The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, creative entrepreneurship

  • Writing
  • Self-Publishing
  • Marketing
  • Entrepreneur
  • Start Here!
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Audio
  • Courses
  • Tools
  • About
    • Speaking
  • Contact

Comparisonitis Or “Everyone Else Is Better Than Me”

April 25, 2018 by Joanna Penn 1 Comment

“The amateur continuously rates himself in relation to others, becoming self-inflated if his fortunes rise, and desperately anxious if his star should fall. The amateur craves third-party validation.” Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro

OUCH.

That hurts because I know I get comparisonitis sometimes. It's hard not to when you hear about the latest seven-figure book deal or read about an indie author hitting the bestseller lists or selling their film rights.

Even if you're writing your first book as part of a local group or a college course, there will always be people you compare yourself to and you may find yourself wanting.

Watch the video below or here on YouTube.

successful author mindsetThis is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.

I was at the London Book Fair recently where agents sit in endless meetings trying to sell books to publishers across the world, and every day they announce exciting deals coming out of the Rights Center.

London Book Fair Amazon Thomas Mercer

Amazon Publishing including Thomas & Mercer thriller imprint at London Book Fair

They also have billboard-size photos of name brand authors, the A-list movie stars of the book world. Walking beneath them, I felt like the smallest, most inadequate writer on the planet. It felt like every author in the world was doing better than I was, and yes, I was jealous of that success.

Because that's the dark side of comparing yourself to others. It can morph into jealousy, and that can turn toxic.

It must be dealt with or it will eat you up inside.

“Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies.” Nelson Mandela

Antidote

Start by realizing that you can only compare yourself to who you were as a writer last year. We are all at different points on the writer's journey and we only ever hear the highlights in the media.

We don't know what happened to that suddenly-famous debut author before their breakout book and we might be mistakenly comparing ourselves to someone who has been ghostwriting under another name for ten years, or have five novels that were rejected before the one that hit big.

This is why I like blogging, as I can look back at where I was over the years and track the change – in my writing craft, my income and book sales, my platform and my knowledge.

Even if you just journal once a year, it's worth doing to track changes over time and turn comparisonitis into a positive way for you to measure progress.

Turning Pro Steven PressfieldIf you feel the pull of comparisonitis or even jealousy, recognize that feeling and be aware of it. If you know how you feel, you can control your behavior.

I've seen some authors damage their reputations by attacking others' success and it's ugly. One author wrote an article calling for J.K. Rowling to stop writing because she'd had her success and it was time to let others have a turn.

But first of all, Rowling is a writer. She will write and as a fan of her later Robert Galbraith books, I'm glad she continues to do so.

Secondly, this is a poverty mindset, the thought that there are only a certain number of readers or amount of money in the world and that one author's success takes away our own potential future.

But that's not true.

So let's try to reframe comparisonitis and the edge of jealousy into something that can actually help us become better writers.

If you find someone who triggers that feeling, research that author's background. Read their book/s.

  • How long have they been writing?
  • What did they do to get to where they are?
  • How can you emulate them and use their example to further your own craft and author career?

successful author mindsetYou could even turn what you learn into a blog post or journal entry or add items to your To Do list.

If I read a book by an author I have been jealous of and I like it, I'll always promote it to my own audience in the ultimate reversal of jealousy.

Celebrate the success of other authors and it will make you a happier writer, plus it will build your network over time.

“Stop looking at what other people are doing and look at what you're achieving. Stop looking sideways, look at where you're going.” Jocelyn Glei, Manage your Day to Day

This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Available now in ebook, print and audiobook formats.

Trust, Visibility, Mobile Storytelling And Blockchain For Books: Lessons Learned From London Book Fair 2018

April 23, 2018 by Joanna Penn 2 Comments

https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/s3.amazonaws.com/tcppodcast/Podcast_LBF2018JoannaPenn0418.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:09:17 — 56.3MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Today I have a solo show on what I learned at London Book Fair (LBF), including the challenges that authors are facing, and what they are doing about it. Plus, my thoughts on Blockchain for Books and monetizing mobile reading apps. 

In the intro, I mention the additional report on LBF that noted a drop in debut deals for fiction and an increase in non-fiction deals, also reported by Porter Anderson and Jane Friedman in The Hot Sheet this week. Plus, I give an update on my editing for How to Write Non-Fiction, available for pre-order now.

In futurist news, Google unveils Talk to Books, which uses “semantic search,” drawing on the ability of the tool’s AI to understand natural human language, as well as Semantris, a word association game. Both technologies aim to test and improve the underlying software. Plus, Knowhere introduces an AI that “aggregates news from hundreds of sources and create three versions of each story: one skewed to the left, one skewed to the right, and one that’s meant to be impartial.” The beginning of the AI author voice?

kobo writing lifeThis 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.

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 an award-winning entrepreneur, podcaster, and YouTuber. Her site, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 sites for writers by Writer's Digest.

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:

  • Your art is everything. Your art is nothing. Why the Book Fair gives an insight into the publishing industry and our place within it.
  • The continued challenge of visibility, and how some authors are facing it
  • Is this the end of co-opetition?
  • Developing multiple streams of income
  • Who to trust? The importance of personal relationships – and checking the Alliance of Independent Authors Watchdog listing
  • Mobile storytelling and how authors are getting paid for it
  • Blockchain for Books, a report on the launch by The Alliance of Independent Authors
  • How to make the most of London Book Fair, or any of the other Fairs, if you want to attend as an author

You can find London Book Fair here, check the hashtag #LBF18 or #LBF2018 if you want to see tweets and pics about it. Some of my pictures are included in the text below.

Continue Reading

How To Use Video Marketing Like A Hollywood Director

April 20, 2018 by Joanna Penn 3 Comments

I've had a YouTube channel since 2008, but recently I've been paying a lot more attention to it – mainly because I've noticed that my own consumption preferences are changing.

Use Video Marketing Like A Hollywood DirectorI'm Gen X and I've been a hardcore reader for most of my life, but now the Millennials are the largest living generation and younger people watch even more. I want my words to get out into the world, I want to reach people regardless of format. So I am doing more video.

In today's article, Diana Wink gives some tips on how you can use video marketing.  

We watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos a day.

YouTube, not Amazon, is the world’s second largest search engine. Video is the driving force of this century, especially for marketing.

Yet recently, a book trailer made sure I’d never read the book advertised.

The book might be a literary masterpiece. But I’ll never know.

Why?

Because the video looked boring, cheap and unprofessional.

True, I am a filmmaker and I have an eye for those things. But don’t be fooled –– nowadays, with Netflix, Amazon Prime and regular visits to the cinema, we all have developed this eye. Everybody can tell a cheap video production from a professional one because our eye is spoiled by the trends and film language now present on every corner.

The word “cheap” can be deceiving. You don’t have to spend a million for your video to look like a million. In fact, the technicalities are now widely accessible to everybody. There is no excuse. What we lack is knowledge. Everybody can point a camera. But only those who dive deeper will make their video stand out from the crowd.

Luckily, there are simple tricks and tools I put in your hands so that you can slay video marketing like a pro. But first, let’s have a look at all the possibilities film opens up before you as an author.

What can video do for your author marketing?

What can video doVideo is the driving force of this century, and it’s an effective marketing tool for your books and your author brand.

A book trailer is only the tip of the iceberg, and maybe the most challenging of the videos you can produce.

Start by filming yourself while you read the first chapter of your book, either in a Facebook live video or a YouTube video. It’s easier to click a play button than read a preview, and an amazing first chapter will suck your readers in instantly. Also, seeing the author’s face on video builds an instant connection.

You can document your book writing process, for example, create a travel video of your book research like I did with my novel.

It provides you with the opportunity to tease your book with quotes, place and character names and some plot information that occurs in those different places. But it also gives a taste of the atmosphere and connects your readers to your process while showing how much you invest in it.

You could also create a series of short videos with all different kinds of information –– introducing your characters, showing cover progress and talking about the creation of it.

If you write non-fiction, create short videos on the related topics, either as a tease or as a “dive deeper” episode, as Joanna does on The Creative Penn YouTube channel. Post short video interviews with professionals, ideally those you talked to as part of your book research. The sky’s the limit!

Now, let’s look at the tricks and tools that will make your videos look professional.

High Concept

table with notebook and coffeeAs the creative mind behind your videos, you will be the one who writes the concepts.

In Theatre, they say: “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.” The same goes for videos.

Want to create great videos? Make sure to write killer concepts first!

A high concept video has three essential ingredients

1. The idea is unique yet relatable

There are probably no new ideas on planet earth, it seems like everything has been done before. But what makes an idea unique is the combination of execution and ingredients that have never been executed.

On the other hand, it has to be something people are familiar with (this is the reason experimental films are not made for the wide audience) –– a structure they recognize, clues from film language they know and thus can subconsciously interpret.

The balancing act between innovation and recognition is a tough one. This is why you need to know what’s out there. What has been done successfully? What do the people like? “Steal like an artist”, which means: Take those ideas and add your personal and unique twist to them.

2. Everything works together to create an atmosphere

As to the craft of writing, there are also many different parts to the craft of filmmaking: storytelling, sound and music, colours, imagery – the list is endless. All those parts have to collaborate to create the atmosphere you want. They cannot be random and send mixed signals.

So when you write your concept, ask yourself:

  • What do I want my viewers to feel and to experience?
  • What expectations do I want to raise?
  • Is the atmosphere dark and menacing, is it professional, is it fun and entertaining?

Then, make sure every single thing in your video works to support this atmosphere. Leave nothing to chance, because your audience will subconsciously interpret every single thing you give them.

3. The video is professional and up-to-date

This one is especially important when it comes to film, because trends and technology are constantly evolving, and so should your videos. This is also why it’s my recommendation to hire a professional, especially when it comes to things like book trailers.

In order to know what’s up to date, you have to know your way around the “film universe”. What a great excuse to binge Netflix, spend hours watching trailers and do some couch-surfing on YouTube and Vimeo!

The concept will help you get your vision down on paper, make changes, do research and communicate your idea to a professional if you hire one.

Good concepts always include imagery like screenshots or photography of the mood you want to convey, as a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

You can either write a rough concept in continuous text, but if you desire to go deeper, create two columns where on the right you write down the imagery while on the parallel left, you write down everything that goes on in your audio track.

Sound and music

child and microphoneSound in film always works on a subconscious level. All sound designers know: The best sound is the one you never notice. Because once there is something off with it, it disturbs you even more than a bad image. This is why sound and music create most of your atmosphere.

There are many things to consider with sound:

  • If someone is talking in the video, make sure that this audio recording is top-notch.
  • Use directional microphones that filter out ambient noises.
  • Make the hearing experience as flawless as possible.
  • Use sound effects and ambience in a very goal-oriented way, f.e if there is a cut, a change of location or an animation.

As we are used to professional looking images, so are our ears used to good quality music. The quest for the right soundtrack takes up at least 50-60% of my editing time!

Never settle for a cheap background music or a soundtrack that does not fit your video perfectly. Also, always make sure you have a license! There are nowadays great ways to get amazing music licensed for an affordable price.

Here are some recommendations:

  • https://artlist.io – This is a subscription model if you produce videos on a regular basis. They have great quality music of all genres!
  • https://audiojungle.net
  • https://vimeo.com/stockmusicclouds
  • http://freemusicarchive.org

Length

The shorter your video is, the greater the chances that it will be viewed until the very end, where you will probably want to refer to your book, blog or product. Do your viewers and yourself a favour and go for quality rather than quantity, which means: shorter videos that are produced professionally.

Because believe me when I say: You always underestimate the time needed to film and edit your video! The better you want it to be, the more time you’ll need to invest.

If it comes to trailers, there is a rule of thumb: Never exceed a length of 60 seconds!

Animation and Titles

These are your secret weapon when it comes to video, yet titles and typography is a highly complicated topic. Luckily, there are many great tutorials on YouTube of how to use text in videos in the program you are editing in.

But first, let me give you some typography rules of thumb:

  1. Avoid goofy fonts, monospaced fonts, and system fonts, especially times new roman and Arial.
  2. Use bold or italic as little as possible.
  3. Use these font recommendations.
  4. Use colours sparingly, in a very subtle way, and stick to those colours throughout your video
  5. Small, centred text that leaves a lot of screen space makes your titles look cinematic

For a great video, use the combination of live footage and animated titles to bring in variety and deliver a message. Just have a look at the Dan Brown’s “Origin” book trailer.

In a clever way, atmospheric music, simple title animation and stock footage were combined to create an easy yet powerful trailer. Have you noticed the subtle sound effects? The use of a slight sepia colour tone before jumping to a fast sequence of cities, accumulating to the slogan that is used throughout the book?

This trailer originates from a high concept and was made with several simple steps that are easy to implement and to produce. This is how production value works without spending millions.

We will have a look at more complicated animations in the book trailer section, but first, let me give you some camera tricks if you want to work with original footage.

Camera tricks

The camera functions with light, just like our eyes do. This is why you need to get a feeling for how light operates, how it works and which light sources to use. Spoiler alert: daylight is always your best option.

Here are some basic setup tricks which you can deepen in tutorials and further research:

Lenses
When buying a camera, the lens is more important than the camera itself.

What to look out for in a lens? Buy a lens with fixed focal length and high light intensity rather than a zoom lens with F4 aperture or worse. A great lens can make any camera look good, because it’s the lens that decides how much light enters the digital chip. The lens also determines the sharpness of your image and the colors of the overall look.

Depth of Field
camera lensDepth of field makes an image looks professional. The reverse would be a flat image that looks cheap and out of date. There are several factors that influence depth of field. This is where aperture again comes into play.

If you have a F1.4 lens, there is a crazy depth of field you can get out of it if the aperture is wide open. Not so much with an F4.

If it’s too bright outside, use neutral density filters on your lens rather than closing down the aperture. This will maintain your depth of field.

The focal length is also a major influencer. The higher the millimetre rate, the higher the depth of field. Still, I’d recommend going with a 50mm or 85mm lens for starters for YouTube videos, as you’ll need a very spacious area if you want to go higher.

Framing
Rule of thirdsFraming is not self-evident. Position your object of interest either in the centre or use the rule of thirds, where you divide the picture into nine equal parts and use the points where the lines meet.

Make sure there is nothing distracting in the background that might divert the attention, like brightly colored objects or distracting light sources.

Book Trailers

Let’s close with some suggestions on book trailers. They are a great way to tease your book and convert potential readers into fans in less than 60 seconds. But they also require a great deal of work.

My advice: Use sound as your weapon number one. Find an amazing piece of music, maybe use voice over and some effects. In terms of imagery, you have several ways to go.

1. Combine title animation as stock footage
Dan Brown is a great example here. A combination of stock footage and title animation is easy to get right once you’ve established a high concept, and it won’t require any creation of new original footage.

2. Use animation only
For this one, you’ll need to hire a skilled professional who knows his way around animation and maybe even illustration. The outcome can be quite fascinating like in the example below.

This kind of trailer is especially great for genres like YA and children’s books as it has a “fairytale” atmosphere to it.

3. Shoot a video from scratch
This option is a video production scenario, and unlike in example #2, you’ll need a whole cast and crew for that. Unless you hire a director, or yourself are a film expert, I would not recommend embarking on this journey. When I shot my book trailer it was a costly and tiring experience of three whole days with a team of 25 people, and although the result was worth the pain, this option is for geeks and crazy people only.

When you plan your author marketing (and you should), always include video. It’s a true blessing that nowadays, YouTube provides us with countless tutorials on how to shoot footage, how to edit and do postproduction. It’s time extensive in the beginning, but absolutely worth it in the end.

And, what’s even more important: it’s fun! After a while, the technicalities become a self-evident side effect while you can concentrate on the creative side of video production and create beauty and inspiration.

Don’t limit your videos to “talking heads”. There is so much more to this! Be brave and try out everything that is out there for you to experiment with.

Have you considered video as part of your book marketing strategy? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Diana WinkD. Wink is a mountain child from the depths of middle Asia, striving to kidnap her readers into make-believe worlds, blend the borders between past and future, and master her own curiosity.

In her spare time, she directs movies and rewatches Christopher Nolan films, empowers creatives to tell stories themselves on storyartist.me and explores theatres, cities and wilderness with her bearded dancer husband. She recently wrote the first book of the Prometheus Dystopian Trilogy “Prometheus Rising”.

Writing And The Fear Of Judgment

April 18, 2018 by Joanna Penn 7 Comments

If you put your words on the page and the book into the world, someone is going to judge you. And that can be a scary thought!

Fear of judgment is something that I've come up against a number of times in my writing career, particularly when I was writing Desecration. Watch the video below or here on YouTube.

What is fear of judgment?

It's that feeling of like, “I can't write this. I can't even think this. Why am I thinking this?I'm a nice girl. What will people think of me when I put this book into the world? What will my loved ones think of me? What will my partner think of me? My boyfriend, girlfriend, my mother, my mother-in-law? What will my friends think of me? And then what will people I've never met think of me?”

All of these things are fear of judgment, the fear of what others will think, and even what we will ourselves think.

DesecrationDesecration was my fifth novel, but it was the first book where I really let my author voice come out on the page. It really changed my writing life because at this point I actually got over my fear of judgment.

Now it's still there in the background and of course, we all feel self-doubt. I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about what other people think about me, but the important thing is that I'm not going to let it stop me writing or publishing.

There are things inside us that we need to let out on the page.

Our most powerful writing can sometimes come from the subconscious, the things we press down in normal life. The things that we wouldn't necessarily say in polite conversation. Maybe things that our friends and our family don't even know about us.

How can you deal with the fear of judgment?

First of all, understand that the book is not you.

If someone doesn't like your book, it doesn't mean that they are judging you. Now, this can be very hard, but it does get better with the more books that you write. If you only have one book, then you will be very emotionally connected to it.

Joanna Penn 2018

Me with some of my books!

But if you write more books, then over time, that body of work becomes much more robust. When people attack it, then you're much stronger in yourself. So the first tip is to write more books.

And of course, if there's a topic that you know you want to write about but you're not quite brave enough yet, then maybe save that for another book, but make sure you get there eventually.

Find people who appreciate who you really are.

Now, I'm super-lucky. My husband's very understanding. For Crypt of Bone, I took him on a romantic (book research) trip to Paris and then we went to the Catacombs, where there are millions of bones and skulls.

crypt of boneThen we went to Prague on another romantic weekend and ended up in an ossuary with another load of bones and a mass grave. He understands that darker side of me, and I know I'm super-lucky to have someone who supports me so much. I know many people don't have that.

But what you can do is find a community online.

As J.F. Penn, my fiction self, I am into morbid curiosity, death culture, skeletons, graveyards, that type of thing. Online, that's not weird as there are lots of people who are into the same things.

Whereas I know my friends in real life, and certainly my family, don't really understand that slightly more macabre side of me. In fact, most of my friends and family have not read my books and I probably wouldn't want them to.

We get caught up in wanting the people that we love to love what we do in our art, but so often, they don't.

So, find friends online, join writers groups, join Facebook groups, find other people who love what you do and they will understand you. That will really help you because many of those people will also be afraid of judgment and will have other people in their lives judging them, too.

Learn about the shadow side and embrace it.

I studied psychology and Carl Jung's idea of the shadow is something that fascinates me. At some point, I will write a nonfiction book on the shadow side and how we can use it in our writing because it's so important.

The most psychologically healthy people I know are horror writers because they take the fear and the dark side of them and they put it on the page.

When we write down the things that scare us, they lose their power.

So this is why I think writing can be incredibly powerful and healthy for you. Get out some of the things that you might be judged for if you talked about it. But if you write about it, even if you fictionalize it, it can become the best way, a cathartic experience.

Use a pseudonym

Of course, your fear of judgment may be totally justified. Most erotica authors will write under a pseudonym for this reason. Many romance authors write under a pseudonym. They don't want the added hassle of being judged for what they're writing or they don't want people they know to find out what they're writing.

Using a pseudonym can be a really powerful way to still write what you want to write, but put it behind a veneer so that you can take a step back and it will protect you in that way.

You can't control other people's reactions to your work

big magicFinally, I want to quote from Elizabeth Gilbert's fantastic book, Big Magic.

“The reaction to your art does not belong to you and that is the only sane way to create.”

successful author mindsetWe have to keep creating, we have to put our art out into the world. We can't control other people's reactions to it. We can only control what we put out there.

You don't want to die with your art still inside you.

So often, people get obsessed with grammatical mistakes and typos and things like that in writing whereas the bigger issues are inside of us and those are the things that can help us create more.

If you need any other help with the psychology of writing and the roller coaster of what being a creative is all about, then check out The Successful Author Mindset, available in e-book, print, audiobook, and workbook formats.

Do you suffer from fear of judgement? How do you deal with it? Please do join the conversation and leave a comment below. 

Creative Entrepreneurship And Being Boss With Emily Thompson

April 16, 2018 by Joanna Penn 1 Comment

https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/s3.amazonaws.com/tcppodcast/Podcast_EmilyThompson0418.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:41 — 41.4MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Can you really make a living with your creativity and have a happy, healthy life?

being bossIn today's episode, Emily Thompson talks about how to be your own boss in a creative business, and how to set boundaries that enable you to live life to the full.

In the short introduction, I mention my experience at London Book Fair. I'll be doing a more detailed show on what I discovered next week.

Plus, the pre-order is up for How to Write Non-Fiction. You can pre-order the ebook now, and it will be available in ebook, print, workbook, and (hopefully) audiobook format by 31 May 2018. draft2digital

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

Emily BossEmily M. Thompson is the Founder of Indie Shopography where she helps creatives run online businesses and co-host of Being Boss, a podcast for creative entrepreneurs, where she inspires, writes, and curates content to help creatives own their path and be more boss. With over 3 million listens, the impact of the podcast inspired Emily to co-write her first book with her business partner, Kathleen Shannon. Being Boss: Take Control of Your Work and Live Life on Your Own Terms, is out now.

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
Being Boss

  • How Emily got into writing and why she and her partner, Kathleen, chose to use the word ‘Boss'
  • What's needed to make it as a full-time successful entrepreneur
  • Tips for collaborating and co-writing with a loved one or friend
  • The importance of boundaries
  • Why visual images are so important for branding and marketing
  • Why Emily and Kathleen chose to go with a traditional publisher

You can find Emily Thompson at BeingBoss.club and on Twitter @EmilyM_Thompson. Find Being Boss on Amazon here.

Continue Reading

Next Page »

Become a more successful author

Looking for something?

Subscribe to the blog by email, or connect with me on social media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Need a professional editor?

Need a professional book cover design?

Inspiration and Information every Monday!

Need help with writing your book? Tips for fiction and non-fiction

Need help with book marketing?

Want to make a living writing? Here are some ideas how you can

How to set up your own author website in under 30 mins

Useful Books on Writing, Publishing, Marketing and Making Money Writing

My J.F.Penn author blog, for fans of my thriller novels

Stronger together! I’m a proud member of The Alliance of Independent Authors

Topics

  • Author Entrepreneur
  • Creativity
  • Ebooks and Technology
  • Intellectual Property Rights
  • Marketing and Promotion
  • Publishing Options
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • Comparisonitis Or “Everyone Else Is Better Than Me”
  • Trust, Visibility, Mobile Storytelling And Blockchain For Books: Lessons Learned From London Book Fair 2018
  • How To Use Video Marketing Like A Hollywood Director
  • Writing And The Fear Of Judgment
  • Creative Entrepreneurship And Being Boss With Emily Thompson
  • Writing Tips: 3 Techniques To Write Better Settings
  • Pros And Cons Of Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing
  • The Business Of Being A Writer With Jane Friedman
  • How To Write A Scene That Works: The Story Grid Way
  • How To Use Grammarly To Improve Your Writing
  • How Play Can Help You Overcome Anxiety And Become More Creative With Charlie Hoehn
  • How To Find And Work With A Professional Editor
  • How Do You Find Time To Write?
  • Creative Lessons From Screenwriting With J.F. Penn
  • Writing Tips: How Writers Can Use Punctuation To Great Effect

Archives

Thanks for visiting The Creative Penn!

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. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

Connect with me on social media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
© Copyright Joanna Penn. The Creative Penn Limited. All rights reserved.

Search The Creative Penn

Inspiration and Information every Monday in The Creative Penn podcast

Thanks for visiting The Creative Penn

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. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

Copyright © 2018 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy