To say the world of publishing has changed in the last 10 years would be an understatement. Laughable, almost. The biggest change being, of course, the state of self-publishing. That term used to come with disdain from “real” writers and the traditional publishing world. It was vanity publishing, really—what you did if you couldn’t secure a book deal with a real publisher. Now, self-publishing, better known as indie publishing, has grown into a thriving business where authors have more control and are making more money than ever before. Want proof? See the latest report from Author Earnings. At the forefront of this rise of the indies is Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn. In this interview she shares tips for indie writers and wisdom from her own career.

Also known as thriller writer J.F. Penn, Joanna Penn has been one of the positive and uplifting voices in the indie community, always on the cutting edge of trends. Her podcast, The Creative Penn, is on its way toward 300 episodes and she has sold almost half a million books in 74 countries… as an indie author.

 

Where You Can Find Joanna

• The Creative Penn (Sign up to get your Author 2.0 Blueprint FREE!)
• Joanna’s books
  
• The Creative Penn Podcast
  
• Subscribe to Joanna’s YouTube Channel or connect on Twitter!

A Few of My Favorite Creative Penn Episodes

• How to Write a Book Description with Bryan Cohen (of the Sell More Books Show)
• Optimizing Kindle Categories, List Building, & Facebook Advertising (with Nick Stephenson)
• Publishing Trends in 2016 (with Jane Friedman)

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 030

(You can also find me on Stitcher and iTunes.
Like the show? Subscribe or leave a review.)

Favorite Quote

“The most important thing for anyone– regardless of whether they’re an author– is to decide what is their definition of success.”

The Big Takeaways – Tips for Indie Writers

• Following your curiosity is the most powerful way to be able to keep your enthusiasm for your projects.
• We are living in such an exciting time for writers!
• Non-fiction often sell better than fiction because they help people.
• She doesn’t write what doesn’t interest her, even if it’s something that sells. Instead she follows her curiosity.
• If you have a split focus, you will always be something like 50% into each thing. You will likely have more success going 100% at ONE thing. (Need some focus? Check out my Foundation Series!)
• BUT choose what your measure of success is and then make that intentional choice. For Joanna, that means keeping the fiction and the non-fiction.
• Being a creative professional is a totally viable living in this current time with our global market and the ability to publish our work.
• Some people have the starting energy; some have the finishing energy. You also need the MARKETING energy.

Fiction vs Non-Fiction

• Fiction and non-fiction are separate beasts and you have to treat them differently in the writing and the promotion.
• Fiction tends to be harder to build a list and promote, mostly because people are more easily convinced to sign up or buy something that helps them or solve a problem. As opposed to fiction, which is primarily about education.
• For building your fiction list and marketing, think of your own behavior as a reader.
• If a reader reads 3.4 of your books, then they will remember your name. But often they won’t after just one book.
• The key to making more money as a fiction author is by writing in a series. It’s more valuable and gets readers hooked on your voice and your work.
• We are in a binge culture, so often people will binge on ebooks.
• Once you have something regular and become a habit, people will follow you to the end of time. This can apply to podcasts and fiction series. Consistency is super important.
• If you want to supercharge your launches and growth, paid traffic through Facebook, Twitter, or Book Bub can really help you to find and grow an audience QUICKLY.
• Like anything else, learning to get results from Facebook ads (or other paid advertising) takes testing and trial.
• We need to keep a balance between creating and promoting.

The Question We Need to Ask: What is going to leave a lasting legacy? Our tweets, Facebook, and podcasts will disappear. But books can make us money for the rest of our lives, plus 70 years past when we die. What can I do today that is going to have a lasting impact?

I was really interested in the fact that her split is 50/50 in terms of income and that the crossover of people who are interested in her fiction & her fiction. If you wear a lot of hats, you do need to find that balance that works for YOU. I also loved thinking about the idea of creating binge-worthy content. A few years ago it was all about being snackable, but I love the idea of being binged. And binging.

This was the second time (in a row!) I’ve talked about needing to hire a Finisher. Am I the only one who needs one of those? I just love to START.

Leave a comment letting me what YOU think about the state of indie publishing! Have you self-published? Would you? Let me know!

 

 

Writing, like most things, is not a one-size fits all activity. (Please unfollow and unsubscribe from anyone who tells you that it is.) In college it took me four years to discover how I best wrote papers. Unfortunate for me, considering I had already written something like forty papers by then. To succeed at writing, you need to know how to discover your writing process. You MUST.

Without knowing your process, you will take longer, do frustrating work, and expend more time, energy, and even maybe money to get to an end result of your best writing.

In this part two of my interview with Gabriela Pereira, we talk about her process of writing a book while also running a site and podcast. She shares her tips on how to discover your writing process to write smarter and write better. (Ps- That’s the philosophy over at her site, DIY MFA.) Find more about Gabriela in Episode 28 or head over to the DIY MFA site to sign up for her email list and find great resources. 

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 031

What Gabriela Learned

• If you want something done, ask someone who’s really busy.
• We fit the same amount of work into the time we have. She found ways to fit in the book and still got her other work done.
• You do have to also sometimes pass off work to someone else.
• When you HAVE to be efficient, you find a way. To do this, you need structure and to know your process.
• Many writers jump from zero to what they want to do without stopping to figure out the process.
• She made her own set of rules and held herself to them. Ex: No all-nighters while writing!
• Writing a book is not about imposing someone else’s structure on you.

Read more about finding your creative process from Gabriela HERE.

How to discover your writing process

• Find who you are as a writer in your natural habitat and then you can figure out how to maximize that behavior before you try to write a book. What is YOUR most effective pattern?
• Try things to see what works best for you. It may surprise you.
• Your output in the beginning may be less, but once you discover your process, your pace and your quality will improve.
• Learn your limitations and your process.
• Determine the difference between an obstacle you can push through and something that is a legitimate reason you cannot do something. (Ex: Having four young kids proves to be too much for me to write fiction, but I CAN write non-fiction.)
• It has to be sustainable over the long-term.
• Create your own rules that keep you healthy, but still don’t squash the creative energy.
• Process is organic. You have to know yourself and know how to nurture yourself.
• Writing is an art and a discipline. There needs to be room for the creative part and the work part.
• Sometimes things work in a season, but wouldn’t work in another season or setting.

 

Pain vs Suffering: Pain is objective. You don’t make your word count for the day and that stinks. The suffering is the other angst you throw on top of the pain. You maybe couldn’t change the word count, but worrying and moaning and whining and suffering through the fact that you didn’t make that daily work ends up making everything harder. Failure does happen. Don’t throw suffering and angst on top of it.

What I came away with from this interview is that I need to REMEMBER my process, even on a daily level. If I simply dive into my work each day, I sometimes miss the big picture or work on the wrong project first. If I stand back and look at my big list BEFORE I start, I am much more focused and effective. I work faster and better, whether that is in writing or editing a podcast.

I loved my conversations with Gabriela! She interviewed me on her podcast in episode 78. Listen to that HERE.

Join the Create If Writing Community on Facebook HERE.

Subscribe to learn about weekly trainings and get the weekly Quick Fix HERE.

Want to work on your email list? I’m offering live trainings as I update the content for my Own Your List course. You can buy them individually or get all six trainings at a bit of a discount. This is a great option if you don’t have the course, but you can always go all in and maximize your email list through the Own Your List course. Find info on the live workshops HERE.

 

This is part 1 of my interview with Gabriela Pereira from DIY MFA. I have been a longtime fan of her site and podcast, which is a great resources for writers. We had so much to chat about that I broke the interview up into part 1: Why Writers Need Community and part 2: How to Find Your Writing Process. Want to support the show? Check out the rewards on Patreon! Don’t forget to join the Create If Writing Facebook group for YOUR writer community.

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 028

People often think of writers doing their work in solitude, sitting in a room somewhere with a typewriter (don’t ask me why I ALWAYS see typewriters in my mind) and one million locks on the door to keep the world out. And yeah, we can be an introverted bunch. Though our work is often done alone, in this interview I’m talking with Gabriela Pereira from DIY MFA about why writers need community.

The DIY MFA Podcast was one of the first writing podcasts that I listened to when I had my great podcast epiphany last year. Gabriela Pereira calls herself the instigator of DIY MFA and in the last six years has built an incredible community of writers hungry to learn to write more, write better, and write smarter. DIY MFA is a homegrown writer’s community that is now a full-time job and a fantastic resource for writers across the board. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, or listen to the podcast.

What the Heck IS an MFA?

An MFA is a Master of Fine Arts and is considered the terminal degree for creative writing. I got mine in Fiction from UNCG and Gabriela got hers from the New School in New York. Mandy Wallace has a great post on it here: The Beginner’s Guide to the MFA. I feel like I didn’t do my program at University of North Carolina at Greensboro justice because I LOVED it. I miss it. I learned so much and, as I said in the interview, I would do it again.

Do YOU Need an MFA? 

No. They are not necessary to get published, but you will learn a ton. You will learn a lot alongside other people and from your great mentors and teachers. (I learned from Michael Parker, Craig Nova, and Lee Zecharias.) Writers especially of genre fiction might not fit as well in an MFA program, as they tend to focus more on literary fiction. Gabriela started DIY MFA to provide an alternative for people who wanted the tools to write better, but didn’t have the money or ability to do an MFA or if the program was not a great fit.

The DIY MFA Community 

The blog itself is not overrun with comments because the life of the community happens in the Facebook group—which you can join only if you are a subscriber. The students in the flagship course go even deeper into community with one another. (Find more on the course HERE!) The community is a safe space for questions and being honest and growing in writing TOGETHER. Gabriela has a sense of protectiveness and takes the role of being a moderator to maintain a positive influence. She believes it is the community leader’s prerogative. (I agree!)

Why Writers Need Community

Because writing is so lonely, often writers long for people who GET you. Writing also comes with a lot of rejection. Your fellow writers can be your support system and help you face rejection, negative comments, and what often amounts to a LONG wait. The hallmark of a great community is a group of writers who want to see each other succeed. Writers can also help each other be a resource for information. There are so many rules and guidelines that you have to follow (especially in traditional publishing) and other writers can be fantastic for crowdsourcing.

How to Build Community

Even in this busy social media age, person-to-person connections really help you to accomplish your goals and build a real platform. You aren’t building numbers but a community of readers. Personal recommendations have so much more impact than a banner ad.

Community starts at home, whether that’s your blog, your email, your Facebook group, or your whatever your fundamental network is with other people, and it extends from there. People often forget to ask friends first and think they need to find fans. Start with the people you know.

I will part two of this interview with Gabriela Pereira in a few weeks for you when we dive into writing PROCESS! Want to support the show? Head over to Patreon where you can pledge for as little as $4/month and get some sweet rewards!

Interested in making an income online WITHOUT using sponsored posts and ads? Join me and writer Angela England for a fantastic training on how you can do just that. We will be offering special bonuses to live viewers (you have two dates to choose from!) and will also host the Blog Elevated Twitter Chat on Monday, January 18 where we will also have some great deals. Look for  #BlogElevated on Twitter at 9pm CST.

 

Links from the Episode 

• Mandy Wallace
• Katie Krimitsos on Building Facebook Communities
• Bryan Harris Jumpstart Your Email List

 

Final shout-outs: Check out Sally Hall’s author page and pick up Jackie Hooks’ compelling book, Bare.

We are living in an age of options. You can traditionally publish (if you get through the gatekeepers, that is). You can independently publish through Kindle. Or with a PDF. Or print on demand. You can sell through booksellers or through you own website. For clarification, in this episode Angela and I throw around self publishing and independent publishing interchangeably, though some people are more specific and use independent to mean publishing on a format like Kindle and self-publishing to create something like a PDF or having copies of your book printed.

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 025

(I talked with Ed Cyzewski about this as well in Episode 10 and he had some great thoughts on this as well!)

Angela England runs two fantastic sites: Untrained Housewife (all about things related to homemaking) and AngEngland (dedicated to writing and publishing). On Twitter, connect with her @AngEngland. She is a scrappy entrepreneur (which you will hear when she talks about promoting her book AND making money doing it) and has had great success publishing.

Angela and I are doing an INSANELY actionable training this Friday, November 27 about how you can break free from depending on ads and sponsored posts for your income and make money with your own writing! You are NOT going to want to miss it OR miss the fantastic bundle we have put together just through Cyber Monday. Find out more about Creative Profitability!

Quotable

“Anytime you can begin to be really creative with the way you’re marketing and think outside the box, you are going to be in a position to create long-term buzz and revenue.”

At a Glance

• To find the best topic for your (non-fiction) ebook, try to find the sweet spot where it’s not too broad, but not too narrow. Bad Examples: How to Knit Everything or Knitting Purple Hedgehogs. Good Example: 52 Baby Gifts to Knit You Can Knit in a Weekend. Go for achievable, specific, and targeted toward a particular audience.
• People feel like there is only ONE option: independent publishing or traditional publishing. Instead you should consider what is the best format for your project or writing and what your goals and needs are.
• Editing is a huge piece of the puzzle when you are publishing independently. (Listen to Episode 8 with Sarah Steidl to learn more about working with an editor!)
• If you do need to have help with editing, formatting, or other pieces of your independent books, Angela recommends HIRING, rather than bartering. I’ve had great experiences bartering, so I would say that I agree with her, but if you are going to barter, it can be successful if you have the expectations aligned.
• For promotion, you can give people the book ahead of time to promote and write testimonials that you can use on the sales page. Trying to get in front of other people’s audiences is a GREAT way to get your product out in front of people.
• You can also reach out beyond blogs to magazines and even utilize paid opportunities. Yes, you can get PAID to promote your book. 

Questions to Ask When You are Trying to Decide How to Publish

Time-Frame – How quickly do you need your book? Traditional publishing takes MUCH longer. If you have a time-sensitive topic or reason to hustle, self-publishing is the way to go. Angela talks about how she independently published two books while waiting for her book to be traditionally published.

Technical – What kind of book do you want to produce? CAN you do it yourself or hire someone you trust? Would a traditional publisher be the best choice to have the right quality?

Relevant Links

Problogger Podcast- How I Lost 80% of My Traffic
My advent devotional I talked about – Make Him Room 
Sign up for the Webinar – Creative Profitability