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Best Of The Creative Penn 2009 Free Ebook and Survey Results

December 12, 2009 by Joanna Penn 13 Comments

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OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

Thanks so much for all the information you have given me on the survey. There is a round-up below and I will endeavour to answer all 401 questions in 2010!

As a thank you to everyone for a brilliant year on the blog, here is your free 41 page ebook “Top 25 Articles from The Creative Penn” including links to over 17 hours of free audio to keep you learning over the holidays! I have rewritten many of the posts to make them more up to date and also formatted them into a lovely ebook.

You can download here (right click to download) => Best Posts 2009

Or you can read online or download from Scribd.com below.
The Creative Penn 2009 Best Posts on Writing, Publishing, Internet Sales and Promotion… For Your Book

Round-Up of the Survey

  • 401 surveys completed – brilliant response – thanks all!
  • The winner of the book package is: DC Burton Jnr based in the USA. Books in the post!
  • 83% said they preferred text based posts, 19.5% audio posts and 14.2% video posts. I am going to continue doing video and audio posts in 2010 but will always include a text based synopsis so I hope to please everyone!
  • In terms of where the readers are: 45.7% are in the process of writing a book, 20.7% are interested in writing a book, 18.9% are self-published and 14.6% are published authors. In light of this and some of the questions, I will do more posts about actually putting a book together, as well as what to do afterwards.
  • Age groups: 38.3% 46-60 years, 25.2% 36-45 years, 18.1% 26-35 years, 15.4% over 60, 3% under 25. That's a pretty good spread, and perhaps representative of the fact that people write more after you hit 30!
  • Gender: 70.6% female, 29.4% male.
  • Countries represented: The main 4 were: USA (212), Australia (95), UK (30), Canada (28). But also check out these other countries you represent: Aruba , Costa Rica, , France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates. Fantastic! I love an international group!

Here are some diff erent examples of the questions asked: (names not used for privacy reasons)

  • How do I move on from procrastination? I have this novel that I want to finish but the idea of writing details for the book is something I fear because of rejection.
  • Where do I start in making myself known as an author?
  • How do you get the discipline to write regularly?
  • I'm writing, but what next? What is the next step to become a published author?
  • How do you find an agent that is a good fit for you?
  • I have accounts on twitter, facebook, scribd and 2 blogs. How do I develop a larger, more focussed group of followers? How do you break through mid-level success?
  • What is the topic of a blog for an author?
  • How do I find the right writing critique group for me?
  • What is the most effective, proven, no 1 way to market a book?
  • What exactly do professional editors do?
  • Will I ruin my writing career by self-publishing?
  • How do I start? How do I finish a book?
  • How can I create a really useful and appealing website that makes a ton of money?
  • Do writers need resumes?
  • Step by step advice for dummies please
  • How do you market yourself without seeming arrogant?
  • How do you market with no money?
  • How much self-promotion can be avoided?
  • What are the best sites for self-publishing?
  • Is there any way to get my book not only published for free, but be paid in advance, like I have seen many people do in movies? Is that for real?

These are all brilliant and I have hundreds more. I will be tackling them all over the next year in various forms.
To make sure you don't miss any posts, you can subscribe to the blog by email or in a Reader by clicking here.

Please also continue to email your questions in as well, or leave comments. Thank you!

Personal Note: I will be away for a few weeks with family in England over the holiday period, so apologies for any delay in responding to emails or approving comments. I have scheduled blog posts for you though. Happy Holidays!


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Filed Under: Marketing and Promotion Tagged With: ebook, survey

Comments

  1. Kelly Burstow says

    December 12, 2009 at 1:17 am

    THANK YOU! I’ll be reading the ebook as soon as I have a spare min.

    Kelly
    x

    Reply
  2. Naomi Estment says

    December 12, 2009 at 2:12 am

    Thank you so much, Joanna, you’re the best!!! Hope you have a wonderful and well-deserved holiday 🙂

    Special wishes from SA,

    Naomi

    Reply
  3. Paidra Delayno says

    December 12, 2009 at 2:30 am

    This looks like it will be something worthwhile to read. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for us. I hope you have a nice holiday with the family.

    Reply
  4. Dale Beaumont says

    December 12, 2009 at 2:52 am

    Well Done Joanna. You are a Star! Dale

    Reply
  5. Liliana E. says

    December 12, 2009 at 6:51 am

    Thank you, Joanna! For making valuable information accessible to us all – no matter where in the world we’re writing, as long as we have access to the whys and hows, we have a better chance of improving and achieving our writing goals. Keep up the great work!

    Warm regards from the Dutch Caribbean,

    Liliana

    Reply
  6. Steve says

    December 14, 2009 at 10:53 am

    Love your site and the way you think. I’m just getting my site together. Please have a look and let me know what you think.

    Steve

    Reply
  7. Lori D Cartagena says

    December 15, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    You are truly an inspiration Joanna. I can help somewhat as I am promoting my book and it is selling. Let me know if you need any information. I am happy to share my experiences.

    cheers

    Lori

    Reply
  8. D.I. Telbat says

    December 17, 2009 at 10:37 am

    Joanna, Thank you SO much for putting together this great ebook! I look forward to digging in. Have a blessed holiday!
    David

    Reply
  9. Lea says

    December 17, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Wow, thanks for the free download of the ebook. This such a good opportunity.

    Reply
  10. Edward H' Wolf says

    December 10, 2010 at 7:51 pm

    I am a newly Published Author just this week and want to let everyone kn ow about my first book Secluded Mansion Nights the link for it is: http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000434976
    I will also have a second book comming soon called Princess Yvonne on the same website. at trafford.com/bookstore and when it is available I will post it at that time… but for now my first book is live and online right now at the avove link.
    Thanks, Sincerely
    Edward H’ Wolf

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. What is Yog's Law and Why Does It Matter For Authors? | The Creative Penn says:
    January 13, 2010 at 12:32 am

    […] Self-Publishing using Print-on-Demand. I use POD specifically because there are very few upfront costs (although I do recommend a pro editor). Basically, this is a simple business model. Books are sold and you get income from sales, after the costs of the POD printer/distributor. The amount you get paid is based on sales. (for details on Print-On-Demand, read Ch.8 of this free ebook) […]

    Reply
  2. Podcast: Self-Publishing, Your Questions Answered with Indie Author April Hamilton | The Creative Penn says:
    January 21, 2010 at 12:38 am

    […] In today’s podcast, I update you on the latest happenings in the publishing world as well as my own writing journey, and I interview April L. Hamilton, the Indie Author, on self-publishing. We specifically answer a number of the questions you asked in the survey. […]

    Reply
  3. Podcast: Book Marketing and Promotion, Your Questions Answered | The Creative Penn says:
    February 5, 2010 at 1:26 am

    […] This podcast is all about book marketing, author platform and promotion – of yourself and your books. I have learnt a lot about this over the last 2 years and actually love marketing, so this session is me answering some of your questions from the survey I ran in December. […]

    Reply

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Most of the information on this site is free for you to read, watch or listen to, but The Creative Penn is also a business and my livelihood. So please expect hyperlinks to be affiliate links in many cases, when I receive a small percentage of sales if you wish to purchase. I only recommend tools, books and services that I either use or people I know personally. Integrity and authenticity continue to be of the highest importance to me. Read the privacy policy here. Read the Cookie policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

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