with Sarah Painter on the 6 Figure Author Podcast; the Alliance of Independent Authors downgrades ACX to Caution as a self-publishing service and The Authors Guild starts a petition to stop Audible's unfair exchange policy; and more on #Audiblegate at Fair Deal for Rights Holders and Narrators on Facebook. My thoughts on the UK's FutureBook conference including audio and unlimited streaming and subscription services, global, digital-first publishing, and more. Check out #futurebook20 on Twitter if you want to see some highlights. 
Plus, Your Author Business Plan: Take Your Author Career to the Next Level is on pre-order for ebooks at some stores, and available on 10 Dec everywhere.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Holly Worton is the author of 17 nonfiction and self-help books about business mindset and personal growth, as well as on walking and the wisdom of trees and nature. She's also the host of the Into the Woods podcast.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Common mindset issues that authors face
* How to move past the beliefs or fears that block our creative freedom and business success
* Building the ‘vulnerability' muscle
* Taking action on what we really want
* Making space to allow for a new direction
* Creating book assets from podcast transcriptions
* How do you know if you have an issue with money?
* How to use a ‘workation' to finish your book
* How to pivot your author career when you've already established a brand

You can find Holly Worton at HollyWorton.com and on Twitter @hollyworton

Transcript of Interview with Holly Worton
Joanna: Holly Worton is the author of 17 nonfictio...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:16:20
YouTube For Authors And Multiple Streams Of Income With Meg LaTorre https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/16/youtube-for-authors/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 06:10:30 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31932 <p>How can you use video to attract readers to your books — and create multiple streams of income? Meg La Torre gives some tips for video marketing. In the intro, ACX emails the community apologizing for an incredibly slow production process; but doesn't address the serious issue of returns [Susan May Writer]; ALLi revokes ACX […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/16/youtube-for-authors/">YouTube For Authors And Multiple Streams Of Income With Meg LaTorre</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use video to attract readers to your books — and create multiple streams of income? Meg La Torre gives some tips for video marketing. In the intro, ACX emails the community apologizing for an incredibly slow production process; but doesn't ...
In the intro, ACX emails the community apologizing for an incredibly slow production process; but doesn't address the serious issue of returns [Susan May Writer]; ALLi revokes ACX as a recommended self-publishing service; Level up your author business [ALLi]; and Tree of Life, ARKANE 11, is in the final stages of production. Out 9 Dec 2020.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Meg LaTorre is a bestselling science fiction and fantasy author, YouTuber at iWriterly, speaker, and a blogger. She previously worked at a literary agency and has a background in magazine publishing, medical and technical writing, and journalism. Her latest book is The Cyborg Tinkerer.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Thoughts on publishing options and what authors get wrong when pitching agents
* The difference between AuthorTubers and BookTubers
* What works, and doesn’t work, when selling books on YouTube
* What kind of personality suits video marketing
* Tips for YouTube video titles and graphics
* Why consistency matters for feeding the YouTube algorithms
* How YouTube can add to an author’s multiple streams of income

You can find Meg LaTorre at iWriterly.com and on YouTube.com/iwriterly and on Twitter @MegLaTorre

Transcript of Interview with Meg LaTorre
Joanna: Meg LaTorre is a bestselling science fiction and fantasy author, YouTuber at iWriterly, speaker, and a blogger. She previously worked at a literary agency and has a background in magazine publishing, medical and technical writing, and journalism. Her latest book is The Cyborg Tinkerer. Welcome, Meg.
Meg: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Joanna: It's great to have you on the show.
Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing?
Meg: Like a lot of people, I've been writing since I was a kid. I always knew I wanted to write books, but I didn't actively start writing books until probably about 10 years ago. After I'd been working in corporate for a few years as a journalist and technical writer a...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:59
Networking For Authors With Daniel Parsons https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/09/networking-for-authors/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 06:10:09 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31922 <p>How do you build a network of author friends and peers over the long-term? How can you overcome anxiety about online or in-person events in order to network more effectively? Daniel Parsons and I share tips on networking online and also for physical events post-pandemic. In the intro, new Series management tools from Amazon KDP; […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/09/networking-for-authors/">Networking For Authors With Daniel Parsons</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you build a network of author friends and peers over the long-term? How can you overcome anxiety about online or in-person events in order to network more effectively? Daniel Parsons and I share tips on networking online and also for physical ev...
In the intro, new Series management tools from Amazon KDP; Draft2Digital scheduled price changes; Kevin Tumlinson and I talk about the self-publishing future [Self-Publishing Insiders]; thoughts on The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin; Richard O'Brien on The Rocky Horror Show [The Guardian]; why The Queen's Gambit is a perfect story; Plus, fantastic ebook bundle for writers (includes Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies): www.Storybundle.com/nano; and Map of Shadows available in audio.
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Dan Parsons is a fantasy and horror author who also writes non-fiction. His latest book is Networking for Authors: How to Make Friends, Sell More Books and Grow a Publishing Network from Scratch.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What the new approach to publishing looks like
* What networking looks like for authors and how it differs from traditional networking
* Mistakes to avoid when networking
* How to present yourself in person to make a positive impression
* Prepping for a live networking event to make it easier in the moment to connect
* Tips and strategies for shy networkers
* Why long term thinking is important for networking
* What the future of networking might look like

You can find Daniel Parsons at DanielParsonsBooks.com and on Twitter @dkparsonswriter

Transcript of Interview with Daniel Parsons
Joanna: Dan Parsons is a fantasy and horror author who also writes non-fiction. His latest book is Networking for Authors: How to Make Friends, Sell More Books and Grow a Publishing Network from Scratch. Welcome, Dan.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:50
How To Write And Market Books Across Multiple Genres With Wendy H Jones https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/02/write-market-multi-genre/ Mon, 02 Nov 2020 06:10:23 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31927 <p>How do you successfully write and market in multiple genres if you're a multi-passionate creator? How do you manage a hybrid career across traditional and independent publishing? Wendy H. Jones talks about her varied writing career and her tips for book marketing.   In the intro, The HotSheet reports from Frankfurt Book Fair with positive […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/11/02/write-market-multi-genre/">How To Write And Market Books Across Multiple Genres With Wendy H Jones</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you successfully write and market in multiple genres if you're a multi-passionate creator? How do you manage a hybrid career across traditional and independent publishing? Wendy H. Jones talks about her varied writing career and her tips for boo...
 
In the intro, The HotSheet reports from Frankfurt Book Fair with positive news about Kobo audiobooks, why we need to embrace streaming and subscription, and the possibility that book contracts might include podcasts in the future. The new Amazon Author Central, author.amazon.com, is rolling out slowly. Google Play's increase in royalties to 70%. NaNoWriMo. My thoughts on Tim Ferriss's fantastic interview with Yuval Noah Harari, and I also mention Novacene by James Lovelock. Do you enjoy a senior, second chance, sweet romance? Check out A Summerfield Christmas Wedding from Penny Appleton (my Mum's 5th book!)
Today’s show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who support the podcast with a few dollars a month through patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Patrons get an extra Q&A show every month — bonus audio! — and also 10% off my courses. Thank you, Patrons!

Wendy H. Jones is the award-winning and best-selling author of police procedural novels as well as inspirational non-fiction children's books and useful books for authors. Her latest book is Marketing Matters: Sell More Books.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Thoughts on being a hybrid author
* On the Scottish literary scene
* When to say no to opportunities
* Different strategies for marketing fiction vs. non-fiction
* On Wendy’s book of motivational exercises based on NLP
* How faith plays a part in Wendy’s literary life

You can find Wendy H. Jones at WendyHJones.com and on Twitter @WendyHJones

Transcript of Interview with Wendy H. Jones
Joanna: Wendy H. Jones is the award-winning and best-selling author of police procedural novels as well as inspirational non-fiction children's books and useful books for authors. Her latest book is Marketing Matters: Sell More Books, which is something we all want to do. Welcome, Wendy.
Wendy: Thank you for having me here. It's an absolute pleasure.
Joanna: It's exciting to have you on the show.
First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
Wendy: This sounds awful. It sounds a bit by accident, but it wasn't by accident. I've always been a writer. I've always been a reader. I've read since I was three. I've read mysteries.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:33
Writing In The Dark. Horror Writing Tips With Tim Waggoner https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/26/writing-horror-tim-waggoner/ Mon, 26 Oct 2020 06:10:07 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31928 <p>How do you write your darkness without drowning in it? How do you write an original horror story while still respecting the tropes of the genre? Why are horror writers the nicest people around?! Tim Waggoner gives some craft tips for writing horror, as well as thoughts on the current publishing and TV/film environment. In […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/26/writing-horror-tim-waggoner/">Writing In The Dark. Horror Writing Tips With Tim Waggoner</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you write your darkness without drowning in it? How do you write an original horror story while still respecting the tropes of the genre? Why are horror writers the nicest people around?! Tim Waggoner gives some craft tips for writing horror, Tim Waggoner gives some craft tips for writing horror, as well as thoughts on the current publishing and TV/film environment.

In the intro, Bookwire's report on audience behavior in the age of ebooks, audiobooks, and podcasts [Publishing Perspectives]; positive report on the ebook market during COVID19 [Written Word Media]; and library digital subscription and borrowing is up [The Guardian]; Google Play introduces promo codes; Reflections on the end of the general trade concept from Mike Shatzkin and what a possible big publishing merger might bring; The end of the summer blockbuster and a changing model for the film industry, which is reflected in the indie author business model [Kristine Kathryn Rusch].
Plus, my solo episode on Walk Your Own Race: Lessons Learned from Walking a 50km Ultra-Marathon, and photos from my 6-day pilgrimage at Instagram @jfpennauthor. Don't miss the Halloween special on Books and Travel, Life-Obsessed: Cemeteries, Graveyards, and Ossuaries with Loren Rhoads.

Do you need help finding an editor, book cover designer, or someone to do your book marketing? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing. Check it out at www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Tim Waggoner is the best selling and Bram Stoker award-winning author of over 50 novels and 7 short story collections across dark fantasy and horror, as well as writing tie-ins. He's also a professor of creative writing at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio. His latest book for authors is Writing in the Dark, on the craft of writing horror fiction.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How exploring our darkness means we don’t have to be afraid of it
* Why it’s important not to re-traumatize yourself when writing
* The variety that exists within the horror genre
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:57
Building A Creative Business Brand With Pamela Wilson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/19/creative-business-brand/ Mon, 19 Oct 2020 06:10:49 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31931 <p>How do you build a creative business that you love — and makes you money? Pamela Wilson talks about her non-fiction business model, how to choose a niche, plus how to pivot your brand over time.   In the intro, I talk about my pilgrimage walk and how we all need to weigh up risks […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/19/creative-business-brand/">Building A Creative Business Brand With Pamela Wilson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you build a creative business that you love — and makes you money? Pamela Wilson talks about her non-fiction business model, how to choose a niche, plus how to pivot your brand over time.   In the intro,
 
In the intro, I talk about my pilgrimage walk and how we all need to weigh up risks and reward, especially when the need to fill the creative well becomes overwhelming! You can find the pictures on Instagram @jfpennauthor. I also mention my Courses for Authors, and my latest episode on Books and Travel where I talk about fear and assessing risk, which is something we all have to do.

Pamela Wilson is the author of Master Content Marketing and Master Content Strategy and is an online educator and keynote speaker. Her company, Big Brand System, teaches people how to build online businesses they love, which is particularly important as many people are pivoting after the pandemic.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How images and words form the two halves of content marketing
* How books lead potential clients into other premium offerings like coaching and courses
* Tips on choosing a niche to work with and serve — that you enjoy and will also make you money
* Should you build a personal brand or a business brand?
* What happens when you want to change the audience you focus on?
* Tips on rebranding
* Listening to your gut when it comes to building a creative business

You can find Pamela Wilson at BigBrandSystem.com/goodies and on Twitter @pamelaiwilson. You can also find her courses at The Content Lab and the Image Lab (affiliate links).

Transcript of Interview with Pamela Wilson
Joanna Penn: Pamela Wilson is the author of two books on content marketing, an online educator and keynote speaker. Her company, Big Brand System, teaches people how to build online businesses they love, particularly important as many people are pivoting after the pandemic. Welcome back to the show, Pamela.
Pamela Wilson: I am so happy to be here and hear your voice and just be here with your community. Thank you for having me back.
Joanna Penn: It's great to have you back on the show. Previously we have talked about content marketing, both of us are big fans of that. But today we are talking more about this building a business. So set the scene for us.
Tell us a bit more about what your creative business looks like. What are your multiple streams of income and how do books play a part in that?
Pamela Wilson: The good news is books play a part in all of it,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 52:42
Mental Models For Writers And The Empowered Indie Author With Michael LaRonn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/12/empowered-indie-author/ Mon, 12 Oct 2020 06:10:27 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31925 <p>Writing is absolutely about the practical step of getting words on the page — but your mindset can make the difference between success and failure, as well as how much you enjoy the author journey. In this interview, Michael La Ronn outlines mental models for writers, facing our fears to break through to creative success, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/12/empowered-indie-author/">Mental Models For Writers And The Empowered Indie Author With Michael LaRonn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing is absolutely about the practical step of getting words on the page — but your mindset can make the difference between success and failure, as well as how much you enjoy the author journey. In this interview, In this interview, Michael La Ronn outlines mental models for writers, facing our fears to break through to creative success, as well as practical tips about writing on mobile and self-publishing effectively.

 
In the intro, insights into subscription models [ALLi blog]; how my process for Tree of Life differed from my other novels, and JD Barker's episode on How to Develop Bestselling Story Ideas; Self-Publishing Online Conference on Tools and Tech for Indie Authors; and my interview about the state of the self-publishing industry on the Story Studio Podcast.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Michael La Ronn is the author of 45 books, spanning science fiction, fantasy, poetry, and nonfiction. He's a YouTuber, podcaster, and professional speaker, and is also the U.S. ambassador and outreach manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors where he co-hosts a show with Orna Ross on self-publishing advice. His books for authors include Be a Writing Machine, Mental Models for Writers, and 150 Self-Publishing Questions Answered.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Reclaiming writing time by writing on a phone
* The different mental models that serve writers
* How to take steps to self-publishing that are empowering
* How YouTube can work for introverted authors. Check out Michael's channel, Author Level Up. You can also listen to the original interview we did on video marketing for authors here.
* What the indie author community can do to support authors of color. Watch Michael's powerful video, Some Thoughts on the Color of my Skin
* What might the future of publishing look like? Michael's 6-year-old daughter uses voice search like a pro.

You can find Michael La Ronn at AuthorLevelUp.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:31
Outlining Your Novel And Filling The Creative Well With K.M. Weiland https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/05/outlining-your-novel/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 06:11:42 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31964 <p>How can you use an outline to improve your book before you start the first draft? How can you use it to play with your creative ideas without feeling hemmed in by the process? In this interview, KM Weiland talks about how to outline your novel as well as thoughts on writer's block, filling the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/10/05/outlining-your-novel/">Outlining Your Novel And Filling The Creative Well With K.M. Weiland</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you use an outline to improve your book before you start the first draft? How can you use it to play with your creative ideas without feeling hemmed in by the process? In this interview, KM Weiland talks about how to outline your novel as well ... In this interview, KM Weiland talks about how to outline your novel as well as thoughts on writer's block, filling the creative well, and longevity as a writer and blogger.

 
In the intro,
6 Figure Authors on productivity, I'm in editing mode for Tree of Life, and I talk about some lessons learned about writing from my 50K ultramarathon last weekend [pics on Instagram @jfpennauthor].
Plus, get your NaNoWriMo Storybundle, packed full of books on writing craft, marketing, business, and mindset — for a limited time: www.StoryBundle.com/nano
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

K.M. Weiland is the award-winning author of fantasy, medieval epic, historical, and Western adventures. She also writes non-fiction for authors and helps writers become authors on her fantastic vlog. Her books include Creating Character Arcs, Conquering Writer's Block, and Outlining Your Novel.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The importance of refilling the creative well — especially if you are experiencing writer's block
* Outlining as brainstorming and discovery
* Tips for how to outline
* Why you don’t have to choose whether to be a plotter or pantser/ discovery writer
* Benefits of outlining for discovery writers
* How outlining can give a writer a simpler, more macro view of a story — and help you write your sales description/back blurb
* How a clear premise can help you write a book’s description
* Marketing across diverse genres
* How blogging and non-fiction writing underpin Katie's business and fuel her fiction career

You can find K.M. Weiland at HelpingWritersBecomeAuthors.com and on Twitter @KMWeiland
Header photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

Transcript of Interview with K.M. Weiland
Joanna: K.M. Weiland is the award-winning author of fantasy, medieval epic, historical, and Western adventures. She also writes non-fiction for authors and helps writers become authors on her fantastic vlog. Her books include Creating Character Arcs,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:08:20 Starting From Zero And Success With BookBub Ads With David Gaughran https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/28/starting-from-zero-bookbub-david-gaughran/ Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:10:23 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31923 <p>When you've been self-publishing over a decade, it's easy to see how things have changed for indie authors and where the opportunities lie for publishing and marketing our books. In this wide-ranging interview, David Gaughran discusses the shifts in the industry, starting from zero, book marketing tips, and more. In the intro, Audible launches an […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/28/starting-from-zero-bookbub-david-gaughran/">Starting From Zero And Success With BookBub Ads With David Gaughran</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> When you've been self-publishing over a decade, it's easy to see how things have changed for indie authors and where the opportunities lie for publishing and marketing our books. In this wide-ranging interview,
In the intro, Audible launches an unlimited audio service [The New Publishing Standard]; why this might impact author income [ALLi]; Spotify's impact on music and artists [Freakonomics]; and my thoughts on what you can do to mitigate any revenue drop from subscription services and make the most of the opportunities they bring. Plus, The importance of 1000 True Fans [ALLi Podcast]; Frankenstein in Bath [Books and Travel]
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more.
It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

David Gaughran is the author of non-fiction books for authors and also writes historical adventures as David M Gaughran. He's also an award-winning blogger and campaigner for indie authors against scammers and bad practices in the publishing industry.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How self-publishing has changed in the last decade
* The importance of knowing what genre you’re writing in
* How we all start from zero and sometimes do that a number of times, especially when launching a new pen-name (as both David and I have done!)
* The value of being able to pivot as a self-publisher
* The importance of feeding Amazon clean data
* Why BookBub ads work for those who publish wide
* Why testing ads matters

You can find David Gaughran at DavidGaughran.com and on Twitter @DavidGaughran

Transcript of interview with David Gaughran
Joanna: David Gaughran is the author of historical adventures and nonfiction books for authors. He's also an award-winning blogger and campaigner for indie authors against scammers and bad practices in the publishing industry. Welcome back, Dave.
David: Thank you very much for having me, Joanna. Good to be back.
Joanna: It's good to talk. And you and I have been around for way too long now.
I want to start with Let's Get Digital because you are now on the fourth edition.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:23
Audiobook Narration, Production And Marketing Tips With Derek Doepker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/21/audiobook-tips/ Mon, 21 Sep 2020 06:10:36 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31926 <p>Audiobooks are one of the fastest-growing segments in publishing and the expansion of podcasts onto every major platform means there are more ways to market to audio-first consumers (which increasingly includes me!) In this episode, Derek Doepker gives some tips on why audiobooks are so important as a format, self-narration, working with a narrator, plus, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/21/audiobook-tips/">Audiobook Narration, Production And Marketing Tips With Derek Doepker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Audiobooks are one of the fastest-growing segments in publishing and the expansion of podcasts onto every major platform means there are more ways to market to audio-first consumers (which increasingly includes me!) In this episode, In this episode, Derek Doepker gives some tips on why audiobooks are so important as a format, self-narration, working with a narrator, plus, production and marketing ideas.

 
In the intro, Amazon Music now includes Podcasts [The Verge] so you can find this show and Books and Travel on your various devices; New audiobook promotion site, AudioThicket launches [Written Word Media]; ALLi has a podcast episode with Amazon representatives about Amazon Advertising [Ask Alli]; Publisher Rocket now includes UK data and German ebook data [Rocket]; Orna Ross and I discuss 1000 True Fans and what it means for authors [Ask ALLi]; Solo Long-Distance Walking with me and Holly Worton.
Plus, recommended books: The Psychology of Money and my list of money books; Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and the documentary Fantastic Fungi.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Derek Doepker is the bestselling author of seven nonfiction books on peak performance, habits, fitness, and entrepreneurship. He's also a content marketing and digital marketing consultant.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Using a ‘failed’ book to create a successful one
* Multiple streams of income as the business model for non-fiction authors
* Why audiobooks are so valuable, especially for reaching audio-first consumers
* Tips for recording your own audio and equipment
* Some of the mindset issues that you might face in self-narration
* Tips for hiring a narrator
* Effective ways of marketing audiobooks

You can find Derek Doepker at DerekDoepker.com and on Twitter @AuthorSecrets. He has also provided extra info for podcast listeners at
Joanna Penn full false 56:21
Publishing Wide For The Win With Erin Wright https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/14/publishing-wide/ Mon, 14 Sep 2020 06:10:12 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31921 <p>Do you want to make your books available to readers in every format, in every online store and library, in every country? If yes, it's time to go wide for the win! In today's episode with Erin Wright, we discuss what ‘going wide' means, why libraries are so important, and tips for publishing wide wherever […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/14/publishing-wide/">Publishing Wide For The Win With Erin Wright</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Do you want to make your books available to readers in every format, in every online store and library, in every country? If yes, it's time to go wide for the win! In today's episode with Erin Wright, we discuss what ‘going wide' means,
 
In the introduction, International insights into Amazon's global reach [ALLi blog]; Futures Thinking mini-course [Coursera]; GPT-3 generated and human-edited article [The Guardian]; How to edit writing by a robot [The Guardian]; GPT-3 generated article on productivity reaches the top of Hacker News [The Verge]; Writing with the Machine [Robin Sloan]; GPT-3 as an idea machine [Matt Webb, Interconnected]; Lessons learned from 9 years as a full-time author entrepreneur;

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Erin Wright is the USA Today best-selling author of 14 romance novels and also co-runs the Wide for the Win Facebook group, the largest gathering of authors who publish wide.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What does publishing wide really mean?
* How going wide includes libraries as well — and we all love libraries!
* The different readers that Kindle Unlimited and wider stores attract
* The marketing principles used when publishing wide
* The benefits of multi-author box sets
* Wide for the Win Facebook group

You can find Erin Wright at ErinWright.net.

Transcript of Interview with Erin Wright
Joanna: Erin Wright is the USA Today best-selling author of 14 romance novels and also set up the Wide for the Win Facebook group, the largest gathering of authors who publish w...]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:18:36 Creativity, Business, And Ambition With Emily Kimelman https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/07/creativity-business-ambition/ Mon, 07 Sep 2020 06:10:57 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31919 <p>How can you juggle full-time writing and a family? How can you manage ambition about adventure and travel with a desire to be a 7-figure author? How can you be both creative and a business-person? I talk about all this and more in today's wide-ranging interview with Emily Kimelman. In the introduction, The Authors Guild, […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/09/07/creativity-business-ambition/">Creativity, Business, And Ambition With Emily Kimelman</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you juggle full-time writing and a family? How can you manage ambition about adventure and travel with a desire to be a 7-figure author? How can you be both creative and a business-person? I talk about all this and more in today's wide-ranging ...
In the introduction, The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and the American Booksellers Association wrote to the US Senate anti-trust committee to comment on the concentrated power and influence of Amazon [Publishers Lunch]; Powell's bookstore announces they will no longer sell their books on Amazon’s marketplace [Business Insider].
My thoughts on how our comfort zones have shrunk during the pandemic and my plans to start expanding my own comfort zone again. Book research on Victorian London — David Morrell on my Books and Travel Podcast. Plus, get 50% off all my ebooks and many of my audiobooks if you buy direct from my Payhip store – payhip.com/thecreativepenn for non-fiction and fiction, including boxsets. Use coupon code: SEPT20 at checkout.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Emily Kimelman is the author of the Sydney Rye Mystery series, and also writes fantasy under Emily Reed.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The challenges and silver lining of being a dyslexic writer
* Travel as part of an author’s life
* Writing while traveling and going slowly to facilitate that
* The blurred lines between fact and fiction
* Keeping an author business going with two small children
* Strategies for working toward a 7-figure year
* Pros and cons of having two fiction pen names

You can find Emily Kimelman at EmilyKimelman.com
Sharing Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Transcript of Interview with Emily Kimelman
Joanna: Emily Kimelman is the author of the Sydney Rye Mystery series, and also writes fantasy under Emily Reed. Welcome, Emily.
Emily: Thank you. It's so great to be here.
Joanna: Great to have you on the show.
First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:00
Changes In Ebook Publishing Over The Last Decade And Possible Changes Ahead With Len Edgerly Of The Kindle Chronicles Podcast https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/31/kindle-chronicles-len-edgerly/ Sun, 30 Aug 2020 23:10:44 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31920 <p>The last decade has seen a dramatic change in the publishing industry as ebooks and digital audio have gone from a side note to a huge part of the reader experience — and a significant part of independent author incomes. In this episode, I talk to Len Edgerly from The Kindle Chronicles Podcast which started […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/31/kindle-chronicles-len-edgerly/">Changes In Ebook Publishing Over The Last Decade And Possible Changes Ahead With Len Edgerly Of The Kindle Chronicles Podcast</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The last decade has seen a dramatic change in the publishing industry as ebooks and digital audio have gone from a side note to a huge part of the reader experience — and a significant part of independent author incomes. In this episode,
In the introduction, MS Word has a new Transcribe function as part of its built-in dictation [The Next Web]; Audible launches Audible Plus as the audio subscription model heats up [The Verge]; Amazon releases the Halo, a wearable band that assesses your health but also your tone of voice [Business Wire]; James Daunt of B&N and Waterstones is interested in reviving the Nook as a bigger part of Barnes and Noble [The New Publishing Standard]; plus The Writers Well final episode and why we all need to reassess the direction of our lives during these historic times.

Do you need help finding an editor, book cover designer, or someone to do your book marketing? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing. Check it out at www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Len Edgerly is a nonfiction author with degrees in business and poetry. He's also the host of the long-running Kindle Chronicles Podcast, where he's interviewed Jeff Bezos, Margaret Atwood, and Dean Koontz among many others.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Changes in the publishing industry in the past 12 years
* The impact of KU and whether the subscription model is the future for ebooks and audiobooks
* What it’s like to interview Jeff Bezos and his real passion for books
* A discussion on the US Senate hearings on big tech and anti-trust and possible ramifications for publishing [CNBC]
* Audiobooks and the future of reading and listening

You can find Len Edgerly at TheKindleChronicles.com and on Twitter @lenedgerly

Sharing photo by https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31918 <p>What is narrative non-fiction and how do you write a piece so powerful it is nominated for a Pulitzer? In this interview, Matt Hongoltz-Hetling talks about his process for finding stories worth writing about and how he turns them into award-winning articles. In the intro, I talk about Spotify (possibly) getting into audiobooks and Amazon […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/24/write-narrative-non-fiction/">How To Write Narrative Non-Fiction With Matt Hongoltz-Hetling</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is narrative non-fiction and how do you write a piece so powerful it is nominated for a Pulitzer? In this interview, Matt Hongoltz-Hetling talks about his process for finding stories worth writing about and how he turns them into award-winning art...
In the intro, I talk about Spotify (possibly) getting into audiobooks and Amazon (possibly) getting into podcasts as reported on
The Hotsheet, and the New Publishing Standard. David Gaughran's How to Sell Books in 2020; a college student who used GPT3 to reach the top of Hacker News with an AI-generated blog post [The Verge]; and ALLi on Is Copyright Broken? Artificial Intelligence and Author Copyright. Plus, synchronicity in book research, and my personal podcast episode on Druids, Freemasons, and Frankenstein: The Darker Side of Bath, England (where I live!)
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling is a Pulitzer finalist and award-winning investigative journalist. He's also the author of A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* From writing for pennies an article to writing a Pulitzer–nominated article
* What is narrative non-fiction?
* How does narrative non-fiction differ from fiction?
* Where ideas come from and how to begin forming a story idea
* The necessity of being respectful of the real lives being examined and written about
* Portraying interview subjects with shades of grey
* Turning hours of source material into something coherent
* Finding the balance between story structure and meaning
* Knowing when an idea is appropriate for a book

You can find Matt Hongoltz-Hetling at matt-hongoltzhetling.com and on Twitter @hh_matt

Transcript of Interview with Matt Hongoltz-Hetling
Joanna: Matt Hongoltz-Hetling is a Pulitzer finalist and award-winning investigative journalist. He's also the author of A Libertarian ...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:14
How To Reboot A Flagging Author Career With Michaelbrent Collings https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/17/reboot-author-career/ Mon, 17 Aug 2020 06:10:32 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31917 <p>What happens when you've written award-winning books, get amazing reviews from readers, and your sales still start a downward spiral? You can give up writing — or you can take a step back, review your catalog, figure out a plan and up-skill, then reboot your author career. In this episode, Michaelbrent Collings shares how he […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/17/reboot-author-career/">How To Reboot A Flagging Author Career With Michaelbrent Collings</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What happens when you've written award-winning books, get amazing reviews from readers, and your sales still start a downward spiral? You can give up writing — or you can take a step back, review your catalog, figure out a plan and up-skill, In this episode, Michaelbrent Collings shares how he ended up delivering pizza to support his family because his sales had stalled and how he turned it around, reinvigorating his career, taking his book sales income and reader engagement to new heights.

In the introduction, I mention the
Voice Double in-between-isode, as well as Findaway Voices launch of Authors Direct, which enables you to sell audiobooks direct to listeners in US, UK and Europe, Canada and Australia.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Michaelbrent Collings is an award-winning and internationally best-selling horror novelist, and screenwriter. His novel, The Deep was a finalist in the Bram Stoker Awards. His latest novel is The Forest.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How to recognize when an author business needs attention and a revamp (and it's not a craft issue!)
* Facing reality and being honest about what needs to change
* Marketing strategies that stopped working
* Tips for growing an email list and using paid advertising
* Balancing marketing and writing
* Knowing your worth and when it’s time to outsource some of your work
* The importance of being endlessly curious

You can find Michaelbrent Collings at WrittenInsomnia.com and on Twitter @mbcollings

Transcript of Interview with Michaelbrent Collings
Joanna: Michaelbrent Collings is an award-winning and internationally best-selling horror novelist, and screenwriter. His novel, The Deep was a finalist in the Bram Stoker Awards and is one of my favorite horror novels. And Michaelbrent has been on the show several times.
We've talked before about writing with depression as well as writing fast and writing horror. Today, we're talking about something very interesting, which is rebooting your fiction author career.
Welcome back, Michaelbrent.
Michaelbrent: Thank you. It is always such a pleasure to be here,]]> Joanna Penn full false 56:49 AI And Creativity Update: A Voice Double Conversation Featuring Joanna Penn And Mark Leslie Lefebvre https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/14/voice-double-august2020/ Thu, 13 Aug 2020 23:10:50 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31946 <p>In mid-2019, I shared 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence Might Disrupt Authors and Publishing, and one of those possible disruptions concerned voice technologies, which I also wrote about in Audio for Authors. In 2020, we have seen an acceleration of AI with the release of GPT-3 for natural language processing and generation, as well as […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/14/voice-double-august2020/">AI And Creativity Update: A Voice Double Conversation Featuring Joanna Penn And Mark Leslie Lefebvre</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> In mid-2019, I shared 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence Might Disrupt Authors and Publishing, and one of those possible disruptions concerned voice technologies, which I also wrote about in Audio for Authors. In 2020, 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence Might Disrupt Authors and Publishing, and one of those possible disruptions concerned voice technologies, which I also wrote about in Audio for Authors.
In 2020, we have seen an acceleration of AI with the release of GPT-3 for natural language processing and generation, as well as the development of ever more sophisticated voice recognition and creation. In this episode, Mark Leslie Lefebvre and I share a conversation between our Voice Doubles and our thoughts on the ramifications.


* Our Voice Double conversation
* Thoughts from some of my Patrons
* How we created the Voice Doubles using Descript with just 30 mins of training (reading a story)
* What we had to change and edit to get around a few of the pronunciation issues e.g. I could not get it to say ‘creatives' correctly so changed the word to ‘authors.' I also couldn't get it to say ‘mass-market' in my voice, so I changed that text as well.
* Our thoughts on the development of the tech and why we think it's important for authors and creatives to engage with the technology rather than avoid it
* A warning of deep fakes and why Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans is more important than ever

You can get your own Voice Double at Descript.com. You can find Mark at MarkLeslie.ca. Mark also recorded a special episode with more of his thoughts in episode 148 of Stark Reflections.
We'd love to know what you think so please leave a comment or tweet me @thecreativepenn and Mark @markleslie

Our Voice Double Original (Edited) Script
Jo: Hi, Mark.
Mark: Hey, Jo. How are you doing?
Jo: I’m good. So, how's lockdown where you are? How are things in Canada?
Mark: Lockdown has actually allowed me to discover new types of creativity in myself, where I seem to have prevented myself from writing prose. But I rediscovered the joy of doing parody videos and experimenting with different forms of creativity. So I have the energy inside me to tell story, to want to share and amuse and entertain, and I redirected it into a different output that satisfied that part of my soul that needs to write, and now I'm back writing again. But while I was struggling, it was really good to have that outlet.
Jo: I also struggled at the beginning, and I did a flurry of business activities. I made a couple of online courses, including one on turning what you know into an online course, which was, you know, useful and also…
Mark: Very meta?
Jo: Yes, very meta. And also made some money. So, that was really good because the first instinct is the survival instinct, which is, ‘I just need to make some more money in order to survive this, whatever this is.' And then there's that period of, ‘Okay. This isn't just over quickly, and the zombie apocalypse has not arrived, and now I need to finish that novel.' I did manage to change up my creative routine and to finish Map of the Impossible. But we are talking about artificial intelligence today because we are both enthusiasts but there are clearly positives...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 34:35
How To Write A Bestseller With Suzy K Quinn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/10/how-to-write-a-bestseller/ Mon, 10 Aug 2020 06:10:09 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31789 <p>How can you write what you love and still aim for bestseller status? How can you combine craft and business in your writing life? Suzy K Quinn answers these questions and more in this fascinating interview. In the intro, entrepreneur and author Derek Sivers sells $250K worth of ebooks and audiobooks direct from his website […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/10/how-to-write-a-bestseller/">How To Write A Bestseller With Suzy K Quinn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you write what you love and still aim for bestseller status? How can you combine craft and business in your writing life? Suzy K Quinn answers these questions and more in this fascinating interview. In the intro,
In the intro, entrepreneur and author Derek Sivers sells $250K worth of ebooks and audiobooks direct from his website [Sivers]; Amazon Decoded by David Gaughran; 150 Self-Publishing Questions Answered by Michael La Ronn and ALLi; The Ultimate Collection of Audiobook Marketing Examples from BookBub Blog; 6 Figure Author Podcast episode 50 on taking your author income to the next level. Plus, ARKANE Thriller #11, Tree of Life, is now available for pre-order.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Suzy K. Quinn is the bestselling author of romance, comedy, and thrillers. She also teaches a course on How to Write a Bestseller for Mark Dawson's Self-Publishing Formula.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The definition of a bestselling book
* Does writing a bestseller mean you have to write to market?
* Hooking readers with a strong book package
* The importance of communicating how people are going to feel when they read a book
* The long term view of building an author brand
* What the future of publishing might look like

You can find Suzy K Quinn at SuzyKQuinn.com and on Twitter @SuzyKQuinn. You can find the course at: www.SelfPublishingFormula.com/bestseller
[Note, I am not an affiliate for this course. I took it myself and thought it was super useful, so I wanted to tell you about it!]
Photo in sharing image by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Transcript of Interview with Suzy K Quinn
Joanna: Suzy K. Quinn is the bestselling author of romance, comedy, and thrillers. She also teaches a course on how to write a bestseller for Mark Dawson's Self-Publishing Formula, and it is a fantastic course. I've taken it myself and we're talking about it today. Welcome, Suzy.
Suzy: Hi, Jo. How are you doing?
Joanna: I'm good. Thanks for coming on the show.
First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.]]>
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Writing And Business Lessons Learned From 500 Episodes And 11 Years Of The Creative Penn Podcast https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/03/500-episodes-and-11-years/ Mon, 03 Aug 2020 06:10:32 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31788 <p>It’s episode 500! Time flies indeed. The first episode of The Creative Penn Podcast was released on 15 March 2009. I had a couple of non-fiction books out, the international Kindle had not even launched, and there was no empowered indie author movement as we know it today. I was living in Ipswich, just outside […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/08/03/500-episodes-and-11-years/">Writing And Business Lessons Learned From 500 Episodes And 11 Years Of The Creative Penn Podcast</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> It’s episode 500! Time flies indeed. The first episode of The Creative Penn Podcast was released on 15 March 2009. I had a couple of non-fiction books out, the international Kindle had not even launched, and there was no empowered indie author movement... The first episode of The Creative Penn Podcast was released on 15 March 2009. I had a couple of non-fiction books out, the international Kindle had not even launched, and there was no empowered indie author movement as we know it today. I was living in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane, Australia and I worked as an IT consultant implementing SAP Financials at a large mining company. How things have changed! 
I'm now a full-time author and podcaster with over 30 books, fiction and non-fiction. I live in Bath, UK and I'm part of a growing independent author scene. We have more opportunities than ever before and it truly is the best time to be an author!

In this episode, I’m going to share some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 11 years and include clips from podcast episodes that helped me and can help you on your own author journey — some are craft and some are business.
This episode covers:

* Write what you love
* It’s OK to suck in your first draft. Editing is the process that will turn your book into a finished product.
* We are independent authors. We create and license intellectual property assets.
* All long-term book marketing comes down to one thing
* Turning pro and long term thinking. The mindset of the professional author.
* Next steps: What's changing for The Creative Penn?

Today’s show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who support the podcast with a few dollars a month through patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Patrons get an extra Q&A show every month — bonus audio! — and also 10% off my courses. Thank you, Patrons!
Thanks to my long-term listeners of the podcast and also to the long-term sponsors of the show, Kobo Writing Life, Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark, and more recent sponsors FindawayVoices and ProWritingAid.

(1) Write what you love
In episode 16, June 2009, I interviewed Tom Evans, back then known as The Bookwright, about writer’s block.
Up until that interview, I had only written non-fiction, and I was afraid of writing fiction. I didn’t think I had a block but I clearly did and I realized it as part of this discussion.
The ‘block’ was based on my education and background — my parents were teachers, and I did a Masters at the University of Oxford in Theology, so I was steeped in the literary tradition. I thought I had to write something literary whereas my guilty pleasure and my escape from the day job was binge-reading thrillers and watching action movies.
Once I realized that I could just write what I loved to read instead of something others thought ‘worthy,’ I was off and writing. I started writing Pentecost (re-edited and re-titled as Stone of Fire in 2012) and I now have 18 novels — and counting!
I didn’t have such a good mic set-up back then so it’s a bit breathy, but I think you’ll find it interesting.

]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:16:51
Writing Action Adventure Fiction And Systems Thinking With Nick Thacker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/27/writing-action-adventure-fiction-and-systems-thinking-with-nick-thacker/ Sun, 26 Jul 2020 23:10:04 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31734 <p>The life of a full-time independent author involves wearing many hats. You have to balance your time between learning your craft and pleasing readers with great books, as well as publishing, book marketing, and building a business that will support you for the long-term. In today's interview, Nick Thacker talks about the key aspects of […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/27/writing-action-adventure-fiction-and-systems-thinking-with-nick-thacker/">Writing Action Adventure Fiction And Systems Thinking With Nick Thacker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The life of a full-time independent author involves wearing many hats. You have to balance your time between learning your craft and pleasing readers with great books, as well as publishing, book marketing, In today's interview, Nick Thacker talks about the key aspects of action-adventure thrillers as well as how he runs his publishing company and thoughts on pricing, email list building, and creating systems to avoid overwhelm.

In the intro, The Hotsheet reports on the All about Audio conference, publishers start Storyglass, a new podcasting business [The Bookseller], The New York Times acquires a podcast production company [The Verge]; and Amazon Ad reports now incorporate page reads.
In the futurist segment, GPT3 takes natural language generation to a new level — what does this mean for writers? [Towards Data Science; Wired; The Independent] and more at TheCreativePenn.com/future. I also recommend The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly and his blog post, 1000 True Fans, and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Nick Thacker is the USA Today bestselling author of action-adventure thrillers. His non-fiction books for authors include Platform Mastery and BookBub Mastery.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* What draws readers to action-adventure novels?
* The renaissance of action-adventure
* Nick’s current indie publishing model and how it has changed over time
* Co-writing with other authors
* On different pricing models and why testing matters
* Signing a trad publishing deal and what that means for Nick’s career
* Building a large email list
* Systems that underpin success
]]>
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Writing A Series. Satisfy Readers And Make More Money With Lindsay Buroker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/20/writing-series-lindsay-buroker/ Mon, 20 Jul 2020 06:03:11 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31787 <p>We live in a binge consumption culture and the best-loved stories are often those that allow a deeper experience of character and world. Think of your favorite TV shows or books and you will likely find a few series in there! Writing a series can also make you more money as a writer since you […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/20/writing-series-lindsay-buroker/">Writing A Series. Satisfy Readers And Make More Money With Lindsay Buroker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We live in a binge consumption culture and the best-loved stories are often those that allow a deeper experience of character and world. Think of your favorite TV shows or books and you will likely find a few series in there! Writing a series can also make you more money as a writer since you have more books for a reader to buy, you can turn them into boxsets in different formats, and it's faster to write with characters you know well. In today's show, Lindsay Buroker gives some great tips on how to effectively write series and make a full-time living from your fiction.

In the intro, Kobo Plus launches in Canada [KWL blog]; Spotify improves its discoverability of podcasts and announces a new show by Michele Obama [The Next Web]; Dean Wesley Smith explains why Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter is so significant in terms of selective rights licensing [Dean's blog]; Replay of $0 to $1000 a month webinar with Nick Stephenson and my aha moment around read-through; my interview on audio and productivity on 21st Century Creative; and Map of the Impossible launches this week. The Mapwalker trilogy is complete!

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Lindsay Buroker is an award-nominated internationally best-selling author of epic fantasy, urban fantasy, space opera, steampunk, and sci-fi romance with 79 books and counting across 2 pen names, 10 series, as well as, standalone and shorter works. She's also the co-host of the Six Figure Author Podcast. The pic above is us on the Jean Lafitte swamp jetboating experience in Louisiana just outside New Orleans in 2017. Fun times!
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* Where Lindsay’s writing career is after 10 years as an indie author
* How she writes 8 to 10 novels a year
* Book series and the read-through effect of series arcs
* Creating compelling characters
* Why background and goals matter for characters
* Pen names and the work involved
* Book launch processes and how Lindsay uses her Patreon
* Advertising, KU,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:09
How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/13/how-to-write-monsters/ Mon, 13 Jul 2020 06:10:33 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31774 <p>Monsters tap into something primal that lies at the heart of being human. We have always feared what lies at the edge of the campfire, just out of sight, and as writers, tapping into those fears can be a powerful form of creation. In this interview, Philip Athans talks about why we find monsters so […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/13/how-to-write-monsters/">How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Monsters tap into something primal that lies at the heart of being human. We have always feared what lies at the edge of the campfire, just out of sight, and as writers, tapping into those fears can be a powerful form of creation. In this interview,
In the intro, I discuss Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter for the leather-bound edition of Way of Kings and why creating beautiful physical objects should be part of our indie maker movement, and check out this interview on bookbinding with Lisa Van Pelt. Plus, why we need to put our lessons learned from the pandemic into action now instead of waiting for ‘the end,' whatever that might mean!
Also, I have re-recorded my tutorials on how to build an author website, install Author Pro theme (which I use for JFPenn.com), and also how to set up your email list with ConvertKit. I've also updated the Author Blueprint which you have access to on my email list or you can sign up here.
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Philip Athans is the New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, and a dozen other books, including The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. He's also an editor, professional speaker, and writing coach. Today, we're talking about his book, Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What is a monster?
* How monsters are part of our human evolution
* The importance for humans of fighting a common enemy
* How the monster in a story can bring out a character’s true nature
* Monsters as metaphors
* How do we create unique monsters?
* When should you reveal your monster?
* Multiple streams of income as a writer. “Walk through the door that's open.”
* Licensing intellectual property as a source of income

You can find Philip Athans at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31772 <p>“Write something universal as illustrated by a deeply personal tale.” This advice is true regardless of the genre we write, and in this interview, Marion Roach Smith explains how we can dig deep into our truth and experience to write memoir, plus how she has created a business around a book, and a podcast around […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/07/06/memoir-marion-roach-smith/">How To Write Memoir With Marion Roach Smith</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> “Write something universal as illustrated by a deeply personal tale.” This advice is true regardless of the genre we write, and in this interview, Marion Roach Smith explains how we can dig deep into our truth and experience to write memoir,
In the introduction, I talk about how the pandemic impacts our energy levels and how online business is changing, and how that might impact us as authors.
Business Insider reports that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai, Apple's Tim Cook, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos will all testify before Congress in an antitrust hearing in late July. What are the potential impacts for authors?
Publisher Rocket now has a useful feature for discovering categories for your books. Dave Chesson talks about the new functionality and more on the Writers Ink Podcast last week.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Marion Roach Smith is an author, memoir coach, and teacher of memoir writing. She has online courses on writing memoir. Her books include The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The difference between memoir and autobiography
* Why memoir is an argument-driven genre
* Where to draw the line between therapy and memoir
* Tips for skillfully writing about other people
* How memory works in memoir
* What does research look like for memoir?
* How to we ensure people care about our memoir?
* Being brave when marketing books
* Why podcasting is so powerful

You can find Marion Roach Smith at MarionRoach.com and on Twitter @mroachsmith. You can check out her QWERTY Podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript of Interview with Marion Roach Smith
Joanna: Marion Roach Smith is an author, memoir coach, and teacher of memoir writing. She has online courses on writing memoir. And her books include The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Welcome, Marion.
Marion: Lovely to be back. It's so great to hear your voice.
Joanna: You were on the show years ago (2013) and we thought it was...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:07:38
Building A Creative Business For The Long Term With Natalie Sisson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/29/creative-business-natalie-sisson/ Mon, 29 Jun 2020 06:12:41 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31751 <p>Writing is a life-long practice, and for many of us, a long-term career. But how can you continue to thrive in a creative business while still changing over time? In this interview, I talk to entrepreneur Natalie Sisson about how she pivoted her brand after a change in lifestyle and how books play just one […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/29/creative-business-natalie-sisson/">Building A Creative Business For The Long Term With Natalie Sisson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing is a life-long practice, and for many of us, a long-term career. But how can you continue to thrive in a creative business while still changing over time? In this interview, I talk to entrepreneur Natalie Sisson about how she pivoted her brand ...
In the intro, the latest Audio Publishers Association report on 8 years of double-digit audiobook growth, plus insights from Bookwire's audiobook conference [Publishing Perspectives] and an AI lead in a $70m sci-fi movie [Fast Company].

Today's show is sponsored by Your Author Business Plan, my mini-course on how to reboot your author career. One student, Rachel, says, “Just completed Your Author Business Plan. I literally *gasped* as I wrote my business summary. So many aha moments. The course helped me understand where I am now as an author and where I want to be.” Just US$99. Click here to learn more.

Natalie Sisson is a New Zealand entrepreneur, author, speaker, host of the Untapped Podcast, and triathlete. Her books include The Suitcase Entrepreneur and The Freedom Plan: Redesign Your Business to Work Less, Earn More and Be Free.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Knowing when to go from blog posts to book
* Writing from scratch, even with blog content available
* Books as part of a business ecosystem, but not the whole thing
* Making sure our revenue streams align with one another
* Is the blogging movement dead?
* Streamlining and doing more of what you love
* The importance of ‘massive clarity’
* Will there be shifts in how we do business as we come out of the pandemic?
* Running a global online business that is not US-centric
* Marketing to those not in the US
* Using systems to create freedom
* On having a long-term career but also changing

You can find Natalie Sisson at NatalieSisson.com and on Twitter @nataliesisson

Transcript of interview with Natalie Sisson
Joanna: Natalie Sisson is a New Zealand entrepreneur, author, speaker, host of the ‘Untapped' podcast, and triathlete. Her books include The Suitcase Entrepreneur and The Freedom Plan: Redesign Your Business to Work Less, Earn More and Be Free. Welcome, Natalie.
]]>
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How To Develop Bestselling Story Ideas With JD Barker https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/22/bestselling-story-ideas/ Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:10:20 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31733 <p>Do you aspire to write better stories? Do you have the ambition to aim for a career that rivals the biggest names in publishing? Today's interview with JD Barker will inspire you and give you some great tips around writing bestselling stories and building a long-term career. In the introduction, James Daunt of Waterstones and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/22/bestselling-story-ideas/">How To Develop Bestselling Story Ideas With JD Barker</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Do you aspire to write better stories? Do you have the ambition to aim for a career that rivals the biggest names in publishing? Today's interview with JD Barker will inspire you and give you some great tips around writing bestselling stories and build...
In the introduction, James Daunt of Waterstones and Barnes & Noble talks about the impact of the pandemic and a possible revival in Nook [The Bookseller], the newly-formed Black Writers Guild calls for sweeping change in UK publishing [The Guardian], Smashwords CEO Mark Coker does a round-up of the impact of the pandemic for indie authors [Smashwords blog], I'm doing a Facebook Live this week, Fri 26 June at 5 pm UK / 12 noon US Eastern on Facebook.com/thecreativepenn

Today's show is sponsored by my patrons, those wonderful people who support the show with a few dollars a month. Knowing that you enjoy the show and still find it useful keeps me coming back to the mic every week after all these years! If you'd like to support the show and get an extra Q&A audio every month (as well as the backlist), go to www.Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

JD Barker is an award-winning and international bestselling author of thrillers and horror. He is also the co-host of the Writers, Ink Podcast with J. Thorn.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Starting out working as a book doctor
* Getting career advice from Dean Koontz and co-writing with James Patterson
* How to successfully write cross-genre
* Choosing strong ideas and improving a story before it’s written – Writers Ink episode.
* On approaching our heroes
* The current state of the publishing industry
* On the business of selling books
* What trad publishers are looking for in book length and how our attention spans are changing
* The importance of grabbing a reader right off the bat
* Using new, untested platforms to market books

You can find JD Barker at JDBarker.com, on Patreon and on Twitter @jdbarker

Transcript of Interview with JD Barker
Joanna: JD Barker is an award-winning and international bestselling author of thrillers and horror. He is also the co-host of the Writers, Ink Podcast with J. Thorn. Welcome JD.
JD: Hey Joanna. How are you doing?
Joanna: I am good. I'm thrilled to have you on the show.
Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
JD: That's actually a pretty long story. So I'll go back all the way to the beginning.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:00
Writing Tips: How To Self-Edit Your Novel With Kris Spisak https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/15/self-edit-your-novel/ Mon, 15 Jun 2020 06:10:11 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31705 <p>Writing a first draft is only the initial step in the journey to creating a novel. The next step is editing, and in this interview, Kris Spisak talks about the different kinds of editing, as well as tips for your self-editing process. Plus, I share my insights from my latest edit on Map of the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/15/self-edit-your-novel/">Writing Tips: How To Self-Edit Your Novel With Kris Spisak</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing a first draft is only the initial step in the journey to creating a novel. The next step is editing, and in this interview, Kris Spisak talks about the different kinds of editing, as well as tips for your self-editing process. Plus,
In the introduction, Apple discontinues iBooks Author [MacRumors] but remember, they have the new Authors.Apple.com, a portal to all things publishing on Apple; #publishingpaidme trended on Twitter and the amounts are listed in this spreadsheet; Written Word Media survey on How Readers Pick What to Read Next; Everything you need to know about pre-orders on the 6-Figure Author Podcast.
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Kris Spisak is a nonfiction author, an editor, podcaster, and international speaker. Today, we're talking about The Novel Editing Workbook, 105 Tricks & Tips for Revising Your Fiction Manuscript.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* What editing really is and the three levels of editing
* Tips for making sure your story hangs together properly
* Tools for organizing your story
* Writing scenes that are page-turners
* Tips for writing compelling characters
* Adding sensory detail to pull readers into the book
* Tips for writing effective dialogue
* Common writing issues to watch out for
* The editing an author can do themselves, and when they need professional assistance

You can find Kris Spisak at Kris-Spisak.com and on Twitter @KrisSpisak
If you need more help, you can find my list of editors and proofreaders here, and also my tutorial on how to find and work with a professional editor here.

Transcript of Interview with Kris Spisak
Joanna: Kris Spisak is a nonfiction author, an editor, podcaster, and international speaker. Today, we're talking about The Novel E...]]>
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Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, And Time Off With Max Frenzel https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/08/creativity-artificial-intelligence-and-time-off-with-max-frenzel/ Mon, 08 Jun 2020 06:10:57 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31685 <p>As writers, we use tools every day — from the laptop we write on, to the internet we research with, and the social media sites we use to reach readers. We are used to using digital tools to enhance our author life, but could we really work with artificial intelligence to push our creativity to […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/08/creativity-artificial-intelligence-and-time-off-with-max-frenzel/">Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, And Time Off With Max Frenzel</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> As writers, we use tools every day — from the laptop we write on, to the internet we research with, and the social media sites we use to reach readers. We are used to using digital tools to enhance our author life,
In the intro,
Bookshop's anti-racist reading list; US bookstores support the protests [Publishers weekly]; and UK initiatives [The Bookseller], Dr. Isioma Okolo's video [Dr. Isi and Rod]; FindawayVoices launches AuthorsDirect; Join the Virtual Thrillerfest if you want to write better thrillers; US Patent Office rules that AI cannot be recognized as an inventor [BBC]; Microsoft lays off human journalists in order to use AI [The Verge]; Natural language model GPT3 released [Venture Beat]; Using AI as a creative tool, Australia won the first AI Eurovision song contest [The Verge];  Race and technology [VentureBeat]; 

Do you need help with marketing, publicity or advertising? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Max Frenzel has a Ph.D. in physics and is now an AI researcher on computational creativity in Japan focusing on the creative applications of AI in art, design, and music, as well as how AI will shape the future of work. He's also an author and his latest co-written book is Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic and Finding Success Without the Stress.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes

* What AI is capable of doing right now in writing and creativity
]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:06:17 How To Take Your Author Career To The Next Level With Mark Dawson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/01/author-career-next-level/ Sun, 31 May 2020 23:10:28 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31703 <p>Are you ready to take your author career to the next level? In this wide-ranging interview, Mark Dawson gives tips on how to level up your books, your email list, and your advertising. In the intro, good news on book sales from New Zealand post-lockdown [The Guardian], why Joe Rogan's podcast deal with Spotify is […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/06/01/author-career-next-level/">How To Take Your Author Career To The Next Level With Mark Dawson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Are you ready to take your author career to the next level? In this wide-ranging interview, Mark Dawson gives tips on how to level up your books, your email list, and your advertising. In the intro, good news on book sales from New Zealand post-lockdow...
In the intro, good news on book sales from New Zealand post-lockdown [The Guardian], why Joe Rogan's podcast deal with Spotify is such a big deal [BBC], and my ad stacking approach for Map of Shadows.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Mark Dawson is the award-winning internationally best-selling author of the John Milton Thriller Series, with over a million books sold, as well as many other books. He runs training courses for authors at Self Publishing Formula and he's also the co-host of The Self Publishing Show.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Publishing strategies for new authors
* Why advertising is getting easier
* Mark’s writing process
* Switching genres and tips for launching in a new genre
* Why book covers must tell the reader what to expect inside the book
* The intricacies of autoresponder email sequences
* Tools to track marketing plans and projects
* Advertising tips for authors who publish wide
* How to calculate read-through wth a free first-in-series

You can find Mark Dawson at MarkJDawson.com and on Twitter @pbackwriter

Transcript of Interview with Mark Dawson
Joanna: Mark Dawson is the award-winning, internationally best-selling author of the John Milton Thriller Series, with over a million books sold, as well as many other books. He runs training courses for authors at Self Publishing Formula and he's also the co-host of ‘The Self Publishing Show.' Welcome back, Mark.
Mark: Hello, Jo. Good to be back. Is this the fourth time?
Joanna: Oh, I don't even know, you're just a regular. So that was actually my first question. Let's assume it's been a year.
What is new with you? Any comment on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic?
Mark: We could do an hour talking about what's new basically. The virus has been challenging for me as it has for everybody really. But then at the same time, because I haven't been able to write quite as much because I've got two little kids, and at least for the last two months…and it's been a bit different this week.
For the last couple of months, I've been homeschooling with my wife. So that has meant that I've been getting up about 5:00 most days and writing, or working really for a couple of hours until 7:00 or 7:30. And then that's been because I've had to go into full-time dad mode after that. So it certainly slowed down my production.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:13
Writing Tips: How Character Flaws Shape Story With Will Storr https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/25/character-flaws-will-storr/ Mon, 25 May 2020 06:10:51 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31689 <p>How can you create characters with unique and interesting flaws that lead into plots that will enliven your stories? In today's interview, Will Storr explains the science of storytelling. In the intro, German booksellers and the challenges of re-opening [The Bookseller], Facebook launches Shops meaning more opportunities for direct sales [The Verge], Facebook Live replay […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/25/character-flaws-will-storr/">Writing Tips: How Character Flaws Shape Story With Will Storr</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How can you create characters with unique and interesting flaws that lead into plots that will enliven your stories? In today's interview, Will Storr explains the science of storytelling. In the intro, German booksellers and the challenges of re-openin...
In the intro, German booksellers and the challenges of re-opening [The Bookseller], Facebook launches Shops meaning more opportunities for direct sales [The Verge], Facebook Live replay on writing and publishing QA, plus the most useful tools for authors.
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Will Storr is an award-winning writer, the author of five critically acclaimed novels, a prize-winning journalist, an in-demand ghostwriter of bestselling books, and an international speaker on storytelling. Today, we're talking about his fantastic book, The Science of Storytelling.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The hard work that storytelling is for most writers
* How we can use cause and effect in storytelling
* Giving characters depth and flaws without being cliched
* On creating original characters
* Why gossip is fundamental to storytelling
* The importance of linking character and plot together
* Dealing with character flaws in a series
* How TV has changed readers’ expectations of books
* Writing without fear of judgment

You can find Will Storr at WillStorr.com and on Twitter @wstorr. You can also check out videos from Will on storytelling here.

Transcript of Interview with Will Storr
Joanna: Will Storr is an award-winning writer, the author of five critically acclaimed novels, a prize-winning journalist, an in-demand ghostwriter of bestselling books, and an international speaker on storytelling. Today, we're talking about his fantastic book, The Science of Storytelling. Welcome, Will.
Will: Thanks for having me.
Joanna: It's great. And I have your book here in hardback on my desk. I also have the audiobook, it's that good.
Will: Amazing, double, fantastic.
Joanna: First off, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
Will: I always wanted to be a writer, I don't ever really know where it came from in my family, but even when I was a kid,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:30
The 7-Figure One Person Creative Business With Elaine Pofeldt https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/18/7-figure-creative-business/ Mon, 18 May 2020 06:10:13 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31704 <p>What if you could do work you love, earn great money — and have a lifestyle you enjoy? In this interview, Elaine Pofeldt talks about businesses that are doing just that and gives tips on how to get there, including ways to make more money as an author. In the intro, I talk about Apple […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/18/7-figure-creative-business/">The 7-Figure One Person Creative Business With Elaine Pofeldt</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What if you could do work you love, earn great money — and have a lifestyle you enjoy? In this interview, Elaine Pofeldt talks about businesses that are doing just that and gives tips on how to get there, including ways to make more money as an author....
In the intro, I talk about Apple Books for Authors – now available on PC, Ingram Spark's new free ISBNs and revamped dashboard, and Nielsen report that people are reading more in lockdown [The Bookseller]. Plus, “Where do you get your ideas?” My answer with pics of my travels at JFPenn.com/ideas. I also mention the 7-Figure Small Podcast.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist, editor, and professional speaker specializing in careers and entrepreneurship. She's also the author of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why people choose the entrepreneurial route
* How the cover-19 crisis might affect choices about lifestyle
* How small businesses are pivoting to serve current needs
* Resilient attitudes that help small businesses
* Commonalities among those small business owners that are successful
* How a big picture view helps with getting day-to-day tasks done
* Ideas for how authors can create other streams of income
* How to become a memorable brand

You can find Elaine Pofeldt at ElainePofeldt.com and on Twitter @ElainePofeldt. You can find the revised edition of the book here for pre-order for 2021 or get the original edition here.

Transcript of Interview with Elaine Pofeldt
Joanna: Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist, editor, and professional speaker specializing in careers and entrepreneurship. She's also the author of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want.
Welcome, Elaine.
Elaine: Thank you so much, Joanna. It's great to be here.
Joanna: It's great to have you on the show. And this is such a killer book title.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:49
Great Stories Don’t Write Themselves: How To Develop Strong Fiction Ideas With Larry Brooks https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/11/develop-strong-fiction-ideas/ Mon, 11 May 2020 06:10:55 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31677 <p>We all want to write the best book we can — but how can we make sure the story is strong enough to make it worthwhile writing in the first place? In this interview, Larry Brooks gives 4 criteria for a great story and 8 steps for your novel premise. In the introduction, FindawayVoices releases […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/11/develop-strong-fiction-ideas/">Great Stories Don’t Write Themselves: How To Develop Strong Fiction Ideas With Larry Brooks</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We all want to write the best book we can — but how can we make sure the story is strong enough to make it worthwhile writing in the first place? In this interview, Larry Brooks gives 4 criteria for a great story and 8 steps for your novel premise.
In the introduction, FindawayVoices releases their Headphone Report 2019, UK publisher Faber moves into direct sales [The Bookseller], and tips on how to sell direct from your website [ALLi] and my own process for selling books directly and getting paid right now; Faber's sales are down “about a third year on year for print” during the lockdown period, but that digital sales are on the rise [The Bookseller]; Small presses fear being ‘wiped out' by autumn [The Bookseller] — If you're traditionally published, have you checked your contract for reversion clauses? 

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Larry Brooks is the best-selling author of psychological thrillers as well as books for authors, including Story Engineering, and Story Physics. His latest book is Great Stories Don't Write Themselves: Criteria-Driven Strategies for More Effective Fiction.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How do you know when a story idea is strong enough?
* 4 criteria for a great story
* What is the ‘secret sauce’ of story idea selection?
* 8 criteria for a great premise
* The difference between premise, concept, and theme
* Tips for creating emotional resonance in your writing

You can find Larry Brooks at StoryFix.com and on Twitter @storyfix

Transcript of Interview with Larry Brooks
Joanna: Larry Brooks is the best-selling author of psychological thrillers as well as books for authors, including Story Engineering, and Story Physics. His latest book is Great Stories Don't Write Themselves: Criteria-Driven Strategies for More Effective Fiction.
Welcome back to the show, Larry.
Larry: Hey, thanks for having me, Joanna, this is great.
Joanna: It's great to have you back.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:56
Writing And Selling Short Fiction With Matty Dalrymple https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/04/writing-and-selling-short-fiction-with-matty-dalrymple/ Mon, 04 May 2020 06:10:51 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31646 <p>Writing short fiction can be useful for licensing and self-publishing income, or using them to grow your list and connect with readers. There are many more opportunities for shorts in the digital world and in today's interview, Matty Dalrymple gives plenty of ideas that you can use in your author business. In the intro, the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/05/04/writing-and-selling-short-fiction-with-matty-dalrymple/">Writing And Selling Short Fiction With Matty Dalrymple</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing short fiction can be useful for licensing and self-publishing income, or using them to grow your list and connect with readers. There are many more opportunities for shorts in the digital world and in today's interview,
In the intro, the UK government scraps 20% VAT on ebooks 7 months ahead of schedule [Publishing Perspectives], how reader behavior is changing in the pandemic [BookBub], growth in European ebook sales  [LesEchos], Curtis Brown agent Jonny Geller has advised publishers to see lockdown as a time of change and “experiment” [The Bookseller], and some call for new models of selling direct and subscription [The Bookseller].
Plus I have some Audible US and UK review codes for my London Crime Thriller audiobook boxset. Contact me if you're interested. Plus, Books and Travel is back and the call to action is for J.F.Penn — the latest episode will transport you to a French vineyard … 

Do you want to successfully co-write a book? Do you want to save time, money, and heartache on your co-writing journey? Co-writing can be an amazing experience when two (or more) minds come together to create something new in the world. Or it can be an expensive, painful process that ends in disaster! In this mini-course, bestselling authors J. Thorn and Joanna Penn share tips on how to successfully co-write a book (both fiction and non-fiction) and avoid the pitfalls along the way. Click here to find out more.

Matty Dalrymple is a thriller and suspense author, as well as a nonfiction author and podcaster at TheIndyAuthor.com. Her latest book for authors is Taking the Short Tack: Creating Income and Connecting with Readers Using Short Fiction, co-written with Mark Leslie Lefebvre.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:18
Writing And Working Together As A Creative Couple With Jeff Adams And Will Knauss https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/27/creative-couple/ Mon, 27 Apr 2020 06:10:47 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31645 <p>Is it possible to write together if you are partners in life as well as business? How can a community come together in the wake of difficulties? Plus, how podcasting can be an effective part of author marketing. All this and more in discussion with Jeff and Will from The Big Gay Fiction Podcast. In […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/27/creative-couple/">Writing And Working Together As A Creative Couple With Jeff Adams And Will Knauss</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Is it possible to write together if you are partners in life as well as business? How can a community come together in the wake of difficulties? Plus, how podcasting can be an effective part of author marketing.
In the intro, Barnes and Noble are not paying full royalties for Feb (Draft2Digital), Amazon donates to UK booksellers [The Bookseller], E-book and audio sales proving ‘welcome ray of sunshine' for publishers [The Bookseller], digital library borrows for ebooks and audiobooks are up [BBC], The Society of Authors reports that “members have been “pressured to renegotiate contracts or told that royalty payments will be paid late following the crisis” [The Bookseller], and the collected difficulties of traditional publishing [Kris Rusch]. 
Useful tutorials: 16 Ways to Market your Audiobooks, and 7 Steps to Turn What you Know into an Online Training Course. Plus, get 50% off my ebooks and audiobooks at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn and use discount coupon: QUARANTINE at checkout.

Do you need help with marketing, publicity or advertising? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Jeff Adams and Will Knauss write gay romance and YA fiction. They have two podcasts, the Big Gay Fiction Podcast and the Big Gay Author Podcast. They are partners in life as well as business. [This is us hanging out in Orlando at Podcast Movement 2019!]
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Rewriting books after getting the rights back from a trad publishing house
* Taking a step back when the waters get choppy and looking at the bigger picture. Will's solo show on dealing with burnout and moving on with optimism.
* What’s working now when marketing romance novels
Joanna Penn full false 59:34
Building A Unique Author Brand With Gail Carriger https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/20/unique-author-brand-gail-carriger/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 07:15:50 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31566 <p>How do you intentionally create an author brand that resonates with your readers? How can you write the books you love and make a successful living as a full-time author? All this and more in today's interview with Gail Carriger. In the introduction, I talk about some of the impacts of COVID19 on the publishing […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/20/unique-author-brand-gail-carriger/">Building A Unique Author Brand With Gail Carriger</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you intentionally create an author brand that resonates with your readers? How can you write the books you love and make a successful living as a full-time author? All this and more in today's interview with Gail Carriger. In the introduction,
In the introduction, I talk about some of the impacts of COVID19 on the publishing industry, as reported in The Hotsheet. Plus, Lonely Planet travel publishers closes some locations [The Guardian] and Bloomsbury issues shares and cuts costs [The Bookseller]. Plus, the Mysterious Women Storybundle, Writing books Kickstarter, and Ingram Spark have a new promo code: Use INGRAMSPARK2020 for free title setup and revisions until May 31, 2020.
Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Gail Carriger is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of steampunk and urban fantasy, comedy and queer romance. Her books have sold over a million copies in print and include The Parasol Protectorate and The Finishing School Series.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Travel as an important part of writing
* Writing about a culture other than one’s own without slipping into stereotypes and cliché
* Writing the books we’ve longed to read
* The research and planning that goes into a nearly 30 book series
* On having an author brand that includes a physical persona
* Ideas for thinking about author branding
* The importance of getting a newsletter started early in a writing career – here's my tutorial on how to build an email list

You can find Gail Carriger at GailCarriger.com and on Twitter @gailcarriger

Transcript of Interview with Gail Carriger
Joanna: Gail Carriger is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of steampunk and urban fantasy, comedy and queer romance. Her books have sold over a million copies in print and include The Parasol Protectorate and The Finishing School Series. Welcome, Gail.
Gail: Hello, thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
Joanna: Very exciting. I was just saying before we started, I first heard about you like a decade ago. So I know you've been writing for at least that long.
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:04:50
How To Stay Creative In Difficult Times With Mark McGuinness https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/13/how-to-stay-creative-in-difficult-times/ Mon, 13 Apr 2020 06:10:05 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31619 <p>How do you deal with fear and uncertainty during these difficult times? How can you craft a new creative routine when life is so disrupted? How can you make the most of an online business now and build for the future? I discuss all this and more with Mark McGuinness on today's show. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/13/how-to-stay-creative-in-difficult-times/">How To Stay Creative In Difficult Times With Mark McGuinness</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you deal with fear and uncertainty during these difficult times? How can you craft a new creative routine when life is so disrupted? How can you make the most of an online business now and build for the future?
In the introduction, I talk about how my writing is going after Mark helped me with a breakthrough — it's time to create a new routine now this lockdown life is the new normal. Plus, the growing adoption of ebooks and digital audio in Europe and what that might mean for the future of publishing [The New Publishing Standard].

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, a nonfiction author, a creative coach, podcaster, and international professional speaker. His books for authors include Resilience, Motivation for Creative People, and 21 Insights for the 21st-Century Creative. Mark spent many years as a practicing psychotherapist and now coaches creative professionals.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How to acknowledge our fears and also deal with them in a healthy way
* The importance of spending time in practices that are restorative
* Dealing with uncertainty
* What to do if you’re struggling to be creative
* Making new creativity rituals to replace those that have been broken
* Thinking about what assets you have in place and what ones you can create
* What the future might look like for creatives
* How this current crisis might actually work to empower authors and other creatives

You can find Mark McGuinness at LateralAction.com and on Twitter @markmcguinness

Transcript of Interview with Mark McGuinness
Joanna Penn: Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, a nonfiction author, a creative coach, podcaster, and international professional speaker. His books for authors include Resilience, Motivation for Creative People, and 21 Insights for the 21st-Century Creative. Mark spent many years as a practicing psychotherapist and now coaches creative professionals.
Today, we're talking about how we can deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Welcome back to the show, Mark.
Mark McGuinness: Thank you for inviting me back, Jo. It's always nice to be here.
Joanna Penn: Oh, indeed. And when I was thinking, who can I talk to about this, I thought, ‘I know, I'm going to ask Mark.' So I'm really grateful that you're here.
Just to set the scene, we're recording this on Friday, the 3rd of April, 2020 and we're both in lockdown in the Southwest of England. So I wonder, what does your household look like right now?]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:05:39
How To Sell Your Books In Bulk And Make More Money As An Author With David Chilton https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/06/sell-your-books-in-bulk-david-chilton/ Mon, 06 Apr 2020 06:10:38 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31512 <p>What do you really care about? Rankings on Amazon or money in your bank account? In this interview, David Chilton shares how you can sell books in bulk to companies resulting in a big pay-day — but no ‘bestseller' tag. This is a fascinating discussion that will challenge your definition of success and — hopefully […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/04/06/sell-your-books-in-bulk-david-chilton/">How To Sell Your Books In Bulk And Make More Money As An Author With David Chilton</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What do you really care about? Rankings on Amazon or money in your bank account? In this interview, David Chilton shares how you can sell books in bulk to companies resulting in a big pay-day — but no ‘bestseller' tag.
In the introduction, I talk about some of the impacts of the coronavirus on publishing, authors, and bookstores. Publishing Perspectives has some good coverage, including this article on the impact in Italy. Plus, The New Publishing Standard is covering a lot, too.
Plus, I'm on the Choose FI Podcast talking about how I started my creative business in the wake of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, and the Self Publishing Show and the KWL Podcast talking about Audio for Authors. And if you want to make another income stream, check out my new mini-course, Turn What you Know into an Online Course.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

David Chilton is the author of finance books, The Wealthy Barber and The Wealthy Barber Returns, as well as being a venture capitalist on Canada's Dragon's Den. His self-published books on finance have sold over 5 million copies. David now has a number of courses out on bulk sales and nonfiction book marketing, which we're talking about today. You can find them at my affiliate link: www.TheCreativePenn.com/bulksales
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Self-publishing in 1989 and how things have changed
* How the competition for people’s attention impacts book sales
* What are corporate and bulk sales?
* How digital sales can drive print sales
* How to approach people about bulk sales (even if you’re an introvert)
* How contracts work with bulk sales
* Why TV isn’t the best marketing tool for books
* The mindset of those who succeed over the long term

You can find David Chilton and the courses at TheChiltonMethod.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:03:08
How To Get Your Book Into Libraries And Bookstores With Mark Leslie Lefebvre https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/30/get-your-book-into-libraries-and-bookstores/ Mon, 30 Mar 2020 06:10:36 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31476 <p>We are writers, but we are readers first! Many of us grew up in the corners of libraries and still spend our money on books from bookstores, but did you know that it is possible to get your books into libraries and bookstores as an independent author? Mark Leslie Lefebvre gives some tips in today's […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/30/get-your-book-into-libraries-and-bookstores/">How To Get Your Book Into Libraries And Bookstores With Mark Leslie Lefebvre</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> We are writers, but we are readers first! Many of us grew up in the corners of libraries and still spend our money on books from bookstores, but did you know that it is possible to get your books into libraries and bookstores as an independent author?
In the introduction, I give an update about my thoughts in coronavirus lockdown here in the UK, and I refer to Mary Oliver's poem Wild Geese [
Brain Pickings], a quote from Tolkien seen on the canal towpath (my Instagram), and That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief [HBR], plus Indie Authors and Coronavirus resources updated every day by the Alliance of Independent Authors; and ACX gives an extra 5% royalty for the next 3 months [ACX blog].
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.
Mark Leslie Lefebvre writes horror travel books and nonfiction for writers. He's a podcaster at Stark Reflections on writing and publishing, a professional speaker, and a publishing consultant at Draft2Digital.com. His latest non-fiction book is An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why now is a good time for indie authors to be approaching libraries
* How Overdrive has recently changed in a way that’s advantageous to indies
* How the digital and print library ecosystem works
* The difference between the one-to-one and the cost-per-checkout model
* Tips on earning from the public lending rights system in Commonwealth countries
* The bookstore business model and why discounts are necessary
* Book formats that are popular in bookstores and libraries – here's how to do large print
* The abundance mindset of offering your books in multiple formats

You can find Mark Leslie Lefebvre at MarkLeslie.ca and on Twitter @MarkLeslie

Transcript of Interview with Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Joanna: Mark Leslie Lefebvre writes horror travel books and nonfiction for writers. He's a podcaster at Stark Reflections on writing and publishing,]]> Joanna Penn full false 1:10:24 Keep Going: How To Be Creative For The Long-Term With Austin Kleon https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/23/keep-going-austin-kleon/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 06:33:49 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31509 <p>What does it take to be creative over the long-term, especially in these challenging times? In today's interview, Austin Kleon gives his thoughts on how to Keep Going.   In the introduction, I talk about my thoughts around dealing with coronavirus, plus Sanctuary, Retreat, Belonging: The Importance of Home in Difficult Times, My tips on […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/23/keep-going-austin-kleon/">Keep Going: How To Be Creative For The Long-Term With Austin Kleon</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What does it take to be creative over the long-term, especially in these challenging times? In today's interview, Austin Kleon gives his thoughts on how to Keep Going.   In the introduction, I talk about my thoughts around dealing with coronavirus,
 
In the introduction, I talk about my thoughts around dealing with coronavirus, plus Sanctuary, Retreat, Belonging: The Importance of Home in Difficult Times, My tips on how to work effectively from home, Kris Rusch's Patreon, my mini-course/lecture on Multiple Streams of Income from your Writing, plus How to Sell Your Books Directly to Readers and Get Paid Immediately, and if you want to get 50% off my ebooks and (some audiobooks), you can buy direct from me: Payhip.com/thecreativepenn and use discount coupon: QUARANTINE until the end of March.

Today's podcast sponsor is 
Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Austin Kleon is the New York Times and international best-selling author of four books including Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work. He's also an artist, professional speaker, and newspaper blackout poet. Today we're talking about Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Where to go next after being creative for ten years
* Riding the wave of interest to see what’s next creatively
* Granting ourselves permission to follow our interests
* Tapping into our dark side while avoiding fear of judgment
* Where are your creative safe zones?
* What happens when art is the thing that feeds your family?
* The part blogging can play in a writer’s life

You can find Austin Kleon at AustinKleon.com and on Twitter @austinkleon

Transcript of Interview with Austin Kleon
Joanna: Austin Kleon is the New York Times and international best-selling author of four books including Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work. He's also an artist, professional speaker, and newspaper blackout poet. Today we're talking about Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad.
Welcome, Austin.
Austin: Hello,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:13:53
A Career In Writing With Danielle Trussoni https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/16/a-career-in-writing/ Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:10:24 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31477 <p>The publishing industry has changed so much in the last decade and in today's interview, I talk to Danielle Trussoni about how her writer's life has shifted — both in what she writes, how she publishes and how she reaches readers. In the intro, I talk about the UK ending VAT on ebooks [BBC], why […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/16/a-career-in-writing/">A Career In Writing With Danielle Trussoni</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The publishing industry has changed so much in the last decade and in today's interview, I talk to Danielle Trussoni about how her writer's life has shifted — both in what she writes, how she publishes and how she reaches readers. In the intro,
In the intro, I talk about the UK ending VAT on ebooks [BBC], why self-publishing changes everything for everyone in publishing [Orna Ross on the ALLi blog], a weird 45th birthday week, and my new mini-course/lecture on Multiple Streams of Income.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Danielle Trussoni is the multi-award-winning and international bestselling author of horror novels, including Angelology, and memoir, including The Fortress. She is also a horror columnist for ‘The New York Times' and a podcaster. Her latest book is The Ancestor, described as modern gothic.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* On writing memoir and then shifting to fiction
* Do genre categories matter as they once did?
* Where faith and belief fit into writing horror
* On handling success and what defines it
* How the love of creating can smooth the rough edges of a tumultuous time
* On the difficult process of choosing a title
* How the business of being an author has changed
* New expectations for traditionally published authors
* How to make a living as a writer
* Writing a companion audio drama to a novel

You can find Danielle Trussoni at DanielleTrussoni.com and on Twitter @DaniTrussoni

Transcript of Interview with Danielle Trussoni
Joanna: Danielle Trussoni is the multi-award-winning and international bestselling author of horror novels, including Angelology, and memoir, including The Fortress. She is also a horror columnist for ‘The New York Times' and a podcaster. Her latest book is The Ancestor, described as modern gothic.
Welcome, Danielle.
Danielle: Hi Joanna, thank you for having me on your show.
Joanna: I'm super excited. And as I said to you by email, I have been a fan of yours since Angelology, which is over a decade now and I'm very excited about your new book.
First up, tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing.
Danielle: I've been writing for about 15 years. My first book was published in 2006. Before that, I went to the Iowa Writer's Workshop, which is here in the States,]]>
Joanna Penn full false 58:23
The Career Author With J Thorn And Zach Bohannon https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/09/career-author/ Mon, 09 Mar 2020 06:10:21 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31408 <p>What does it take to build a full-time career from your writing? In today's show, I talk to J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon about some of their lessons learned from the first two years of full-time author entrepreneur life, plus co-writing, in-person experiences, and more. In the intro, London Book Fair cancellation [BBC] and why […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/09/career-author/">The Career Author With J Thorn And Zach Bohannon</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What does it take to build a full-time career from your writing? In today's show, I talk to J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon about some of their lessons learned from the first two years of full-time author entrepreneur life, plus co-writing,
In the intro, London Book Fair cancellation [BBC] and why the coronavirus might accelerate trends towards remote working, AI and robotics. Plus, Simon & Schuster might be sold [Publishing Perspectives]; DeepZen are releasing the first AI-narrated audiobooks with Findaway [press release], Descript.com releases a new version of Overdub with editing for generated intonation; Deepl.com released a new AI translation model, ‘a quantum leap in translation quality' [Deepl blog]. I recommend A World With Work by Daniel Susskind

Do you need help with marketing, publicity or advertising? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon co-write post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi novels under Molten Universe Media as well as separately writing horror and dark fantasy. They also run The Career Author together with the weekly podcast and events like Authors on a Train, Rock Apoc, and the Career Author Summits. Their latest non-fiction book is The Three Story Method.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Tips for finding a good fit in a collaboration partner
* Why an ongoing writing collaboration needs systems
* Sharing a simple story construction method with authors
* Why plotting and organizing is so important for co-writing, and how difficult it was to co-write a book with 4 authors on the original, authors on a train, with Joanna and Lindsay Buroker [Listen to the episode here]
* Why introverts J. and Zach make time for hosting live events
* Small in-person events as a way of connecting and supporting authors
* Lessons learned from leaving the day job
* How non-fiction books can also create additional streams of income
* On communicating to a spouse about wanting to quit the day job
* Approaching the traditionally published world with help from mentor JD Barker
* The future of author-publishing businesses

You can find J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31407 <p>Audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment in publishing and increasingly, a welcome extra revenue for authors and publishers alike. In this interview, Michele Cobb from the Audiobook Publishers Association talks about the expansion of the market as well as tips for marketing audio. In the introduction, I talk about Ingram Spark's Catalog Integrity Announcement which included […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/02/opportunities-in-audiobook-publishing-with-michele-cobb/">Opportunities In Audiobook Publishing With Michele Cobb</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment in publishing and increasingly, a welcome extra revenue for authors and publishers alike. In this interview, Michele Cobb from the Audiobook Publishers Association talks about the expansion of the market as we...
In the introduction, I talk about Ingram Spark's Catalog Integrity Announcement which included AI-generated material [
Ingram Spark blog], and extra comment on the Alliance of Independent Author's blog; plus the death of Clive Cussler, a hero of action-adventure writers. I also mention I'll be speaking at the Slow Business Adventure in Norway, Sept 2020 and the Superstars of Writing conference in Colorado Springs, Feb 2021.

Today's show is sponsored by my book, Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting and Voice Technologies, available (from 6 March 2020) in ebook, paperback, large print, hardback and audiobook editions.

Michele Cobb is the executive director of the Audio Publishers Association, the publisher of AudioFile magazine, and a consultant for the audiobook business at Forte Business Consulting.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Was 2019 the tipping point for audiobooks and podcasting?
* The shift in listenership and why people listen rather than ‘read' text
* The growing global reach of audiobooks
* The different types of works available in addition to books
* Thoughts on how AI will affect audiobooks and the narration industry in English-speaking markets as well as abroad
* The subscription model for audiobooks
* Tips for marketing audiobooks
* What makes for an award-winning audiobook?

You can find Michele Cobb at AudioPub.org.

Transcript of Interview with Michele Cobb on Audiobooks
Joanna: Michele Cobb is the executive director of the Audio Publishers Association, the publisher of AudioFile magazine, and a consultant for the audiobook business. Welcome, Michelle.
Michelle: Hi. Glad to be here.
Joanna: It's great to have you on the show.
Tell us a bit more about you, because you are one busy lady, and also how you got into the audiobook business. Why do you love audio so much?
Michelle: It's funny because I actually came from the world of theater and I used to travel around and direct plays and I would be on the road a lot. So I started to become an audiobook listener.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I got connected with a company called L.A. Theater Works that records plays in front of an audience and then makes them available on audio as an audiobook. I became the resident expert in audiobooks for that company and I got stolen away by the BBC and have been in the industry now for 20 years.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:35
How To Find And Pitch A Literary Agent With Barbara Poelle https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/24/how-to-find-and-pitch-a-literary-agent/ Mon, 24 Feb 2020 06:10:02 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31410 <p>Authors have more possibilities than ever when it comes to publishing their books, but if you want a traditional publishing deal, then it's worth considering how an agent can help sell your book. In today's interview, literary agent, Barbara Poelle, gives tips for story craft, query letters, how to find and pitch an agent, plus […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/24/how-to-find-and-pitch-a-literary-agent/">How To Find And Pitch A Literary Agent With Barbara Poelle</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Authors have more possibilities than ever when it comes to publishing their books, but if you want a traditional publishing deal, then it's worth considering how an agent can help sell your book. In today's interview, literary agent, Barbara Poelle,
In the intro, I discuss some of the findings of the Authors Guild report on The Profession of the Author in the 21st Century; Rebecca Giblin's paper on author rights in Australian publishing agreements; plus, Google Play Books has made publisher signup easier than ever and increased royalty rates and added affiliate links. Plus, I share my walk along the Kennet and Avon canal and my talk about self-publishing on the NaNoWriMo YouTube channel, as well as my writing update on Map of the Impossible.
Join me and Mark Dawson for a free webinar on How To Get Your First (Or Next) 10 Book Reviews on Thurs 5 March at 3 pm US Eastern / 8 pm UK. Click here to register for your free place or to get the replay.

Today's show is sponsored by my course, How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Finished Manuscript. Is it your dream to write a novel but you just don’t know where to start?
Have you started writing only to run out of ideas? Are you suffering from self-doubt about whether you’re good enough to write a novel? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the information and craft books out there? Do you want to strip everything back to basics and learn a step by step process to writing your novel? If yes, this course might be for you. Check out my courses at www.TheCreativePenn.com/learn

Barbara Poelle is a literary agent at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York. She's also a magazine columnist at Writer's Digest and the author of Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Book Publishing Industry.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why craft matters when pitching an agent
* The importance of pacing in any book, especially thrillers
* The hook, the book and the cook of a query letter
* How the agent-author fit is like a relationship
* Thoughts on pen names and whether agents are interested in self-published authors
* The types of deals that are possible for a book
* The reality of being successful in the book industry in the 21st century
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 56:47
Writing Fight Scenes With Female Characters With Aiki Flinthart https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/17/writing-fight-scenes-with-female-characters-with-aiki-flinthart/ Mon, 17 Feb 2020 06:10:39 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31314 <p>Whether you write fantasy with sword fights, historical fiction, domestic noir, or thrillers, chances are you will construct a fight scene at some point in your author career. In today's interview, martial artist Aiki Flinthart gives some ideas for writing fight scenes with female characters, whether they are trained fighters or in an unprepared situation. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/17/writing-fight-scenes-with-female-characters-with-aiki-flinthart/">Writing Fight Scenes With Female Characters With Aiki Flinthart</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Whether you write fantasy with sword fights, historical fiction, domestic noir, or thrillers, chances are you will construct a fight scene at some point in your author career. In today's interview, martial artist Aiki Flinthart gives some ideas for wri...
In the intro, I talk about the new Custom Google Search bar for this site which you can find on Start Here and the home page. I've been answering questions about writing, publishing, book marketing and making money as a writer since 2008, so if you have a question, try searching first!
I also mention the issue of self-doubt and a question that one person asked in my recent survey, “Is it ok to be mediocre? Should I give up due to not being an amazing writer?” Plus, tips on how to get back into writing a book if you left it unfinished at a previous point. [I left Map of the Impossible at 15K words back in November in order to write Audio for Authors!]

Do you need help with marketing, publicity or advertising? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

Aiki Flinthart is an award-nominated Australian author of 12 novels and a martial artist. Her latest nonfiction book is Fight Like a Girl: Writing Fight Scenes for Female Characters.
[Please note: We talk about violence by, between and against women in this episode. In an empowering manner, for sure, but be clear that this interview is about physical violence.]
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* What fight scenes add to books in terms of conflict
* How fight scenes can be a metaphor
* Remembering that characters must be changed by both internal and external conflict
* How and why women fight differently than men. We also mention the episode with Alan Baxter on writing fight scenes — and if you'd like to know more about sword fighting, check out this interview with Guy Windsor.
* How women and men are socialized differently around violence
* Using setting to help write a good fight scene
* How posture and presence affect how we are perceived — don't be a victim.
* Tips for different types of self-defense

You can find Aiki Flinthart at AikiFlinthart.com and on Twitter @AikiFlinthart

Transcript of Interview with Aiki Flinthart
Joanna: Aiki Flinthart is an award-nominated Australian author of 12 novels and a martial artist....]]>
Joanna Penn full false 45:59
From Blog To Book And Repurposing Content With Amy Woods https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/10/blog-to-book-repurposing-content/ Mon, 10 Feb 2020 06:10:46 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31312 <p>Writing a non-fiction book can provide you with authority in your niche, lead-gen for your speaking and services, and extra income. In this interview, Amy Woods, expert on repurposing content, explains the challenges she faced when turning her blog into a book, plus some tips on content marketing for non-fiction authors. In the intro, the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/10/blog-to-book-repurposing-content/">From Blog To Book And Repurposing Content With Amy Woods</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Writing a non-fiction book can provide you with authority in your niche, lead-gen for your speaking and services, and extra income. In this interview, Amy Woods, expert on repurposing content, explains the challenges she faced when turning her blog int...
In the intro, the Audible Captions case is resolved with the necessity to get agreement on IP rights when AI is involved [Publishing Perspectives]. The article also mentions the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), who have a call for comment on the Impact of AI on IP Policy. The draft issues paper is fascinating reading
Plus, the Ask Alli Salon on How to be Creative for the Long-Term with me and Orna Ross, ML Buchman on the Books and Travel podcast talking about finding what's really important while cycling around the world. Plus, Pintxos, Txakoli, Modern Art And The Beach. What To Do In Bilbao And San Sebastian.
 

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Amy Woods is the CEO of Content 10x, which helps entrepreneurs repurpose their content for podcasting, blogging, and social media. She's also the author of Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results.
You can listen above or on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app. You can also read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How a book can lend credibility to a business and increase lead gen for speaking and services
* Overcoming publishing and audiobook recording challenges
* Navigating the learning curve of publishing. [If you're having issues with formatting, check my list here.]
* On the long-term strategy of content marketing
* Having a plan for your content strategy
* Content marketing ideas for authors
* Making use of audio and video in book promotion.
Joanna Penn full false 58:08
Writing Crime: Myths And Misconceptions About The FBI With Jerri Williams https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/03/writing-crime-fbi-with-jerri-williams/ Mon, 03 Feb 2020 06:10:46 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31313 <p>Most of us are law-abiding citizens, but it's clear that writers and readers are obsessed with crime — and those who fight it. In today's show, former FBI agent, Jerri Williams explains some of the myths and misconceptions about the FBI, and why true crime podcasting has turned into an unexpected new career. In the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/02/03/writing-crime-fbi-with-jerri-williams/">Writing Crime: Myths And Misconceptions About The FBI With Jerri Williams</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Most of us are law-abiding citizens, but it's clear that writers and readers are obsessed with crime — and those who fight it. In today's show, former FBI agent, Jerri Williams explains some of the myths and misconceptions about the FBI,
In the introduction, I give an update on my writing as I finish up the production process on
Audio for Authors and move into the first draft phase on Map of the Impossible. The creative cycle turns again! Plus, I'm on The Writer's Ink Podcast talking about creative entrepreneurship, and on the Six Figure Author Podcast talking about audiobooks, and multiple streams of income with non-fiction. I also mention some audiobooks from the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2019, as well as World War Z by Max Brooks.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Jerri Williams is a retired FBI special agent, crime writer, and true crime podcaster. She's also the author of FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives.
You can listen above or on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why we’re fascinated with crime and law enforcement
* Specifics about FBI special agent job titles and hierarchy
* The types of crimes that are under FBI jurisdiction
* What types of murder the FBI actually investigate
* Misconceptions about FBI agents
* What the FBI Academy is really like
* How TV shows measure up to what’s real about the FBI
* Stepping into podcasting as a book marketing tool
* Podcasting as a mission rather than a revenue generator

You can find Jerri Williams at JerriWilliams.com and on Twitter @JerriWilliams1

Transcript of Interview with Jerri Williams
Joanna: Jerri Williams is a retired FBI special agent, crime writer and true crime podcaster. She's also the author of FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives.
Welcome to the show, Jerri.
Jerri: Hi. I'm so glad to be here. This is exciting.
Joanna: It's super exciting because everyone's like, ‘Ooh, FBI.'
Start by telling us a bit more about you and your background in the FBI and in writing.
]]> Joanna Penn full false 57:38 Empowering Authors Around Copyright With Rebecca Giblin https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/27/empowering-authors-around-copyright-with-rebecca-giblin/ Mon, 27 Jan 2020 00:10:49 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31311 <p>Your author career is in your hands. Publishers are not charities and even if you have an agent, you need to know about the importance and value of copyright so you can make informed and empowered decisions about your writing. If you’re an indie author, you still need to understand copyright, because when you sign […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/27/empowering-authors-around-copyright-with-rebecca-giblin/">Empowering Authors Around Copyright With Rebecca Giblin</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Your author career is in your hands. Publishers are not charities and even if you have an agent, you need to know about the importance and value of copyright so you can make informed and empowered decisions about your writing. In today's show, I interview Rebecca Giblin about a recent study on publishing contracts, what clauses to watch out for, why this is so important for authors, plus the potential impact of AI on copyright.

In publishing news, The Bookseller reports that Penguin Random House has withdrawn its ebooks and digital audio titles from unlimited access subscription models,“to preserve a diversity of content in the marketplace and the actual and perceived long-term value of our authors’ intellectual property.” Plus, I'm interviewed on The Kindle Chronicles Podcast about audiobooks and how things have changed for authors over the last decade.
In the futurist segment, This Time Tomorrow Podcast on 5G; plus, a Chinese court rules an AI-written article is protected by copyright [Venture Beat], Google’s AI language model Reformer can process the entirety of novels [VentureBeat], and Hollywood is now using AI tools for analysis and companies are developing AI for scriptwriting [The Guardian]. I talk about the implications of this for creatives and why we need to double down on being human.

Today's show is sponsored by my patrons, those wonderful people who support the show with a few dollars a month. Knowing that you enjoy the show and find it useful keeps me coming back to the mic every week after all these years! If you'd like to support the show and get an extra Q&A audio every month (as well as the backlist), go to: www.Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Rebecca Giblin is an author and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, specializing in copyright and technology regulation. She is Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA), and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow leading the Author’s Interest project.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why Rebecca is passionate about helping authors with copyright
* The difference between the ownership of copyright and the authorship of copyright
* How dangerously easy it is for authors to transfer ownership
* When and why reversion clauses matter
* Other important clauses to negotiate into publishing contracts
]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:01:25
How To Pitch Your Book To Agents, Publishers And Readers With Kate Harrison https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/20/pitch-your-book-kate-harrison/ Mon, 20 Jan 2020 06:11:50 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31337 <p>What is the best way to pitch your book to an agent or publisher? What's the best way to write a sales description that pitches your book to a potential reader if you're independent? How can you use the pitch technique to write a book that stands a better chance of selling? All this and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/20/pitch-your-book-kate-harrison/">How To Pitch Your Book To Agents, Publishers And Readers With Kate Harrison</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What is the best way to pitch your book to an agent or publisher? What's the best way to write a sales description that pitches your book to a potential reader if you're independent? How can you use the pitch technique to write a book that stands a bet...
In the intro, I mention the new FindawayVoices promotional pricing tool and BookBub's audiobook ads.
Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Kate Harrison is the bestselling author of 13 novels and seven nonfiction books, which have sold over a million copies and been translated into 25 languages. She was formerly a TV producer at the BBC, and her latest book is Pitch Power: Discover what Makes Your Book Irresistible & how to Sell It.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Why learning how to pitch a book is relevant even if you’re independent
* Why the emotional tone of your book is a key thing to understand
* How every step we take writing a book contributes to how we’ll pitch it in the end
* The difference between hooks and tag lines
* ‘Reverse engineering’ a book’s hook once it’s written
* Tips for keeping book descriptions fresh across a series
* Tips for how to pitch your book to an agent if you want to get published
* How to finding comparison (comp) titles and authors to help with pitching your book
* The balance between starting fresh with a new pen name or continuing with an established platform

You can find Kate Harrison at kate-harrison.com and on Twitter @KateWritesBooks

Transcript of Interview with Kate Harrison
Joanna: Kate Harrison is the bestselling author of 13 novels and seven nonfiction books, which have sold over a million copies and been translated into 25 languages. She was formerly a TV producer at the BBC, and her latest book is Pitch Power: Discover what Makes Your Book Irresistible & how to Sell It. Welcome to the show, Kate.
Kate: Thank you, Joanna. I am so excited to be here because I listen to the podcast every week. It's going to be quite freaky being here as a guest.
Joanna: I'm glad to have you on the show because, of course, you are incredibly well-published in many ways. But we're not going to talk about publishing today. We're talking about this book on pitching, which is fantastic.
Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing in the first place.
Kate: I absolutely loved writing as a kid, but being an author wasn't a real job, not the kind of thing anyone I knew did. So, I became a journalist, and then a TV reporter, and producer.
And then I finally entered what I call my beanbag days, which were developing new ideas for programs at the BBC. So,]]>
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How Will Self-Publishing Change In The 2020s? Thoughts From Joanna Penn And Orna Ross https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/17/how-will-self-publishing-change-in-the-2020s/ Fri, 17 Jan 2020 06:10:31 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31114 <p>The 2010s saw the birth and growth of the independent author movement, so what do the 2020s have in store? In this episode, Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss some trends for authors and publishing in the next decade, as well as some predictions on some things that may well happen in the next decade. […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/17/how-will-self-publishing-change-in-the-2020s/">How Will Self-Publishing Change In The 2020s? Thoughts From Joanna Penn And Orna Ross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> The 2010s saw the birth and growth of the independent author movement, so what do the 2020s have in store? In this episode, Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss some trends for authors and publishing in the next decade, In this episode, Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss some trends for authors and publishing in the next decade, as well as some predictions on some things that may well happen in the next decade. Are you ready to surf the wave?

In the intro, I mention The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.
Also, Mike Shatzkin's reflections on the changes in book publishing.

Orna Ross is an author, a poet, and the founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing.” Joanna Penn is an award-nominated fiction writer, award-winning creative entrepreneur, and podcaster.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Check out our review of a decade of self-publishing here
* (1) Growth in global reading, why Android is so important, and why another billion internet users is so exciting
* (2) Publishing networks decentralize and distribute, authors will sell direct, and there may be a break up of big companies
* (3) Author business models diversify, with particular note of experiences, and sales on the blockchain
* (4) Growing adoption of technology by authors and publishers, including the impact of AI on copyright, natural language generation, and 5G. Plus, why we don't think neurotechnology will be used to write a book anytime soon
* (5) Audio becomes integral to the author business. Costs come down and AI voices will take audio into the mainstream and expand new forms of creation. Audio becomes ubiquitous.
* (6) Growth in personal publishing and the importance of personal brand, as well as the rise of a whole new wave of creators
* (7) Author empowerment and the importance of education around copyright and licensing
* What won't change in the 2020s

You can find Orna at www.OrnaRoss.com and at the Alliance of Independent Authors. Joanna and Orna also do a monthly Advanced Self-Publishing Salon on the Ask ALLi Podcast available on your favorite podcast app. This episode originally aired on Jan 8, 2020 on the Ask Alli podcast.

Transcript of the Trends for 2020 conversation
Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for sense and links added for more information. There are affiliate links within the text to books, services, and products that I personally use and recommend, which means if you purchase something, I get a % of sale but at no extra cost to you.
Joanna Penn: Let’s get into the self-publishing trends for 2020, and the next decade. Orna. You did a great post, which went out on the Alliance blog last week, self-publishing predictions for 2020 and trends for the decade. So tell us,]]>
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How To Focus And Be Indistractable With Nir Eyal https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/13/how-to-focus-and-be-indistractable-with-nir-eyal/ Mon, 13 Jan 2020 06:10:49 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31157 <p>Do you want to focus and get more writing done this year? Do you want to step away from the many distractions online and achieve your creative goals? In today's show, I discuss how to be indistractible with Nir Eyal. In the introduction, I talk about some of the challenges in writing for audio, and […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/13/how-to-focus-and-be-indistractable-with-nir-eyal/">How To Focus And Be Indistractable With Nir Eyal</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Do you want to focus and get more writing done this year? Do you want to step away from the many distractions online and achieve your creative goals? In today's show, I discuss how to be indistractible with Nir Eyal. In the introduction,
In the introduction, I talk about some of the challenges in writing for audio, and I also mention my interview on the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast where I talk about the power of affirmations for helping stay focused on what's really important.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the interception of psychology, technology, and business. He's an entrepreneur, investor, and author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, and now, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Is it our fault that we’re so distractable?
* Why technology isn’t the problem causing distraction
* Creating indistractable time for writing
* Why the opposite of distraction is not focus
* The two types of triggers for distraction
* Why do we do things that are against our better interests?
* Why time management is pain management
* The difference between a strategy and a tactic when it comes to being indistractable
* Thoughts on the future of social media

You can find Nir Eyal at nirandfar.com and on Twitter @nireyal

Transcript of Interview with Nir Eyal
Joanna: Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the interception of psychology, technology, and business. He's an entrepreneur, investor, and author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, and now, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. Welcome to the show, Nir.
Nir: Thank you so much. Great to be here.
Joanna: It's great to have you on the show.
Tell me more about you and how you got to this area of behavioral psychology because it's super interesting.
Nir: My experience comes out of the industry. I helped found two tech companies, the latest of which was at the intersection of gaming and advertising, and we founded that back in 2007. And it was there that I had this front-row seat to this rise in persuasive technology, as it's called, the rise of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and WhatsApp and Slack, all these tools that do such a good job of changing our behavior.
I counted many of these companies as my clients, many of the people who work there were my friends and colleagues. And so I became fascinated by how they built these products to be so engaging.
Later on, after my last company was acquired,]]>
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Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) For Authors With Brad Barrett From ChooseFI https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/06/financial-independence-retire-early-fire-for-authors/ Mon, 06 Jan 2020 06:10:06 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31153 <p>What difference would financial independence make in your life? What changes are you willing to make to get to that point? In this episode, I talk to Brad Barrett about the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement and why it's about pursuing choice rather than denial, as well as some of the money choices we […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/06/financial-independence-retire-early-fire-for-authors/">Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) For Authors With Brad Barrett From ChooseFI</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> What difference would financial independence make in your life? What changes are you willing to make to get to that point? In this episode, I talk to Brad Barrett about the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement and why it's about pursuin...
In the introduction, Amazon Advertising expands into France, Italy, and Spain; Rakuten sells Overdrive to private equity firm, KKR [Publishers Weekly]; Romance Writers of America (RWA) goes through turbulent times [Bookriot], and Nora Roberts explains why she left the organization years back [FallIntoTheStory]. Mark Coker publishes his State of the Indie Nation 2020 calling for renewed independence — check out episode 429 if you want to publish wide. I explain why I moved the pre-order for Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies.

Today's podcast sponsor is
Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Brad Barrett went from being a full-time CPA (an accountant in the US) to retiring with complete financial independence by the age of 35 through diligent savings and investing. Now, as co-host and co-founder of ChooseFI, he’s empowering others in their own pursuit of the financially independent lifestyle. He is also the co-author of Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, which we are talking about today.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* The definitions of FIRE and FI
* Why financial independence is about running toward something, not away from a life you hate
* The 3 pillars of FIRE: spend less, earn more, invest better
* Re-examining our spending without pinching every penny – Lean FIRE vs Fat FIRE
* Making financial decisions based on re-examined values
* Quickly acquiring new skills, for little cost, so that you can earn more
* Why investing is important and less intimidating than you think

You can find Brad Barrett at ChooseFI.]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:10:13
Operation Evergreen: My Creative And Business Goals For 2020 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/01/goals-2020/ Wed, 01 Jan 2020 06:10:43 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31055 <p>I love the New Year! It really is my favorite time of the year and I kick up a notch in terms of getting new projects started as well as finishing up anything left over from last year. 2020 also feels special because it's the start of a new decade and I am truly excited […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/01/01/goals-2020/">Operation Evergreen: My Creative And Business Goals For 2020</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> I love the New Year! It really is my favorite time of the year and I kick up a notch in terms of getting new projects started as well as finishing up anything left over from last year. 2020 also feels special because it's the start of a new decade and ... In this episode, I'll share my goals for the year ahead in the hope that it will help you decide on how to shape your year.

 
(1) Operation Evergreen
I'm 45 this year, and The Creative Penn business and website have been the core of my last decade.
I left my consulting job in 2011 so the business has made it through the tough initial years to a point of maturation. It's time to take things to the next level as well as make sure the fundamentals remain intact so the business can continue successfully.
After a decade in any career, things can stagnate, so you have to change things up over time. You also have to set things in place for long-term success so you can see options for the future. Like any job, you have to put money away for the future, invest and make sure you have choices. Because change is inevitable.
Most of the people I have met along the creative journey so far have disappeared down other paths. There are few of us still going after more than a decade — and most of us have multiple streams of income. For some people that means a day job; for others, it means a huge backlist of books spread across multiple genres; and for me, it's making sure that no single company controls the income for my business.
I'm diversified in my income streams and also in my investments, plus I have an eye on the future in terms of what disruption lies ahead. I have managed to thrive in the last decade of upheaval to the indie author business model, and I intend to surf the wave, rather than drown in it in the years to come.
So, I've decided to make Operation Evergreen my main focus for 2020 because long-term thinking brings a perspective to my day to day work and impacts what I choose to spend my time on. (More on that in Productivity for Authors, which is mostly about choosing what is really important!)
Physical health:
Even after improving my working practices over the last decade and co-writing The Healthy Writer, I still managed to end up with chronic pain in my shoulder in 2019. The specialist told me it was postural, a result of 20+ years hunched over and I had to retrain my back muscles in order to avoid it happening again. I started working with a personal trainer twice a week and am now pain-free, as well as changing my diet to reduce inflammation (low sugar, low GI). I'm lifting weights and I love my workouts. I am a strong woman in my mid-40s and getting stronger!
I'm really happy with the results and it's only the beginning of this shift. I'm stronger and feel fantastic, and I want to be away from my desk a lot more, which can only be healthier for the long-term. That glimpse of chronic pain was enough to scare me into making health my #1 priority. It is the most evergreen thing I can focus on for long-term sustainability, so in 2020, I will continue with my personal trainer, and in my 45th year, I intend to be in the best physical shape of my life. I have booked to do the 100km Race to the Stones in July, so that will be a good comparison to Joanna Penn full false 35:25 2019 Round-Up. Did I Achieve My Creative Goals? Did You? https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/30/2019-goals-round-up/ Mon, 30 Dec 2019 06:10:28 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31054 <p>Every year, I set creative, financial and health goals and share them on the blog and the podcast. It helps keep me accountable and focused, although, inevitably things change over the year. 2019 is no different! You can read my 2019 goals here and whether I achieved them — and why I changed direction — […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/30/2019-goals-round-up/">2019 Round-Up. Did I Achieve My Creative Goals? Did You?</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Every year, I set creative, financial and health goals and share them on the blog and the podcast. It helps keep me accountable and focused, although, inevitably things change over the year. 2019 is no different! You can read my 2019 goals here and whether I achieved them — and why I changed direction — below.
 

(1) Be a better publisher. Make more of what I already have.
It was my priority this year to go wide with audio and create more editions of my existing work, as well as writing and publishing new books. Once you create intellectual property assets, you have to manage them and that means maintaining the editions as well as marketing in order to sell more for the long-term.
I have definitely achieved this goal with new editions of older books, and also making sure that my new books are released in multiple editions simultaneously.

* Launched Valley of Dry Bones audiobook wide through ACX and Findaway
* Re-edited and recorded A Thousand Fiendish Angels, published wide in audiobook, updated ebook, plus added 5 x 8 paperback, Large Print, and hardback editions
* Moved as many audiobooks as possible wide to Findaway Voices: How To Market A Book, How To Make A Living With Your Writing, The Healthy Writer, and How to Write Non-Fiction. [If you signed an exclusive deal with ACX but you own the rights, you can move to a non-exclusive contract after 1 year. Just email them and ask.]
* Recorded The Dark Queen as an audiobook and published it wide on ACX and Findaway



* Edited and produced a new edition of Successful Self-Publishing – re-released in ebook and print and self-narrated the audiobook and published it wide
* Published Map of Plagues, Mapwalker 2 in ebook, paperback, large print, and hardback editions. [I'm waiting for the full trilogy before getting audiobooks done.]
* Updated and published a new edition of Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives and Other Introverts. Re-issued in all formats and narrated the audiobook.
* Published Productivity for Authors in ebook, paperback, large print, hardback, workbook — and narrated the audiobook.
* Licensed several non-fiction books in French and a new one published, Le Mindset de l'Auteur Qui Réussit 
* Produced 3 non-fiction books fo...]]> Joanna Penn full false 39:14 Reflections On A Decade Of Self-Publishing With Joanna Penn And Orna Ross https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/23/a-decade-of-self-publishing/ Mon, 23 Dec 2019 06:10:42 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31111 <p>Joe Konrath, one of the early US indies, said that “2009 will go down in publishing history as Year Zero for the upcoming ebook revolution.” [JA Konrath's blog]. Back then, I had a couple of books available and still worked my consulting day job, but the eco-system we have now is almost unrecognizable from a […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/23/a-decade-of-self-publishing/">Reflections On A Decade Of Self-Publishing With Joanna Penn And Orna Ross</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Joe Konrath, one of the early US indies, said that “2009 will go down in publishing history as Year Zero for the upcoming ebook revolution.” [JA Konrath's blog]. Back then, I had a couple of books available and still worked my consulting day job, JA Konrath's blog]. Back then, I had a couple of books available and still worked my consulting day job, but the eco-system we have now is almost unrecognizable from a decade ago. It's a lot better!
In this episode, I share a discussion I had with Orna Ross for the Ask ALLi podcast about the last decade and the inflection points that have changed the business model for indies along the way. As this goes out in Christmas week, it's just the interview with no news or personal segment. Happy Holidays!

Orna Ross is an award-winning author of historical and literary fiction, a poet, non-fiction writer, and founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, as well as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Publishing according to The Bookseller.
Joanna Penn is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers under J.F.Penn and also writes non-fiction for authors. She’s also a podcaster and an award-winning creative entrepreneur. Her site, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 sites for writers by Writer's Digest.
We discuss:

* Round-up of 2019 for indie authors — lots of small, incremental improvements. A good year for wide publishing with the expansion of PublishDrive and FindawayVoices, plus B&N has a new CEO, James Daunt, who shook up the UK chain Waterstones. Chirp for audio promotions and Google indexing podcast episodes means audio potential continues to rise. Amazon Advertising expands into UK and Germany (as well as France, Italy and Spain after we recorded.) Indie authors get into more libraries with the pay per checkout model for audio and ebooks.
* 2009 as ‘day one' for self-publishing, certainly in the USA, spreading out to other markets over time. The year it became possible to make a living as an indie author.
* 2010 – Apple iBooks launches.
* 2011 – 99c ebooks and the first Kindle millionaires. Romance authors with large trad pub backlists went indie. The media emphasized the trad pub vs indie models. Plus, Borders went bankrupt. ACX launches in the USA (but doesn't open up to the UK until 2014).
* 2012 – Launch of Kobo Writing Life, Draft2Digital, BookBub, and the Alliance of Independent Authors
* 2013 – Ingram Spark launches (although Ingram had been around a lot longer). [First stabilization of initial eco-system – low pricing + a number of ebook retailers + email blasts + review sites like Goodreads]
* 2014 – Launch of Kindle Unlimited, which impacted ebook sales almost immediately. A new business model arose with an emphasis on fast production within KU niches. A pivotal shift in the indie space, at the same time as ‘wide' companies Kobo Writing Life, Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark and others offered another way. The conversation shifted from trad pub versus indie, and then it became exclusive versus wide.
* 2018 – The end of organic reach and the rise of paid advertising. It was no longer possible to upload a book and sell copies with no advertising, and authors with a big backlist had to keep those books alive with paid ads.
* 2019 – The incremental changes have led to a mature eco-system of global, digital opportunities for indie authors and multiple business models.
]]> Joanna Penn full false 41:56 From Book To Hollywood Film With Ken Atchity https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/16/book-to-film-ken-atchity/ Mon, 16 Dec 2019 06:10:53 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31015 <p>Many authors have a goal of seeing their book made into a film or TV series, but how can you maximize the chances of that happening? Ken Atchity has some tips for creating loglines and standing out in a crowded content market in today's show. In my personal update, Productivity for Authors is now available […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/16/book-to-film-ken-atchity/">From Book To Hollywood Film With Ken Atchity</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Many authors have a goal of seeing their book made into a film or TV series, but how can you maximize the chances of that happening? Ken Atchity has some tips for creating loglines and standing out in a crowded content market in today's show.
In my personal update, Productivity for Authors is now available in all formats, and I am almost finished the draft of Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies. I talk about the impact of Google BERT on search and how it might impact you if you do content marketing, as well as some thoughts on spring cleaning in your author business. If you have an older website like me, check out SEO 2020. Plus, the Writer's Ink podcast with J. Thorn and JD Barker.

Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn

Dr. Ken Atchity is an author, producer, literary manager, and editor. He and his story merchant companies have written and developed books, screenplays, and films for television and cinema. His books for authors include Tell Your Story to the World and Sell it for Millions. And his films include the action, adventure, thriller, The Meg, which I personally loved.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How Ken went from academia to Hollywood
* What the journey looks like for a book that becomes a film
* Why it’s a good time for storytellers in Hollywood
* Tips on writing a treatment
* Why a clear premise sells a story
* Why character matters when finding a story’s premise
* Why it helps to have a representative in Hollywood
* Should you think about the budget when writing for the screen?

You can find Ken Atchity at StoryMerchant.com and on Twitter @kennja

Transcript of Interview with Ken Atchity
Joanna Penn: Dr. Ken Atchity is an author, producer, literary manager, and editor. He and his story merchant companies have written and developed books, screenplays, and films for television and cinema. His books for authors include Tell Your Story to the World and Sell it for Millions. And his films include the action, adventure, thriller, The Meg, which I personally loved.
Welcome to the show. Ken.
Ken Atchity: Well, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you.
Joanna Penn: This is very cool.
Tell us about you and your writing background and how you got into film and TV because you have a bit more of a classical background.
]]>
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The Key To Long Term Success As A Writer With Kevin J Anderson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/09/long-term-success-writing-kevin-j-anderson/ Mon, 09 Dec 2019 06:10:22 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31014 <p>If you want to have a long-term career as an author, it's a good idea to listen to those few writers who have successfully navigated the many changes in the publishing industry over the last 30 years. Kevin J Anderson sold his first novel in 1988 and with over 140 books under his belt, he […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/09/long-term-success-writing-kevin-j-anderson/">The Key To Long Term Success As A Writer With Kevin J Anderson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> If you want to have a long-term career as an author, it's a good idea to listen to those few writers who have successfully navigated the many changes in the publishing industry over the last 30 years. Kevin J Anderson sold his first novel in 1988 and w... Kevin J Anderson sold his first novel in 1988 and with over 140 books under his belt, he is still enthusiastic about learning new ways to reach readers. In today's show, he gives some tips on planting lightning rods as a writer, dictation and multiple streams of income.

In the introduction, sales of audiobooks are set to overtake ebooks in the UK in 2020 [The Independent].
If you want to be more productive in 2020, check out Productivity for Authors: Find Time to Write, Organize Your Author Life, and Decide What Really Matters, out now in ebook, paperback, hardback, Large Print, audiobook (narrated by me), and workbook editions.
Plus, Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies is now on pre-order, coming 10 Feb 2019.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Kevin J. Anderson is the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author of over 140 books selling over 23 million copies in 30 languages. Kevin has written numerous novels in the Star Wars, X-Files and Dune universes, as well as his own sci-fi fantasy, thriller, steampunk and horror books. He runs WordFire Press with his wife and fellow author Rebecca Moesta, has ed edited numerous anthologies and written comics, games, song lyrics, and he's also a professor in Publishing at Western Colorado University.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* If you want lightning to strike, then plant lightning rods with your writing
* Why your writing career is like popcorn
* How to get better using dictation for first drafts – check out Kevin's book, On Being a Dictator
* Using dictation for brainstorming and character-building
* Teaching a graduate program that covers both traditional and indie publishing
* Why learning to deal with change is the one constant in publishing

You can find Kevin J. Anderson at Wordfire.com and on Twitter @TheKJA

Transcript of Interview with Kevin J. Anderson
Joanna Penn: Kevin J. Anderson is the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author of over 140 books selling over 23 million copies in 30...]]>
Joanna Penn full false 1:02:15
How To Effectively Work From Home With Amanda Brown, The Homepreneur https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/02/effectively-work-from-home/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 06:10:38 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31013 <p>Working from home has great benefits — flexibility in working hours, more time with family, no stressful commute amongst other things; but it also has its challenges and many writers underestimate the adjustment needed in order to have a happy and healthy work-from-home life. In today's interview, I discuss the pros and cons with Amanda […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/12/02/effectively-work-from-home/">How To Effectively Work From Home With Amanda Brown, The Homepreneur</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> Working from home has great benefits — flexibility in working hours, more time with family, no stressful commute amongst other things; but it also has its challenges and many writers underestimate the adjustment needed in order to have a happy and heal...
In the intro, The HotSheet reports on cashflow issues with some traditional publishers and the IBPA notes that publishers should be diversifying their sales channels, echoing my soapbox of multiple streams of income 🙂 The ALLi blog shares data from The FutureBook conference including, “There are big differences between the UK and US markets. US price points are higher. Book sales sustain over a longer period in the UK. And the big 5 have only half the market share in the US they do in the UK.' Plus, James Daunt says Barnes & Noble must “rip out the boring.” [Publishing Perspectives]. 
In my personal update, I give an update on Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting and Voice Technologies, now available for pre-order, coming 10 Feb 2020.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Amanda Brown is the author of Homepreneur: How to Overcome the Challenges of Running a Home-Based Business for Optimal Work-Life Balance. She has worked from home for over 20 years as a small business strategist, having previously worked in accountancy and banking.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes

* Advantages and disadvantages of working from home
* Tips for finding community on and off line
* Creating a healthy working space at home
* Making exercise a priority to stay healthy working from home
* Tips on accounting software and practices

You can find Amanda Brown at Homepreneur.co and on Twitter @Amanda_Brown

Transcript of Interview with Amanda Brown
Joanna Penn: Amanda Brown is the author of Homepreneur: How to Overcome the Challenges of Running a Home-Based Business for Optimal Work-Life Balance. She has worked from home for over 20 years as a small business strategist, having previously worked in accountancy and banking.
Welcome, Amanda.
Amanda Brown: Hi Joanna. Thank you so much for inviting me on your wonderful show. It's a real honor to be here.
Joanna Penn: We've got a lot to learn from you.
Let's just start out by telling us a bit more about your background and how you got into being a homepr...]]>
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Writing With A Family. Productivity Tips With Andrea Pearson https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/11/25/writing-with-a-family-productivity-andrea-pearson/ Mon, 25 Nov 2019 06:38:52 +0000 https://www.thecreativepenn.com/?p=31024 <p>How do you find the time to write when you have a busy family life? How do you stay creative while still managing to run a successful business? Andrea Pearson shares her productivity tips in today's show. In the introduction, I share my Voice Double from Descript‘s beta. Let me know your thoughts in the […]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/11/25/writing-with-a-family-productivity-andrea-pearson/">Writing With A Family. Productivity Tips With Andrea Pearson</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com">The Creative Penn</a>.</p> How do you find the time to write when you have a busy family life? How do you stay creative while still managing to run a successful business? Andrea Pearson shares her productivity tips in today's show. In the introduction,
In the introduction, I share my Voice Double from Descript‘s beta. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Plus, my NaNoSloMo progress and why I might just write another book instead. Google Earth storytelling tools [Google blog].
Plus, join me and Mark Dawson for tips on how to sell more books through Reader Funnels. Thurs 5 Dec at 3 pm US Eastern / 8 pm UK. Click here to register for your free place.

Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more.
It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Andrea Pearson has published 60 books under 3 pen-names including four books on marketing for authors. She is the co-host of the Self-Publish Strong Podcast with her husband, Nolan, and also the co-host of the Six-Figure Author Podcast with Lindsay Buroker and Joe Lallo — and she has 3 young children who she home-schools.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.
Show Notes

* How Andrea juggles home-schooling children, writing, a new baby, and life
* The advantages of dictation when writing first drafts
* Outlining and using visual aids to help with dictation
* Practical tools for managing a family’s schedule
* What drew Andrea to podcasting and how she co-hosts three shows
* Working with family members, including spouses
* Going beyond books to licensing ideas

You can find Andrea Pearson at SelfPublishStrong.com and on Twitter @andreapearson2

Transcript of Interview with Andrea Pearson
Joanna Penn: Welcome to the show, Andrea.
Andrea Pearson: Thank you. It's nice to be here.
Joanna Penn: We only saw each other last week in Vegas.
Andrea Pearson: Do you miss me yet?
Joanna Penn: Absolutely. I wanted to get started because you've done incredible things since you started writing, but I'm interested in your background.
How did you get into writing and indie publishing?
Andrea Pearson: I didn't grow up wanting to be an author. That's one thing I like to tell people just because I've met a whole bunch of people that did, and they're like, am I screwed? I'm like, no, you're not.
Growing up, I actually focused on art and medical things. My degree is in the medical field, and I'm not like a doctor, but I focused on art and medical things, which actually ended up helping quite a bit with my books.
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