Inspiration and information about writing craft and author business. For independent creatives.
Rediscovering creative joy, writing cross-genre, the challenges of author business, and serialising fiction on SubStack
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Hello Creatives, Thanks to everyone who backed my Kickstarter for Bones of the Deep! I had a wonderful signing day for the foiled hardbacks up at the BookVault printers, so all books should be with you soon. It will be out on the usual platforms over the summer. I was also in London last week for an author conference, having industry business meetings and catching up with writer friends. It's been a productive few weeks but a good reminder that the author life is not just sitting alone writing, much as we might want it to be! It's also about the admin of running a publishing company and connecting with humans in person, which is both a privilege and a challenge for introverts like me. What do you find a challenge about the writing life and/or author business? Click reply and let me know. Don't call it art: Rediscovering creative joyHave you ever lost the joy in your creative work, that sense of fun you had when you were starting out, before the admin and the algorithms drained it away? How do mid-career creatives get it back, and what can a four-year-old teach us about play? Austin Kleon talks about productive procrastination, silly rituals, the case for paper reference books in an AI world, and how his newsletter went from a marketing cost to the day job that keeps the lights on. In the intro, Does social media still sell books? and trial by algorithm. Click here to listen or read the transcript Writing cross-genre, selling direct, and serialising on SubStackWhy does cross-genre fiction take longer to find an audience, but pay off in the long run? How might horror writing help readers — and writers — work through psychological trauma? Is running a direct sales store actually worth the inventory, postage, and learning curve? And how can SubStack work for fiction authors? With psychotherapist and award-winning author P.D. Alleva. In the intro, thoughts on why in-person conferences are still worth it, even when they are a challenge for sensitive introverts! and tips for making the best of conferences. Click here to listen or read the transcript
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Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn
Inspiration and information about writing craft and author business. For independent creatives.
Hello Creatives, I've been working hard on the Fourth Edition of How to Market a Book, which will be pretty extensive! (and hopefully out in Dec/Jan). But it gets a little intense at the desk, so yesterday I went to Kew Gardens in London to see the Henry Moore sculpture exhibition for a (much needed) Artist's Date. I love large sculptures as they change as you move around them and the light and shadow is part of the experience. Moore was also frequently inspired by bones, as of course, am I!...
Hello Creatives, We are heading into the last few months of the year, so I hope you are doing well with your creative goals for 2026! I'm just back from an inspiring trip to Los Angeles to attend the Moonshots Live conference, and I also visited the cathedral, and tried my first Waymo, which was fun! I am now focused on How to Market a Book Fourth Edition, so please click here to do my short survey before 7 October. It should be out on my store in December, and everywhere in early 2027....
Hello Creatives, I'm just back from a week's walking in the Algarve in Portugal, a much-needed break after finishing my Masters dissertation and my little book on writing short stories. Multi-day longer distance walking always helps clear the mind — and the creative cycle begins to turn once more ... I'm working on the 4th Edition of How to Market a Book next, and if you want to sell more print books in-person, check out Mark Leslie Lefebvre's Kickstarter for A Book in Hand: Optimizing Print...