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What if the most transformative thing you can do for your writing craft and author business is to face what you fear? How can you can find gold in your Shadow in the year ahead? In this episode, I share chapters from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words. In the intro, curated book boxes from Bridgerton's Julia Quinn; Google's agentic shopping, and powering Apple's Siri; ChatGPT Ads; and Claude CoWork. Balancing Certainty and Uncertainty [MoonShots with Tony Robbins]; and three trends for authors with me and Orna Ross [Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast]; plus, Bones of the Deep, Business for Authors, and Indie Author Lab. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn  Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoir as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. What is the Shadow? The ‘creative wound' and the Shadow in writing The Shadow in traditional publishing The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author The Shadow in work The Shadow in money You can find Writing the Shadow in all formats on all stores, as well as special edition, workbook and bundles at www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words The following chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn. Introduction. What is the Shadow? “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.” —C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul We all have a Shadow side and it is the work of a lifetime to recognise what lies within and spin that base material into gold. Think of it as a seedling in a little pot that you're given when you're young. It's a bit misshapen and weird, not something you would display in your living room, so you place it in a dark corner of the basement. You don't look at it for years. You almost forget about it. Then one day you notice tendrils of something wild poking up through the floorboards. They're ugly and don't fit with your Scandi-minimalist interior design. You chop the tendrils away and pour weedkiller on what's left, trying to hide the fact that they were ever there. But the creeping stems keep coming. At some point, you know you have to go down there and face the wild thing your seedling has become. When you eventually pluck up enough courage to go down into the basement, you discover that the plant has wound its roots deep into the foundations of your home. Its vines weave in and out of the cracks in the walls, and it has beautiful flowers and strange fruit. It holds your world together. Perhaps you don't need to destroy the wild tendrils. Perhaps you can let them wind up into the light and allow their rich beauty to weave through your home. It will change the look you have so carefully cultivated, but maybe that's just what the place needs. The Shadow in psychology Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychologist and the founder of analytical psychology. He described the Shadow as an unconscious aspect of the human personality, those parts of us that don't match up to what is expected of us by family and society, or to our own ideals. The Shadow is not necessarily evil or illegal or immoral, although of course it can be. It's also not necessarily caused by trauma, abuse, or any other severely damaging event, although again, it can be. It depends on the individual. What is in your Shadow is based on your life and your experiences, as well as your culture and society, so it will be different for everyone. Psychologist Connie Zweig, in The Inner Work of Age, explains, “The Shadow is that part of us that lies beneath or behind the light of awareness. It contains our rejected, unacceptable traits and feelings. It contains our hidden gifts and talents that have remained unexpressed or unlived. As Jung put it, the essence of the Shadow is pure gold.” To further illustrate the concept, Robert Bly, in A Little Book on the Human Shadow,uses the following metaphor: “When we are young, we carry behind us an invisible bag, into which we stuff any feelings, thoughts, or behaviours that bring disapproval or loss of love—anger, tears, neediness, laziness. By the time we go to school, our bags are already a mile long. In high school, our peer groups pressure us to stuff the bags with even more—individuality, sexuality, spontaneity, different opinions. We spend our life until we're twenty deciding which parts of ourselves to put into the bag and we spend the rest of our lives trying to get them out again.” As authors, we can use what's in the ‘bag' to enrich our writing — but only if we can access it. My intention with this book is to help you venture into your Shadow and bring some of what's hidden into the light and into your words. I'll reveal aspects of my Shadow in these pages but ultimately, this book is about you. Your Shadow is unique. There may be elements we share, but much will be different. Each chapter has questions for you to consider that may help you explore at least the edges of your Shadow, but it's not easy. As Jung said, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” But take heart, Creative. You don't need courage when things are easy. You need it when you know what you face will be difficult, but you do it anyway. We are authors. We know how to do hard things. We turn ideas into books. We manifest thoughts into ink on paper. We change lives with our writing. First, our own, then other people's. It's worth the effort to delve into Shadow, so I hope you will join me on the journey. The creative wound and the Shadow in writing “Whatever pain you can't get rid of, make it your creative offering.” —Susan Cain, Bittersweet  The more we long for something, the more extreme our desire, the more likely it is to have a Shadow side. For those of us who love books, the author life may well be a long-held dream and thus, it is filled with Shadow. Books have long been objects of desire, power, and authority. They hold a mythic status in our lives. We escaped into stories as children; we studied books at school and college; we read them now for escape and entertainment, education and inspiration. We collect beautiful books to put on our shelves. We go to them for solace and answers to the deepest questions of life. Writers are similarly held in high esteem. They shape culture, win literary prizes, give important speeches, and are quoted in the mainstream media. Their books are on the shelves in libraries and bookstores. Writers are revered, held up as rare, talented creatures made separate from us by their brilliance and insight. For bibliophile children, books were everything and to write one was a cherished dream. To become an author? Well, that would mean we might be someone special, someone worthy. Perhaps when you were young, you thought the dream of being a writer was possible — then you told someone about it. That's probably when you heard the first criticism of such a ridiculous idea, the first laughter, the first dismissal. So you abandoned the dream, pushed the idea of being a writer into the Shadow, and got on with your life. Or if it wasn't then, it came later, when you actually put pen to paper and someone — a parent, teacher, partner, or friend, perhaps even a literary agent or publisher, someone whose opinion you valued — told you it was worthless. Here are some things you might have heard: Writing is a hobby. Get a real job. You're not good enough. You don't have any writing talent. You don't have enough education. You don't know what you're doing. Your writing is derivative / unoriginal / boring / useless / doesn't make sense. The genre you write in is dead / worthless / unacceptable / morally wrong / frivolous / useless.  Who do you think you are? No one would want to read what you write. You can't even use proper grammar, so how could you write a whole book? You're wasting your time. You'll never make it as a writer. You shouldn't write those things (or even think about those things). Why don't you write something nice? Insert other derogatory comment here! Mark Pierce describes the effect of this experience in his book The Creative Wound, which “occurs when an event, or someone's actions or words, pierce you, causing a kind of rift in your soul. A comment—even offhand and unintentional—is enough to cause one.” He goes on to say that such words can inflict “damage to the core of who we are as creators. It is an attack on our artistic identity, resulting in us believing that whatever we make is somehow tainted or invalid, because shame has convinced us there is something intrinsically tainted or invalid about ourselves.” As adults, we might brush off such wounds, belittling them as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We might even find ourselves saying the same words to other people. After all, it's easier to criticise than to create. But if you picture your younger self, bright eyed as you lose yourself in your favourite book, perhaps you might catch a glimpse of what you longed for before your dreams were dashed on the rocks of other people's reality. As Mark Pierce goes on to say, “A Creative Wound has the power to delay our pursuits—sometimes for years—and it can even derail our lives completely… Anything that makes us feel ashamed of ourselves or our work can render us incapable of the self-expression we yearn for.” This is certainly what happened to me, and it took decades to unwind. Your creative wounds will differ to mine but perhaps my experience will help you explore your own. To be clear, your Shadow may not reside in elements of horror as mine do, but hopefully you can use my example to consider where your creative wounds might lie. “You shouldn't write things like that.” It happened at secondary school around 1986 or 1987, so I would have been around eleven or twelve years old. English was one of my favourite subjects and the room we had our lessons in looked out onto a vibrant garden. I loved going to that class because it was all about books, and they were always my favourite things. One day, we were asked to write a story. I can't remember the specifics of what the teacher asked us to write, but I fictionalised a recurring nightmare. I stood in a dark room. On one side, my mum and my brother, Rod, were tied up next to a cauldron of boiling oil, ready to be thrown in. On the other side, my dad and my little sister, Lucy, were threatened with decapitation by men with machetes. I had to choose who would die. I always woke up, my heart pounding, before I had to choose. Looking back now, it clearly represented an internal conflict about having to pick sides between the two halves of my family. Not an unexpected issue from a child of divorce. Perhaps these days, I might have been sent to the school counsellor, but it was the eighties and I don't think we even had such a thing. Even so, the meaning of the story isn't the point. It was the reaction to it that left scars. “You shouldn't write things like that,” my teacher said, and I still remember her look of disappointment, even disgust. Certainly judgment. She said my writing was too dark. It wasn't a proper story. It wasn't appropriate for the class. As if horrible things never happened in stories — or in life. As if literature could not include dark tales. As if the only acceptable writing was the kind she approved of. We were taught The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that year, which says a lot about the type of writing considered appropriate. Or perhaps the issue stemmed from the school motto, “So hateth she derknesse,” from Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women: “For fear of night, so she hates the darkness.” I had won a scholarship to a private girls' school, and their mission was to turn us all into proper young ladies. Horror was never on the curriculum. Perhaps if my teacher had encouraged me to write my darkness back then, my nightmares would have dissolved on the page. Perhaps if we had studied Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or H.P. Lovecraft stories, or Bram Stoker's Dracula, I could have embraced the darker side of literature earlier in my life. My need to push darker thoughts into my Shadow was compounded by my (wonderful) mum's best intentions. We were brought up on the principles of The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and she tried to shield me and my brother from anything harmful or horrible. We weren't allowed to watch TV much, and even the British school drama Grange Hill was deemed inappropriate. So much of what I've achieved is because my mum instilled in me a “can do” attitude that anything is possible. I'm so grateful to her for that. (I love you, Mum!) But all that happy positivity, my desire to please her, to be a good girl, to make my teachers proud, and to be acceptable to society, meant that I pushed my darker thoughts into Shadow. They were inappropriate. They were taboo. They must be repressed, kept secret, and I must be outwardly happy and positive at all times. You cannot hold back the darkness “The night is dark and full of terrors.” —George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords It turned out that horror was on the curriculum, much of it in the form of educational films we watched during lessons. In English Literature, we watched Romeo drink poison and Juliet stab herself in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. In Religious Studies, we watched Jesus beaten, tortured, and crucified in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and learned of the variety of gruesome ways that Christian saints were martyred. In Classical Civilisation, we watched gladiators slaughter each other in Spartacus. In Sex Education at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the mid-'80s, we were told of the many ways we could get infected and die. In History, we studied the Holocaust with images of skeletal bodies thrown into mass graves, medical experiments on humans, and grainy videos of marching soldiers giving the Nazi salute. One of my first overseas school field trips was to the World War I battlegrounds of Flanders Fields in Belgium, where we studied the inhuman conditions of the trenches, walked through mass graves, and read war poetry by candlelight. As John McCrae wrote: We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Did the teachers not realise how deeply a sensitive teenager might feel the darkness of that place? Or have I always been unusual in that places of blood echo deep inside me? And the horrors kept coming. We lived in Bristol, England back then and I learned at school how the city had been part of the slave trade, its wealth built on the backs of people stolen from their homes, sold, and worked to death in the colonies. I had been at school for a year in Malawi, Africa and imagined the Black people I knew drowning, being beaten, and dying on those ships. In my teenage years, the news was filled with ethnic cleansing, mass rape, and massacres during the Balkan wars, and images of bodies hacked apart during the Rwandan genocide. Evil committed by humans against other humans was not a historical aberration. I'm lucky and I certainly acknowledge my privilege. Nothing terrible or horrifying has happened to me — but bad things certainly happen to others. I wasn't bullied or abused. I wasn't raped or beaten or tortured. But you don't have to go through things to be afraid of them, and for your imagination to conjure the possibility of them. My mum doesn't read my fiction now as it gives her nightmares (Sorry, Mum!). I know she worries that somehow she's responsible for my darkness, but I've had a safe and (mostly) happy life, for which I'm truly grateful. But the world is not an entirely safe and happy place, and for a sensitive child with a vivid imagination, the world is dark and scary. It can be brutal and violent, and bad things happen, even to good people. No parent can shield their child from the reality of the world. They can only help them do their best to live in it, develop resilience, and find ways to deal with whatever comes. Story has always been a way that humans have used to learn how to live and deal with difficult times. The best authors, the ones that readers adore and can't get enough of, write their darkness into story to channel their experience, and help others who fear the same. In an interview on writing the Shadow on The Creative Penn Podcast, Michaelbrent Collings shared how he incorporated a personally devastating experience into his writing:  “My wife and I lost a child years back, and that became the root of one of my most terrifying books, Apparition. It's not terrifying because it's the greatest book of all time, but just the concept that there's this thing out there… like a demon, and it consumes the blood and fear of the children, and then it withdraws and consumes the madness of the parents… I wrote that in large measure as a way of working through what I was experiencing.” I've learned much from Michaelbrent. I've read many of his (excellent) books and he's been on my podcast multiple times talking about his depression and mental health issues, as well as difficulties in his author career. Writing darkness is not in Michaelbrent's Shadow and only he can say what lies there for him. But from his example, and from that of other authors, I too learned how to write my Shadow into my books. Twenty-three years after that English lesson, in November 2009, I did NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and wrote five thousand words of what eventually became Stone of Fire, my first novel. In the initial chapter, I burned a nun alive on the ghats of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges River. I had watched the bodies burn by night on pyres from a boat bobbing in the current a few years before, and the image was still crystal clear in my mind. The only way to deal with how it made me feel about death was to write about it — and since then, I've never stopped writing. Returning to the nightmare from my school days, I've never had to choose between the two halves of my family, but the threat of losing them remains a theme in my fiction. In my ARKANE thriller series, Morgan Sierra will do anything to save her sister and her niece. Their safety drives her to continue to fight against evil. Our deepest fears emerge in our writing, and that's the safest place for them. I wish I'd been taught how to turn my nightmares into words back at school, but at least now I've learned to write my Shadow onto the page. I wish the same for you. The Shadow in traditional publishing If becoming an author is your dream, then publishing a book is deeply entwined with that. But as Mark Pierce says in The Creative Wound, “We feel pain the most where it matters the most… Desire highlights whatever we consider to be truly significant.” There is a lot of desire around publishing for those of us who love books! It can give you: Validation that your writing is good enough Status and credibility Acceptance by an industry held in esteem  The potential of financial reward and critical acclaim Support from a team of professionals who know how to make fantastic books A sense of belonging to an elite community Pride in achieving a long-held goal, resulting in a confidence boost and self-esteem Although not guaranteed, traditional publishing can give you all these things and more, but as with everything, there is a potential Shadow side. Denying it risks the potential of being disillusioned, disappointed, and even damaged. But remember, forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. Preparation can help you avoid potential issues and help you feel less alone if you encounter them. The myth of success… and the reality of experience There is a pervasive myth of success in the traditional publishing industry, perpetuated by media reporting on brand name and breakout authors, those few outliers whose experience is almost impossible to replicate. Because of such examples, many new traditionally published authors think that their first book will hit the top of the bestseller charts or win an award, as well as make them a million dollars — or at least a big chunk of cash. They will be able to leave their job, write in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean, and swan around the world attending conferences, while writing more bestselling books. It will be a charmed life. But that is not the reality. Perhaps it never was. Even so, the life of a traditionally published author represents a mythic career with the truth hidden behind a veil of obscurity. In April 2023, The Bookseller in the UK reported that “more than half of authors (54%) responding to a survey on their experiences of publishing their debut book have said the process negatively affected their mental health. Though views were mixed, just 22%… described a positive experience overall… Among the majority who said they had a negative experience of debut publication, anxiety, stress, depression and ‘lowered' self-esteem were cited, with lack of support, guidance or clear and professional communication from their publisher among the factors that contributed.” Many authors who have negative experiences around publishing will push them into the Shadow with denial or self-blame, preferring to keep the dream alive. They won't talk about things in public as this may negatively affect their careers, but private discussions are often held in the corners of writing conferences or social media groups online. Some of the issues are as follows: Repeated rejection by agents and publishers may lead to the author thinking they are not good enough as a writer, which can lead to feeling unworthy as a person. If an author gets a deal, the amount of advance and the name and status of the publisher compared to others create a hierarchy that impacts self-esteem. A deal for a book may be much lower than an author might have been expecting, with low or no advance, and the resulting experience with the publisher beneath expectations. The launch process may be disappointing, and the book may appear without fanfare, with few sales and no bestseller chart position. In The Bookseller report, one author described her launch day as “a total wasteland… You have expectations about what publication day will be like, but in reality, nothing really happens.” The book may receive negative reviews by critics or readers or more publicly on social media, which can make an author feel attacked. The book might not sell as well as expected, and the author may feel like it's their fault. Commercial success can sometimes feel tied to self-worth and an author can't help but compare their sales to others, with resulting embarrassment or shame. The communication from the publisher may be less than expected. One author in The Bookseller report said, “I was shocked by the lack of clarity and shared information and the cynicism that underlies the superficial charm of this industry.” There is often more of a focus on debut authors in publishing houses, so those who have been writing and publishing in the midlist for years can feel ignored and undervalued. In The Bookseller report, 48 percent of authors reported “their publisher supported them for less than a year,” with one saying, “I got no support and felt like a commodity, like the team had moved on completely to the next book.” If an author is not successful enough, the next deal may be lower than the last, less effort is made with marketing, and they may be let go. In The Bookseller report, “six authors—debut and otherwise—cited being dropped by their publisher, some with no explanation.” Even if everything goes well and an author is considered successful by others, they may experience imposter syndrome, feeling like a fraud when speaking at conferences or doing book signings. And the list goes on … All these things can lead to feelings of shame, inadequacy, and embarrassment; loss of status in the eyes of peers; and a sense of failure if a publishing career is not successful enough. The author feels like it's their fault, like they weren't good enough — although, of course, the reality is that the conditions were not right at the time. A failure of a book is not a failure of the person, but it can certainly feel like it! When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Despite all the potential negatives of traditional publishing, if you know what could happen, you can mitigate them. You can prepare yourself for various scenarios and protect yourself from potential fall-out. It's clear from The Bookseller report that too many authors have unrealistic expectations of the industry. But publishers are businesses, not charities. It's not their job to make you feel good as an author. It's their job to sell books and pay you. The best thing they can do is to continue to be a viable business so they can keep putting books on the shelves and keep paying authors, staff, and company shareholders. When you license your creative work to a publisher, you're giving up control of your intellectual property in exchange for money and status. Bring your fears and issues out of the Shadow, acknowledge them, and deal with them early, so they do not get pushed down and re-emerge later in blame and bitterness. Educate yourself on the business of publishing. Be clear on what you want to achieve with any deal. Empower yourself as an author, take responsibility for your career, and you will have a much better experience. The Shadow in self-publishing or being an indie author Self-publishing, or being an independent (indie) author, can be a fantastic, pro-active choice for getting your book into the world. Holding your first book in your hand and saying “I made this” is pretty exciting, and even after more than forty books, I still get excited about seeing ideas in my head turn into a physical product in the world. Self-publishing can give an author: Creative control over what to write, editorial and cover design choices, when and how often to publish, and how to market Empowerment over your author career and the ability to make choices that impact success without asking for permission Ownership and control of intellectual property assets, resulting in increased opportunity around licensing and new markets Independence and the potential for recurring income for the long term Autonomy and flexibility around timelines, publishing options, and the ability to easily pivot into new genres and business models Validation based on positive reader reviews and money earned Personal growth and learning through the acquisition of new skills, resulting in a boost in confidence and self-esteem A sense of belonging to an active and vibrant community of indie authors around the world Being an indie author can give you all this and more, but once again, there is a Shadow side and preparation can help you navigate potential issues. The myth of success… and the reality of experience As with traditional publishing, the indie author world has perpetuated a myth of success in the example of the breakout indie author like E.L. James with Fifty Shades of Grey, Hugh Howey with Wool, or Andy Weir with The Martian. The emphasis on financial success is also fuelled online by authors who share screenshots showing six-figure months or seven-figure years, without sharing marketing costs and other outgoings, or the amount of time spent on the business. Yes, these can inspire some, but it can also make others feel inadequate and potentially lead to bad choices about how to publish and market based on comparison. The indie author world is full of just as much ego and a desire for status and money as traditional publishing. This is not a surprise! Most authors, regardless of publishing choices, are a mix of massive ego and chronic self-doubt. We are human, so the same issues will re-occur. A different publishing method doesn't cure all ills. Some of the issues are as follows: You learn everything you need to know about writing and editing, only to find that you need to learn a whole new set of skills in order to self-publish and market your book. This can take a lot of time and effort you did not expect, and things change all the time so you have to keep learning. Being in control of every aspect of the publishing process, from writing to cover design to marketing, can be overwhelming, leading to indecision, perfectionism, stress, and even burnout as you try to do all the things. You try to find people to help, but building your team is a challenge, and working with others has its own difficulties. People say negative things about self-publishing that may arouse feelings of embarrassment or shame. These might be little niggles, but they needle you, nonetheless. You wonder whether you made the right choice. You struggle with self-doubt and if you go to an event with traditional published authors, you compare yourself to them and feel like an imposter. Are you good enough to be an author if a traditional publisher hasn't chosen you? Is it just vanity to self-publish? Are your books unworthy? Even though you worked with a professional editor, you still get one-star reviews and you hate criticism from readers. You wonder whether you're wasting your time. You might be ripped off by an author services company who promise the world, only to leave you with a pile of printed books in your garage and no way to sell them. When you finally publish your book, it languishes at the bottom of the charts while other authors hit the top of the list over and over, raking in the cash while you are left out of pocket. You don't admit to over-spending on marketing as it makes you ashamed. You resist book marketing and make critical comments about writers who embrace it. You believe that quality rises to the top and if a book is good enough, people will buy it anyway. This can lead to disappointment and disillusionment when you launch your book and it doesn't sell many copies because nobody knows about it. You try to do what everyone advises, but you still can't make decent money as an author. You're jealous of other authors' success and put it down to them ‘selling out' or writing things you can't or ‘using AI' or ‘using a ghostwriter' or having a specific business model you consider impossible to replicate. And the list goes on… When you acknowledge the Shadow, it loses its power Being in control of your books and your author career is a double-edged sword. Traditionally published authors can criticise their publishers or agents or the marketing team or the bookstores or the media, but indie authors have to take responsibility for it all. Sure, we can blame ‘the algorithms' or social media platforms, or criticise other authors for having more experience or more money to invest in marketing, or attribute their success to writing in a more popular genre — but we also know there are always people who do well regardless of the challenges. Once more, we're back to acknowledging and integrating the Shadow side of our choices. We are flawed humans. There will always be good times and bad, and difficulties to offset the high points. This too shall pass, as the old saying goes. I know that being an indie author has plenty of Shadow. I've been doing this since 2008 and despite the hard times, I'm still here. I'm still writing. I'm still publishing. This life is not for everyone, but it's my choice. You must make yours. The Shadow in work You work hard. You make a living. Nothing wrong with that attitude, right? It's what we're taught from an early age and, like so much of life, it's not a problem until it goes to extremes. Not achieving what you want to? Work harder. Can't get ahead? Work harder. Not making a good enough living? Work harder. People who don't work hard are lazy. They don't deserve handouts or benefits. People who don't work hard aren't useful, so they are not valued members of our culture and community. But what about the old or the sick, the mentally ill, or those with disabilities? What about children? What about the unemployed? The under-employed? What about those who are — or will be — displaced by technology, those called “the useless class” by historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book Homo Deus? What if we become one of these in the future? Who am I if I cannot work? The Shadow side of my attitude to work became clear when I caught COVID in the summer of 2021. I was the sickest I'd ever been. I spent two weeks in bed unable to even think properly, and six weeks after that, I was barely able to work more than an hour a day before lying in the dark and waiting for my energy to return. I was limited in what I could do for another six months after that. At times, I wondered if I would ever get better. Jonathan kept urging me to be patient and rest. But I don't know how to rest. I know how to work and how to sleep. I can do ‘active rest,' which usually involves walking a long way or traveling somewhere interesting, but those require a stronger mind and body than I had during those months. It struck me that even if I recovered from the virus, I had glimpsed my future self. One day, I will be weak in body and mind. If I'm lucky, that will be many years away and hopefully for a short time before I die — but it will happen. I am an animal. I will die. My body and mind will pass on and I will be no more. Before then I will be weak. Before then, I will be useless. Before then, I will be a burden. I will not be able to work… But who am I if I cannot work? What is the point of me? I can't answer these questions right now, because although I recognise them as part of my Shadow, I've not progressed far enough to have dealt with them entirely. My months of COVID gave me some much-needed empathy for those who cannot work, even if they want to. We need to reframe what work is as a society, and value humans for different things, especially as technology changes what work even means. That starts with each of us. “Illness, affliction of body and soul, can be life-altering. It has the potential to reveal the most fundamental conflict of the human condition: the tension between our infinite, glorious dreams and desires and our limited, vulnerable, decaying physicality.” —Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul The Shadow in money In the Greek myth, King Midas was a wealthy ruler who loved gold above all else. His palace was adorned with golden sculptures and furniture, and he took immense pleasure in his riches. Yet, despite his vast wealth, he yearned for more. After doing a favour for Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, Midas was granted a single wish. Intoxicated by greed, he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold — and it was so. At first, it was a lot of fun. Midas turned everything else in his palace to gold, even the trees and stones of his estate. After a morning of turning things to gold, he fancied a spot of lunch. But when he tried to eat, the food and drink turned to gold in his mouth. He became thirsty and hungry — and increasingly desperate. As he sat in despair on his golden throne, his beloved young daughter ran to comfort him. For a moment, he forgot his wish — and as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek, she turned into a golden statue, frozen in precious metal. King Midas cried out to the gods to forgive him, to reverse the wish. He renounced his greed and gave away all his wealth, and his daughter was returned to life. The moral of the story: Wealth and greed are bad. In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is described as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.” He's wealthy but does not share, considering Christmas spending to be frivolous and giving to charity to be worthless. He's saved by a confrontation with his lonely future and becomes a generous man and benefactor of the poor. Wealth is good if you share it with others. The gospel of Matthew, chapter 25: 14-30, tells the parable of the bags of gold, in which a rich man goes on a journey and entrusts his servants with varying amounts of gold. On his return, the servants who multiplied the gold through their efforts and investments are rewarded, while the one who merely returned the gold with no interest is punished: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Making money is good, making more money is even better. If you can't make any money, you don't deserve to have any. Within the same gospel, in Matthew 19:24, Jesus encounters a wealthy man and tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, which the man is unable to do. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Wealth is bad. Give it all away and you'll go to heaven. With all these contradictory messages, no wonder we're so conflicted about money! How do you think and feel about money? While money is mostly tied to our work, it's far more than just a transactional object for most people. It's loaded with complex symbolism and judgment handed down by family, religion, and culture. You are likely to find elements of Shadow by examining your attitudes around money. Consider which of the following statements resonate with you or write your own. Money stresses me out. I don't want to talk about it or think about it. Some people hoard money, so there is inequality. Rich people are bad and we should take away their wealth and give it to the poor.  I can never make enough money to pay the bills, or to give my family what I want to provide. Money doesn't grow on trees.  It's wasteful to spend money as you might need it later, so I'm frugal and don't spend money unless absolutely necessary. It is better and more ethical to be poor than to be rich. I want more money. I read books and watch TV shows about rich people because I want to live like that. Sometimes I spend too much on things for a glimpse of what that might be like.  I buy lottery tickets and dream of winning all that money.  I'm jealous of people who have money. I want more of it and I resent those who have it. I'm no good with money. I don't like to look at my bank statement or credit card statement. I live off my overdraft and I'm in debt. I will never earn enough to get out of debt and start saving, so I don't think too much about it. I don't know enough about money. Talking about it makes me feel stupid, so I just ignore it. People like me aren't educated about money.  I need to make more money. If I can make lots of money, then people will look up to me. If I make lots of money, I will be secure, nothing can touch me, I will be safe.  I never want to be poor. I would be ashamed to be poor. I will never go on benefits. My net worth is my self worth. Money is good. We have the best standard of living in history because of the increase in wealth over time. Even the richest kings of the past didn't have what many middle-class people have today in terms of access to food, water, technology, healthcare, education, and more. The richest people give the most money to the poor through taxation and charity, as well as through building companies that employ people and invent new things. The very richest give away much of their fortunes. They provide far more benefit to the world than the poor.  I love money. Money loves me. Money comes easily and quickly to me. I attract money in multiple streams of income. It flows to me in so many ways. I spend money. I invest money. I give money. I'm happy and grateful for all that I receive. The Shadow around money for authors in particular Many writers and other creatives have issues around money and wealth. How often have you heard the following, and which do you agree with? You can't make money with your writing. You'll be a poor author in a garret, a starving artist.  You can't write ‘good quality' books and make money. If you make money writing, you're a hack, you're selling out. You are less worthy than someone who writes only for the Muse. Your books are commercial, not artistic. If you spend money on marketing, then your books are clearly not good enough to sell on their own. My agent / publisher / accountant / partner deals with the money side. I like to focus on the creative side of things. My money story Note: This is not financial or investment advice. Please talk to a professional about your situation. I've had money issues over the years — haven't we all! But I have been through a (long) process to bring money out of my Shadow and into the light. There will always be more to discover, but hopefully my money story will help you, or at least give you an opportunity to reflect. Like most people, I didn't grow up with a lot of money. My parents started out as teachers, but later my mum — who I lived with, along with my brother — became a change management consultant, moving to the USA and earning a lot more. I'm grateful that she moved into business because her example changed the way I saw money and provided some valuable lessons. (1) You can change your circumstances by learning more and then applying that to leverage opportunity into a new job or career Mum taught English at a school in Bristol when we moved back from Malawi, Africa, in the mid '80s but I remember how stressful it was for her, and how little money she made. She wanted a better future for us all, so she took a year out to do a master's degree in management. In the same way, when I wanted to change careers and leave consulting to become an author, I spent time and money learning about the writing craft and the business of publishing. I still invest a considerable chunk on continuous learning, as this industry changes all the time. (2) You might have to downsize in order to leap forward The year my mum did her degree, we lived in the attic of another family's house; we ate a lot of one-pot casserole and our treat was having a Yorkie bar on the walk back from the museum. We wore hand-me-down clothes, and I remember one day at school when another girl said I was wearing her dress. I denied it, of course, but there in back of the dress was her name tag. I still remember her name and I can still feel that flush of shame and embarrassment. I was determined to never feel like that again. But what I didn't realize at the time was that I was also learning the power of downsizing. Mum got her degree and then a new job in management in Bristol. She bought a house, and we settled for a few years. I had lots of different jobs as a teenager. My favourite was working in the delicatessen because we got a free lunch made from delicious produce. After I finished A-levels, I went to the University of Oxford, and my mum and brother moved to the USA for further opportunities. I've downsized multiple times over the years, taking a step back in order to take a step forward. The biggest was in 2010 when I decided to leave consulting. Jonathan and I sold our three-bedroom house and investments in Brisbane, Australia, and rented a one-bedroom flat in London, so we could be debt-free and live on less while I built up a new career. It was a decade before we bought another house. (3) Comparison can be deadly: there will always be people with more money than you Oxford was an education in many ways and relevant to this chapter is how much I didn't know about things people with money took for granted. I learned about formal hall and wine pairings, and how to make a perfect gin and tonic. I ate smoked salmon for the first time. I learned how to fit in with people who had a lot more money than I did, and I definitely wanted to have money of my own to play with. (4) Income is not wealth You can earn lots but have nothing to show for it after years of working. I learned this in my first few years of IT consulting after university. I earned a great salary and then went contracting, earning even more money at a daily rate. I had a wonderful time. I traveled, ate and drank and generally made merry, but I always had to go back to the day job when the money ran out. I couldn't work out how I could ever stop this cycle. Then I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, a book I still recommend, especially if you're from a family that values academic over financial education. I learned how to escape the rat race by building and/or accumulating assets that pay even when you're not working. It was a revelation! The ‘poor dad' in the book is a university professor. He knows so much about so many things, but he ends up poor as he did not educate himself about money. The ‘rich dad' has little formal education, but he knows about money and wealth because he learned about it, as we can do at any stage in our lives. (5) Not all investments suit every person, so find the right one for you Once I discovered the world of investing, I read all the books and did courses and in-person events. I joined communities and I up-skilled big time. Of course, I made mistakes and learned lots along the way. I tried property investing and renovated a couple of houses for rental (with more practical partners and skilled contractors). But while I could see that property investing might work for some people, I did not care enough about the details to make it work for me, and it was certainly not passive income. I tried other things. My first husband was a boat skipper and scuba diving instructor, so we started a charter. With the variable costs of fuel, the vagaries of New Zealand weather — and our divorce — it didn't last long! From all these experiments, I learned I wanted to run a business, but it needed to be online and not based on a physical location, physical premises, or other people. That was 2006, around the time that blogging started taking off and it became possible to make a living online. I could see the potential and a year later, the iPhone and the Amazon Kindle launched, which became the basis of my business as an author. (6) Boring, automatic saving and investing works best Between 2007 and 2011, I contracted in Australia, where they have compulsory superannuation contributions, meaning you have to save and invest a percentage of your salary or self-employed income. I'd never done that before, because I didn't understand it. I'd ploughed all my excess income into property or the business instead. But in Australia I didn't notice the money going out because it was automatic. I chose a particular fund and it auto-invested every month. The pot grew pretty fast since I didn't touch it, and years later, it's still growing. I discovered the power of compound interest and time in the market, both of which are super boring. This type of investing is not a get rich quick scheme. It's a slow process of automatically putting money into boring investments and doing that month in, month out, year in, year out, automatically for decades while you get on with your life. I still do this. I earn money as an author entrepreneur and I put a percentage of that into boring investments automatically every month. I also have a small amount which is for fun and higher risk investments, but mostly I'm a conservative, risk-averse investor planning ahead for the future. This is not financial advice, so I'm not giving any specifics. I have a list of recommended money books at www.TheCreativePenn.com/moneybooks if you want to learn more. Learning from the Shadow When I look back, my Shadow side around money eventually drove me to learn more and resulted in a better outcome (so far!). I was ashamed of being poor when I had to wear hand-me-down clothes at school. That drove a fear of not having any money, which partially explains my workaholism. I was embarrassed at Oxford because I didn't know how to behave in certain settings, and I wanted to be like the rich people I saw there. I spent too much money in my early years as a consultant because I wanted to experience a “rich” life and didn't understand saving and investing would lead to better things in the future. I invested too much in the wrong things because I didn't know myself well enough and I was trying to get rich quick so I could leave my job and ‘be happy.' But eventually, I discovered that I could grow my net worth with boring, long-term investments while doing a job I loved as an author entrepreneur. My only regret is that I didn't discover this earlier and put a percentage of my income into investments as soon as I started work. It took several decades to get started, but at least I did (eventually) start. My money story isn't over yet, and I keep learning new things, but hopefully my experience will help you reflect on your own and avoid the issue if it's still in Shadow. These chapters are excerpted from Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words by Joanna Penn  The post Writing The Shadow: The Creative Wound, Publishing, And Money, With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Happy New Year 2026! I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it's arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I also measure it in years. At the beginning of each year, I publish an article (and podcast episode) here, which helps keep me accountable. If you'd like to share your goals, please add them in the comments below. 2026 is a transitional year as I will finish my Masters degree and continue the slow pivot that I started in December 2023 after 15 years as an author entrepreneur. Just to recap that, it was: From digitally-focused to creating beautiful physical books; From high-volume, low cost to premium products with higher Average Order Value; From retailer-centric to direct first; and From distance to presence, and From creating alone to the AI-Assisted Artisan Author. I've definitely stepped partially into all of those, and 2026 will continue in that same direction, but I also have an additional angle for Joanna Penn and The Creative Penn that I am excited about. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. 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. Leaning into the Transformation Economy The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community Webinars and live events Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn Other possible books Experiment more with AI translation Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway Double down on being human, health and travel You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. Leaning into the Transformation Economy I've struggled with my identity as Joanna Penn and my Creative Penn brand for a few years now. When I started TheCreativePenn.com in 2008, the term ‘indie author' was new and self-publishing was considered ‘vanity press' and a sure way to damage your author career, rather than a conscious creative and business choice. It was the early days of the Kindle and iPhone (both launched in 2007), and podcasting and social media were also relatively new. While US authors could publish on KDP, the only option for international authors was Smashwords and the market for ebooks was tiny. Print-on-demand and digital audio were also just emerging as viable options. While it was the early era of blogging, there were very few blogs and barely any podcasts talking about self-publishing, so when I started TheCreativePenn.com in late 2008 and the podcast in March 2009, it was a new area. For several years, it was like howling into the wind. Barely any audience. Barely any traffic, and certainly very little income.  But I loved the freedom and the speed at which I could learn things and put them into practice. Consume and produce. That has always been my focus. I met people on Twitter and interviewed them for my show, and over those early years I met many of the people I consider dear friends even now. Since self-publishing was a relatively unexplored niche in those early years, I slowly found an audience and built up a reputation. I also started to make more money both as an author, and as a creative entrepreneur. Over the years since, pretty much everything has changed for indie authors and we have had more and more opportunity every year. I've shared everything I've learned along the way, and it's been a wonderful time.  But as self-publishing became more popular and more authors saw more success (which is FANTASTIC!), other voices joined the chorus and now, there are many thousands of authors of all different levels with all kinds of different experiences sharing their tips through articles, books, podcasting, and social media. I started to wonder whether my perspective was useful anymore. On top of the human competition, in November 2022, ChatGPT launched, and it became clear that prescriptive non-fiction and ‘how to' information could very easily be delivered by the AI tools, with the added benefit of personalisation. You can ask Chat or Claude or Gemini how you can self-publish your particular book and they will help you step by step through the process of any site. You can share your screen or upload screenshots and it can help with what fields to fill in (very useful with translations!), as well as writing sales descriptions, researching keywords, and offering marketing help targeted to your book and your niche, and tailored to your voice. Once again, I questioned what value I could offer the indie author community, and I've pulled back over the last few years as I've been noodling around this. But over the last few weeks, a penny has dropped. Here's my thinking in case it also helps you. Firstly, I want to be useful to people. I want to help. In my early days of speaking professionally, from 2005-ish, I wanted to be the British (introvert) Tony Robbins, someone who inspired people to change, to achieve things they didn't think they could. Writing a book is one of those things. Making a living from your writing is another. So I leaned into the self-help and how-to niche. But now that is now clearly commoditised. But recently, I realised that my message has always been one of transformation, and in the following four areas.  From someone who doesn't think they are creative but who desperately wants to write a book, to someone who holds their first book in their hand and proudly says, ‘I made this.' The New Author. From someone who has no confidence in their author voice, who wonders if they have anything to say, to someone who writes their story and transforms their own life, as well as other people's. The Confident Author. From an author with one or a handful of books who doesn't know much about business, to a successful author with a growing business heading towards their first six figure year. The Author-Entrepreneur. And finally, from a tech-phobic, fearful author who worries that AI makes it pointless to create anything and will steal all the jobs, to a confident AI-assisted creative who uses AI tools to enhance and amplify their message and their income. The AI-Assisted Artisan Author. These are four transformations I have been through myself, and with my work as Joanna Penn/The Creative Penn, I want to help you through them as well. So in 2026, I am repositioning myself as part of The Transformation Economy. What does this mean? There is a book out in February, The Transformation Economy by B. Joseph Pine II, who is also the author of The Experience Economy, which drove a lot of the last decade's shift in business models. I have the book on pre-order, but in the meantime, I am doing the following. I will revamp TheCreativePenn.com with ‘transformation' as the key frame and add pathways through my extensive material, rather than just categories of how to do things. I've already added navigation pages for The New Author, The Confident Author, The Author-Entrepreneur, and The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, and I will be adding to those over time. My content is basically the same, as I have always covered these topics, but the framing is now different. The intent is different. The Creative Penn Podcast will lean more heavily into transformation, rather than just information — And will focus on the first three of the categories above, the more creative, mindset and business things.  My Patreon will continue to cover all those things, and that's also where I post most of my AI-specific content, so if you're interested in The AI-Assisted Artisan Author transformation path, come on over to patreon.com/thecreativepenn I have more non-fiction books for authors coming, and lots more ideas now I am leaning into this angle. I'll also continue to do webinars on specific topics in 2026, and also add speaking back in 2027. It's harder to think about transformation when it comes to fiction, but it's also really important since fiction books in particular are highly commodified, and will become even more so with the high production speeds. Yes, all readers have a few favourite authors but most will also read a ton of other books without knowing or caring who the author is. Fiction can be transformational. Reader's aren't buying a ‘book.' They're buying a way to escape, to feel deeply, to experience things they never could in real life. A book can transform a day from ‘meh' into ‘fantastic!' My J.F. Penn fiction is mostly inspired by places, so my stories transport you into an adventure somewhere wonderful, and they all offer a deeper side of transformative contemplation of ‘memento mori' if you choose to read them in that way.  They also have elements of gothic and death culture that I am going to lean into with some merch in 2026, so more of an identity thing than just book sales. I'm not quite sure what this means yet, but no doubt it will emerge. I'll also shape my JFPennBooks.com site into more transformative paths, rather than just genre lists, as part of this shift. My memoir Pilgrimage always reflected a transformation, both reflecting my own midlife shift but I've also heard from many who it has inspired to walk alone, or to travel on pilgrimage themselves. Of course, transformation is not just for our readers or the people we serve as part of our businesses. It's also for us. One of the reasons why we are writers is because this is how we think. This is how we figure out our lives. This is how we get the stories and ideas out of our heads and into the world. Writing and creating are transformative for us, too. That is part of the point, and a great element of why we do this, and why we love this. Which is why I don't really understand the attraction of purely AI-generated books. There's no fun in that for me, and there's no transformation, either. Of course, I LOVE using Chat and Claude and Gemini Thinking models as my brainstorming partners, my research buddies, my marketing assistants, and as daily tools to keep me sparkly. I smiled as I wrote that (and yes, I human-wrote this!) because sparkly is how I feel when I work with these tools. Programmers use the term ‘vibe coding' which is going back and forth and collaborating together, sparking off each other. Perhaps that I am doing is ‘vibe creation.' I feel it as almost an effervescence, a fun experience that has me laughing out loud sometimes. I am more creative, I am more in flow. I am more ‘me' now I can create and think at a speed way faster than ever before. My mind has always worked at speed and my fingers are fast on the keys but working in this way makes me feel like I create in the high performance zone far more often. I intend to lean more into that in 2026 as part of my own transformation (and of course, I share my experiences mainly in the Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn ). [Note, I pay for access to all models, and currently use ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro). So that's the big shift this year, and the idea of the Transformation Economy will underpin everything else in terms of my content. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community The Creative Penn Podcast continues in 2026, although I am intending to reduce my interviews to once every two weeks, with my intro and other content in between. We'll see how that goes as I am already finding some fascinating people to talk to!  Thank you for your comments, your pictures, and also for sharing the episodes that resonate with you with the wider community. Your reviews are also super useful wherever you are listening to this, so please leave a review wherever you're listening this as it helps with discovery.  Thanks also to everyone in my Patreon Community, which I really enjoy, especially as we have doubled down on being human through more live office hours. I will do more of those in 2026 and the first one of the year will blearily UK time so Aussies and Kiwis can come. I also share new content almost every week, either an article, a video or an audio episode around writing craft, author business, and lots on different use cases for AI tools.  If you join the Patreon, start on the Collections tab where you will find all the backlist content to explore. It's less than the price of a coffee a month so if you get value from the show, and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn My Books and Travel Podcast is on hiatus for interviews, since the Masters is taking up the time I would have had for that. However I plan to post some solo episodes in 2026, and I also post travel articles there, like my visits to Gothic cathedrals and city breaks and things like that. Check it out at https://www.booksandtravel.page/blog/  Webinars and live events Along with my Patreon office hours, I'm enjoying the immediacy and energy of live webinars and they work with my focus on transformation, as well as on ‘doubling down on being human' in an age of AI, so I will be doing more this year. The first is on Business for Authors, coming on 10 and 24 January, which is aimed at helping you transform your author business in 2026, or if you're just getting started, then transform into someone who has even a small clue about business in general!Details at TheCreativePenn.com/live and Patrons get 25% off. In terms of live in-person events, it looks like I will be speaking at the Alliance of Independent Authors event at the London Book Fair in March, and I'll attend the Self-Publishing Show Live in June, although I won't be speaking. There might be other things that emerge, but in general, I'm not doing much speaking in 2026 because I need to … Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture This represents a lot of work as I am doing the course full-time. I should be finished in September, and much of the middle of the year will be focused on a dissertation. I'm planning on doing something around AI and death, so that will no doubt lead into some fiction at a later stage! Talking of fiction … Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn The Masters is pretty serious, as is academic research and writing in general, and I found myself desperate to write a rollicking fun story over the holiday break between terms. I've talked about this ‘tall-ship' story for a while and now I'm committing to it. Back in 1999, I sailed on the tall-ship Soren Larsen from Fiji to Vanuatu, one of the three trips that shaped my life. It was the first time I'd been to the South Pacific, the first time I sailed blue water (with no land in sight), and I kept a journal and drew maps of the trip. It also helped me a make a decision to leave the UK and I headed for Australia nine months later in early 2000, and ended up being away 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. I came home to visit of course, but only moved back to the UK in 2011, so that trip was memorable and pivotal in many ways and has stuck in my mind. The story is based on that crossing, but of course, as J.F. Penn my imagination turns it into essentially a ‘locked room,' there is no escape out there, especially if the danger comes from the sea. Another strand of the story comes from a recent academic essay for my Masters, when I wrote about the changes in museum ethics around human remains and medical specimens i.e. body parts in jars, and how some remains have been repatriated to the indigenous peoples they were stolen from. I've also talked before about how I love ‘merfolk' horror like Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter, and Merfolk by Jeremy Bates. These are no smiling fantasy mermaids and mermen. They are predators. What might happen if the remains of a mer-saint were stolen from the deep, and what might happen to the ship that the remains are being transported in, and the people on board?  I'm about a third in, and I am having great fun! It will actually be a thriller, with a supernatural edge, rather than horror, and it is called Bones of the Deep, and it will be out on Kickstarter in April, and everywhere by the summer.  You can check out the Kickstarter pre-launch page with photos from my 1999 trip, the cover for the book, and the sales description at JFPenn.com/bones Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com I've dipped my toe into merch a number of times and then removed the products, but now I'm clear on my message of transformation, I want to revisit this. My books remain core for both sites, but for CreativePennBooks, I also want to add other products with what are essentially affirmations — ‘Creative,' ‘I am creative, I am an author,' and variants of the poster I have had on my wall for years, ‘Measure your life by what you create.' This is the affirmation I had in my wallet for years! For JFPennBooks, the items will be gothic/memento mori/skull-related. Everything will be print-on-demand. I will not be shipping anything myself, so I'm working with my designer Jane on this and then need to order test samples, and then get them added to the store. Likely mid-year at this rate! How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn I have a draft of this already which I expanded from the transcript of a webinar I did on this topic as part of The Buried and the Drowned campaign. It turns out I've learned a lot about this over the years, and also on how to make a collection, so I will get that out at some point this year. I won't do a Kickstarter for it, but I will do direct sales for at least a month and include a special edition, workbook, and bundles on my store first before putting it wide. I will also human-narrate that audiobook. Other possible books I'm an intuitive creative and discovery writer, so I don't plan out what I will write in a year. The books tend to emerge and then I pick the next one that feels the most important. After the ones above, there are a few candidates. Crown of Thorns, ARKANE thriller #14. Regular readers and listeners will know how much I love religious relics, and it's about time for a big one! I have a trip to Paris planned in the spring, as the Crown of Thorns is at Notre Dame, and I have some other locations to visit. My ARKANE thrillers always emerge from in-person travels, so I am looking forward to that. Maybe late 2026, maybe 2027. AI + religion technothriller/short stories. I already have some ideas sketched out for this and my Masters thesis will be something around AI, religion, and death, so I expect something will emerge from all that study and academic writing. Not sure what, but it will be interesting! The Gothic Cathedral Book. I have tens of thousands of words written, and lots of research and photos and thoughts. But it is still in the creative chaos phase (which I love!) and as yet has not emerged into anything coherent. Perhaps it will in 2026, and the plan is to re-focus on it after my Masters dissertation.  I feel like the Masters study and the academic research process will make this an even better book, But I am holding my plans for this lightly, as it feels like another ‘big' book for me, like my ‘shadow book' (which became Writing the Shadow) and took more than a decade to write! How to be Creative. I have also written bits and bobs on this over many years, but it feels like it is re-emerging as part of my focus on transformation. Probably unlikely for 2026 but now back on the list … Experiment more with AI translation AI-assisted translation has been around for years now in various forms, and I have experimented with some of the services, as well as working with human narrators and editors in different languages, as well as licensing books in translation. But when Amazon launched Kindle Translate in November 2025, it made me think that AI-assisted translation will become a lot more popular in 2026. AI audiobook narration became good enough for many audiobooks in 2025, and it seems like AI-translation will be the same in 2026. Yes, of course, human translation is still the gold standard, as is human narration, and that would be the primary choice for all of us — if it was affordable. But frankly, it's not affordable for most indie authors, and indeed many small publishers. Many books don't get an audiobook edition and most books don't get translated into every language. It costs thousands per book for a human translator, and so it is a premium option. I have only ever made a small profit on the books that I paid for with human translators and it took years, and while I have a few nice translation deals on some books, I'm planning to experiment more with AI translation in 2026. More languages, more markets, more opportunities to reach readers. More on this in the next episode when I'll cover trends for 2026. Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway You have to reach readers somehow, and you have to pay for book marketing with your time and/or your money. Those authors killing it on TikTok pay with their time, and those leaning heavily on ads are paying with money. Most of us do a bit of both. There is no passive income from books, and even a backlist has to be marketed if you want to see any return. But I, like most authors, am not excited about book marketing. I'd rather be working on new books, or thinking about the ramifications of the changes ahead and writing or talking about that in my Patreon Community or here on the podcast. However, my book sales income remains about the same even as I (slowly) produce more books, so I need to do more book marketing in 2026. I said that last year of course, and didn't do much more than I did in 2024, so here I am again promising to do a better job! Every year, I hope to have my “AI book marketing assistant” up and running, and maybe this will be the year it happens. My measure is to be able to upload a book and specify a budget and say, ‘Go market this,' and then the AI will action the marketing, without me having to cobble together workflows between systems. Of course, it will present plans for me to approve but it will do the work itself on the various platforms and monitor and optimize things for me. We have something like that already with Amazon auto-ads, but that is specific to Amazon Advertising and only works with certain books in certain genres. I have auto-ads running for a couple of non-fiction books, but not for any fiction. I'd also ideally like more sales on my direct stores, JFPennBooks.com and CreativePennBooks.com which means a different kind of marketing. Perhaps this will happen through ChatGPT shopping or other AI-assisted e-commerce, which should be increasing in 2026. More on that in trends for the year to come in the next show. Double down on being human, health and travel I have a lot of plans for travel both for book research and also holidays with Jonathan but he has to finish his MBA and then we have some family things that take priority, so I am not sure where or when yet, but it will happen! Paris will definitely happen as part of the research for Crown of Thorns, hopefully in the spring. I've been to Paris many times as it's just across the Channel and we can go by train but it's always wonderful to visit again. Health-wise, I'll continue with powerlifting and weight training twice a week as well as walking every day. It's my happy place! What about you? If you'd like to share your goals for 2026, please add them in the comments below — and remember, I'm a full-time author entrepreneur so my goals are substantial. Don't worry if yours are as simple as ‘Finish the first draft of my book,' as that still takes a lot of work and commitment! All the best for 2026 — let's get into it! The post My 2026 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you can take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments. It's always interesting looking back at my goals from a year ago, because I don't even look at them in the months between, so sometimes it's a real surprise how much they've changed! You can read my 2025 goals here and I go through how things went below. In the intro, Written Word Media 2025 Indie Author Survey Results, TikTok deal goes through [BBC]; 2025 review [Wish I'd Known Then; Two Authors], Kickstarter year in review; Plus, Anthropic settlement, the continued rise of AI-narrated audiobooks, and thinking/reasoning models (plus my 2019 AI disruption episode). My Bones of the Deep thriller, pics here, and Business for Authors webinars, coming soon. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. 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. J.F. Penn books — Death Valley, The Buried and the Drowned, Blood Vintage Joanna Penn books — Successful Self-Publishing, 4th Edition The Creative Penn Podcast and my community on Patreon/thecreativepenn Unexpected addition: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. Reflections on my 50th year Double down on being human. Travel and health. You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. J.F. Penn — Death Valley. A Thriller. This was my ‘desert' book, partially inspired by visiting Death Valley, California in 2024. It's a stand-alone, high stakes survival thriller, with no supernatural elements, although there are ancient bones and a hidden crypt, as it wouldn't be me otherwise! The Kickstarter campaign in April had 231 Backers pledging £10,794 (~US$14,400) and the hardback is a gorgeous foiled edition with custom end papers and research photos as well as a ribbon. As an AI-Assisted Artisan Author, I used AI tools to help with the creative and business processes, including the background image of the cover design, the custom end papers, and the Death Valley book trailer, which I made with Midjourney and Runway ML. The audiobook is also narrated by my J.F. Penn voice clone, which took a while to get used to, but now I love it! You can listen to a sample here. I published Death Valley wide a few months later over the summer, so it is now out on all platforms. J.F. Penn — Blood Vintage. A Folk Horror Novel, and Catacomb audiobook I did a Kickstarter for the hardback edition of Blood Vintage in late 2024, and then in 2025, worked with a US agent to see if we could get a deal for it. That didn't happen, and although there were some nice rejections, mostly it was silence, and the waiting around really was a pain in the proverbial. So, after a year on submission, I published Blood Vintage wide, so it's available everywhere now. My voice clone narrated the audiobook, listen to a sample here. I also finally produced the audiobook for Catacomb, which is a stand-alone thriller inspired by the movie Taken and the legend of Beowulf set in the catacombs under Edinburgh. I used a male voice from ElevenLabs, and you can listen to a sample here. The book is also available everywhere in all formats. J.F. Penn — The Buried and the Drowned Short Story Collection One of my goals for 2025 was to get my existing short stories into print, mainly because they exist only as digital ebook and audiobook files, which in a way, feels like they almost don't exist! Plus, I wanted to write an extra two exclusive stories and launch the special edition collection on Kickstarter Collection and then publish wide. I wrote the two stories, The Black Church, inspired by my Iceland trip in March, and also Between Two Breaths, inspired by an experience scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand almost two decades ago. There are personal author's notes accompanying every story, so it's part-short story fiction, part-memoir, and I human-narrated the audiobook. I achieved this goal with a Kickstarter in September, 2025, with 206 Backers pledging almost £8000 (~US$10,600) for the various editions. I also did my first patterned sprayed edges and I love the hardback. It has head and tail bands which make the hardback really strong, gorgeous paper, foiling, a ribbon, colour photos, and custom end papers. The Buried and the Drowned is now out everywhere in all editions. As ever, if you enjoy the stories, a review would be much appreciated! Joanna Penn Books for Authors Early in the year, How to Write Non-Fiction Second Edition launched wide as I only sold it through my store in 2024, so it's available everywhere in all formats including a special hardback and workbook at CreativePennBooks.com. While I didn't write it in 2025, I made the money on it this year, which is important! I also unexpectedly wrote the Fourth Edition of Successful Self-Publishing, mainly because I saw so much misinformation and hype around selling direct, and I also wanted to write about how many options there are for indie authors now. The ebook and audiobook (narrated by human me) are free on my store, CreativePennBooks.com and also available in print, in all the usual places. If you haven't revisited options for indie authors for a while, please have a read/listen, as the industry moves fast! All my fiction and non-fiction audiobooks are now on YouTube After an inspiring episode with Derek Slaton, I put all my audiobooks and short stories on YouTube. Firstly, my non-fiction channel is monetised so I get some income from that. It's not much, but it's something. More importantly, it's marketing for my books, and many audiobook listeners go on to buy other editions especially non-fiction listeners who will often buy print as well. I'm one of those listeners! It's also doubling down on being human, since I human narrate most of my audiobooks, including almost all of my non-fiction, as well as the memoir, and short stories. This helps bring people into my ecosystem and they may listen to the podcast as well and end up buying other books or joining the Patreon. Finally, in an age of generative AI assisted search recommendations, I want my books and content inside Gemini, which is Google's AI. I want my books surfaced in recommendations and YouTube is owned by Google, and their AI overviews often point to videos. Only you can decide what you want to do with your audiobooks, but if you want to listen to mine, they are on YouTube @thecreativepenn for non-fiction or YouTube @jfpennauthor for fiction and memoir. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community It's been another full year of The Creative Penn Podcast and this is episode 842, which is kind of crazy. If you don't know the back story, I started podcasting in March 2009 on a sporadic schedule and then went to weekly about a decade ago in 2015 when I committed to making it a core part of my author business. Thanks to our wonderful corporate sponsors for the year, all services I personally use and recommend — ProWritingAid, Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Bookfunnel, Written Word Media, Publisher Rocket and Atticus. It's also been a fantastic year inside my Patreon Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn so thanks to all Patrons! I love the community we have as I am able to share my unfiltered thoughts in a way that I have stopped doing in the wider community. Even a tiny paywall makes a big difference in keeping out the haters. I've done monthly audio Q&As which are extra solo shows answering patron questions. I've also done several live office hours on video, and shared content every week on AI tools, writing and author business tips. Patrons also get discounts on my webinars. I did two webinars on The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, which I am planning to run again sometime in 2026 as they were a lot of fun and so much continues to change. If you get value from the show and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn We have almost 1400 paying members now which is wonderful. Thanks for being part of the Community! Unexpected goal of the year: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester During the summer as I did my gothic research, I realised that I was feeling quite jaded about the publishing world and sick of the drama in the author community over AI. My top 5 Clifton Strengths are Learner, Intellection, Strategic, Input, and Futuristic — and I needed more Input and Learning. I usually get that from travel and book research, but I wasn't getting enough of that since Jonathan is busy finishing his MBA. So I decided to lean into the learning and asked ChatGPT to research some courses I could do that would suit me. It found the Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester, which I could do full-time and online. It would be a year of reading quite different things, writing academic essays which is something I haven't done for decades, and hanging out with a new group of people who were just as fascinated with macabre topics as I am. I started in September and have now finished the first term, tackling topics around thanatology and death studies, hell and the afterlife in the Christian tradition, and the ethics of using human remains to inspire fiction, amongst other interesting things. It was a challenge to get back into the style of academic essay writing, but I'm enjoying the rigour of the research and the citations, which is something that the indie author community needs more of, a topic I will revisit in 2026. I have found the topics fascinating, and the degree is a great way to expand my mind in a new direction, and distract me from the dramas of the author community. I'll be back into it in mid-January and will finish in September 2026. Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. I said I would “Do a monthly book marketing plan and organise paid ad campaigns per month for revolving first books in series and my main earners.” I didn't do this! I also said I would organise my Shopify stores, CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com into more collections to make it easier for readers to find things they might want to buy. While I did change the theme of CreativePennBooks.com over to Impulse to make it easier to find collections, I haven't done much to reorganise or add new pathways through the books. I'm rolling this part of the goal into 2026. I said I would reinvigorate my content marketing for JFPenn, and make more of BooksAndTravel.page with links back to my stores, and do fiction specific content marketing with the aim of surfacing more in the LLMs as generative search expands. I did a number of episodes on Books and Travel in 2025, but once I started the Masters, I had to leave that aside, and although I have started some extra content on JFPennBooks.com, I am not overly enthusiastic about it! I also said I would “Leverage AI tools to achieve more as a one-person business.” I use AI tools (mainly ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini) every day for different things but as ever, I am pretty scatter gun about what I do. I lean into intuition and I love research so I am more likely to ask the AI tools to do a deep research report on south Pacific merfolk mythology, or how gothic architecture impacted sacred music, or geology and deep time, rather than asking for marketing hooks. I intended to use more AI for book marketing, but as ever, I was too optimistic about the timeline of what might be possible. There's lots you can do with prompting, finessing things and then posting on various platforms, but I'm not interested in spending time doing that. My gold standard for an AI assistant is to feed it the finished book and then say, “Here's a budget. Go market this,” and not have to connect lots of things together into some Frankenstein-workflow. That's not available yet. Maybe in 2026 … Of course, I still do book marketing. I have to in order to sell any books and make money from book sales. We all have to do some kind of book marketing! I have my Kickstarter launches which I put effort into, as well as consistent backlist sales fed by the podcast, and my email newsletter (my combined list is around 60K). I have auto campaigns running on Amazon Ads, and I have used Written Word Media campaigns as well as BookBub throughout the year. This is basically the minimum, so as usual, must do better! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only author saying this! However, my business has multiple streams of income, and I have the podcast sponsorship revenue as well as the Patreon, plus sporadic webinars, which add to my bottom line and don't require paid advertising at all. Reflections on my 50th year I woke up on my 50th birthday in March in Iceland, by the Black Church of Budir out on the Skaefellsnes peninsula. As seals played in the sea and we walked in the snow over the ancient lava field under the gaze of the volcano that inspired Jules Verne Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and my short story, The Black Church, which you can find in my collection, The Buried and the Drowned. On that trip, we also saw the northern lights and had a memorable trip that marked a real shift for me. I've been told by lots of people that 50 is a ‘proper' birthday, as in one of those that makes you stop and reconsider things, and it has indeed been that, although I have also found the last few years of perimenopause to be a large part of the change as well. A big shift is around priorities and not caring so much what other people think, which is a relief in many ways. Also, I don't have the patience to do things that I don't think are worth doing for the longer term, and I am appreciating a quieter life. I'd rather lie in a sunbeam and read with Cashew and Noisette next to me then create marketing assets or spend time on social media. I'd rather go for a walk with Jonathan than go to a conference or networking event. In my Pilgrimage memoir, I quote an anonymous source, “Pilgrim, pass by that which you do not love.” It's a powerful message, and I take it to mean, stop listening to people who tell you what is important. Listen to yourself more and only pay attention to that which you feel drawn to explore. On pilgrimage, it might be turning away from the supposedly important shrine of a saint to go and sit in nature and feel closer to God that way. In our author lives, it might be turning away from the things that just feel wrong for us, and leaning into what is enjoyable, that which feels worthwhile, that which we want to keep doing for the long term. Let's face it, as always, that is the writing, the thinking, the imagination. As ever, I have this mantra on my wall: “Measure your life by what you create.” It's the creation side of things that we love and that's what we need to remember when everything else gets a little much. Many authors left social media in 2025, and while I haven't left it altogether, I don't use it much. I post pictures proving I am human on Instagram @jfpennauthor which automatically post to Facebook. I barely check my pages on Facebook though. I'm also still on X with a carefully curated feed that I mainly use to learn new cool AI things which I share with my Patreon Community. Double down on being human. Travel and health. Yes, I am a human author, and yes, I continue to age! When you've been publishing a while, you need to update your author photos periodically and I finally had a photoshoot I loved with Betty Bhandari Photography, which means I can add the new pics to my websites and the back of my books. Are you up to date with your author photos? (or at least within a decade of the last photoshoot?!) Here are a few of the pictures on Instagram @jfpennauthor. Healthwise, I gave up calisthenics as it was too much on top of the powerlifting and the amount of walking I do. I did another British Powerlifting competition in September in the M2 category (based on age) and 63kgs category (based on weight). Deadlift: 95kgs. Squat: 60kgs. BenchPress: 37.5kgs. While this is less overall than last year, I also weigh less, so I'm actually stronger based on lift to body weight percentage. I have also done a few pull-ups in the last week with no band, which I am thrilled with! On the travel side, Iceland was the big trip, and I also had a weekend in Berlin for the film festival, where I met up with a producer and a director around an adaptation of my Day of the Vikings thriller. That didn't pan out, as most of these things don't, but I certainly learned a lot about the industry — and why it doesn't suit me! Once again, I dipped my toe into screenwriting and then ran away, as has happened multiple times over the years. When will I learn? … Over the summer of 2025, I visited lots of gothic cathedrals including Lichfield, Rochester, Durham, York, and revisiting Canterbury, as part of my book research for the Gothic Cathedral book. I have tens of thousands of words on this project, but it isn't ready yet, so this is carried over into 2026 as it might happen then, depending on the Masters. I spoke at Author Nation in Las Vegas in November 2025, and before it started, I visited (Lower) Antelope Canyon, one of the places on my bucket list, and it did not disappoint. What a special place and no doubt it will appear in a story at some point! How did your 2025 go? I hope your 2025 had some wonderful times as well as no doubt some challenges — and that you have time for reflection as the year turns once more. Let me know in the comments whether you achieved your creative goals and any other reflections you'd like to share.The post Review Of My 2025 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Joanna Penn, host of the Creative Penn Podcast had me on to talk about:

In this newest episode of the En Factor, we are absolutely thrilled to be joined by Joanna Penn, a long time author, podcaster, and international professional speaker! Joanna joins us from the United Kingdom, where she has written a wide variety of genres over her career from nonfiction providing guidance and advice surrounding authoring and self-publishing, to fictional thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoirs under the name J.F. Penn. Since transitioning out of an IT consultant job to begin writing nearly twenty years ago, Joanna has been recognized by the New York Times and USA Today as a bestselling author for her work. Joanna also joins us from the podcasting realm as she is one of the early adopters of connecting with an audience with a podcast through The Creative Penn Podcast, with hundreds of episodes dating back to 2009.  Discussing the topics of authoring and the business surrounding being an author, Joanna is recognized as one of the top 1% of podcasters in the world, and has developed The Creative Penn into a successful business along with her own online community to connect with her audience even further. Joanna has also spoken at numerous events about the authoring space travelling to events all over the world, as well as virtual conferences and workshops. Having followed Joanna and her work for a long time, this episode was a very special one to record and one you will not want to miss a second of! Join us to learn more about Joanna's entrepreneurial journey, and how she chose herself to pursue her passion of authoring, as well as how she leveraged her knowledge and experience to create numerous valuable assets and build a successful business! Key Words - Women in Entrepreneurship, Author

Join author and podcaster Joanna Penn as she shares the key insights behind The Creative Penn Podcast's journey to 10 million downloads. Learn proven strategies for growing your audience, creating consistent value, and building multiple revenue streams through podcasting. Joanna breaks down her 14-year evolution from recording on a basic phone setup to running a profitable creative business. She delivers practical tips for content creation, audience engagement, and podcast monetization that will help you build a sustainable show with long-term success.

Matty Dalrymple talks with Joanna Penn about THE EVOLVING AUTHOR AND SECOND EDITIONS, including the release of the second edition of Joanna's book, HOW TO WRITE NON-FICTION. Joanna discusses the changes in nonfiction writing, including the importance of storytelling, which led her to apply some of the personal elements and insights she has used in her memoir works into this new edition. We delve into the challenges and benefits of putting out a new edition versus updating the existing one, the evolving landscape of self-publishing, and the impact of new technologies on the writing business. Interview video at https://bit.ly/TIAPYTPlaylist Show notes at https://www.theindyauthor.com/podcast.html  If you find the information in this video useful, please consider supporting The Indy Author! https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoir as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster of The Creative Penn Podcast, a creative entrepreneur, and an international professional speaker. Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Matty also writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage, and shares what she's learned on THE INDY AUTHOR PODCAST. She has written books on the business of short fiction and podcasting for authors; her articles have appeared in "Writer's Digest" magazine. She serves as the Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors.  

Looking for the best podcasts to boost your writing skills in 2024? Curious about where authors get top-notch publishing advice? Tune in as we reveal the 10 must-listen podcasts for writers! - Book Award Pro - https://DaleLinks.com/BookAwardPro (affiliate link) Podcasts Mentioned: - The Indy Author Podcast - https://www.theindyauthor.com/podcast.html - Sell More Books Show - https://www.sellmorebooksshow.com/ - Brave New Bookshelf - https://bravenewbookshelf.com/ - Self-Publishing with ALLi - https://selfpublishingadvice.org/podcast/ - Indie Writers Club - https://www.indiewritersclub.com/ - The Creative Penn Podcast for Authors - https://www.thecreativepenn.com/the-creative-penn-podcast-for-authors/ - Self-Publishing Insiders with Draft2Digital - https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/category/self-publishing-insiders-podcast/ - Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing - https://starkreflections.ca/ - Publish & Prosper - https://www.publishprosperpodcast.com/ - Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast - https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast/ Subscribe to The Self-Publishing Hub - https://TheSelfPublishingHub.com Subscribe to my email newsletter - https://DaleLinks.com/SignUp Join Channel Memberships - https://DaleLinks.com/Memberships Join Me on Discord - https://DaleLinks.com/Discord Check out my main YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@DaleLRoberts My Books - https://DaleLinks.com/MyBooks  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts

Is it possible to pursue a passion and hold onto a professional identity as a new mom? YES IT IS. In this conversation host Amanda Haro & Josee Smith unravel the challenges of maintaining a professional identity and the importance of pursuing passions as a new mom. Because when a woman prioritizes herself and what brings her joy, it ultimately makes her a better mom. Josee shares: How rediscovering her writer identity not only helped her feel like herself again, but also made her a better mom How to handle self doubt The secret to finding time to write with a newborn Letting go of perfectionism Self publishing tips for new authors Mentioned in this episode: The Creative Penn Podcast. Connect more with Josee Smith, coach for women authors here. Follow Josee on Instagram. Sign up for Amanda's on-the-go coaching package, “Stop Snapping at Your Kids”, here. Give the algorithm the finger–sign up for F*ck It Mothering Newsletter. Follow F*ck It Mothering on Instagram and YouTube Time Stamps: 0:00 Intro 2:21 I lost myself in the newborn phase 11:09 The mindset shift for pursuing your passion 16:33 Women helping women 19:53 Finding time for writing as a new mom 24:45 Letting go of perfectionism 34:46 The transition into new motherhood  39:26 The joys & challenges of motherhood 43:46 The importance of self trust in motherhood 46:43 Self publishing tips for new women authors 52:24 Lightening questions

The Creative Penn Podcast just hit 10 million downloads as reported by my audio host, Blubrry! The podcast is also the main content on my YouTube channel @thecreativepenn, which has had over 3.9 million views, so the total could be closer to 14m. I'm pretty happy with that, so thanks for listening! Here are some […] The post 7 Lessons Learned From Over 10 Million Downloads Of The Creative Penn Podcast first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Recode.law? Was ist denn das schon wieder? Genau das fragen sich die Nerds auch, immerhin steht ‚Student Driven Academy‘ auf der zugehörigen Webseite. Gut, dass sie Moritz eingeladen haben, der nicht nur den Recode-Podcast macht, sondern auch gleich erklärt, was es mit der ganzen Sache auf sich hat.  Dieser Podcast wurde übrigens – selten aber doch – in persönlicher Anwesenheit aller Nerds und Gäste aufgenommen, wobei es auch jene Episode ist, welche die meisten Verweise auf andere Podcasts hat.      Recode.law  Webseite: https://recode.law  Magazin: https://recode.law/category/magazin/  Podcast: https://recode.law/podcast/  Newsletter (New Law Radar): https://recode.law/category/news/new-law-radar/   Digitale Richterschaft (D): https://digitale-richterschaft.de   NetzBeweis: https://www.netzbeweis.com  Lawyerist: https://lawyerist.com  Podcast: https://lawyerist.com/podcast/  NoL-Podcast-Folge 94 zum Lawyerist: https://www.nerdsoflaw.com/2022/09/nerds-of-law-94-legal-speedboats-with-stephanie-everett-from-the-lawyerist/  Lage der Nation (Podcast): https://lagedernation.org   The Creative Penn (Podcast): https://www.thecreativepenn.com/the-creative-penn-podcast-for-authors/   NoL-Podcast-Folge 40 mit Joanna Penn: https://www.nerdsoflaw.com/2021/02/nerds-of-law-40-scalable-income-with-joanna-penn/  Cui Bono (Podcast, 2. Staffel): https://cui-bono.podigee.io  Seelenfänger (Podcast): https://www.br.de/mediathek/podcast/seelenfaenger/888  Dr. Horror (Podcast): https://www.podcast.de/podcast/3302771/dr-horror  Drachentöter (Podcast): https://www.drachentoeter.at  The Dropout (Mini-Serie): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dropout  Vienna Legal Innovation: https://businesscircle.at/digitalisierung/konferenz/viennalegal/  DocAssemble: https://docassemble.org  Lawlift: https://de.lawlift.com     Subscribe to the Podcast  RSS Feed https://nerdsoflaw.libsyn.com/rss   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/nerds-of-law-podcast/id1506472002   SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/show/12D6osXfccI1bjAzapWzI4   Google Play Store https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&isi=691797987&ius=googleplaymusic&apn=com.google.android.music&link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Idvhwrimkmxb2phecnckyzik3qq?t%3DNerds_of_Law_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16   YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7rmwzBy-IRGh8JkLCPIjyGMA-nHMtiAC   Deezer https://www.deezer.com/de/show/1138852     Nerds of Law®   http://www.nerdsoflaw.com   https://twitter.com/NerdsOfLaw   https://www.instagram.com/nerdsoflaw/   https://www.facebook.com/NerdsOfLaw/   Music by Mick Bordet www.mickbordet.com    Nerds of Law ® ist eine in Österreich registrierte Wortmarke.   

Boy, do I have a treat for you guys! Along with my celebrity co-host Jodi Burnett,  my extra special guest on the show today is none other than Award-Winning, Bestselling Author, Entrepreneur, and Award-Winning Podcaster Joanna Penn!!!!Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller, dark fantasy, crime, and horror author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster as the host of the Creative Penn Podcast that, according to Listen Notes, is in the top 0.5% of three million of all global podcasts. She is also a creative entrepreneur and a highly sought after international professional speaker.In today's episode we discuss:·      Trigger warnings and the implications of using them.·      Her newest book, “Writing The Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness into Words.”·      The moment in time Joanna Penn quit her day job and took the plunge into being a full-time author entrepreneur. ·      Lessons learned from Joanna's business accomplishments and missteps. ·      Keeping up with and benefiting from artificial intelligence and other fast-paced technology. ·      Keeping her business as fresh and fun as when she first started.·      Giving away the farm. When is it appropriate and effective?·      The impact and value of podcasting. Setting realistic goals and expectations.·      Joanna's favorite book she has written.Please visit Joanna Penn's website to learn more about her and her books!Please visit Jodi Burnett at her website to learn more about her and her books.Check out Field Training (Brew City Blues Book 1)!!Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.Please visit the Cops and Writers website. Only for Cops and Writers Podcast listeners! Get 50% off the audiobook version of the F.B.I. K-9 thriller, Avenging Adam by Jodi Burnett. Use code, https://jodi-burnett.com/copsandwriters/Support the show

We've assembled a dream team of industry luminaries to unravel the key trends and issues that will shape publishing in 2024 and likely impact your author business. Join us as we welcome Mark Coker, chief strategy officer, D2D; Jane Friedman, founder & editor of publishing newsletter The Hot Sheet; Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn Podcast; Dale Roberts of the Self Publishing with Dale Podcast; and Orna Ross, co-founder and director of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). //Draft2Digital is where you start your Indie Author Career//  Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We'll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way—and we won't charge you a dime.  We take a small percentage of the royalties for each sale you make through us, so we only make money when you make money. That's the best kind of business plan.  • Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog  • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com  Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Today's show is a special bonus episode of me being interviewed on the Creative Penn Podcast with the most excellent host, Joanna Penn! Joanna and I talk about writing realistic police stories, starting a second career as an author, networking, and the dangers of writing about real-life trauma. Please enjoy my chat with Joanna Penn.In today's episode, we discuss:·      Becoming a writer after a significant first career·      Dos and don'ts of finding a mentor·      Being of service and volunteering with purpose·      Knowing when an author relationship clicks·      Writing entertainment vs. writing for therapy·      Managing different energies in an author conferenceCheck out Joanna's website!Check out Field Training (Brew City Blues Book 1)!!Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.Please visit the Cops and Writers website.  Do you enjoy gritty, action-packed real-life police dramas to get your fill of blood, heartache, and cop humor, and maybe even a little romance?I have partnered up with Michael Anderle and we have released a new crime fiction series called “Brew City Blues.” If you're a fan of Hill Street Blues, Southland, or Bosch you're going to love Brew City Blues! Brew City Blues is now live! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BLR7FX27Support the show

In Season 5, Episode 4 of QWERTY Writing Life, Authors Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith bring back a previous question, with a twist. Where Is Your Art's Place in the Creative World? Answering where an artist fits in the creative world is one challenge that comes with easy to follow questions. Placing art, though, can be more complicated. Joy and Mea share three perspectives to ease the task and guide fellow creatives. Check out the links referenced in the show: QWERTY Writing Life Podcast, Season 5, Episode 3: “Authors & Readers: Let's Get Together!”: https://qwertywritinglife.podbean.com/e/authors-and-readers-let-s-get-together/ Joanna Penn's interview with John Truby on The Creative Penn Podcast: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/11/28/anatomy-of-genre/ The Anatomy of Genres: How Story Forms Explain the Way the World Works, by John Truby: https://bookshop.org/a/95576/9780374539221 (This is Joy's affiliate link for the book on bookshop.org, a fantastic online bookseller that gives back to independent bookstores.) More on Carolina's Legacy Collection—”Southern fiction with Christian roots”—by Joy: https://joyerancatore.com/my-writings/carolinas-legacy-collection/ QWERTY Writing Life Podcast, Season 5, Episode 2: “Where Is Your Place in the Creative World?”: https://qwertywritinglife.podbean.com/e/where-is-your-place-in-the-creative-world/ Subscribe to the QWERTY's monthly newsletter (be sure to click the box next to “opt in to receive news and updates” and check your spam for the confirmation email): https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z9f1z5 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qwertywritinglife Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qwertywritinglife/ Intro music created and performed by Brent Smith. Continue this week's chat via email at qwertywritinglife [at] gmail [dot] com. For more information about the QWERTYs, the show and their writing craft book series, head over to https://qwertywritinglife.com. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you'd rather see their grinning faces, ring the bell on their YouTube channel. Please share our podcast with your friends, too! For more about Mea and her writing, visit storyswell.net. Joy and her details can be found at joyerancatore.com.

Joanna Penn on Writing the Shadow   Episode 89.  Special Edition Interview with Author, Creative, Businesswoman and Host of the Creative Penn podcast, Joanna Penn. Joanna is a multidimensional person with interests spanning psychology, theology, business, writing, publishing, and Artificial Intelligence among many pursuits. She is the author of over 45 books, and she's already imagining the next one. Her most recent is Writing the Shadow: Turn your Inner Darkness into Words. That's the focus of our conversation in this episode. To join the kickstarter campaign or buy the book click here www.TheCreativePenn.com/shadowbook     Personal Updates On Wednesday evening, October 11, I'll be joined by local musician Mike Bussey for an evening called “Songs and Stories of Weird Wisdom.” Cross Mills Library in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Write me at jim@jameshazelwood.net My Weekly Newsletter with an Essay on Mysticism and Psychology https://jameshazelwood.substack.com/ Guest Bio - Joanna (J.F. Penn) Penn www.TheCreativePenn.com  www.CreativePennBooks.com She is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with 45+ books, with almost a million sold across 169 countries and 5 languages. She is a podcaster, international speaker, and award-winning creative entrepreneur.   Joanna (J.F.) Penn  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Thriller Author Podcaster. Speaker. Award-winning Entrepreneur.  For authors and writers: www.TheCreativePenn.com  www.CreativePennBooks.com The Creative Penn Podcast: www.TheCreativePenn.com/podcasts/ www.twitter.com/thecreativepenn   Thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror:  www.JFPennBooks.com  www.instagram.com/jfpennauthor www.Facebook.com/jfpennauthor     Host: James Hazelwood   James Hazelwood, author, bishop, and spiritual companion, is the author of Weird Wisdom for the Second Half of Life and Everyday Spirituality: Discover a Life of Hope, Peace, and Meaning. His website is www.jameshazelwood.net  

Thanks to Joanna Penn of the Creative Penn podcast for having me on as a guest! In this episode, we talk about: You can find the blog version of the interview here. If you don't yet listen to the Creative Penn podcast, you should check it out. It is one of the best publishing podcasts […]

This week on the Writers Advice Podcast I am joined by Young Adult Paranormal Author, Sean Fletcher. On this episode Sean and I talk about: -His writing journey from writing his first book at fifteen, to now. -Creating a Writing Community -Taking your creativity & author business into your own hands - And Sean gives all his advice on starting your Author business Dive into all of Sean's books here. Grab a copy of my Shadow & Shifter Series here JOIN THE WRITERS ADVICE FACEBOOK GROUP Become a part of my ARC TEAM HERE To Contact Sean:Instagram: @seanfletcherauthorWebsite: seanfletcherauthor.comFacebook: Sean Fletcher | Facebook To Contact Me:Website: oliviahillier.comInstagram: @oliviahillierauthorTikTok:@oliviahillierauthor

This week on the Writers Advice Podcast I am joined by Urban Fantasy Author, Heather G. Harris On this episode Heather and I talk about: -Her journey to becoming a writer. -Moving into becoming a full time writer -Creating a Writing Community -Managing family life & writing -Rapid releasing & taking your creativity & writing business into your own hands. Dive into all of Heather's books here. Grab a copy of my Shadow & Shifter Series here JOIN THE WRITERS ADVICE FACEBOOK GROUP Become a part of my ARC TEAM HERE To Contact Heather:Instagram: @heathergharrisauthorWebsite: heathergharris.comFacebook: Heather G Harris | Facebook To Contact Me:Website: oliviahillier.comInstagram: @oliviahillierauthorTikTok:@oliviahillierauthor

In this episode, I discuss a realization I had while watching Glass Onion, one that was helped along greatly by an episode of The Creative Penn Podcast that I listened to recently. Be sure to go check it out at the following address: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2022/04/25/7-figure-fiction/ If you'd like to send a voice message that I can use in a future episode, go to Anchor.fm/WriteANovel. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@HowToFixCinema. If you'd like to stay up to date on all of my projects, simply sign up for my newsletter at TheWritersEverything.org/newsletter. To support this podcast, please go to Patreon.com/QJMartin or Anchor.fm/WriteANovel/support. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/writeanovel/support

How niche should you go with your books? This week's interviewee is Dr. Guy Windsor. He's well known as a martial arts instructor who teaches people the art of sword fighting, but he's also a well-known author in this particular genre or niche. In fact, he's published over 30 books on the subject, and he's created courses too.I first came across Guy Windsor's work in 2015 when he appeared on The Creative Penn Podcast hosted by Joanna Penn, but he's been writing about martial arts and sword fighting and teaching all of the ideas in his books for over 20 years.So, I was fascinated to catch up with somebody who is, firstly, able to sustain an interest in such a niche or specific topic for so long and, secondly, in somebody who was writing about a topic that would have a really specific market.In this episode, we discuss:Combining your real-world interests with your writing interestsUsing Amazon as a lead generation toolHow to format and translate your books appropriatelyThe importance of discipline and motivation in your craftResources:Website: Sword SchoolSupport the showIf you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollinsThanks for listening!

This interview with the podcast host of the award-winning The Creative Penn podcast, Joanna Penn, proves the old adage that “you never know until you ask.” I am a big fan of Joanna's podcast, website, and books. On a whim, I pitched an interview to her and she graciously and generously agreed to it. I am still on a high from this interview and the fabulous information Joanna shared.Joanna is a successful writer and entrepreneur.  She covers every aspect of self-publishing from writing, to publishing, to distributing, and to marketing a book in her over 30 books and her podcasts as host of The Creative Penn Podcast . She has grown a successful business as an author of both fiction and non-fiction books as an indy author. How did she do it and what tips can she share with the aspiring writer?Have a listen… Always positive and a self-proclaimed “cheerleader” for authors she believes that an already published book can find more success than a newly launched book with the right marketing techniques and new publishing outlets. She offers insights into the indie publishing field and how she feels it is transformative for new authors in getting their work out into the world. She answers all of my questions - some pretty basic - ie. can you place your book with two different online retailers as the same time? - Sorry, Joanna. But, hey, this is how my mind works. Listen and learn.Any business owner will discover tips from Joanna's expereince.  Her positivity and enthusiasm is contagous.  She shares the story of her pivotstory, we love pivots stories at Stories and Strategies for Women from a traditional career to scaling a true love business.  In addition to books on publishing and marketing and fiction fantasy books, Joanna's 1st book helps to make a career change titled Career Change: Stop hating your job, discover what you really want to do with your life, and start doing it! | The Creative Penn.You can find Joanna Penn and all about her books and her podcasts at her website, TheCreativePenn.comClaudine Wolk Substack: Get Your Book Seen and SoldClaudine Wolk Website: ClaudineWolk.comClaudine's Instagram - @ClaudineWolkThis episode of Stories and Strategies for Women is brought to you by Eyebobs.  Enter code 'StoriesandStrat10" for a 10% discount at eyebobs.comand by ThriftBooks.com, the fun site to buy and collect used books.

Nerds of Law 79 – Non-Fungible Vladan    Wenn Katharina wegen einer neuen Technologie skeptisch ist, muss natürlich jemand in den Podcast geholt werden, der sich damit auskennt! In dieser Folge reden wir nicht über Schwammerlsuppe, sondern über die Frage, ob NFTs wie Luxushandtaschen sind oder doch nur eine gehypte Lizenz? Also wichtig – diese Folge anhören, bevor Sie sich NFT takeout bestellen!    NoL-Podcast-Episode 75: https://www.nerdsoflaw.com/2021/12/nerds-of-law-75-the-voice-of-xpert-mit-vladan-katanic/  NoL-Podcast-Episode 40: https://www.nerdsoflaw.com/2021/02/nerds-of-law-40-scalable-income-with-joanna-penn/  Creative Penn Podcast: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/   DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com  Account von Michael: https://www.deviantart.com/liebkraft  Discord: https://discord.com  Open Sea (NFT-Plattform): https://opensea.io  Binance: https://www.binance.com/en/nft/home   CryptoPunks: https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks  Metaverse: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaversum  Second Life: https://secondlife.com  Mark Cuben (Investor): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban  Erschöpfungsgrundsatz (Urheberrecht) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erschöpfungsgrundsatz  Tinder: https://tinder.com/de  Ethereum: https://ethereum.org/de/  Proof of Art (Ausstellung): https://ars.electronica.art/newdigitaldeal/de/proof-of-art/  Solidity (Programmiersprache): https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.11/      Subscribe to the Podcast  RSS Feed https://nerdsoflaw.libsyn.com/rss   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/nerds-of-law-podcast/id1506472002   SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/show/12D6osXfccI1bjAzapWzI4   Google Play Store https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&isi=691797987&ius=googleplaymusic&apn=com.google.android.music&link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Idvhwrimkmxb2phecnckyzik3qq?t%3DNerds_of_Law_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16   YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7rmwzBy-IRGh8JkLCPIjyGMA-nHMtiAC   Deezer https://www.deezer.com/de/show/1138852     Nerds of Law®   http://www.nerdsoflaw.com   https://twitter.com/NerdsOfLaw   https://www.instagram.com/nerdsoflaw/   https://www.facebook.com/NerdsOfLaw/   Music by Mick Bordet www.mickbordet.com    Nerds of Law ® ist eine in Österreich registrierte Wortmarke. 

In this episode, I give you tips on how to pitch podcasts to help promote your books and services, while sharing THE MOST exciting news of 2022 for me. Links mentioned during this episode: Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v8Htcj9GsgI Order "Take Back Your Book: An Author's Guide to Rights Reversion and Publishing On Your Terms": http://www.katlynduncan.com/takebackyourbook Website: http://www.katlynduncan.com *Links included in this description are affiliate links. If you purchase with these links, I will receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you, but this helps me provide you with free content every week

In der letzten Folge der ersten Staffel dreht sich alles um den bevorstehenden ersten Drop auf unserer NFT-Plattform Creatokia am 17.11 um 17:11 (MEZ). Gemeinsam mit Eric Bartoletti, der das Projekt seit sieben Monaten betreut und der bereits in Folge 7 des Podcasts zu Gast war, stellen euch Jens & John den Creatoken-Drop vor und geben euch viele weitere spannende Details. Ihr erfahrt in dieser Folge, welche und wie viele Token geben wird, welche Story wir damit erzählen wollen und welche weiteren Benefits es für Creatoken-Käuferinnen und -Käufer geben wird. Außerdem erzählen sie euch, wie genau ihr euch euren Creatoken kaufen könnt und ihr werdet feststellen: Das ist überhaupt nicht kompliziert. Auch wird euch ein Ausblick auf die zweite Staffel in englischer Sprache gegeben werden: Denn die Reise geht natürlich gerade erst los, frei nach dem Motto: The best is yet to come!Anmerkung der Redaktion:Der Creatoken-Drop findet statt am 17.11. um 17:11 (MEZ). Es schadet aber sicherlich nicht, 6 Minuten früher da zu sein. ;-) Wir freuen uns über Feedback und eine Bewertung bei Apple Podcasts. Schaut gerne auch bei www.creatokia.com vorbei und meldet euch für unseren Newsletter an. Weiterführende Links:Hole dir deinen CreatokenKomme in unseren Creatokia Discord-ChannelJohn & Jens waren zu Gast beim Creative Penn Podcast von Joanna Penn. Nachzuhören auf Apple Podcasts und Spotify Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bill welcomes the "author's librarian" Vikki J. Carter to the show. As a professional librarian and author, Vikki J. Carter reveals the techniques that librarians use to help writers effectively find valuable sources. Vikki's book, Research Life A Librarian, is available in eBook and in print. Since the publication of her book in March 2021, Vikki has scheduled a fall appearance on The Creative Penn Podcast, and she will be presenting at the 2021 Self-Publishing Advice Conference. 

Episode 077 / Genevieve Jack, paranormal romance, fantasy, and urban fantasy author, shares how writing and releasing three to four books a year has created a sustainable career. We also cover branding, writing series arcs as well as book arcs, and tips for going wide. Come over and say hi to Jami and Sara in the WIKT Facebook group! You can find show notes and links at wishidknownforwriters.com. Links: www.genevievejack.com The Creative Penn Podcast about writing humor Anne R. Allen's blog post about writing rules and writing fashions Learning to Reverse Engineer a Novel with Cecelia Mecca Cherry Adair Twitter: @Genevieve_Jack Instagram: @authorGenevieveJack Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGenevieveJack The Big List of Craft and marketing books mentioned on WIKT podcast episodes Jami's Launch Plan Sara's Book Release Timeline Checklist

Due to recent events we've had to swap our episodes around a bit. So this week we're using our experience as advertising creatives to discuss creativity and where ideas come from. Then we take a long hard look into the future and begrudgingly welcome the unstoppable rise of our, soon to become, robot overlords Useful links TED talk on creativity - https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_harford_a_powerful_way_to_unleash_your_natural_creativity The Creative Penn Podcast. (12th Feb) episode https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2021/02/12/the-artist-in-the-machine/ Tom Scott's YouTube AI generated episode  https://youtu.be/TfVYxnhuEdU 'Sunspring' short Sci-fi film: https://youtu.be/LY7x2Ihqjmc Write your own story/get AI to write one for you here shortlyAI.com Music by Dano Songs

Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author under the pseudonym J.F. Penn. She has written more than 30 books and sold over 600,000 of them in 149 countries and 6 languages. Joanna is also a podcaster whose The Creative Penn Podcast has been downloaded over 4 million times in 220 countries. Joanna’s website, TheCreativePenn.com, offers information and inspiration on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and how to make a living from your writing. TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 sites for writers by Writer's Digest. Podcast host Matthew Felix and Joanna began with an in-depth discussion of the pros and cons of traditional versus indie publishing, including some common misconceptions. Matthew and Joanna talked in detail about making money as a writer, as described in her book, How to Make a Living with Your Writing. Joanna talked about the importance of writers being clear on their own definitions of success and emphasized the need to develop multiple streams of income. She also shared ways to go about that and examples of potential streams. Joanna noted the importance for writers to be aware of and possibly change their attitudes toward money. Joanna discussed common obstacles that can get in the way of an "author mindset" and ways to address them, including self doubt, writers block, fear of judgement, and fear of failure.   Listen here or on: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | Google | TuneIn | Amazon | Player FM | Deezer Watch on YouTube   Links https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ https://jfpenn.com/ https://www.facebook.com/TheCreativePenn https://twitter.com/thecreativepenn

At the "best time in history" to be a creator you should heed Joanna Penn's advice whether or not you're an author.The New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, who also writes non-fiction for authors, has much to say about how creative entrepreneurs can protect and maximise the value of their intellectual property.Joanna has written 17 novels and 12 books for other writers and sold them in more than 180 countries. She runs her own publishing company and has signed licensing deals with traditional publishers too. Now a multi-six-figure author entrepreneur,  around a third of Joanna's income comes from book sales, with affiliate fees, course sales, sponsorship of her podcasts and donations through Patreon making up other income streams.I fired up the rocket-fuel coffee and bombarded Joanna with questions. Want to publish fiction, non-fiction or interested in taking control of the value of your creative output?  There are encyclopedias-worth of advice crammed into this episode so buckle up and listen well, Joanna is extraordinarily generous and open with her tips. We cover:Being an independently- and traditionally-published authorCommon problems with traditional publishing contracts including astonishing "rights grabs" – don't sign away your soul in blood!Snobbery in the publishing industry and how things have changedJoanna's income breakdown as an author-entrepreneurIndie authors don’t just write, they manage their business: contracts, PR and publicity, ads, commissioning covers or translation and more – how does Joanna decide what to invest her time into and what to outsource?Promotional strategies for fiction and non-fictionAn introduction to the world of new opportunities which AI and technology are unlocking for authors and other creativesAuthors Joanna admires and who inspire herMore free resources you can get from Joanna to help you in your creative and business adventuresJoanna's hundreds of articles, audio podcast episodes, videos and resources are available on her website including her free author blueprint and detailed advice about writing, publishing and marketing your book: https://www.thecreativepenn.comAlso check-out  Joanna's Creative Penn Podcast about writing, publishing, book marketing, and making a living with your writing.

In today's episode, I had the privilege of talking with Joanna Penn - host of The Creative Penn Podcast, fiction and nonfiction author, and futurist. We talked about her journey and where she envisions the indie author space heading as artificial intelligence starts to play more of a role in our author lives. Have a listen!

Ever wonder what it's really like to be a self-published author? Guest Joanna Penn pulls the curtains back on the writing life and shares what she's discovered during her journey of building a six figure author business!   We discuss the myth of overnight success, why being an indie-author requires more than just writing, and the importance of being a life-long learner in order to find success in an ever-changing business world.   Joanna's Links: Visit Joanna's website where you can information about how to become an indie author! https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ You can also download Joanna's nonfiction and fiction books directly from her website here: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/books/   Listen to the Creative Penn Podcast here: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/   My Links: Check out my resume writing services and the new website! https://www.evergrowthcoach.com   Here's a link to my latest book! Go Magic Yourself: The Artemis Necklace Series, Book 3 https://books2read.com/u/3LRnyN   You can also download book one in that series for free on all platforms! Suck It: The Artemis Necklace Series, Book 1 https://books2read.com/u/m0O8Oy   Tools I Use for This Show:   Podbean - I use Podbean to host my website because I think they do a great job of distributing it to podcast channels are super easy to use. If you'd like to give it a whirl, here's a link for one month free! https://www.podbean.com/GoFindOutPodcast   Canva - Free 30 day trial of Canva Pro! Make stunning social media images with Canva's designer tools! https://partner.canva.com/c/2534412/647168/10068   Looking for more inspiration?   Sign up for the Go Find Out Podcast email list and get tips on how to kick your fears to the curb and go find out! You'll also hear about upcoming guests and any new book releases!  https://mailchi.mp/269e51a68b80/im-ready-to-go-find-out   You can also follow this podcast on: Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/GoFindOutPodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gfopodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gofindoutpodcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkAbL0fPvaomE_vZKz-hIQ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@GoFindOutPodcast Email me: EvergrowthCoach@gmail.com   Interested in my fiction or articles about being an Indie-Author? Check out my author website at https://www.jjrussellwrites.com   Want to support the podcast? Buy me a cup of coffee here! https://ko-fi.com/gofindoutpodcast   *Some links included are affiliate links  

This week on Dear Writer we explored several writing resources, and we both chose other podcasts to review and discuss. Sarah talked about The Creative Penn Podcast, hosted by Joanna Penn, while Ashley's choice for the month was also a podcast, The Career Author Podcast, hosted by Zach Bohannon and J. Thorn.

This is a special "Reflections on Other Podcasts" style episode. Mark reflects on Episode 517 of The Creative Penn Podcast, where Joanna Penn interviews Holly Worton. The description from that episode, which is highly recommended that you listen to is this: How can you prevent self-doubt and fear from blocking your creative expression? What if you've built an audience for your books, but then you want to change direction? Joanna Penn discusses these issues and more with Holly Worton in Episode 517 (November 23, 2020) of The Creative Penn Podcast. Holly Worton is the author of 17 nonfiction and self-help books about business mindset and personal growth, as well as on walking and the wisdom of trees and nature. She's also the host of the Into the Woods podcast. Prior to the episode's main content, Mark shares comments from previous episodes, a word from this episode's sponsor . . . You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway. Mark also shares a personal update, which includes. Progression on NaNoWriMo The launch of the OBSESSIONS anthology Publishing another book (unexpectedly) - Nocturnal Screams Vols 1 to 8 The forthcoming release of RUDE AWAKENINGS FROM SLEEPING ROUGH by Peter C. Mitchell   Links of Interest: Episode 517 of The Creative Penn Podcast: Business Mindset and Pivoting Your Author Career with Holly Worton The Creative Penn Holly Worton Mark's NaNoWriMo Profile Episode 163 - Getting a Creative Edge with Mickey Mikkelson Episode 32 - Hybrid Author Publishing with C. C. Humphreys Kobo Writing Life NaNoWriMo Promo (use coupon code NANO2020) Obsessions: An Anthology of Original Fiction Rude Awakenings from Sleeping Rough Mark's Canadian Werewolf Series This Time Around (Book 0) A Canadian Werewolf in New York (Book 1) Stowe Away (Book 1.5) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles (Book 2) Findaway Voices Books2Read Draft2Digital Wide for the Win Submission Form Patreon for Stark Reflections   The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn, discusses FUTURIST TRENDS WE CAN PREPARE FOR NOW. She talks about the role persistence plays in making a career as an indy author, the opportunities offered by content curation—for both creators and consumers—and the importance of bringing a global / digital / mobile mindset to your business model, while also recognizing that we can't beat the machine, so we have to double down on being human. Joanna Penn is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers as J.F. Penn. As an award-winning creative entrepreneur, she also writes non-fiction for authors and hosts The Creative Penn Podcast. Her site TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 sites for writers by Writer's Digest.

In this week's episode, I consider the 5 questions about the writing journey from the 500th episode of the Creative Penn Podcast. 

Writing a book is on the ‘one day' list of many public speakers and entrepreneurs, but after listening to this show you may decide it's a must have rather than a nice to have. That's because today, I'm speaking with Joanna Penn, award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author,about the whys and wherefores of book writing for public speakers. Joanna writes thrillers under J.F.Penn and also writes non-fiction for authors with 30+ books published in 84 countries and 5 languages. She is also a professional speaker, entrepreneur and host of The Creative Penn Podcast, which has been downloaded over 3.7 million times in 219 countries. This episode is jam packed with golden nuggets that apply to business and speaking as well as to how to make writing a book work for you. We cover a lot of ground and I know that you will get massive value from listening. Enjoy! What we talk about: Why you should side hustle before you leap. Success criteria and how you should develop your own measures. The advantages of self-publishing and becoming an ‘indy' author The benefits of documenting your journey. How imposter syndrome affects Joanna. What can trigger imposter syndrome and the antidote. What Joanna learned when her first book failed. The benefits of controlling your IP The difference between non-fiction and fiction How fiction can help people too. Why speakers should consider writing a book. The different streams of income possible. The history of book length and how long yours should be. The importance of picking the right book title. Why you should niche down in book writing and speaking. The first three things you should do if you want to write a book. Thoughts on authenticity. Why it's completely fine if there are already lots of other books in your area of expertise. Why you should consider your definition of success in the way you choose to launch your book. Why being intentional is so critical to your success. Resources* All things Joanna: Website - https://www.thecreativepenn.com Joanna Penn – The Creative Penn Podcast How to Write Non-Fiction by Joanna Penn Public Speaking for Introverts by Joanna Penn Social Media @thecreativepenn Instagram @JFPennauthor Other Resources: Cracking Speech Mate! – How to Use Humour to Make You an Amazing Speaker (Hard Copy) by Sarah Archer Cracking Speech Mate – by Sarah Archer (Ebook) The Success Principles by Jack Canfield  https://www.thespeakingclub.com/masterclass https://www.storyledspeaking.com https://www.standoutpitch.com https://www.saraharcher.co.uk Thanks for listening!

In the final episode of 2018, Mark interviews Science Fiction and Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker, a successful author who has been indie publishing for about eight years.  Prior to the interview, Mark shares a short personal update and thanks new Patron, Michael Lister; he also mentions that he recently released the third special "Reflections on other Podcasts" episodes for Patrons, which appears at www.patreon.com/starkreflections. He also thanks those who reached out to him after hearing him on episode 408 of The Creative Penn Podcast which was released on Dec 23rd. Mark then says a word about this episode's sponsor, Findaway Voices . . .In their conversation, Mark and Lindsay talk about: The main differences between when Lindsay first started out more than eight years ago releasing her first novel, The Emperor's Edge (while also producing her first podcast), and today The joy of getting to a place where each book's sales are enough to ensure paying for the cost of production The pros and cons of writing in multiple series in different genres Reasons why Lindsay released a new series of novels under a fresh and then-unknown pen name in 2014 Managing three mailing lists for the different reader bases that Lindsay has acquired over the years for different genres and pen names Maintaining a very personable persona in the mailing lists and in discussions with her fans The benefit of hosting a podcast with two other people for the SF & Fantasy Marketing Podcast, compared with the solo podcast (Saavy Self-Publishing) that Lindsay created many years earlier What Lindsay gets out of her guests from being one of the hosts of the SF & Fantasy podcast Why she is happy that she didn't experience a lot of luck early on in her writing success, and, instead, slowly built up her readership over time and how they can become loyal fans Lindsay's one experience writing collaboratively and whether or not she plans on doing that again Some of the reasons why, despite her success, Lindsay hasn't yet hired a personal or virtual assistant The early adoption of audiobooks that Lindsay invested in years before most indie authors began creating audiobooks What Lindsay would tell her younger self who was just beginning as a writer After the interview, Mark reflects on the personal connection that Lindsay enjoys and maintains as an important and authentic element of her author journey. Links of Interest: Lindsay Buroker's Website Lindsay's Facebook Page Lindsay on Twitter Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast Findaway Voices WMG Publishing Anthology Workshop RUSH - Hold Your Fire Album Info Patreon for Stark Reflections Stark Reflections Survey   Lindsay Buroker has early memories of convincing childhood friends, pets, and stuffed animals to play the roles of characters in her worlds, so it's safe to say she's been making up stories for a long time. She published her first novel, The Emperor's Edge, in December of 2010 and has written and published more than 50 novels since then, most under her own name, but a few steamier ones under a pen name. When she's not writing, she's usually hiking with her dogs, practicing yoga, playing tennis, or eating entirely too much dark chocolate (she only does one of those things truly well, and she will let you guess which it is). She grew up in the Seattle area but has itchy feet and has moved several times over the years. She most recently landed in Bend, Oregon, where she and her dogs now have eighty acres to roam around on. Someday, she may even have a house on that land.  If you're interested in reading more of her work, you can download The Emperor's Edge, Star Nomad, and Balanced on the Blade's Edge for free in your favorite store.    The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this podcast Chris and Becca toast the first 100 episodes of the Smarty Pants Book Marketing Podcast by reminiscing about their favorite guests and shows, talking about where the podcast is headed in the next 100 episodes, and celebrating a nod from Digital Book World. The podcast closes with an invitation for listeners to give input about where the next 100 episodes should go. And don't miss the special announcement at the end of the show notes. Show Notes & Links: Nominees for Best Use of Podcasting for Book Marketing Award (Digital Book World annual awards). We recommend you check out the other nominees' shows here: The Creative Penn Podcast with Joanna Penn The Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Marketing Podcast with Lindsay Buroker Minorities in Publishing with Jenn Baker Read it Forward (Penguin Random House) Macmillan Podcasts Specific Episodes We Mentioned in the Show: We believe all 100 episodes are smarty pants episodes, but here are just a few of the favorites we mentioned in the show: Episode 99 - Writing to Be Understood with Anne Janzer (nonfiction) Episode 92 - How to Take Your Readers From Strangers to Superfans with David Gaughran Episodes 89-90: Crisis Management For Authors (Chris) Episode 87: How to Run Successful Book Promotions with Ricci Wolman (Written Word Media) Episode 85 - Marketing to Teens and Instagram with Kate Tilton Episode 72 - Where Book Marketing Is Going in 2018 with Kevin Tumlinson (Draft2Digital) Episode 62 - How to Get Into the Inbox with Tom Tate (AWeber) Episode 41 - What's Data Got to Do With Book Sales? with Honoree Corder and Brian Meeks Episode 37 - How to Build Loyal Readers with Author Roni Loren Episode 18 - Blogging to Build an Audience with Anne Allen Episode 15 - Writing Without Bullshit with Josh Bernoff (nonfiction) ** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT** Becca's October Write Better-Faster online class still has some openings. If you've been waiting to get into this popular class, now's your chance. Check out the class in this link for more info. **YOUR CHANCE TO TELL US WHAT TO DO!** We'd like to know what you'd like to see in the next 100 podcasts. Or maybe share with us some personal highlights from the first 100 episodes. Just go to the comments (cksyme.com/episode100) and let 'er rip! Inquiring minds want to know.

Mark interviews Joanna Penn of www.thecreativepenn.com about her latest book The Healthy Writer: Reduce Your Pain, Improve Your Health, And Build A Writing Career For The Long Term (co-authored with Dr. Euan Lawson) and they also have a discussion about trends in publishing and speculation about the opportunities that might be coming for writers. In his introduction to the episode, Mark announces that Findaway Voices is now an official sponsor. He shares his own experience with using Findaway Voices to create audiobooks and also his plans for some forthcoming projects. In Mark's interview with Joanna, they talk about: The new book Joanna has co-written with Dr. Euan Lawson (The Healthy Writer) as a book she has written because it was something she needed to learn The “letter to sugar” that Joanna shares in the new book and how it was affecting both her physical and mental health How the decision to co-author this title came about (measuring the value that each brings to the project) and how Joanna and Euan worked on it together How Joanna balances her three different personas (JF Penn, dark fantasy/thriller author; Joanna Penn, the optimistic writing and publishing personality, and Penny Appleton, the co-authored books she is writing with her mother) The critical importance of scheduling one's time into blocks of activities, including “time off” from particular types of activities The role that personal connections can play in terms of building and sustaining a sense of community for a writer How Joanna incorporates business related travel and decisions on which events to agree to speak at for helping with research for her fiction projects The state of “burn-out” Joanna had reached almost two years ago and what inspired her to double-down on her own podcast instead of letting it go A strategy for how writers and entrepreneurs can approach out-sourcing some of the work they need to do for their own goals and objectives What has changed in the writing and publishing industry since Joanna started as a blogger and a podcaster almost ten years ago The thing that surprised Joanna the most about what happened in publishing in the past year The challenges that come with being an early adopter in the digital publishing space The potential forthcoming shifts that are likely to be coming within the book industry within the next few years and what it means to authors The story structure, drama, character development and masterfully storytelling from particular movies and television program like The Crown, which are also areas of opportunity for writers What the advent of self-driving cars might mean for content creation and distribution In his post interview wrap-up, Mark shares a short section from The Healthy Writer that has resonated with him, discusses the importance of optimism in a writer's life, and then shares his own plans to train for a half-marathon later this year and how that ties back to an inspirational talk that Joanna gave in a backlist episode from her own The Creative Penn Podcast about a 100 Kilometer ultra marathon that she completed and what that taught her about her own writing. This podcast was sponsored by Findaway Voices – a company that gives authors and publishers everything they need to create professionally-narrated audiobooks and reach listeners in more than 170 countries through the world's largest audiobook distribution network Links of interest: The Creative Penn (Joanna Penn's website) Joanna Penn on Twitter Euan Lawson (Doctor and writer) Euan Lawson on Twitter The Healthy Writer Joanna's 9 Lessons Learned about Writing (from the KWL Blog – Episode 74) Findaway Voices

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Kobo is the host for this episode, and introduces a memorable clip from Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna Penn talks compares walking the 100KM "Race to the Stones" with writing. In her talk, Joanna goes into the details regarding 9 Lessons Learned About Writing from Walking 100K in a Weekend: Deadlines and specific goals help you achieve more It's good to have a goal, but training (and the journey) is the point Stamina builds up over time with practice You need a support team, but nobody can do the steps for you There are fun parts, but some of it will be hell Don't compare yourself to others. The race is only with yourself Follow the path others have set before you It's worth spending money to get the right gear A lot of people give up along the way – persistence is the key to success Mark then talks a bit about the beginning and end of the year as common goal-setting times for writers, and shares 5 of the bigger writing goals he had set for himself in 2016. He goes into detail, explaining the highs of meeting deadlines and goals, and the struggles with not achieving a goal (including his own 10 year struggle with getting his novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York published - he started working on it on a series from The Writing Show Podcast back in 2006) - something likely every writer faces.   Links of Interest from this episode The Creative Penn Podcast Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast with Roz Morris Joanna Penn's books on Kobo (About Writing) Joanna's J.F. Penn novels on Kobo KWL Episode 32 - Interview with Dan Rubinstein The "Getting Published with Mark Leslie" episodes of The Writing Show Mark's A Canadian Werewolf in New York on Kobo