futurist | The Creative Penn

How Will Self-Publishing Change In The 2020s? Thoughts From Joanna Penn And Orna Ross

January 17, 2020 by Joanna Penn 6 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:14 — 46.6MB)

The 2010s saw the birth and growth of the independent author movement, so what do the 2020s have in store?

In this episode, Joanna Penn and Orna Ross discuss some trends for authors and publishing in the next decade, as well as some predictions on some things that may well happen in the next decade. Are you ready to surf the wave?

In the intro, I mention The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

Also, Mike Shatzkin's reflections on the changes in book publishing.

Orna Ross is an author, a poet, and the founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing.” Joanna Penn is an award-nominated fiction writer, award-winning creative entrepreneur, and podcaster.

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

Check out our review of a decade of self-publishing here
(1) Growth in global reading, why Android is so important, and why another billion internet users is so exciting
(2) Publishing networks decentralize and distribute, authors will sell direct, and there may be a break up of big companies
(3) Author business models diversify, with particular note of experiences, and sales on the blockchain
(4) Growing adoption of technology by authors and publishers, including the impact of AI on copyright, natural language generation, and 5G. Plus, why we don't think neurotechnology will be used to write a book anytime soon
(5) Audio becomes integral to the author business. Costs come down and AI voices will take audio into the mainstream and expand new forms of creation. Audio becomes ubiquitous.
(6) Growth in personal publishing and the importance of personal brand, as well as the rise of a whole new wave of creators
(7) Author empowerment and the importance of education around copyright and licensing
What won't change in the 2020s

You can find Orna at www.OrnaRoss.com and at the Alliance of Independent Authors. Joanna and Orna also do a monthly Advanced Self-Publishing Salon on the Ask ALLi Podcast available on your favorite podcast app. This episode originally aired on Jan 8, 2020 on the Ask Alli podcast.

AI And Creativity With Marcus Du Sautoy

March 11, 2019 by Joanna Penn 9 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 49:20 — 40.3MB)

Artificial Intelligence will usher in a new era of what it means to work and create over the next generation, but does this mean that writers and creatives will be made obsolete? In this episode, Professor Marcus du Sautoy discusses the developments in AI creativity and why our stories could be the very thing that helps train AIs to be more human.

In the introduction, I talk about Chirp, the new audiobook promotion tool from BookBub; plus, my writing update and my latest self-narrated audiobook, The Dark Queen.

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.

Marcus du Sautoy is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He's a prize-winning Professor of Mathematics, a fellow of New College, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He's also the author of several prize-winning books and his latest is, The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint, and Think.

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

Show Notes

Why creativity is at the heart of a mathematician’s work

How AI is moving from learning about games to creating art and music

Development of AI: Alpha Go beat Go champion Lee Sedol [BBC], Alpha Zero [Smithsonian]

How humans and AI switch back and forth from being creative to being critical or making corrections

On the AI version of NaNoWriMo, NaNoGenMo. Also, check out BotPoet, and read about OpenAI's text generator [Wired and The Guardian]

What happens when AI becomes conscious?

Copyright implications when AI gets involved in creating art

On AI translations between languages

You can find Marcus du Sautoy at simonyi.ox.ac.uk and on Twitter @MarcusduSautoy. The Creativity Code is available now.

Publishing, Online Business And Tech Trends For Authors In 2018

January 15, 2018 by Joanna Penn 57 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:02 — 40.9MB)

We live in the most exciting time in history to be an author and creative entrepreneur. The opportunities are ever-expanding, but only if you embrace the changes rather than trying to cling to the old models.

I wrote after my Oregon trip about the stabilisation of the indie author business model in 2017, and the need to position for the next phase of growth. It’s unclear whether that next phase of growth will happen in 2018 or later on, but here are some macro trends that might impact authors in the coming year, and some suggestions for what you might do to position yourself.

This article will cover:

Crunch time? Exclusivity vs. wide publishing, subscription programs and Amazon changes ahead
Disruption in the social media space
Rise of voice search, voice assistants and impact on audio
Content creation beyond the book
Expansion of Blockchain technologies and other cool technology

Publishing in 2027. Blockchain And Global Mobile Internet With Emmanuel Nataf

November 20, 2017 by Joanna Penn 5 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:13:30 — 59.0MB)

It is the best time in history to be an author! We have everything we need as indie authors to run a digital, global, location-independent, scalable publishing business from a laptop. So what's coming next?

In today's show, I discuss the potential changes coming to publishing and to society in the next 10 years with Emmanuel Nataf, co-founder of Reedsy and a Millennial entrepreneur. We touch on Blockchain, smart contracts, and cryptocurrency, as well augmented reality, language translation, and the future of jobs.

In the intro, I mention my takeaways from the awesome YouPreneur Summit where I spoke last weekend, plus the limited time NaNoWriMo Bundle, packed full of great books if you're writing a novel.

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.

Emmanuel Nataf is the co-founder and CEO of Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and professional freelancers, as well as a street photographer for fun. He's also a millennial and invested in cryptocurrency.

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

How blockchain is different from Bitcoin

For great book cover design and formatting, check out Reedsy

How blockchain and crypto-currencies will affect authors

How the book sales platforms will change with the rise of these technologies

How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality might affect authors

The future possibilities related to language translation and technology

The future of jobs

You can find Emmanuel Nataf at Reedsy.com and on Twitter @EmmanuelNataf

Stability Of The Indie Business Model and Positioning for the Next Phase of Growth: My Coast Business Workshop 2017 Round-Up

November 13, 2017 by Joanna Penn 24 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:40:01 — 80.3MB)

Change is speeding up, but the fundamentals of the indie author business are actually stabilizing. In today's show, I talk about how you can bed down your processes in order to position for the next phase of growth and offer ways to balance your time so you can continue to create, even as you scale.

I spent the last week of October on the Oregon Coast at the Business workshop, presented by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith, along with a number of other speakers. I also spoke this year and co-presented on some panels. Here are some of my thoughts and lessons learned – and pictures from my trip interspersed along the way.

In the introduction, I mention the end of Pronoun, Draft2Digital now distributes to Amazon, and Audible launches a Chinese site.

Today’s show is sponsored by my non-fiction audiobooks, How to Market a Book Third Edition, Business for Authors, How to Make a Living with your Writing and The Successful Author Mindset, available now on Audible. If you need some more inspirational audio that will give you actionable tips to make more money with your books AND stay sane while doing it, check them out here!

Joanna Penn (yes, me!) is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers under J.F.Penn. She also writes inspirational non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning creative entrepreneur and international professional speaker. Her site, TheCreativePenn.com is regularly voted one of the top 10 sites for writers and self-publishers.

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

Show Notes:

How the indie author business has stabilized and why we have everything we need to run a scalable, digital, global, publishing business from a laptop with very low overheads – at least in Western, developed countries. Plus, a brief list of the tools I use and recommend if you're just getting started.
How you can position for the next phase of growth and some of the exciting things coming in the next few years – plus what you need to get sorted right now (i.e. making sure your website and books can be accessed easily by mobile devices and sorting out your global pricing)
Time, triage and productivity – tips on how to find the time to do everything you want to do as an author and balance that with your ‘real' life!
Language and worldview differences – between countries, between people who come from traditional publishing, from demographic and age differences. This also mentions my article on whether you are missing out on book sales because of your reading preference, which also has some fascinating comments.
Seeing the future in San Francisco and Oregon. My thoughts on what I liked about these parts of the US.

You can find me @thecreativepenn on Twitter – or subscribe to the podcast for new information and inspiration every Monday!

How Will Self-Publishing Change In The 2020s? Thoughts From Joanna Penn And Orna Ross

AI And Creativity With Marcus Du Sautoy

Publishing, Online Business And Tech Trends For Authors In 2018

Publishing in 2027. Blockchain And Global Mobile Internet With Emmanuel Nataf

Stability Of The Indie Business Model and Positioning for the Next Phase of Growth: My Coast Business Workshop 2017 Round-Up

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Thanks for visiting The Creative Penn