The Creative Penn Blog: Helping you write, publish and market your book

Writing And Business Lessons Learned From 500 Episodes And 11 Years Of The Creative Penn Podcast

August 3, 2020 by Joanna Penn 28 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:16:51 — 71.1MB)

It’s episode 500! Time flies indeed.

The first episode of The Creative Penn Podcast was released on 15 March 2009. I had a couple of non-fiction books out, the international Kindle had not even launched, and there was no empowered indie author movement as we know it today. I was living in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane, Australia and I worked as an IT consultant implementing SAP Financials at a large mining company. How things have changed!

I'm now a full-time author and podcaster with over 30 books, fiction and non-fiction. I live in Bath, UK and I'm part of a growing independent author scene. We have more opportunities than ever before and it truly is the best time to be an author!

In this episode, I’m going to share some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 11 years and include clips from podcast episodes that helped me and can help you on your own author journey — some are craft and some are business.

This episode covers:

Write what you love
It’s OK to suck in your first draft. Editing is the process that will turn your book into a finished product.
We are independent authors. We create and license intellectual property assets.
All long-term book marketing comes down to one thing
Turning pro and long term thinking. The mindset of the professional author.
Next steps: What's changing for The Creative Penn?

Today’s show is sponsored by my wonderful patrons who support the podcast with a few dollars a month through patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Patrons get an extra Q&A show every month — bonus audio! — and also 10% off my courses. Thank you, Patrons!

Thanks to my long-term listeners of the podcast and also to the long-term sponsors of the show, Kobo Writing Life, Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark, and more recent sponsors FindawayVoices and ProWritingAid.

Writing Action Adventure Fiction And Systems Thinking With Nick Thacker

July 27, 2020 by Joanna Penn Leave a Comment

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:10 — 53.1MB)

The life of a full-time independent author involves wearing many hats. You have to balance your time between learning your craft and pleasing readers with great books, as well as publishing, book marketing, and building a business that will support you for the long-term.

In today's interview, Nick Thacker talks about the key aspects of action-adventure thrillers as well as how he runs his publishing company and thoughts on pricing, email list building, and creating systems to avoid overwhelm.

In the intro, The Hotsheet reports on the All about Audio conference, publishers start Storyglass, a new podcasting business [The Bookseller], The New York Times acquires a podcast production company [The Verge]; and Amazon Ad reports now incorporate page reads.

In the futurist segment, GPT3 takes natural language generation to a new level — what does this mean for writers? [Towards Data Science; Wired; The Independent] and more at TheCreativePenn.com/future. I also recommend The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly and his blog post, 1000 True Fans, and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.

Today'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.

Nick Thacker is the USA Today bestselling author of action-adventure thrillers. His non-fiction books for authors include Platform Mastery and BookBub Mastery.

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 is below.

Show Notes

What draws readers to action-adventure novels?
The renaissance of action-adventure
Nick’s current indie publishing model and how it has changed over time
Co-writing with other authors
On different pricing models and why testing matters
Signing a trad publishing deal and what that means for Nick’s career
Building a large email list
Systems that underpin success

You can find Nick Thacker at NickThacker.com and on Twitter @NickThacker

Writing A Series. Satisfy Readers And Make More Money With Lindsay Buroker

July 20, 2020 by Joanna Penn 5 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:09 — 62.2MB)

We live in a binge consumption culture and the best-loved stories are often those that allow a deeper experience of character and world. Think of your favorite TV shows or books and you will likely find a few series in there!

Writing a series can also make you more money as a writer since you have more books for a reader to buy, you can turn them into boxsets in different formats, and it's faster to write with characters you know well. In today's show, Lindsay Buroker gives some great tips on how to effectively write series and make a full-time living from your fiction.

In the intro, Kobo Plus launches in Canada [KWL blog]; Spotify improves its discoverability of podcasts and announces a new show by Michele Obama [The Next Web]; Dean Wesley Smith explains why Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter is so significant in terms of selective rights licensing [Dean's blog]; Replay of $0 to $1000 a month webinar with Nick Stephenson and my aha moment around read-through; my interview on audio and productivity on 21st Century Creative; and Map of the Impossible launches this week. The Mapwalker trilogy is complete!

This 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.

Lindsay Buroker is an award-nominated internationally best-selling author of epic fantasy, urban fantasy, space opera, steampunk, and sci-fi romance with 79 books and counting across 2 pen names, 10 series, as well as, standalone and shorter works. She's also the co-host of the Six Figure Author Podcast. The pic above is us on the Jean Lafitte swamp jetboating experience in Louisiana just outside New Orleans in 2017. Fun times!

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 is below.

Show Notes

Where Lindsay’s writing career is after 10 years as an indie author
How she writes 8 to 10 novels a year
Book series and the read-through effect of series arcs
Creating compelling characters
Why background and goals matter for characters
Pen names and the work involved
Book launch processes and how Lindsay uses her Patreon
Advertising, KU, and marketing a backlist
What does the future of indie publishing hold?
The importance of nurturing relationships with readers

You can find Lindsay Buroker at LindsayBuroker.com and on Twitter @GoblinWriter

Books Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

Book Marketing: How To Share The Ideas And Research Behind Your Novel

July 17, 2020 by Joanna Penn 6 Comments

“Where do you get your ideas?” is one of the most common questions for fiction writers. So how can you answer that question at the same time as allowing readers to get to know you a little better — and market your books?

In this article, I share how I'm doing this for my thriller writer brand under J.F.Penn and you can check out the video below.

(1) Decide on the medium — article, video, or audio

I decided to use video as it is a great way to connect and my fiction readers don't get to see me in person very often. The video also has a transcript with images and links at www.JFPenn.com/ideas. In this way, even though the video was the primary goal, the text enables others to read or check out the images, plus the SEO (search engine optimization) is better with text.

I use audio at my Books and Travel Podcast every few weeks and have done personal episodes on places I have visited. I think that indie authors can sometimes obsess so much over paid ads that they forget content marketing is still a great way to connect with readers, and it gives you something to put in your email newsletter!

(2) Prepare the material

I wrote a script that highlighted my research process and prepared the images for each segment. This was a text document that I could use to read from and I had it open during the recording process. I used that as the basis for the notes under the finished video.

(3) Record and edit the video/audio

I used ECamm Live which has a Record only setting and enables the lovely overlay features. It also has a function for going live on Facebook and YouTube which I have also used for live Q&A videos.

I edited the video in Screenflow for Mac. There are many options for recording and editing video, so find what's best for you or whatever comes as standard on your computer.

As ever, recording video is not a smooth process! It takes many false starts to get a take that you like but that's OK! No one will see those out-takes so you can keep going until you're happy. Allow 10x as much time as your finished video e.g. a 5 min video will take an hour to record, and at least that again to edit, etc. Video is very time consuming but it's worth it so that readers can see your face and your smile and connect with you more personally.

(4) Post and share the video

I uploaded the video on Facebook.com/jfpennauthor first and also shared it on my new Thriller Books and Travel YouTube channel. I posted it on my JFPenn blog with full notes and links and also shared it on social media under all my profiles. It is an evergreen video so I can keep sharing it over time.

Watch the video below or here on YouTube.

Video continues to be an important part of marketing, but I know it can be daunting for many authors. Please do add a comment if you have any questions or feedback.

How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans

July 13, 2020 by Joanna Penn 4 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 53:51 — 50.1MB)

Monsters tap into something primal that lies at the heart of being human. We have always feared what lies at the edge of the campfire, just out of sight, and as writers, tapping into those fears can be a powerful form of creation. In this interview, Philip Athans talks about why we find monsters so fascinating, how to create them, and why they can sometimes be a metaphor for society, plus, thoughts on making a living as a writer.

In the intro, I discuss Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter for the leather-bound edition of Way of Kings and why creating beautiful physical objects should be part of our indie maker movement, and check out this interview on bookbinding with Lisa Van Pelt. Plus, why we need to put our lessons learned from the pandemic into action now instead of waiting for ‘the end,' whatever that might mean!

Also, I have re-recorded my tutorials on how to build an author website, install Author Pro theme (which I use for JFPenn.com), and also how to set up your email list with ConvertKit. I've also updated the Author Blueprint which you have access to on my email list or you can sign up here.

Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna

Philip Athans is the New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, and a dozen other books, including The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. He's also an editor, professional speaker, and writing coach. Today, we're talking about his book, Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes

What is a monster?
How monsters are part of our human evolution
The importance for humans of fighting a common enemy
How the monster in a story can bring out a character’s true nature
Monsters as metaphors
How do we create unique monsters?
When should you reveal your monster?
Multiple streams of income as a writer. “Walk through the door that's open.”
Licensing intellectual property as a source of income

You can find Philip Athans at AthansAssociates.com and at the Fantasy Authors Handbook and on Twitter @PhilAthans

Writing And Business Lessons Learned From 500 Episodes And 11 Years Of The Creative Penn Podcast

It’s episode 500! Time flies indeed.

Writing Action Adventure Fiction And Systems Thinking With Nick Thacker

Writing A Series. Satisfy Readers And Make More Money With Lindsay Buroker

Book Marketing: How To Share The Ideas And Research Behind Your Novel

(1) Decide on the medium — article, video, or audio

(2) Prepare the material

(3) Record and edit the video/audio

(4) Post and share the video

How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans

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

It’s episode 500! Time flies indeed.

(1) Decide on the medium — article, video, or audio

(2) Prepare the material

(3) Record and edit the video/audio

(4) Post and share the video

Connect with me on social media

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