The Publishing Performance Show Joanna Penn - Multiple Income Streams for Authors: Beyond Just Book Sales - The Creative Penn
Joanna Penn is an award-winning author, New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and host of The Creative Penn podcast. With experience spanning both fiction (under J.F. Penn) and non-fiction, Joanna has built a sustainable writing business over nearly two decades. After leaving her IT consultant career in 2011, she's created multiple income streams from her writing and writing-adjacent activities while publishing over 50 books. Her latest fiction release is "Death Valley," and she's currently working on the 4th edition of "Successful Self-Publishing."
In this episode:
- Joanna's journey from IT consultant to full-time author
- How her definition of success evolved over time
- Multiple income streams for both fiction and non-fiction authors
- Strategies for making a living with writing beyond just book sales
- The importance of building an email list from day one
- Her "50 books by 50" milestone and creating a body of work
- Discovery writing vs. plotting approaches
- Using AI tools to enhance creativity and productivity
- The "great splintering" of indie publishing business models
- Creating premium products like special editions for higher income
Resources mentioned:
- The Creative Penn Podcast
- Books and Travel Podcast
- Scrivener: https://scrivener.app/
- ProWritingAid: https://prowritingaid.com/
- Google Notebook LM: https://notebooklm.google/
- Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/
- ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/
- PickFu - https://www.pickfu.com/
- Patreon https://www.patreon.com/
Book Recommendations:
- "Successful Self-Publishing" (4th Edition coming soon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F66QLTL9?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
- "Death Valley" - Her latest thriller: https://jfpenn.com/deathvalley
- "How to Write a Novel" : https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915425093?&linkCode=ll1&tag=pubperf-20&linkId=400c65572fa1761b41f901ed6233057c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Connect with Joanna Penn:
- Fiction website: https://jfpenn.com/
- Non-fiction website: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/
- The Creative Penn Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-creative-penn-podcast-for-writers/id309426367
- Books and Travel Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/books-and-travel/id1454367912
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