Publishing Options | The Creative Penn

How To Write A Non-Fiction Book Proposal With Alison Jones

February 15, 2021 by Joanna Penn 4 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:57 — 47.2MB)

What makes a non-fiction book stand out from the crowd? What are the essential elements of a non-fiction book proposal if you want to pitch agents and/or publishers, or if you want to prepare for effective self-publishing?

In this interview, Alison Jones goes into detail on these things and how the publishing industry has changed due to the pandemic.

In the intro, how audiobook authors and narrators are paid by Audible-ACX – we think – ALLi blog; iOS14 possible impact on Facebook ads [Facebook]; Taylor Swift and intellectual property rights [The Guardian]; Publishers Weekly backlist titles.

Plus, thoughts on a decade of fiction; How to Make a Living with your Writing Third Edition is up for pre-order; and Your Author Business Plan and Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Virtual Worlds are both available everywhere as an audiobook – links to all my books in audio here, or just search your favorite audio app.

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.

Alison Jones is the CEO of Practical Inspiration Publishing and the author of This Book Means Business, as well as the host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast.

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

Changes in publishing accelerating as a result of the pandemic
What makes an extraordinary non-fiction book?
Why write a proposal for a non-fiction book?
The elements of a non-fiction proposal
The importance of having a fair contract for your intellectual property
What makes a book attractive for foreign rights licensing?

You can find Alison Jones at AlisonJones.com and on Twitter @bookstothesky. Alison also has a 10 Day Book Proposal Challenge.

How To Proof Listen To An Audiobook

November 19, 2020 by Joanna Penn Leave a Comment

Audiobooks are a rapidly growing market for authors in multiple genres — but the process of getting an audiobook to production is detailed and proofing your audio files is an important aspect. In this article, Maxwell Cantrell outlines some tips for proofing your audiobook.

A narrator creates the raw audio files by recording hours of audio and then edits these, sometimes across multiple recording sessions, to create the finished product. There are inevitable issues with editing audio, just as there are with editing your manuscript, so it's critical to proof-listen to the files before they are approved on whatever platform you use to publish. After all, readers don’t want to listen to crackles, faulty delivery, poorly-spliced audio clips, mispronunciations, and repeats.

I’m an audio proofer. My job is to listen to audiobooks and catch mistakes so that readers don’t ever hear them. Here are some tips and tricks I use to make every book sing.

Audiobook Narration, Production And Marketing Tips With Derek Doepker

September 21, 2020 by Joanna Penn 3 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:21 — 45.9MB)

Audiobooks are one of the fastest-growing segments in publishing and the expansion of podcasts onto every major platform means there are more ways to market to audio-first consumers (which increasingly includes me!)

In this episode, Derek Doepker gives some tips on why audiobooks are so important as a format, self-narration, working with a narrator, plus, production and marketing ideas.

In the intro, Amazon Music now includes Podcasts [The Verge] so you can find this show and Books and Travel on your various devices; New audiobook promotion site, AudioThicket launches [Written Word Media]; ALLi has a podcast episode with Amazon representatives about Amazon Advertising [Ask Alli]; Publisher Rocket now includes UK data and German ebook data [Rocket]; Orna Ross and I discuss 1000 True Fans and what it means for authors [Ask ALLi]; Solo Long-Distance Walking with me and Holly Worton.

Plus, recommended books: The Psychology of Money and my list of money books; Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and the documentary Fantastic Fungi.

Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

Derek Doepker is the bestselling author of seven nonfiction books on peak performance, habits, fitness, and entrepreneurship. He's also a content marketing and digital marketing consultant.

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

Using a ‘failed’ book to create a successful one
Multiple streams of income as the business model for non-fiction authors
Why audiobooks are so valuable, especially for reaching audio-first consumers
Tips for recording your own audio and equipment
Some of the mindset issues that you might face in self-narration
Tips for hiring a narrator
Effective ways of marketing audiobooks

You can find Derek Doepker at DerekDoepker.com and on Twitter @AuthorSecrets. He has also provided extra info for podcast listeners at BestsellerSecrets.com/joanna

Publishing Wide For The Win With Erin Wright

September 14, 2020 by Joanna Penn 10 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:18:36 — 63.7MB)

Do you want to make your books available to readers in every format, in every online store and library, in every country? If yes, it's time to go wide for the win! In today's episode with Erin Wright, we discuss what ‘going wide' means, why libraries are so important, and tips for publishing wide wherever you are on the author journey.

In the introduction, International insights into Amazon's global reach [ALLi blog]; Futures Thinking mini-course [Coursera]; GPT-3 generated and human-edited article [The Guardian]; How to edit writing by a robot [The Guardian]; GPT-3 generated article on productivity reaches the top of Hacker News [The Verge]; Writing with the Machine [Robin Sloan]; GPT-3 as an idea machine [Matt Webb, Interconnected]; Lessons learned from 9 years as a full-time author entrepreneur;

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

Erin Wright is the USA Today best-selling author of 14 romance novels and also co-runs the Wide for the Win Facebook group, the largest gathering of authors who publish wide.

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

What does publishing wide really mean?
How going wide includes libraries as well — and we all love libraries!
The different readers that Kindle Unlimited and wider stores attract
The marketing principles used when publishing wide
The benefits of multi-author box sets
Wide for the Win Facebook group

You can find Erin Wright at ErinWright.net.

Writing, Publishing And Book Marketing Facebook Live QA With Joanna Penn. May 2020

May 22, 2020 by Joanna Penn 3 Comments

In this Facebook Live recording, I answer questions about writing, self-publishing, book marketing, author mindset, and more.

You can watch the video below or here on YouTube.

In this video, you can access the various questions with the timestamps below, or read the transcript below.

1:10 Should you reference the pandemic in your book?
3:07 Would you recommend a new author concentrate on one piece of work? Or, if you have multiple projects, would you run them in parallel?
5:28 What would be your number one tip for new authors starting a self-publishing career, or launching a new pen name in 2020?
8:08 As a new writer with only two flash fiction collections out, would you focus on building a mailing list or writing the next book?
9:45 I have five short stories of 10,000 words each. What is the easiest method for creating a box set?
12:54 Have you ever had anyone on your podcast from IngramSpark? It'd be great to learn some more on pricing and how to set prices, which I find slightly confusing.
15:04 Is it wise to write in more than one genre or sub-genre?
17:20 The best software for writing a textbook
18:53 Where Joanna wants to travel to first when pandemic restrictions are lifted
21:18 I’m thinking of self-publishing a children's picture book and chapter book. Would you upload to IngramSpark first or Amazon first?
22:58 How do you keep yourself motivated to work on a book when it's difficult, or you're finding it a slog?
25:57 Have you ever experimented with book clubs?
27:20 There are so many competing voices in the marketing space. Who do you listen to? [Join Mark Dawson and me for a free webinar on 6 Secrets to Amazon Ads Success – 11 June, 2020. Click here to sign up for your free place.]
31:21 I'm wrestling with Scrivener. Have you succeeded in dragging and dropping into the research folder?
32:19 Are you speaking at any more online conferences?
32:46 Using ProWritingAid for a first pass at a book’s edits
34:52 Keeping a series interesting
37:35 How to know when a book is finished

I'll be doing more of these live Q&A sessions, so join me on Facebook.com/thecreativepenn so you get notification of the next one. You can also sign up for my email list and I'll notify you of the next one, plus you get my free Author Blueprint.