The Creative Penn

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

My 2017 Writing And Creative Business Goals

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It's my favorite time of year! Time for goal-setting 🙂

2017 goalsHere are my creative and business goals for 2017. If you're a goal-setting junkie like me (or if you just want some accountability!), please do share yours in the comments below.

I've now split them into the various brands that make up my business as a whole. Hopefully that will also help you see which might apply to your situation!

These are not in order of importance, just numbered for ease of reference at the end of the year.

(1) TheCreativePenn.com and non-fiction as Joanna Penn

  • Continue to serve the author community, focusing primarily on empowerment of creatives. There will be more articles, podcasts, videos and social media updates on writing, publishing, book marketing and creative creative penn podcastentrepreneurship, and I will continue to share my own journey along the way.
  • I'm also intending to revamp and redesign this site as it has several thousand posts and pages now. As more and more creatives emerge and begin to write, I want this to continue to be one of the most useful (and honest and transparent) places on the internet for writers who want to take control of their author career. This is a pretty big piece of work, so it will take a while 🙂
  • For non-fiction in 2017, I want to put out the 3rd edition of How to Market a Book, plus audiobook editions of The Successful Author Mindset and How to Make a Living with your Writing on Audible (but non-exclusive because there are likely to be new audio options in 2017). I'll be working with a professional narrator for my non-fiction. After a debilitating cough at the end of 2016, I've made the decision to focus more on my strengths and leave narration to the professionals, rather than trying to do everything myself. I'm working on a new book in the mindset/psychology of writing arena, to be announced once it is more fully-formed (Q2). Plus, I will be mindsettinycollaborating with an author friend for a book/course on creativity (Q3/4).
  • Do a limited number of speaking events. I love speaking but it is very tiring for me and this will be a big creation year, so I need to focus. Having said that, I'll be speaking in Australia and New Zealand in February,  London in May and November, Scotland in September, as well as the US in October. All the links will be posted on my speaking page here as they are announced.

(2) Build my new small independent press and publish some gorgeous print products

I'll be writing more about the journey from indie author to small press in the coming months. Yes, this is another brand (name to be revealed soon), but an important part of the growing business 🙂

  • Launch new website for the small press aimed at book-buyers and rights buyers worldwide. Become involved with the world of independent publishers & small press.
  • Move to Ingram Spark for extended distribution of my back list print books (while still using Createspace for Amazon Print-On-Demand sales). I've already done a lot of work with this over the holiday period but this will be my first full year attempting to get to grips with the physical distribution side of things in a more sustained manner.
  • writing journals

    Some of my (many) journals

    Publish the first 3 books in a sweet romance series under a new author brand. I'm the Commissioning Editor and Publisher of these books, but not the writer, although I am playing a big part in the development process based on everything I've learned over the years. (Just to be clear: The press is NOT open to submissions right now. This is a very special case!)

  • Get to grips with intellectual property and license some subsidiary rights. Indie authors have pretty much got the basics under control now. We know how to do ebooks, print-on-demand and to some extent, audiobooks. What we are not doing well is going beyond the basics to full exploitation of intellectual property rights. I'm going much deeper on this in 2017 and will share along the way, as ever. My husband, Jonathan, is taking the lead on this and I hope to welcome him onto the blog at some point this year (if I can persuade him to emerge from behind the internet curtain!) I will be doing more blog posts on this – click here for articles on Intellectual Property Rights.

(3) My shadow side: Fiction as J.F.Penn

end-of-days-cover-ebook-largeI'm super excited about my plans for J.F.Penn in 2017:

  • End of Days, ARKANE #9 releases Jan 31, 2017. Ebook, print and audiobook.
  • ARKANE boxset books 7-9 in ebook and audiobook, plus the other ARKANE boxsets in audiobook format
  • Collaborative dark fantasy novel – to be announced in quarter 1
  • First novel in spin-off thriller series based in New Orleans, where I'll be visiting in March
  • Develop new trilogy/series based on a whole new world. I have a ton of ideas on this but I'm not ready to share them yet. As a clue, check out my Pinterest Board on Maps 🙂
  • I'm currently working with a screenwriter on a treatment and a pilot for the London Psychic books, so the goal will be to sell that to a TV studio.
  • Launch new genre specific website, SupernaturalThrillers.com. For years I've been moaning that my fiction falls between the gaps of thriller/action adventure/horror/dark fantasy/crime etc. So now I've decided to leverage this gap instead and build a destination website for READERS of the types of books I read and love … and yes, it will also feature my books. It's hard to do this from an author site as it feels far more like self-promotion, so I'll be launching this new site in Q1. Exciting!

Mental and physical health

happy healthy

Happy and healthy in 2017!

I've been sick too much in 2016 and that has been a combination of working too hard and then traveling, without planning enough downtime between trips and speaking engagements. I love what I do so much that I tend to work wayyyyy too hard.

I want more head space to create in 2017 and I need more downtime to recuperate. I also want to read more. So I am scheduling more time ‘off' in 2017, more space in my schedule and also a more structured physical exercise schedule. There are too many stories of author burnout, and I don't intend to be one of them 🙂

Income goal

I don't believe in the poor author in the garret myth 🙂 Never have done.

In fact, more than ever, I believe it is the best time in history to be an empowered creative with a global focus. This year I will be expanding the various business streams and once again, I'm aiming to double my income. Of course, money is just one measure of success but I want to continue to prove that this path is a viable life choice and I've always been ambitious.

In order to do this, I will focus on the same aspects that have worked in the last year:

  • Creating more products and exploiting intellectual property rights – books in various formats, foreign rights sales and other rights exploitation, plus expanding distribution to more retailers and countries
  • macbook and coffeeBuilding my email list for both The Creative Penn and J.F.Penn as the size of the audience directly impacts my income through the various books, products and services I offer
  • Using paid advertising to drive traffic to both products and email list signup. This has made a difference in 2016, so I will continue to use it in 2017.
  • PLUS/ I'll be doubling down on content marketing, with more guest posts on The Creative Penn, plus the new genre site for fiction. I'll also be using a more advanced SEO strategy to attract people to specific content, and implementing an exit-pop-up to capture more emails and also to direct people to affiliate products.

Clearly, I have a massive year ahead – but please remember, I do this full-time as my living, my income, my passion, my job and my hobby. I love, love, love everything that I do 🙂

You will likely have a whole load of other goals for 2017 and I would love to hear about them below in the comments. You can also use this as a form of accountability and we can look back together at the end of 2017. Your goal may be to finish the first draft of your first book, as it was for me back in 2006/2007, or perhaps selling your first 1000 books. It doesn't matter what level you're at, as we are all traveling our own paths.

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Round-Up Of 2016 Goals, Lessons Learned And What Changed

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As the year draws to an end, it's important to look back and celebrate what we achieved creatively, as well as understanding why we didn't hit the mark on some of our goals.

2016 goals roundup

Life happens, things change and so do we.

2016 has been a roller-coaster year politically, but we can all find solace and expression in continuing to create.

Here are my goals from 1 Jan 2016. Here's how I did on achieving them.

(1) Become a healthy author

I achieved what I set out to do – completing the 100km Race to the Stones in June.

walking sunset

Walking at sunset on Day 1

I also used dictation to complete the first draft of Destroyer of Worlds. I spent a lot of the warmer months doing 10+ mile walks along the canal in Bath as well as some much longer adventures, including a week in the Alpujarras in Spain. It was awesome … but I have to admit to backsliding as the colder months took over, plus traveling in Oct/Nov and subsequently being sick has taken its toll.

But that's the truth of health and fitness, as well as creativity and writing. You can't just ‘get fit' once and then be done with it. You can't just do one writing sprint and be finished.

You have to make the practice an integral part of your life.

I have started a regular yoga practice and intend to get back to walking more when the weather gets lighter and warmer. Plus, we're spending February in New Zealand and Australia so will do some walking then. We've also booked a walking holiday for August, a much more challenging one than I've tackled before so that will drive me back to fitness.

I will also be getting back to dictation in 2017 and will utilize what I learned earlier this year so it won't be such a difficult change. But I'm happy to say that I don't get RSI anymore – thanks to a lot of the healthier habits – so it's not such an urgent shift.

(2) Create more, become a better writer and give J.F.Penn more time

booksI did complete Destroyer of Worlds, ARKANE thriller book 8 and also End of Days, book 9 (on pre-order for 31 Jan, 2017).

I wrote a commissioned short story for an anthology (out end 2017). I also wrote The Successful Author Mindset, which has resonated with many authors and is definitely my most personal non-fiction book.

I focused on developing my fiction craft more by doing a number of writing classes by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

I didn't do the ‘Edinburgh' book or the Budapest screenplay, and considering I managed 6 books in 2015, it was less of a production year than anticipated.I intend to remedy that in 2017.

I did try several times to write a screenplay adaptation, but I've decided to focus on my core strengths rather than try to learn another craft. Collaboration is the way forward! So I am now working with a screenwriter who is adapting my London Psychic trilogy, and I'd love to work with other screenwriters for adaptation of my other works.

I didn't sell any other foreign rights, but I have been getting my rights back from translators and my German publisher, so this will be a focus for 2017.

israel

In Israel for book research in Nov 2016

(3) Travel more and speak internationally

It's definitely been a big year for travel, including several trips to the US, as well as Spain and Israel. (Check out the video here for Israel.)

It's been fantastic … But that travel has also made me sick this year and so I am going to be much more careful with my speaking schedule for 2017. I want to create more and the downtime with sickness drives me nuts!

Of course, I say that but I am already booking flights for my next trips … 🙂 #traveljunkie

(4) Provide a ‘career path’ for authors on The Creative Penn

writenovelcourseimageI've continued to blog and podcast, reaching episode 300 of The Creative Podcast, which is a landmark I never thought of hitting when I started the show in 2009!

I didn't redesign this site but I did produce How to Write a Novel, a multimedia course that I am super proud of. After 12 novels, I was ready to share what I'd learned along the way and provide a roadmap for those of you who are working on your first novel, or have written one or two and aren't seeing the results you'd like. If you'd like to know more, check out the free 7 Steps to Write Your Novel article and video here.

Unexpected 2016 events …

I absolutely believe in writing down goals and plans, but you also have to leave room for spontaneity and shifts into things you didn't expect. There have been two things that have been unexpected about 2016 for me.

I created this business plan in March 2009

I created this business plan in March 2009

(a) Hitting my 10 year goals … and then discovering my goals for the next 10!

I hit my income and many of my long-term creative goals this year which was fantastic … but also left me strangely bereft. Probably because I am a goal-focused personality and I struggle without an aim for my energy. My friend Orna laughs at me, as I even set goals for yoga … apparently that's not the point 🙂

But between April (when I hit those goals) and November, I felt aimless. I love what I do every day, but continuing to write books/blog/podcast for the next 10 years with no next step or higher purpose felt a little empty.

So I went to the US in October with an open mind, and a stated desire to find the next step. I spoke at Digital Commerce Summit and sat alongside creative entrepreneurs running 7 and 8 figure businesses. Then I went to the Oregon Coast Masterclass and during an intensive week with Dean and Kris, I produced my next 10 year business plan. EXCITING!!!

with Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith in Oregon

with Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith in Oregon

I'll be sharing the details of that in the coming year as the plans unfold, but huge things are coming that will benefit the indie community as well as giving me more creative freedom.

(b) Working successfully with my husband

My husband, Jonathan, left his job in September 2015 to join The Creative Penn and it's been an interesting time learning to work together 🙂

jojonathanspain

In Spain, May 2016

There are many adjustments to this entrepreneurial life, as I noted in my first year as an author-entrepreneur. One of them is finding your own rhythm and community outside of the boundaries of a traditional ‘job' and office life. So he had to adjust to that and we also moved to Bath, in the west of England, leaving London for (yet another) reinvention.

We are equal partners in our life, so it was also hard to adjust to the business when I am so used to being the ‘boss' of The Creative Penn. But we have managed 15 months so far and are even happier than before so the experiment has been well worth it. We also more than replaced his salary, so financially, it's been worth it too.

Our roles have shifted in the last few months and Jonathan will be taking on a whole new area in 2017. Again, I will have to talk about that once we are clearer on the details, but it is a new direction for the business.

Income goal

I set a goal to double my income in 2016 – and I am just shy of reaching that. I'll take that as a win 🙂 I just checked my QuickBooks and my income growth over the last 5 years (in GBP) is below.

 

income

I wanted to share this as encouragement because I know how long things take. I started writing in 2006 and I don't have accounts for that year as I was still in the day job and writing on the side. I started this site in 2008 and left my job in Sept 2011 to go full-time so these are the full calendar years since then.

If you work backwards, you can see how little I made in the first few years 2006 – 2011.

It's been a 10 year journey and this year I broke through the income level I'd achieved in my last career.

How to Make a Living from your Writing 3DI hope this is an encouragement for you in your author entrepreneur business. You could also compare it to income reports by other online entrepreneurs, like John Lee Dumas and Pat Flynn. I believe transparency is useful, especially for authors in a business that has so much smoke and mirrors.

If you're wondering how I achieved this growth, I'll be reporting more detail when I do my tax year accounting in May/June. Here's my report for May 2015 – April 2016 if you want to see the breakdown for book income specifically.

The main thing I would emphasize is creating multiple streams of income with your writing, and that includes going beyond books into products, speaking and affiliate sales if you have a website. For more detail, check out How to Make a Living with your Writing.

OK, how did you do on your 2016 goals? I'd love for you to share in the comments below and join the conversation. Let's keep each other accountable!

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My 2016 Writing And Creative Business Goals

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I'm a goal-setting junkie and I love considering the year ahead! Look at the open road stretching before us … all those blank pages waiting to be filled … super exciting!

creative goals 2016What we also know is that the self-publishing industry will continue to change.

We will have new opportunities in 2016, new markets will emerge and older ones will shift and doors will close. Very little will stay exactly the same.

That's exciting to me as indie authors are able to be nimble and jump on opportunities as they arise. We can adapt as the year moves on.

So do not fear, my creative friends, we shall tackle 2016 together 🙂 As I head into year 8 of this site, I can certainly say that I'm in it for the long haul!

But as ever, I like to have some goals for the year. I just reviewed my 2015 achievements, so now it's time to set them for 2016.

(1) Become a healthy author

I'm a workaholic because I love what I do. It's my passion as well as my job, my income as well as my hobby.

If I won the mega-lottery, I would still write.

I love JK Rowling for her example as a writer, because after the success of Harry Potter, she could have just hung out in her castle eating chocolate for the rest of her days … but she started writing mysteries as Robert Galbraith and I love her Cormoran Strike series.

trees

The beginning of the Cotswold Way near my house in Bath

But I'll admit to focusing on writing books and building a business over my health for the last few years, and if I'm going to be an author for the long term (which I am), then I need to make my physical body a priority this year, instead of just my brain. After all, they are actually connected 🙂

  • Since I'm a goal-based person, I decided to set myself a specific task. So my goal is to complete the Race to the Stones in July 2016, which is 100km over 2 days. I'll be walking it, rather than running it, but it's still an ultra-marathon! It's booked, so that IS happening …
  • In order to achieve that goal, I need to get fitter so I have a walking training program and I've seen a dietitian. It's way too easy for the coffee to become lattes, and then to add a biscuit to that … every hour! After all, I deserve it as I'm working really hard at writing! Like many of you I'm sure, I've tried a ton of different diets but over the last few weeks, I've discovered that the 5:2 diet works best for me. It's easier (for me) not to eat at all than try moderation, plus there are a ton of other benefits to intermittent fasting, so it's less a diet than a lifestyle change. If you're interested, check out The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer.
  • I have a walking training plan that increases hours walking over the next six months. We've started already and I'm wearing in the new shoes …  I've already transitioned to a vari-desk that goes up and down and I'm aiming to use that when I'm in the office. I also use a swiss ball instead of a chair and that got rid of my back pain, but I do need to use it to stretch more.
  • dictationbookI will (finally) master dictation so I can lessen my RSI pain (in my right arm) which continues to flare up. Thanks for everyone's suggestions on this but I need something more fundamental. My aim is to be able to dictate as I hike, in the same way that Kevin J Anderson does. Imagine being a super fit author! That's what I want to be. I interviewed Monica Leonelle about dictation last November which got me restarted on the process, and I am finding The Productive Author's Guide to Dictation by Cindy Grigg really good for the next steps. I've failed at this several times before so I am now making it an official goal so you guys keep me accountable.

(2) Create more, become a better writer and give J.F.Penn more time

Joanna Penn writingAs much as I'd love to say I have a detailed production plan for 2016, I can only see about six months ahead right now. I'm also mostly a pantser and am inspired by my environment so much.

So I have lots of ideas … the question is which ones will emerge! My creation plans for this year are nebulous but at this point, I want to release 6 books and that will include:

  • ARKANE #8 – Destroyer of Worlds (full-length novel) Has a pre-order of 31 March 2016 so is definitely the first to come
  • Non-fiction – Psychology of writing book which has been percolating for so long
  • ARKANE #9 – I have a ton of ideas for this but nothing concrete as yet
  • Edinburgh book – to be titled and may end up as a trilogy, I have an idea for the character and it might be a spin off from ARKANE or stand-alone
  • Plus, I'll write an adaptation of One Day in Budapest as a screenplay. I'm booked on a course for this for February. With the political situation in Eastern Europe heading far right, it's a good time for this book.

My main focus will be to switch the majority of my effort from non-fiction into fiction. Apart from the psychology book, I've shared everything I know in my books for authors now and I really want to give my dark side, J.F.Penn, some more room to expand.

To enable this, I am blocking out 3 days a week and won't have meetings/interviews etc on those days. They will be pristine fiction days 🙂 The other days will have the morning allocated to writing as usual, but too often, that has been squeezed in 2015 so I need to schedule complete days in my diary.

This will also mean more focus on developing my writing craft.

I want to become a better writer – which of course, is hard to measure 🙂 So I'll continue to read, write and take online classes, plus attend some craft conferences. I have so much to learn and it's both a challenge and a joy to do so. After all, as writers, we can keep learning until the day we die 🙂

Plus, I want to explore sales of foreign rights and not self-publish any more in translation, so I'll be joining in the Alliance of Independent Authors campaign Going Global and will share more of what happens there in the coming months.

(3) Travel more and speak internationally

backpack, brompton, kindle

Backpack, Brompton, Kindle

Traveling is critical for my creative process. I like routine in order to write but I get my ideas from places and culture and weird things I see or experience. It's great to combine speaking with travel as it covers some of the costs 🙂

  • I'll be at the Smarter Artist Summit in Austin, Texas in March (run by Johnny, Sean & Dave – the Self Publishing Podcast guys) and I'm combining that with a research trip to New Orleans, where I have been meaning to go for a very long time … expect some occult writing from that!
  • I'm also speaking at the Digital Commerce Summit, Oct 13-14 2016 in Denver, Colorado so there will likely be some travel around that. We're also looking at Japan, Jordan and other options …

There will definitely be travel, that's for sure 🙂

(4) Provide a ‘career path' for authors on The Creative Penn

It's tough being an indie author. You have to learn so many new skills around writing, publishing, marketing and running a small business if you want to do this full-time.

successThis site now has over seven years worth of articles, videos and audio podcast episodes on all aspects of being an author of fiction and non-fiction and everything that entails, but it's still difficult to navigate. Most of the content is still free but I have books and premium courses as well.

I've tried to organize the site into the major chunks but I want to re-structure it in 2016 to be more career path focused, to help you navigate the process wherever you are in the journey.

So in 2016, I intend to:

  • Redesign TheCreativePenn.com to make it easier to navigate for free content as well as books and courses
  • Continue with The Creative Penn podcast weekly. Click here for the backlist of over 240 episodes.
  • Write articles and make videos to fill the gaps in the ‘career path' and create more effective landing pages for sub-topics
  • Potentially add some more courses. I have Self-Publishing Success for those who want to start self-publishing and Creative Freedom for those who want to make a living with their writing, but I might also do a couple on writing fiction and non-fiction.

Income goal

I'm ambitious – always have been 🙂 and I happily continue to combine art and commerce on this site. I want to prove that you can be a creative and an entrepreneur, and that you don't need a “proper job” to make a good living and a happy life in 2016!

Row Of Black Pencils With One Red Pencil In MiddleMoney is a measure of that ambition as it's more easily counted than sales figures, number of reviews or happy customer emails – much as I enjoy all those. Thank you all for buying my books and products, and for your lovely emails and tweets 🙂

If I don't write goals down, I don't even come close to achieving them. So I'm writing this down: my goal is to double my income in 2016. In order to do this, I will focus on a couple of big areas:

  • Create more products – mainly books in various formats, foreign rights sales and other rights exploitation, plus expanding distribution to more retailers and countries
  • Build my email list for both The Creative Penn and J.F.Penn as the size of the audience directly impacts income
  • Use paid advertising to drive traffic to both products and email list signup. I heavily rely on content marketing right now, but I need to push my comfort zone a little 🙂

When it comes down to it, these are the most important aspects of businesses in general: create products people want, distribute, sell and market them. It's simple … but as we all know, it's not easy. Let's just keep taking a step every day and we'll get there.

OK, now it's your turn!

What are your creative, writing and entrepreneurial goals for 2016? Please leave them below and you'll be able to revisit them in December!

 

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2015 Writing And Creative Entrepreneur Goal Round-Up

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It's that time of year when we all reflect on what we have achieved in the last 12 months.

2015 goal round upI'm much more of a fan of January – I love new starts!

But it's important to look back and celebrate the wins, and try to learn from mistakes or why things didn't work out.

Here's my goals post from 1 Jan 2015. I'll round up each section below, and as ever, thanks for keeping me accountable! I'll also keep it real and cover what I didn't achieve.

I'd love you to add your comments at the bottom with what you've achieved and whether you hit your goals.

(1) Creating new things in the world

four fictionI wanted to release 6 new books in 2015. I exceeded that goal, although some books are small 🙂

  • Gates of Hell, ARKANE #6 – ebook, print and audiobook
  • One Day in New York, ARKANE #7 – ebook, print and audiobook. First novel written from male POV and audiobook narrated by male voice
  • Deviance, London Psychic #3 ebook, print and audiobook
  • Risen Gods, co-written with J.Thorn, ebook and print

3 non fiction

Plus, I released 3 box-sets:

  • ARKANE boxset #2 – with books 4-6
  • London Crime Thriller boxset – contains Desecration, Delirium and Deviance
  • Writer's Toolbox – 3 books for authors boxset on Kobo, iBooks and Nook as they allow higher royalties. This is not on Amazon as it caps 70% royalty at $9.99 price point.

translationsPlus translations:

Plus:

  • I redesigned my JFPenn.com website with a new theme and expanded my fiction email subscriber list.

Courses

I made my first multimedia course in 2009, then I did some alongside CJ Lyons and Roz Morris in 2011, which I retired at the end of 2014 due to the changes in the EU VAT law which made direct sales difficult.

twocoursesBut this year, multimedia online courses have really taken off in the author world. Many of the online services now handle the EU VAT for you, so it's not so much of an issue if you sell through a compliant site as opposed to selling direct on your own website.

So I now have two courses:

I'm really pleased to have training for both new authors to self-publishing and those who want to take their author business a lot further. I'm looking forward to helping more people in 2016!

Professional speaking

With Lee Child, Clive Cussler, James Scott Bell and Liliana Hart in NYC, July 2015

With Lee Child, Clive Cussler, James Scott Bell and Liliana Hart in NYC, July 2015

It's been a good year for international speaking – I started the year in New Zealand, spoke in Charleston in March and New York City in July, plus the Shetland Islands and Loch Fyne, Bristol CrimeFest and several times in London.

I met lots of my online friends and writing heroes. You can find more pics on Flickr here.

In 2016, I want to speak for travel purposes rather than income, because although I really love the live events, it is exhausting and a drain creatively.

Filling the creative well, education and creative habits

I'm constantly reading books on the craft and business of being a writer, but this year I have also taken some courses:

  • big magicWMG Publishing books and courses – with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. As soon as I finish one course, I start the next as I am learning so much from both of these amazing writers and teachers. If you want to take your writing to the next level, I highly recommend these courses.
  • I've also seen Elizabeth Gilbert speak about Big Magic and attended Robert McKee's Storynomics, plus I took a ton of notes at Thrillerfest 2015.

Community

CreativePennPodcastButton_1400x14002After considering whether to stop the podcast entirely, I doubled-down, moving to a weekly show which has dramatically increased the community around the podcast. Click here for the back-list of 249 episodes 🙂

I've made the personal intro longer, incorporating tweets and emails from the listeners which is great, as I now feel it is more of a conversation. I also added Patreon/thecreativepenn and the hardcore listeners can support the show, plus they get an extra Q&A audio every month.

I love how engaged people are and how we have more of a two-way interaction now. Thank you to all the listeners of the show!

I've become more active in International Thriller Writers, organizing two events in London, alongside Simon Toyne, as well as going to ThrillerFest in New York and making new friendships as well as renewing old ones.

I've also continued to be an active member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, doing monthly Q&As with Orna Ross and joining the fun at the Indie Author Fringe at London Book Fair in April.

Income and lifestyle

My income in 2015 is double what it was in 2014, which is quite crazy. My book sales income grew by 70%, but the main increase was affiliate income (commission on sale of other people's products), which is a function of the size of the audience/traffic to a site.

lovelybath

Views of Bath

I believe this is because the tipping point for self-publishing happened this year and because this site is 7 years old with over 1000 articles, 240+ podcasts and videos on the topics people search for, the traffic and subscribers have significantly increased.

There are also more authors looking for premium services and education as the indie author world matures. I'm really thrilled to be able to help more people, as well as being happy about the income increase!

This meant that I hit a significant (and unexpected) financial goal and my husband was able to leave his corporate job to join The Creative Penn.

We moved out of London to Bath in the south west of England, for a healthier, more active lifestyle. As much as I love London, I have some fitness goals for 2016 … more to come on that in my new year's post 🙂

This increased growth in traffic meant that I also needed to make the site more stable, so we spent a couple of months sorting out technical back end stuff you won't even see! That took a lot of time but I now sleep more easily at night, knowing that the site won't crash as it did several times earlier on this year.

What didn't I achieve?

It's always good to reflect on what didn't happen and why. Not achieving goals can sometimes be as illuminating as achieving them 🙂

“I’m also looking at doing royalty split deals with other non-fiction authors and getting into ACX as a narrator as well as an author … Narration of other people’s non-fiction books on a royalty split deal will add another income stream.”

reality checkI seriously thought I would get into audio narration for other people but narrating one of my own books was exhausting for me. I am looking into voice training as I think it's a breathing issue, as well as the concentration needed for narration, but it's not something I will do for other people or consider as an income stream. I have a lot of respect for audiobook narrators these days!

“Portuguese underway for Pentecost [Stone of Fire] as Brazil is likely to be the next emerging market for digital … I actually want to sell more [foreign] rights rather than exploit them myself.”

Translations and foreign rights in general haven't been much of a focus for me this year. I've focused more on creating new products in English. It's still too early in these other markets to make self-publishing in translation a really good bet for most authors. I do have an agent, but no foreign rights sales have eventuated. We'll see what 2016 has in store …

Caught while on Twitter while out and about in London :)

Caught while on Twitter while out and about in London 🙂

“No apps or email before lunchtime … I’m also starting with Headspace for (once again) attempting to incorporate meditation in my life.”

Hmmm … well, I managed both of these for a few months and then fell back into old habits. I still don't have email on my phone though so that's a good thing, but I definitely check twitter too much 🙂 Headspace was good but I think my meditation is walking these days.

“The big change for me in 2015 is the shift away from online education and courses to income from books and live professional speaking, as well as affiliate income and sponsorship.”

Clearly, I changed my mind on this and went back into courses and actually did less live speaking than previous years. I can help more people through online courses and as above, it's hit a tipping point in the self-publishing space.

“I’m finally going to get into Google Play in early 2015.”

I still want to get into Play but there are still question marks over it since they shut down the new publisher portal in May. They did incorporate subscription service Oyster in September so hopefully something awesome will be coming in 2016.

Rounding up …

Overall, I feel like I have got the fundamentals of The Creative Penn under control now and provided a stable base of information and education through books and courses for authors at all stages of the journey. I've also invested time in becoming a better fiction writer and I'll be switching my focus more to that next year.

I'm looking forward to 2016 – and I'll be posting about my plans on 1 Jan!

How did you do with your goals in 2015? Please do leave your comments below and join the conversation.

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Happy New Year 2014. My Creative And Writing Goals for 2014

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Happy New Year 2014!

champagne corksWhen the new year dawned just three years ago, in 2011, I was still an IT consultant, hating my job and dreading that first day back at work.

Things have changed so much for me, and I'm utterly grateful for the life I lead now. I don't take any of this for granted. I am a creative entrepreneur, writing, speaking and creating for my living. Happy times! I hope that you're feeling just as positive for 2014.

Here are my creative and writing goals for this year – I'd love you to share some of yours in the comments below.

(1) Stick with Plan A: Write more books and attract more readers

This is what's on my creative list for the year, although I'm not entirely sure of the order or how much I can realistically achieve 🙂

  • Publish non-fiction book on public speaking. It is in the final stages of proof-reading and will be out in Jan.
  • Delirium, crime thriller, next in the Jamie Brooke series. Sequel to Desecration.
  • ARKANE full-length novel #4 – themed around Kabbalah mysticism and Spain
  • Stand-alone crime thriller set around UK pilgrimage sites .. composting ideas right now, this may be epic …
  • Stand-alone thriller featuring O, a character from Desecration. Perhaps a novella.
  • Non-fiction book on creative entrepreneurship to underpin the new direction of the blog and also support my professional speaking
  • Screenplay for Desecration … this is a whole new direction but I can't get the idea out of my head
  • Post-apocalyptic novella … composting ideas … and I have this idea for a technothriller too

This goal includes assumes all the publishing and marketing aspects of publishing these books, which I basically count as ‘business as usual' work these days. This list is definitely too long for one year, but you gotta aim high, right!

I'm also assuming that I can speed up my process, and I'll be trying the ‘beats' writing technique outlined in Truant & Platt's Write, Publish, Repeat – a great book I recommend for all authors.

(2) Exploit more rights and focus on global territories

globeI've written in detail about rights exploitation and in 2014, I intend to get serious about mine!

  • Focus on translation. In 2014, I will have Pentecost out in German, Spanish and Italian through joint venture deals with independent translators. I am also looking to work with foreign rights agents and other translation professionals to expand the number of books available in other languages. Please do Contact me if you're interested in working with me on further translations.
  • Focus on specific foreign markets – India and Germany, Spanish for USA and other territories.
  • Produce my own audio of One Day In Budapest – podcast this for free as lead-in to the Audible audiobooks
  • Look at audio options for Jamie Brooke series. Potentially sell audio rights for Desecration, or produce through ACX and read it myself.

(3) Professional speaking

  • Move my professional speaking to the next level – in terms of income, audience size and topics covered. I am now a Member of the Professional Speaking Association (PSA) UK so I will be developing more in 2014.
  • Speak more internationally. Yes, I can speak all over the world! Please check out my speaking page if you know of any opportunities.

(4) Focus more on creative entrepreneurship on the blog, podcast and YouTube channel

As per the article on my 5th blog anniversary, I have shifted focus to being more of a graduate program in creative entrepreneurship. I'll be continuing to share my journey with:

 (5) Travel junkie

cycling

Cycling down the Western Ghats from Ooty into the tea plantations

Yes, I had two weeks cycling through India in 2013 – woohoo! But I want more 🙂 I added a travel goal halfway through 2013, so I thought I'd just get it out there. I ALWAYS want to travel!

Part of the reason I write is to dive down the rabbit hole of research, and my research involves visiting the places I write about, which in 2014 will include a little jaunt to Cordoba and Granada in Spain.

My brother is getting married in Toronto, so I'll be in Canada, and also hopefully NYC for Thrillerfest, but that is tentative at the moment. I'd love to visit somewhere new in the latter half of 2014, ideas to come on that … and of course, I want to speak internationally, see above.

OK, that's me. Please share your creative and writing goals for 2014 in the comments below. I'd love for us to be accountable together.

Image: Flickr Creative Commons champagne corks by summerbl4ck and globe by Bobot.

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