Joanna Penn

Writing Tips: 5 Rules for Writing Creative Non-Fiction

August 17, 2017 by Joanna Penn 1 Comment

The techniques of fiction can be used in non-fiction to bring the truth alive, and in today's article, Antony M. Brown from ColdCaseJury.com outlines some tips.

In the movie Infamous, there is a scene in which Harper Lee and Truman Capote are discussing the book he is writing about the Clutter murders, the brutal slaying of an entire Kansas family in 1959.

When Capote refers to his book as a novel, Lee is perplexed, telling him a book is either fiction or non-fiction. Capote disagrees – he wants to reveal the intentions, emotions and thoughts of the real-life characters he portrays, giving it the depth of a novel.

His book In Cold Blood was subsequently recognised as an exemplar of a new genre – creative non-fiction.

Creative non-fiction is based on a true story, but a writer uses his subjective vantage point to tell it, or interpolates imagined conversations and thoughts of real characters into the true story.

The latter is also called a non-fictional novel and some distinguish it from creative non-fiction, although In Cold Blood is cited as an example of both. In this article, I will list my five rules for using creative techniques in historical non-fiction.

#1 Never contradict fact

The golden rule is that a fictional element is always understudy to truth, used only when there are gaps in the historical record and a particular fact is unknown or open to interpretation. Creative non-fiction always hugs facts and never lets go.

The task of the writer is to join the factual dots with plausible lines of narrative or dialogue, but always leaving the dots where they are.

The danger for the creative non-fiction writer is that the imagination becomes the driving force and historical fact is distorted or ignored.

Two examples.

The screenplay writer of the movie U-571 showed American marines boarding a German U-boat to capture Enigma code machines, which were vital in defeating the Nazis and ending WWII. In actual fact, the Enigma machines and codebooks were seized six months before America entered the war. Fiction replaced fact.

In one of her books about an unsolved murder, a true crime writer (now deceased) changed the known statement of a key witness to support her theory. Again, fiction replaced fact.

Both are egregious violations of the golden rule.

#2 Research is key

There are three ways to ensure you do not break the golden rule: research, research, research.

You can never do enough. A writer can only decide to employ creative non-fiction techniques from a position of thorough knowledge, never before.

The best research not only includes secondary sources, such as books, but primary sources. For example, in my genre, historical true crime, this entails looking at the original police files, including police reports, witness statements, inquest testimony, and other documentary evidence.

This invaluable, first-hand history provides the most sought after commodity for any non-fiction writer: detail.

Where can you find primary sources? If a book has already been written on the topic in which you are interested, it will usually list both secondary and primary sources.

If not, a good start is a national or local records office. National archives often a wealth of documents, including de-classified police and prosecution files, although these tend to be released only decades after the event. Sometimes historical police files are held regionally.

#3 Outline the story

The point of creative non-fiction is to tell a true story in a compelling way and engage the reader like a novel. The best stories always have a clear structure and objective, exploring or highlighting issues.

Creative non-fiction is the same. The skeleton of the story should be developed with the known facts and fleshed out with the detail from first-hand research.

Only where there are gaps in the historical record should a writer consider using imagined constructs, such as dialogue between the real characters.

For my Cold Case Jury books, I take a historical true crime mystery – typically an unsolved murder from many decades ago – and reconstruct how the crime might have unfolded according to the different theories that have been advanced over the years to solve the case.

If there are, say, three major theories to account for what might have happened then typically they are contraries – they cannot all be true. Some must be false and, therefore, there is an intrinsic element of fiction to this type of true crime, regardless of the style in which it is written.

Further, different theories have arisen by different writers precisely because we do not know all the facts of the case; if we did, it would not be unsolved. This is ideal territory for creative non-fiction.

#4 Write in scenes

When outlining the story, think in scenes. Indeed, this is the essence of both creative fiction and non-fiction.

Scenes have characters, events and dialogue to advance the story and highlight points. Where the entire dialogue is known, from a trial transcript for example, there is no need for imagination. This is rare, however.

Dialogue is usually where the creative is put into creative non-fiction. If an entire story cannot be told in scenes, then you will have to change focus and augment the scenes with traditional prose, in which case the reconstructions should be clearly highlighted.

#5 Be honest

Always. In Did She Kill Him? (2014), Kate Colquhoun italicizes the dialogue that has been taken verbatim from historical documents and assiduously uses endnotes to cite sources for important facts. This is a sound approach, but not the only one.

Other than personal memoirs, sources should always be listed in any non-fiction book. Even better, transcribe some of the original primary research in an evidence file.

This is the approach I adopt in the Cold Case Jury books. For example, in my book The Green Bicycle Mystery, there is an important conversation between a police superintendent and the prime suspect. The conversation is dramatically reconstructed based on a police document that was only recently released to the public. It is not a full transcript, but detailed nonetheless. I also include the text of the original document in my book.

The purpose of the reconstructed conversation is to add more detail and provide insight.

For example, the conversation occurred when the suspect returned to the police station to collect his personal effects. From another document, taken from the original prosecution file, I unearthed a list of the suspect's sequestrated possessions, so was able to be authentic in describing which objects were handed back. Further, by attributing thoughts to the superintendent, it was possible to highlight important points of the conversation in an arresting way.

Conclusion

Creative non-fiction blurs the distinction between fiction and non-fiction but only at the periphery of knowledge, where fact and truth are unavailable or obscured. It is most definitely not a dramatic license to change what we know. That would be ‘fake history’, to coin a phrase.

Creative non-fiction is not without controversy. What has been your reaction when reading it? Have you tried writing it? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Antony M. Brown is an award-winning essayist, former magazine editor-in-chief and member of the Crime Writers' Association. He published several Cold Case Jury e-books – true crime mysteries in which the reader is invited to deliver the verdict on what they believe might have happened – before signing a four book deal with Mirror Books in January 2017. Learn more at ColdCaseJury.com and find Antony on Twitter @ccjury

Writing Christian Fiction And Success Over A Long Career With Jerry B Jenkins

August 14, 2017 by Joanna Penn 4 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:13 — 46.7MB)

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How do you write consistently over a long career? How do you deal with huge ‘overnight' success on your 125th book? How do you balance faith and a great story when writing Christian fiction? I talk about these topics and more with mega-bestselling author Jerry B Jenkins on today's show.

In the introduction, I mention my writing diary at JFPenn.com/now, as well as the launch of my new audiobook ARKANE Thriller box set 1, with nearly 20 hours of audio. Longer books are definitely better for audio fiction. I recommend Sci-Fi and Fantasy Marketing podcast on What it takes to be a 6-figure author.

Want to use Scrivener to supercharge your writing and organize your book? Come and join me and Joseph Michael, the Scrivener Coach, for a webinar this Thurs 17 Aug at 3pm US Eastern / 8pm UK. Click here to register to join us live or to get the replay.

Today's show is sponsored by my own How to Write a Novel course, which I created while writing End of Days, so you get a behind the scenes look at how the book came together. One course member, Leigh Anderson said, “This course is exactly what I was looking for. I now feel well on my way to writing and completing my first draft. It has been a real breakthrough for me.” Check it out at www.TheCreativePenn.com/writenovel

Jerry B. Jenkins is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 190 books, with sales of more than 70 million copies, including the Left Behind series.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes

The genesis of the idea for Jerry's best-selling series

Jerry's approach to the longevity in his writing career

Tips for writing for the Christian market

Reaching for the reader's heart when writing

The motivation behind Jerry's writing guild for those learning to write

The top two mistakes that new writers make

You can find Jerry at JerryJenkins.com and on Twitter @JerryBJenkins

Writing Tips: 5 Mistakes To Avoid When Injuring Your Fictional Characters

August 12, 2017 by Joanna Penn 25 Comments

My main character in the ARKANE thriller series (and alter-ego), Morgan Sierra, has been beaten up, stabbed, shot, scratched by demon claws, and almost blown up over the nine books I've been writing her story.

That's what you get as an action adventure heroine! But how much can we injure our characters and still write in the realm of reality? In today's article, paramedic Samantha Keel explains what authors are getting wrong.

My name is Samantha Keel. I’m an author-entrepreneur, but I’ve also been a paramedic for the last 10 years. If it can be done to the human body, I’ve probably seen it, smelled it, or at least read about it. I also run the ScriptMedic blog, where my two passions converge.

Today I’d like to offer you the Top 5 Mistakes that writers – great and small – make when writing about injuries.

Mistake #5: The Wound Doesn’t Match the Outcome

Every time we wound a character, we’ve given them a cause. While that injury should come as an effect of some other element of your story, a great many writers fail to consider the effects of the wound they inflict on a protagonist.

While this can happen with any wound (and is usually a symptom of bigger problems with the relationship between cause and effect in a story), there are two, in particular, that drive me absolutely bonkers.

First is a case where we fail to see the effects of an injury on our hero. Action and thriller writers have a love affair with shooting their heroes in what they think of as the “shoulder” – right at or below the clavicle.

“Aha!” they seem to say. “How gritty! It’s a nothing wound – the hero will carry on anyway!”

The problem is that the last person I met with a gunshot or stab on that part of the body was dead as can be.

There’s a lot of stuff in chests. That region, in particular, has things like lungs and the subclavian artery. An injury to either can be fatal within minutes.

But if I could incinerate and destroy one fallacy writers fall prey to about the way injuries work, it’s the myth of the harmless knockout, what I call the “TKO TBI” – the Total Knockout Traumatic Brain Injury.

Writers of all stripes seem to love this one. And why not? It’s so useful! The hero can get by the evil overlord’s henchmen without the moral complications of killing them, simply by hitting them over the head. Plus, it can even work the other way around – the villain can knock out the hero just long enough to abduct the hero!

The problem is that this doesn’t just break the chain of cause and effect. This one actually kills people.

Culturally, by propagating this trope, we teach people that head injuries are No Big Deal™. But the fact is that neurological injuries – particularly ones that result in unconsciousness – are deadly. They’ll kill 45,000 Americans this year.

(Sorry I don’t have the numbers for the UK, Joanna!)

Treating severe injuries this way not only cheapens something tragic, it teaches us that it’s no big deal to hit someone in the head. They’ll wake up in a few minutes!

Unless they never wake up. It can, and it does happen.

Mistake #4: They Cut Off the Story Arc (Along With the Limb)

Injury plots, when done correctly, have a distinct pattern that they follow. It’s a six-part arc, one that follows a Beginning, Middle and End, just like so:

The Beginning

The Inciting Injury, the moment and manner in which the character gets hurt.
The Immediate Treatment, what the character does to feel better and avoid further injury in the moment. This can include everything from returning fire and fleeing the scene to bandages and impromptu splints.

The Middle

The Definitive Treatment, when the character receives definitive attention for their injury. This is often, but not necessarily, surgical.
The Rocky Road to Recovery, when the character faces challenges relating to their new disability and how they cope with those problems during healing.

The End

The Big Test, the moment when a character must overcome a larger challenge related to the global plot – while still recovering from their injury.
The New Normal, when the character’s final level of disability becomes apparent. They can have No Disability, a Partial Disability, or be Totally Disabled (for the affected body part).

Certainly, there can be failures in each of these phases, but by far the most maligned is the Rocky Road to Recovery.

The Rocky Road is essential to the injury plot because it’s where we watch our heroes struggle with their injuries and how that affects their goals. It’s where we see the ways our heroes overcome adversity. Can the plucky hero take out the evil overlord even though she’s wounded? How will our hero overcome?

So why are so many writers seemingly afraid of lingering injuries in their heroes?

Time after time, we see the recovery part of the plot cut short. Especially in sci-fi and fantasy stories, Magical Healing gets heroes back on their feet – and missing the point.

Luke Skywalker is a perfect example. In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke and Darth Vader throw down – and Luke’s hand gets amputated! It and his lightsaber go sailing over the catwalk and into oblivion.

But a few short scenes later, Luke has a brand-new prosthetic hand just like his real one! He has no disability whatsoever from his ordeal.

And because his ability doesn’t change, he doesn’t change, and we don’t care.

Magical Healing runs the real risk of cheapening injuries that should be devastating and interesting. It cuts off the effect portion of the story, leaving us with a cause.

Mistake #3: Wandering Wound Syndrome

Wandering Wound Syndrome is a writing mistake that, unfortunately, does exactly what it says on the tin: the writer elects to wound a character – and then forgets the details. Maybe what was a gash on the eyebrow on Page 23 translocates to the lip on 45 and the shoulder by 64.

This is a failure in two places: the writer’s memory (and note-taking), and the editor’s continuity check.

But there’s a variant of Wandering Wound Syndrome that’s simply unforgivable.

It goes like this: our Intrepid Hero™ was just in the fight of his life. He’s faced certain death – and, battered and bruised and limping and bleeding, he’s escaped.

It seems, to a certain kind of writer, like injuries and battle wounds are the exact human equivalent of catnip. And so the Big Bad Bruised Hero and his Special Someone… “Make Woohoo,” as The Sims™ would call it. (For whatever reason, this seems to happen most often with “cracked,” i.e. broken, ribs.) The injuries – and their pain – magically vanish in his lover’s arms.

Is the hero hurt, or isn’t he?

Look, I’m married. I enjoy Making Woohoo. But if anyone tries to Make Woohoo with me on cracked ribs, they are going to be sorely disappointed, because my thoughts are going to be holy hells it hurts to breathe please stop, not come here, baby. Perhaps I’m a wimp – or perhaps this trope needs to go.

Mistake #2: Failure to Research

Look, perfect accuracy in fiction is hard, and it isn’t even always desirable. It’s painful and time-consuming to do research on everything you COULD do to a character, then sift through the list, select a wound, and write about it.

That’s okay! But at least do a little research on what you’re intending to write about. Often times it seems like writers regurgitate what we think we know about a topic – which really translates into what we’ve absorbed through other people’s stories. We write what “must be true” because we’ve seen it on TV.

So here’s a list of absolutely realistic consequences and eventualities that you can take and insert into your stories. Ready? Here we go…

Bullets are left in more often than you think. There is no Bullet Imperative – “the bullet must come out” is a false mindset – and lead poisoning is only a factor if the bullet lodges itself in bone. Generally, they’re more likely to die taking it out than leaving it in.

Any bullet or stab to the gut is, in a modern setting, going to end with a surgeon opening up the belly for exploratory surgery to see what the damage is. (Yes, if they happen to find the bullet, they’ll take it out.) Your character will be out of commission for at least a week or two while the sutures heal, even if nothing important got damaged.

Head injuries resulting in more than a couple minutes’ worth of unconsciousness are classified as Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) and result in massive, life-altering neurological changes. These effects can range from aphasia (difficulty speaking or finding words) to memory loss (not of identity, but short and long-term memory damage is possible), motor and coordination problems, and significant personality changes. In short: they can’t just wake up in the trunk and punch their captors out!

Even a concussion can cause these kinds of changes. In fact, the character doesn’t even have to lose consciousness to suffer life-changing brain injuries.

No character is “going into” shock. Either they are dying (i.e. they’re in shock), or they’re not. Shock also doesn’t mean what you think it means. It’s a medical state of low blood flow, not a psychological state of surprise.

A broken bone will take six weeks to heal, on average, but will feel better before it is better. That means characters will be at risk for doing something they shouldn’t – and re-breaking the bone.

Dislocations, especially first-time dislocations, can’t simply be “popped back in.” They need X-rays to look for fractures, and even once they’re reduced – put back – the joint still needs time to heal and stabilize, or the risk of redislocation runs high.

Mistake #1: Writing a Plot, Not A Story

Look, do me a favor. Throw out every single thing you’ve learned in this article so far if you have to. If you walk away with just one lesson from this long-winded post, let it be this one.

A Plot is a series of things that happen. I use the Lemony Snicket definition: a plot is A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

A Story is how that series of events changes a character.

Let’s take Mary. If Mary goes to the store, then the bank, then goes home, that’s a plot. It’s a sequence of events. And it’s boring.

But if we write this as a story… Mary goes to the store because she’s going to spend what little she has on Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, her little nephew Ricky’s favorite cereal. At the register she swipes her debit card six times, only to discover that the account is empty – how embarrassing! Her cheeks burn with shame. She storms across the parking lot to the bank to find out what happened. The kindly manager gently informs her that not only is her meager savings gone, the house she shared with her late husband – the house he carried her over the threshold in, the house they rebuilt from nothing – has been foreclosed on. And, with tears streaming down her cheeks and the weight of the world upon her heart, Mary walks home, with not even a box of cereal to show for it.

I admit it’s not a good story, but it’s got reasons and motivations. Things matter to Mary this time around. The obstacles get in the way of a goal.

And with sub plots like injury arcs, I’ll let you in on a secret. We don’t care, not truly, about the oozing blood or the tender bruise, or even about the snap of bones as they break. What we care about – what will keep us flipping pages – is why it matters. What does this mean for your character – and for the bigger overall story?

In short: why do we care?

I think this is the real reason behind Wandering Wound Syndrome and Magical Healing. The writer knows that we expect injuries in the course of a Great Heroic Quest in order to ground the story in reality, but I think in focusing on injuring the character at all, a great many of us lose track of the larger point.

Injuries should be lenses through which we see our heroes and learn about them. We should see not just their short-lived physical pain, but the choices that pain forces them to make and the paths they must take to accomplish their goals anyway.

Don’t just maim your characters. Give their injuries meaning.

Are you guilty of making some of these mistakes when you injure your characters? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Samantha Keel is a veteran paramedic and author of the ScriptMedic blog, a site dedicated to medical accuracy in fiction. In just eight short months, her blog has attracted over ten thousand readers and accidentally started a writing advice revolution on Tumblr. She lives in [redacted] USA, with her beautiful wife and imaginary pibble, Steve, and can be found @scriptmedic on Twitter.

If you’re not careful, she’ll sneak up on you in a dark alleyway and give you a free ebook: 10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die Today. She’s also offering a free email course called Maim Your Characters about how to effectively use injuries in storytelling

6 Tips for Successful Self-Publishing Outside Your Home Country

August 10, 2017 by Joanna Penn 9 Comments

Regular readers of the blog and listeners to my podcast know that I am always excited about global opportunities for writers.

I have recently started using PublishDrive to get my books onto Google Play and so of the other international retailers that are hard to reach through other (primarily US based) distributors.

In today's article, Zsofia Macho from PublishDrive offers some thoughts on how to reach international markets.

There is a rule every aspiring international writer is told early on.

Learn English. Read in English. Write in English. Breathe in English.

It seems cruel and unfair, but that doesn’t make it any less true: English is primary or official language in 67 countries worldwide and is estimated to be spoken by at least 1.5 billion people either as a primary or a secondary language.

This is a giant market, hungry for easy to access and relevant English language content. So you can write and self-publish happily in English and you will reach a huge share of the book market.

But let us not forget about the other big (or small) languages: according to the Global E-book Report, the US and the UK together are only 29% of the global ebook market.

The other 71% is divided by China, Germany, Japan, France and the rest of the world.

While translating self-published books used to be out of question even 15 years ago, a lot changed in the last couple of years. It is still not easy to become an internationally recognized self-published author, but it is definitely not impossible.

In the following, we are going to share six tips every indie author setting out to conquer the world should know – both those writing and marketing exclusively in English and those working with a translator and aiming for foreign language markets. Due to lack of space, we won’t talk about foreign rights agents and contracts, only self-publishing.

[Note from Joanna: I have sold books in English to 83 countries, so I recommend that most authors start by considering the global market for English books first. ]

1. Only target one market a time

Don’t fall into the pitfall of wanting too much at once: you have to build up your reputation step by step in each country. Just like big companies do: they are researching the market for years before deciding to open a shop.

You won’t need years, but a little planning won’t hurt.

Once you are established in your home country (or in your main market), it is time for you to start looking into several directions. If you are writing in English, consider checking the other big English language markets first: Australia, India, Canada.

Research the market thoroughly: some markets are more open for nonfiction, others are all for religious books or women’s fiction.

Find out which books are leading the bestseller lists.

Who are the most popular writers of your sub-genre and what are they writing about?

Is there something you can bring to this market that hasn’t been there before?

2. Start with the biggies – but don’t forget the little ones

Luckily for you, all big booksellers are expanding to foreign markets, making it easier for you to sell your books.

In addition to Amazon and Google, who are opening up new stores at a fast speed, Apple and Kobo are also selling literally everywhere, the latter teaming up with local stores in 190 countries.

Once you are already on Amazon.com, it is easy to start selling your books on Amazon.de or Amazon.in, just remember to create an author page in every language you are selling on. With Kobo, you can also easily select the countries you would like to be sold in and set the price for each country separately.

When you do your market research, make sure to check out the local stores as well, especially if you are planning to get your books translated.

While the big bookstores may have the biggest market share in the UK and US market, this might not be so for other countries. In France, for example, Amazon only has a 40% share of the market, and there are three major sales platforms (Numilog, Eden Livres and E-Plateforme) working together to take the rest of it.

While it would be the best to sign up everywhere, it is extremely difficult to manage several separate accounts, follow up sales and invoices and make sure that you don’t accidentally violate any law or regulation. (Or not try to sell your book in a shop directly where you already sell it through Kobo.)

This is the point where aggregators, such as PublishDrive come handy: they have contact with hundreds of stores worldwide, from the biggest ones to local stores and provide you with a simple platform to manage it.

You just upload your books once, select the countries and prices and you are good to go.

3. Check your rights, prices and taxes

Whether you are a self-published or a traditionally published author, if you have sold any books, you have given away rights.

Remember to check with your publisher or self-publishing service provider whether you gave your international rights away, and if you did, how can you get them back.

If you are just about to sign a contract or sign up to a service provider, make sure you read the small print about international rights.

When it comes to pricing, you are also in a challenging situation: you can’t just use the current foreign exchange rate to determine the price of your book in a foreign currency.

The amount people are happy to pay for a book is different in each and every country, and this is not independent of the purchasing parity of the currency.

You can use certain guides, such as the Big Mac index to help you in pricing, but you are also recommended to just go and check it out for yourself.

Also look out for local regulations that might affect your pricing decision: for example in France retailers can’t change the price given by the publisher.

I know these are the nasty bits nobody wants to hear about, but also make sure to check the rules of receiving foreign income in your home country: in some cases, it can affect your tax rate.

4. Find the right translator

It's not necessary to translate your books, as you can sell globally, but if you are considering translation, then it's important to find the right person to work with.

The translator has a double duty: she or he has to convey not only the message of your book but transmit culture and the soul of your writing. Without the right translator, your carefully chosen words are all for nothing.

If you don’t speak the language, you have no way of checking if they did a good job. So what can you do?

Believe it or not, there are some people out there who might translate your book for free! Aspiring translators are easy to find if you join a Facebook group for international writers.

You can also try a translation service company like BabelCube: the translators here work for a share of royalties, so they are interested in your success. Apart from offering translation services, Babel Cube also distributes the translated books.

But the safest way is to hire a translator, and there are millions of places where you can find one. This list will help you get started.

Remember to also look for an editor: there is always a need for a second pair of eyes so you end up with a quality product.

Don’t rush finding the right translator: you can exchange emails with multiple people, find the one you feel most comfortable working with – it is likely, that the two of you will have a close connection.

Apart from translating your books into a foreign language, they can offer valuable insight into their culture, help with marketing and distribution. Even if you get close, however, remember to fill out a contract, stating not only payment but the rights of the book translated.

5. Get marketing

Don’t expect sales to come in as soon as your book appears in stores: you have to work on building your reputation (starting almost from zero) and get the word out about your book.

If you are writing for the English language market, you can use approximately the same strategies you are using in your home market. It’ll also help that people can see reviews of your book from the UK store in the US and vice versa; bear in mind though, that it doesn’t work in the other stores.

Try using one of Amazon’s great discounting or giveaway services at the beginning to boost your launch day sales and get some reviews under your books.

Remember, that there is no silver bullet: people in different countries can react to the same thing very differently. Try to find the right Facebook groups where you can make useful contacts and some friends in the target country who can help you with advertising.

If you try doing your marketing without the help of someone who speaks the language or understands country specific behavior, things might turn bad. It can help if your translator knows something about the book market in the target country and can help you find your way around.

For translating short texts, such as blurbs, reviews and marketing material, you can hire translators from Fiverr. You can also use Google Translate (or your browser’s built in website translate) to communicate with your fans in their own language. Even if you don’t get the grammar right, they’ll appreciate it.

6. Create an Author Central page

Amazon is a great place to sell and market your books. The Author Central pages work like a private website without all the website-building pain.

They provide authors with a great platform to share pictures, a blog-feed and up-to-date information on new books and other content. You can create your Author Central page by using the same login as you would use as a customer.

A lesser known fact, however, is that Author Central pages are not international: you have to log in on each of the regional Amazon sites having this service (currently UK, US, Germany, France and Japan) and type in your information. Don’t worry if you don’t speak either of these languages: the layout of the web pages is the same, so you just have to open you original UK or US page and copy and paste the information into the right boxes.

So, what are you still waiting for? Go and find yourself an amazing translator, because achieving international success might be easier than you think. Happy publishing!

Are you already selling to international markets? What has your experience been or do you have any questions? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Zsofia Macho is a bookish person: she writes, edits, translates and proofreads books and articles. She also likes to read them. Currently finishing a linguist MSc at University College London, she has a tough time displaying scientific journals on a traditional Kindle. When she is not writing for PublishDrive, she spends her time playing co-operative board games or badminton.

PublishDrive is a fast-growing and intelligent ebook publishing platform that was created with international publishing in mind. Allowing publishers to offer their books in 400 bookstores and 240k digital libraries worldwide with one click, it simplifies the process of going into foreign markets. The new Advanced Pricing feature provides publishers with the option of setting an individual price for every currency separately or choosing a straightforward conversion using actual exchange rates – but still receiving royalties in their own currency.

In addition to this, PublishDrive lets publishers to easily control production, metadata management and distribution, with cutting-edge business intelligence analytics, sales reports (including real time sales data by countries and stores) and billing.

Mobile, Multimedia, And An Audience Of Voracious Readers. Talking Wattpad with Ashleigh Gardner

August 7, 2017 by Joanna Penn 4 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02:02 — 49.7MB)

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Forget print. Look at the rise and rise of mobile reading and writing, especially amongst Millennials. In today's show, Ashleigh Gardner talks about the latest developments from Wattpad.

In the intro, I talk about how Amazon KDP Select has moved to KENPC v.3 and some of what authors are saying about it, lessons we can learn from the Forbes richest author list, plus the expansion of Ingram's ipage which might help indies sell more print books.

Plus, please help with my next non-fiction book by completing The Healthy Writer questionnaire by 14 Aug and be in to win a copy of The Successful Author Mindset.

This podcast 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.

Ashleigh Gardner is the head of partnerships at wattpad.com, the world's largest platform for discovering, reading and sharing stories.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes