About
Welcome to The Creative Penn!
In the short video below, I explain what the site is about, how it can help you and a bit about me. There is text below the video if you prefer to read.
You can also click to jump to Contact Me, or to view my Speaking Page or my Testimonials.
Who is Joanna Penn?
I am an author, blogger, speaker and business consultant based in London, England although I have lived in Australia and New Zealand for the last 11 years. I always dreamed of writing my own books, and spent many years thinking about it before I actually took the plunge.
I self published my first book How to Enjoy Your Job
In Feb 2011, I published my first thriller novel ‘Pentecost’ available on Amazon and other online retailers. I blogged the journey and you can read all about the experience by clicking here. Pentecost continues to sell well, remaining in the Amazon Kindle bestseller charts in Action-Adventure and Religious Fiction months after launch. It has 46 Amazon reviews averaging 4 stars.
I wanted to share this information with other people who want to become authors, because I found the traditional publishing route confusing, too difficult and slow when I first started. I also made a lot of mistakes that I want to help others avoid! It is a continuing experience for me, an adventure in writing, publishing and book marketing!
I love books and writing, and I want to have the fantastic book deals, but nowadays there are other ways to get there. You don’t have to sit at home with your manuscript for years with rejections piling up, hoping to make it. You can be a proactive writer who does things differently!
I wanted my book to be available globally as soon as I finished it, and I could achieve that with Amazon.com so I self-published my books. I didn’t want to hold stock or pay upfront print costs so I discovered print-on-demand. I wanted passive income and discovered e-books through the Kindle and Smashwords.com.
I wanted to build an author platform online so I discovered blogging. I wanted to share my knowledge and discovered Twitter and social networking…and now I want to help you with your journey!
What is “The Creative Penn” and how can it help you?
This site is aimed at people who are interested in writing, publishing of all different kinds and internet marketing/promotion for their books (in print/ebook or audio format). My aim is to make this the place to come for information if this is your area of interest online.
Start at the Resources page for information on Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing.
You will find:
- Regular blog posts on all aspects of writing, publishing and book promotion. The latest posts are always on the home page at www.TheCreativePenn.com or you can subscribe now by email or RSS so you know when we have posted a new article. See the right hand sidebar for posts in different categories, or use the Search box above right to find articles on the topic you are interested in.
- Podcast audio interviews with authors and people in the publishing or marketing industry. Podcasts are just audios over the internet. You can subscribe in iTunes or just download the individual episodes from this page. The audios are approx 30 mins long and I post them at least every 2 weeks.
- Monthly Ezines containing round-ups from the industry and useful articles. Click here for the backlist.
- Free “Author 2.0 Blueprint”
Please do contact me with other articles, posts and resources that would be useful for you.
You can email me at joanna@TheCreativePenn.com or leave a comment on the site.
If you like the posts, you can also Subscribe to receive posts by email or in an RSS reader. This will mean you don’t miss out on useful information posted regularly.
You can also connect with me at these sites:
Check out my photos on Flickr (all Creative Commons)
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Found your site in my google reader … not sure how it got there … may have bee n via Absolutely*Kate, but who knows?
Thanks for the wealth of info and tips on self publishing. I have just finished a labour of love (35000 words) and am considering whether to self publish or to attempt the more traditional route. The latter oddly seems more daunting to me as I am fairly internet savvy.
What’s interesting to me is the psychology around this decision. It feels to me that the traditional route offers earlier “validation” than self-publication. What I mean is, to answer the question “Is my book any good?”, the traditional route would seem to offer a quicker answer than self-publication.
Robert aka Mulled Vine
Incredibly helpful material and very inspirational! Also, congratulations on your 1-year anniversary. In your quiz I suggested a question about agents and wanted to clarify: is there a possible role for an internet agent – similar to what you’ve been doing advising aspiring authors but more active on the publicity side? For example, I write about archetypes in daily life (among other things) on my blog, which can be accessed from my website myth.me.uk but which blogspot have not made easy to find! Maybe you could set up a Penn Friends Group which we could all network through. The benefits to you are obviously concerned with well-deserved publicity for your site, and you can probably see other opportunities too…..
Hi Jane,
There will definitely be a changing role for agents and there are people online who can do publicity for you. It can be expensive though hence why I DIY.
I do have a group people can join and network with each other here http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativePenn
Thanks, Joanna
I have just publish a book and need advice to market it. Are you one of thoes who say that you could help but charge lot of money for your help and advice?
Hi Satya,
You left a number of comments on my blog, so I hope this information helps you.
For information on marketing, all free, you can read the articles listed here
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/category/marketing-promotion/
and also listen to over 26 hours of free audios, many of which are on marketing here
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/
You can also download the free Author 2.0 Blueprint here
http://www.author2zero.com
I give away most of my information and sell some courses – but I am not a ripoff artist as you suggest. All the best for your book,
Thanks, Joanna
How can i upload my book trailer video or link onto your site? thanks!
Are you selling anything, Ms. Penn? And if not, why? I mean why are you doing this? Just curious(ity killed th(we know the r(est))).
By the way, the Web address answers the question re. how I am.
Hi Matt, yes, I’m selling books! and have my first novel launching Feb 7th http://www.PentecostNovel.com
I also have some other online programs for sale – details here
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/store/
I did start off blogging for marketing but now I love it, I love helping people and sharing my lessons learned. It’s addictive!
Here’s more from my 2 year anniversary
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/12/04/reflections-on-two-years-of-blogging/
I hope that answers your questions! Thanks, Joanna
–More specifically how I am today, and tomorrow perhaps, but certainly not yesterday.
Thank you for your generosity in posting such helpful info on your blog. It’s just great, I love the interview of you, your story has given me confidence.
I’m so glad the post helped you Wendy. I love the share the journey because we are all at different stages!
I stumbled onto your site and have been amazed. You offer an incredible amount of information, market research, and common sense.
Thanks for sharing your expertise with the newbies and lurkers!
Thanks Lisa – I’m glad you’re finding it all useful! I’ve blogged the journey, so do let me know any questions.
Hi JoAnna – Love your books. I am writing my first children’s book for 4-8 year olds. Any words of advise?
Leonard
Hi Leonard, I’m not a children’s writer myself, but I have interviewed a couple.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/12/08/writing-for-children-with-simon-cheshire/
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/06/27/podcast-writing-books-for-children-with-fiona-ingram/
and there have also been some guest posts
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/09/01/the-accidental-author-lessons-learned-from-writing-a-children%e2%80%99s-book/
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/09/27/childrens-book-tips/
I also recommend the blog
http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/
I hope that helps. Thanks, Joanna
Hi Joanna
Having written 27 novels, and having always been interested in book promotion, I thought I knew a thing or two about the topic. But your site is a revelation. Thanks very much, Ian
Thanks Ian – I appreciate that! I focus very much on internet marketing techniques so I’m sure you know more about traditional
and I have a way to go in writing to get to 27 novels – I am definitely going to get there though! Thanks.
I wish you all the best and hope you sell a million.
Just found you. I hope to learn a lot from your blog. I just published two picture books with Smashwords. Hopper and Where are Wini’s Feelers? Not sure where to go from here. A few suggestion from you would be greatly appreciated. Also ,just finished my first YA novel. In the process of major editing. Look forward to your words of encouragement.
Sherry/treehugger-peninhand.blogspot.com
Hi Sherry, Fantastic! congrats on publishing – I would suggest the next step is marketing if you haven’t started already. Check out this page for a rundown:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/marketing/
and if you like audios, check out the 60+ hours of free info here:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/
That will give you food for thought!
All the best with your books.
Hi. I’ve been visiting your website and listening to the podcasts for a couple of years now. In fact, I wrote to you a while back and you were so kind to help me figure out how to get the podcasts on my Zune. I listen to them when I go for walks. I used it for inspiration when I was writing my book, then information when I found a publisher.
But now that my book, Breaking the Code, is finally in print, I continue to frequent your site. Although a lot of what you talk about is self-publishing, it is quite relevant to authors of traditionally published books as well. As we all know, regardless of the money or attention that a publisher may do for a particular book, the best marketer is the author her/himself. And self-published authors like you are the pioneers. You are a wealth of information.
So, thank you for providing just what I needed at every turn in this journey. I appreciate the time and energy you spend encouraging others! And I wish you every dream fulfilled and every goal claimed. My best to you! Karen Fisher-Alaniz
Thanks Karen, I do think that a lot of the information is relevant for traditionally published authors too. I guess I just don’t talk much about that as I have only gone the indie route. I hope at some point to be the hybrid model, we’ll see
I’m glad that you’ve found the site helpful anyway! Thanks, Joanna
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