The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

  • Write A Novel
  • Write Non-Fiction
  • Publishing
  • Marketing
  • Make a Living Writing
  • Author Mindset
  • AI and Future Of Creativity
  • Start Here!
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Audio
  • Courses
  • Tools
  • About
    • Speaking
    • Press
  • Contact

It’s Never Too Late. How To Achieve Your Goals At Any Age With Kate Champion

January 11, 2021 by Joanna Penn 6 Comments

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_KateChampion.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:23 — 48.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

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 the COVID-19 and Book Publishing Report: Impacts and Insights for 2021; Top 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

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 

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

Continue Reading

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share

How To Be A Healthy Writer In 2021 With Dr Euan Lawson

January 4, 2021 by Joanna Penn 2 Comments

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_HealthyWriter21.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:09:25 — 56.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.

How To Be A Healthy Writer In 2021 With Dr Euan Lawson

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.

ingramsparkToday'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, anxiety, loneliness and more
  • How mental health issues can be magnified in stressful situations like a pandemic
  • What Joanna and Euan have done to help lift their moods this year
  • Giving ourselves permission to feel what we feel
  • Balancing individual needs with the collective good
  • Creating healthy work habits when working from home

You can find Euan Lawson at euanlawson.com and on Twitter @euan_lawson

Continue Reading

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share

Creative Business Goals For 2021 With Joanna Penn

January 1, 2021 by Joanna Penn 14 Comments

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_2021GoalsV2.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 25:49 — 21.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

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 better integrate it with my email list and autoresponders so I can drive more direct sales. I'm also going to release on my direct sales platform first before publishing to the stores to encourage direct sales. At the time of writing, you can only get Your Author Business Plan on audiobook from me directly.

Your Author Business Plan

I'll be doing a tutorial on this so you can see how it works soon. You can also buy directly from me: Payhip.com/thecreativepenn and have ebooks and audiobooks delivered by BookFunnel. Successful Self-Publishing is free in both formats so you can see how it works as a reader/listener.

J.F. Penn Thrillers and Dark Fantasy, and the Books and Travel Podcast

In terms of my fiction, I'm intending to publish:

  • Day of the Martyr, ARKANE 12, inspired by the relics of St Thomas a Becket (and my pilgrimage walk), by the end of Q2
  • One more fiction project, as yet to be determined
  • Tree of Life in audiobook format, hopefully by end of Jan 2021
  • The Mapwalker trilogy boxset – ebook, print, and audiobook, Feb 2021

My Books and Travel Podcast now has 50 episodes, including a number of solo shows about my own book research and trips, as well as many of my photos. Check out my recent episode on This Too Shall Pass: Thoughts from the Pilgrims' Way.

I love the show and every interview inspires wanderlust (and expansion!) in my soul. It's been particularly good during the pandemic year, and I absolutely intend to continue with it. Content marketing takes a long time to prove its worth, so you have to enjoy the journey and think long term about how people discover things slowly. Even though Books and Travel is not specifically monetized at the moment, I love it and it is evergreen marketing for my books, so that will continue in 2021.

The Creative Future

Everything listed above is ‘business as usual,' what I need to deliver in order to satisfy my existing community. But I don't just want to meet expectations — I want to exceed them.

I've also been bored for a while now, with a feeling of stagnation in the status quo of the publishing industry. But I see things coming on the horizon that we need to prepare for, especially with the acceleration of digital transformation in the pandemic year.

My (surprise!) little book at the end of 2020 on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies for Authors and the Publishing Industry, covered a lot of what I've been thinking about for the last four years, and occasionally talked about on the futurist segment of the podcast.

I'm going to continue this theme in 2021, but take it much further for my own career and (as always) share the journey with you.

Back in October 2009, I posted a video on YouTube about why I loved my brand new international Kindle device so much. At 2:30 mins in, I talked about the fact that my ebooks were available on the device, published through a friend in the US, and I suggested that an improvement could be allowing authors outside the US to publish on the Kindle.

Of course, that happened soon after, and just over a decade later, we have a thriving eco-system for international authors who publish with a global and digital-first view. We have useful tools and many wonderful companies who support our writing, publishing, and book marketing tasks. Check out episode 471 for an overview of 2009-2019, a decade of self-publishing with me and Orna Ross.

The internet and digital business transformed opportunities for authors and publishing from 2010 to 2020, and further transformation is on the horizon.

I want to be part of the inevitable shift in the next decade. My mind is teeming with ideas and I'm constantly reading books and listening to podcasts and going to online talks and generally immersing myself in it all. I want to write and speak and podcast about these topics, and I want to engage with businesses who are working on these new opportunities and become a part of the creative future.

I know that most writers are not ready to engage with many of these things. Most are wrangling the latest book or figuring out how to use the existing ecosystem, and perhaps you are one of those who would rather I just focus on the basics.

But there are so many voices in the self-publishing space now and many excellent resources you can learn from (start with the Self Publishing Advice blog, guidebooks, and podcasts from the Alliance of Independent Authors). I need to continue to differentiate myself so you continue to find value in what I share, but also, I need to follow my curiosity.

Of course, I will continue to do podcast episodes on the writing craft (as I am still learning that too!), as well as publishing and book marketing topics, but I will also be doing more episodes on the possibilities of the creative future. You don't need to take action — yet — but you do need to be aware of the changes ahead.

I'm also going to engage with these technologies myself in 2021 and start to implement them in my creative business. I intend to:

  • Co-create a story/book with an AI natural language generation tool, like GPT-3 or similar
  • Register copyright on a blockchain
  • Sell an ebook or audiobook on a blockchain
  • Earn cryptocurrency (Bitcoin or Ethereum) with my creative work
  • Publish and sell an audiobook narrated by an AI voice
  • Create a current state and future state architecture of the author business so we can see the path ahead (which is the kind of thing I used to create back in my day job as a business consultant years ago!)

These might sound like futurist things, but I know how to do most of these already based on my research and I just need to put them into action. (There are also authors doing these things already, but they don't necessarily talk about it like I do!) They are unlikely to make any significant money, and they are not mainstream (yet), but this method of experimentation is how I started self-publishing in 2008 when ebooks were still downloadable PDFs, podcasting in 2009 when you had to download files and I still used a tape player adaptor in my car, and laid the foundation for the multi-six-figure creative business I have today.

As ever, I'll share my lessons on the blog and the podcast, and I may also write and publish one or two small books on these topics, similar to the short one on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtuals Worlds, but with more detail. I'm a writer, so I really only know what I think once I've written a book on a topic!

I'm also going to keep learning and stay abreast of developments at the higher level. In 2020, Orna Ross, from the Alliance of Independent Authors, and I submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the UK Government on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Law. This technology is too important to be left to the technologists, and few authors and creatives want to get involved. I want to learn more so I can be effective at engaging with this area and become a bridge between technology, creatives, and commerce — and continue to campaign for the rights of creators as we move into an era of AI. 

I intend to keep focusing on the creative future so we can surf the changes ahead, rather than drown in them. I hope you will continue to join me on the journey.

Health and Travel

As I write this on the final day of 2020, there is positive news of the vaccine rollout, but there is also a fast-moving virus strain here in the UK and we are mostly back in lockdown. (The government is calling it ‘tiers' but it's basically lockdown!)

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'm planning trips to Portugal and Japan, as well as some more ultra-marathons and another walking pilgrimage in the north of England. My plan is to work hard in the earlier months so I can have more time off later in the year for some much-needed travel, family catch-ups, and book research trips.

travel books

My recent haul of travel books from Waterstones as I dream of escaping again!

I'll be continuing with my twice-weekly weights and workout as well as my intermittent fasting lifestyle and my big walks, and I intend to be even fitter at 46 than I am at 45!

Financial Goals

My main goal will be to sustain The Creative Penn income at a steady level while freeing up time for my experiments with the creative future.

I have a lot of study to do, books to read, and events I want to attend, but my existing multiple streams of income happily enable me to do this. It's certainly not ‘passive income,' by any means, but by simplifying business processes and focusing on what is core to my existing community — my books and my podcasts — I should be able to free up 30% of my time for a new direction while retaining my income at the same level.

That's it from me! Let me know what your goals are for 2021 in the comments or tweet me @thecreativepenn. Let's keep each other accountable in the year ahead!

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share

Creative Business Review Of 2020 And Lessons Learned From A Pandemic Year With Joanna Penn

December 31, 2020 by Joanna Penn 22 Comments

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_2020Roundup.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:06 — 31.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

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 new way of living, let alone a new way of creating.

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.

Walking along the canal keeps me sane …

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, or live music or theatre — without wearing a mask or sanitizing
  • Visiting a museum, art gallery, or any other cultural place anytime I like, in pretty much any European city I like, at short notice
  • Travel!!! Even conferences where I can hang out with other people. I never thought I would miss other people this much, but I do!
  • Writing in my local cafe, busy with people going about their lives with no thought of disease

Longer walks are even better for mental health!

Thriving in the pandemic: The global, digital, scalable business model comes of age

Many news articles are reporting that this pandemic year has accelerated digital transformation in almost every sector. A McKinsey report even notes that “Businesses that once mapped digital strategy in one- to three-year phases must now scale their initiatives in a matter of days or weeks.” The ramifications of this will continue to ripple out in the years to come, but for those of us who have been working online for a decade, it was business as usual.

I designed my creative business to be digital-first, location-independent, global, and scalable back in 2008, but the business model has truly come of age in 2020. While physical businesses have struggled, digital businesses have thrived and from anecdotal evidence across the independent author community, it has been a very good year for many and certainly has been so for me.

Many book lovers moved to ebooks and digital audiobooks when they couldn't get print — and those who love print bought more of their books online. I attended the FutureBook online conference in November 2020, and many of the traditional publishers noted that they were pivoting some of their business to the model that indie authors have been running for over a decade.

My most significant business assets are my intellectual property rights, my email list, podcast, and my website — all of which I own and control, and once again, they have proved their worth. I can send out an email and make money. As I increasingly sell ebooks and digital audiobooks direct to customers through Payhip.com/thecreativepenn, I can also have that money in my bank account in a few hours, rather than days or months or even years, as many authors experience. This has been a great comfort, especially during the early days of the pandemic when I wondered whether my income was about to drop off a cliff. It didn't, but this year has proved that direct sales is a critical part of my author eco-system.

My main goal for 2020 was ‘Operation Evergreen,' a long-term perspective that focused on embedding practices to sustain and grow my mature author business. I have definitely doubled down on that and increasingly let go of the things that will not last.

Digital-first is a resilient strategy and the pandemic has proved its worth. Multiple streams of income from intellectual property assets that you own and control is a great way to ride out the ups and downs.

Of course, there will now be more competition online as all those who shunned it will now be arriving on the scene! So, how can you design your author business to be more resilient for the future?

The Creative Penn non-fiction for authors

A big part of my ‘Operation Evergreen' goal was to focus on building more intellectual property assets — while also overhauling my existing platform.

I've written and published 3 non-fiction books.

  • Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies. Published in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print, and self-narrated audiobook editions
  • Your Author Business Plan: Take Your Author Career to the Next Level. Published in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print, and self-narrated audiobook editions
  • Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Converging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry. Published in ebook, paperback, and coming soon in audio.

The last two were unexpected and both written in the second UK lockdown in November after my pilgrimage. I reflect on why that time off was so important in my personal episode on Books and Travel.

I did have a goal to “Finish the content audit, simplification, and redesign of TheCreativePenn.com.” I decided against a redesign but I did spend a lot of time archiving content, and I no longer accept guest posts. I'm not doing webinars any more either, and I'm barely on social media anymore. My focus has been to keep simplifying and only creating things that only I can create and that my community finds useful — which is basically my books and my podcast.

It's been another year of The Creative Penn Podcast!

Including landmark episode 500, Writing and Business Lessons from 500 episodes, and 11 years of The Creative Penn Podcast. The show has now surpassed 5.1 million downloads across 223 countries.

Thank you for listening and a special thank you to my Patrons for supporting the show, and to Kobo Writing Life, Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark, Findaway Voices, and Pro Writing Aid for continuing to sponsor the show.

I developed some new mini-courses for Authors: Multiple Streams of Income, Turn What You Know Into An Online Course, Co-writing a Book, and Your Author Business Plan.

Professional speaking

I spoke at the Self Publishing Show Live, March 2020, just a few days before the first lockdown.

All other events got canceled, but I did speak at a LOT of online summits over the summer until I got ‘zoomed out' like so many others! Surprisingly, it is just as tiring to present on zoom as it is in person, without the benefit of travel and in-person networking. I generally say no to these now unless there is a significant audience or payment or it's a topic I want to speak on (like AI and the future of publishing).

Joanna Penn keynote on Multiple Streams of Income at Self Publishing Show Live, March 2020

J.F. Penn Thrillers and Dark Fantasy

I've also written two novels and completed the Mapwalker trilogy for audio.

Mapwalker fantasy trilogy by J.F.Penn

  • Map of the Impossible, Mapwalker #3. Published in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print, and audiobook editions.
  • Tree of Life, ARKANE #11. Published in ebook, paperback, hardback, large print. Audiobook currently in production.
  • The Mapwalker Trilogy completed in audiobook editions, narrated by Charlie Sanderson. Published through FindawayVoices, currently filtering through the various audio eco-systems. Available to buy direct from me, delivered by Bookfunnel audio at Payhip.com/thecreativepenn
  • Rebranded my Brooke and Daniel thrillers with new covers and new metadata

Covers by (the wonderful) JD Smith Design

In April 2020, I decided to reboot my fiction income after discussing it with (the wonderful) Michaelbrent Collings. I was able to 10x my monthly J.F. Penn fiction revenue with a combination of Amazon Ads, Facebook Ads, and BookBub Ads as well as email blasts and other marketing — but I hated spending time on it and resented every minute, so I stopped a few months later.

The revenue dropped, but life is too short to do things that make you miserable — another lesson from the pandemic! I’d go back to my day job if I wanted to do that!

What would it look like if this was easy?

My author business is about giving me the freedom to choose what I create and how I spend my time. I love researching and writing fiction, and I am very proud of the books I create. I also love content marketing (see below section on Books and Travel!) but I really hate the time spent on paid ads. So I considered what would make it easy and sustainable for me.

J.F. Penn with Tree of Life, an ARKANE thriller #11

I've had Stone of Fire, ARKANE thriller #1 as permafree for 6 years now and it continues to bring people into that series (now 11 books) and it's easy to promote with Freebooksy and BookBub Ads. I decided to do something similar for Map of Shadows and Desecration, which each have a trilogy at the moment.

I put them both at 99c/99p and now all I do is run BookBub Ads (see David Gaughran's BookBub Ads Expert and my interview with him here), and use Freebooksy/Bargainbooksy on those first in series books. I also apply for Kobo Writing Life promotions every 3 weeks and email my list every couple of weeks with specials.

This is a very low maintenance schedule and I don't need to do daily or even weekly monitoring, so I can relax and get on with creating which is what I love best!

Books and Travel

Clearly, it was not a great year for travel! But I managed to do a few things to keep my wanderlust at bay. (You can always follow my travels on Instagram @jfpennauthor)

  • Bilbao and San Sebastian research trip, Feb 2020, just before the pandemic arrived
  • 50km Chiltern Way Ultra-Marathon (in a day)
  • 6 Day solo walking The Pilgrims' Way (Southwark, London to Canterbury, Kent). Here's the day by day route with pictures, and here's my personal podcast: This Too Shall Pass.

I also recorded and published my Books and Travel Podcast every two weeks with interviews from Namibia to Iceland, from Mumbai to the vineyards of France, and many more, which helped me travel virtually at least!

I also did several solo shows: Druids, Freemasons, and Frankenstein: The Darker Side of Bath, England; as well as one on The Importance of Home in Difficult Times, Walk Your Own Race (from the 50k walk), and my personal experience on the Pilgrims' Way.

I love doing this podcast and as it enters the third year of production, I have lots more to share personally as well as many more interviews on the way. You can subscribe to Books and Travel on your favorite podcast app, and find all the links here.

Health

One of my goals for 2020 was, “in my 45th year, I intend to be in the best physical shape of my life,” and on my wall, I have an affirmation, “Fit at 45 for 2020!” I have indeed achieved this and I'm pretty thrilled about it!

I started out well, working out twice a week with my personal trainer in the gym. When the pandemic hit, I had a few wobbly months of over-indulgence to cope with the stress (like many people!), but then I pulled myself together. I'm healthier now than I have been in a long time, thanks to a few things.

Twice weekly weight training and workout with my personal trainer, Dan. I've recounted my various stories of pain and physical issues in The Healthy Writer, and after some acute shoulder problems in September 2019, I started working with Dan for shoulder rehab and postural change to correct decades of deskwork. Before we had to leave the gym in March, I dead-lifted a personal best weight of 80kg. Then we went to zoom or social distancing in person in between lockdowns. I love my workouts and I consider them fundamental to my physical and mental health.

Woohoo! Deadlifted 80kgs – just before turning 45! #pb #strongwoman Very pleased with myself!

— Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn) March 10, 2020

Walking (almost) every day. During the two lockdowns (so far), I've walked pretty much every day, generally for 8-10 km a day, but often for 15-20km, plus some longer walks including a 50km ultra-marathon in a day, and a 6-day pilgrimage. Walking has been critical for my mental health and I've shared lots of pictures from my canal wanderings on Instagram @jfpennauthor this year.

Walking the Pilgrims' Way, October 2020

Time off. I did have a goal of ‘Schedule more time off. Block out time in the calendar for rest and holiday for its own sake, not just book research or work conferences and speaking.' In a way, the pandemic has changed our idea of what ‘time off' is. By staying home, I have actually worked more hours than ever before, but equally, I have walked more and had time to think. I've slept a lot and certainly been able to prioritize my health and fitness.

Intermittent fasting (IF). I‘m not a doctor and this is not health advice. Please do your own investigation and see a professional about your health. This is just my opinion and experience.

IF has probably been the most transformative thing for my body shape. Like many people, I've spent much of my adult life worrying about my weight and yo-yo-ing up and down at various stages, trying to give up types of food, trying fad diets, and generally failing miserably to stop the pounds creeping on. I enjoy my food and I love a drink or two (or three) with friends, so I was never going to stay on any kind of restrictive regime for long.

But after much reading and investigation, I started intermittent fasting on 25 July 2020, and after 5 months, I am down two dress sizes and feeling great, as well as being able to do my ultras with very little inflammation.

Jonathan started a few weeks after me and has also dropped several sizes as well as reducing gut issues. We love this way of eating and feel fantastic on it. We mainly have a 20:4 regime, eating between 4/5 pm – 8 pm every day, sometimes with a longer window, 16:8, when we feel especially hungry. IF is mainly about ‘when' you eat, as opposed to ‘what' you eat.

Eating, body size, and weight are emotional subjects — but they are also fundamental to our health. If you're interested in delving more deeply into this, check out these books and podcasts:

  • Fast, Feast, Repeat – Gin Stephens
  • Delay, Don't Deny – Gin Stephens (the original, more chatty version)
  • The Laidback Guide to Intermittent Fasting – Kayla Cox
  • The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss – Dr. Jason Fung
  • Intermittent Fasting Stories Podcast with Gin Stephens and guests. I love this show and binged the whole backlist in August as I learned how IF works. It's very encouraging if you've spent a lot of your life struggling with body issues.

Please don't ask me any specific questions about IF. It's a personal journey, so please go down the rabbit hole of research for yourself.

For me, it's no longer a ‘diet,' it's a lifestyle and I intend to continue eating this way. As Gin Stephens says, “People come to IF for the weight loss, and stay for the health benefits.”

Business and finances

As in the above section, Thriving in the pandemic, the digital-first business model came of age in 2020 and my business is a lot more profitable than in 2019. I've made more revenue and have also spent less on things like travel and research trips — which I intend to remedy next year! I've saved and invested more, and given away more, and will pay more tax — which is great because we're going to have to pay for all this somehow!

We also had time to think about where the business is going. Things are so smooth now that business as usual doesn't take much to run and I am very happy being an independent creative with no need to grow the business in size. I don't want employees. I don't want to publish other people. In short, this business is pretty boring unless you're the one doing the creating!

Work is not just about money, it's also about meaning. So in August 2020, Jonathan left The Creative Penn Limited to go back into the pharmaceutical industry as a Senior Statistician and programmer. Let's face it, pharma needs all the help it can get right now! He is still a company Director but I am now the sole employee. It's great to see him loving his career and stepping into new things. Given that the business has been our sole income for the last five years, it's definitely lifted the pressure I have felt around bringing in money. I am still an ambitious creative with goals around financial independence, but it's good to have another stream of income.

My main financial goal was to: Consistently invest in ISA (like a US IRA) and SIPP (superannuation/pension/401K) monthly and increase monthly payments in 2020 by at least 10%. With little to spend on, we more than exceeded this goal and certainly intend to keep investing at this higher level next year.

“Embrace curiosity about the future of creativity.”

This was one of my goals for 2020, and I have certainly done that, reporting on the changes in exponential technologies in my futurist segment on the podcast every few weeks, and producing a small book in December 2020, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds: The Impact of Emerging Technologies on Authors and the Publishing Industry, that encapsulates a lot of my thoughts on this fast-moving topic.

I am really proud of this, especially as it hit #1 in the AI category on Amazon.com, the first time I have written a more technical book. It also marks a new phase for me as I focus on making sure we can surf the technological changes that are fast approaching. More on that in my 2021 goals tomorrow!

As every year, there are things I did not achieve — licensing my works in translation, and a book on How to Write a Novel are the biggest. But hey, plans change and I am far happier with my year than I expected.

Despite the trials of the pandemic, I am ever optimistic about the years ahead and there is hope in the air as the vaccines are rolled out around the world. Yes, I want some of my old life back (travel, in particular!), but I also intend to learn from this year and focus on what really matters.

How did you do in 2020? Please share what you achieved in terms of your goals for the year in the comments.

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share

Tips For Your Author Business Plan With Joanna Penn

December 14, 2020 by Joanna Penn 1 Comment

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
https://media.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/p/content.blubrry.com/thecreativepenn/Podcast_BusinessPlan.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 48:14 — 39.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

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 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

Continue Reading

fb-share-icon
Tweet
Share
Next Page »

Become a more successful author

Looking for something? Search this site with Google below

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

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

Get started right now with links to the best content below!

Need a professional editor?

Need a professional book cover design?

Inspiration and Information every Monday!

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
  • Futurist
  • Healthy Writer
  • Intellectual Property Rights
  • Marketing and Promotion
  • Publishing Options
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • It’s Never Too Late. How To Achieve Your Goals At Any Age With Kate Champion
  • How To Be A Healthy Writer In 2021 With Dr Euan Lawson
  • Creative Business Goals For 2021 With Joanna Penn
  • Creative Business Review Of 2020 And Lessons Learned From A Pandemic Year With Joanna Penn
  • Tips For Your Author Business Plan With Joanna Penn
  • From Chaos to Creativity: Productivity For Writers With Jessie Kwak
  • Voice Technologies, Streaming And Subscription Audio In A Time Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Copyright Law And Blockchain For Authors And Publishers In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence
  • Writing In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Business Mindset And Pivoting Your Author Career With Holly Worton
  • How To Proof Listen To An Audiobook
  • YouTube For Authors And Multiple Streams Of Income With Meg LaTorre
  • Networking For Authors With Daniel Parsons
  • How To Write And Market Books Across Multiple Genres With Wendy H Jones
  • Writing In The Dark. Horror Writing Tips With Tim Waggoner

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.

Looking for something? Search this site with Google below

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. Read the Cookie policy here. I hope you find the site useful! Thanks - Joanna

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

I use cookies to ensure that I give you the best experience on this website. If you continue to use this site, I will assume that you are happy with this. Thank you. OkRead more