How to make a living with your

writing!with Joanna Penn @thecreativepenn

#indierecon

J.F.Penn - NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author

The Creative Penn Ltd

Over 250,000 copies sold in 65 countries. Ebook, print & audio format.

German, Spanish & Italian.

* Professional speaker * Non-fiction books, courses,

audio programs * Entrepreneur

Left day-job as IT consultant in Sept 2011.

2008 ...

4

What do you value? What’s non-negotiable?

Design a life, not another job

What is a living?

What are you willing to change to live that life?

What are you willing to give up?

“I want to write a book”

“I’ve written one book”“I’ve written 12 books & I run

a business as an author”

“I’ve written 30+ books & I’m CEO of my global media empire”http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/07/08/arc-of-the-indie-author/

Don’t rely on one source of income. Develop multiple streams.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23155134@N06/14747424846/

Create once Sell forever

Create assets that put income in your pocket for years to

come.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/impactmatt/4581758027/

Think scalable

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/01/07/know-your-rights/

Publish in multiple formats

10

Royalty split deals available with narrators !Non-fiction authors - consider recording your own

http://www.acx.com/

High volume!production

Book as !lead-gen to back

end sales

Book as way into teaching/

speaking

Business models related to books

You can use them all - I do!

Write books that people want: genre

http://authorearnings.com/ Romance !

Mystery / Thriller !

Sci Fi / Fantasy

Look at the Amazon Top 100 overall or the NY Times List or the USA Today or the Sunday

Times list

Write books that people want: search

For non-fiction ideas or for keyword optimisation for fiction/ non-fiction, think of

Amazon as a search engine

Write a series & get people hooked

• Binge consumption culture

• People who find you at any point & love the books will buy the backlist & devour them all

!

• You don’t have to reinvent characters & world so you can

write faster

• Many authors note an income jump at book 3 and book 5

Over 4 million sold!

Write across multiple genres. !Some use different author names.

16

Write more books!

!

Digital shelf space. Total # of

sales.

Think global My Kobo sales (English) globally = 65 countries

(available in 190) !

iBooks = 51 country stores

Amazon Kindle = 171 countries

!

Plus Google Play & Nook, Smashwords &

other stores !

Go English first. German taking off

Reach customers globally by using multiple retailers. Use print on

demand for global reach with print books

Think mobile and digital

“Between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from

61.1% to 69.4% of the global population” eMarketer

Demographic shift into cities + smaller living

spaces + trend towards less ‘stuff’ + rise of digital

native = more digital purchases

Ageing population = big market for ebooks as can change text size &

audiobooks that read to you

Think mobile and digital

Apple CarPlay and Google Auto to be

adopted by mainstream car manufacturers. Will bring audiobooks and

podcasts to the mainstream.

Make sure your website is mobile optimized with responsive design, and your books can be bought via mobile devices. Consider audio for books and also for marketing.

20

Marketing is sharing what you love with

people who will appreciate

hearing about it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33334577@N06/5431318035/

Change your attitude!

21

Platform: Get Noticed In A Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

Discoverability by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

How to Market a Book by Me! In print and ebook formats.

http://viewbook.at/marketbook

High volume!production

Book as !lead-gen to back

end sales

Book as way into teaching/

speaking

Do you need a blog/ other content?

It depends on your business model

X

1) Product sales - books, courses, audio 2) Paid professional speaking opportunities 3) Consulting / services (or freelance writing) 4) Sponsorship / advertising (traffic based) 5) Affiliate income (traffic based)

Reputation, Social Proof, Traffic

Business model around a blog

24

Develop your voice & community, social proof and

attract opportunity

25

Who do you want to attract?

How can you help them/ entertain them?

!

What do you want them to do on your site?

How does the site add to your business? How is it

monetized? Is there a point?

h(p://www.flickr.com/photos/87765855@N00/3105128025/

Content is a long-term strategy,

whether it’s books or a

blog. !

It takes time to grow.

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Product Sales

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/08/03/direct-sales-entrepreneur/

• Do your research into what people actually want - and

relate to your books for cross-selling

• Decide on how you want to sell it

• Higher price for multimedia, so you need to up skill to

produce these

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Professional Speaking• Start speaking for free and get some experience

• Call yourself a speaker, add a speaker’s page to your site, add it to your

business card

• Get some training & join a professional organisation if you want to take this to a

pro level

• Aim for corporates :) Price depends heavily on industry

www.TheCreativePenn.com/speaking/

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Services e.g. freelance writing/coaching

• Develop a reputation by being an authority on a topic and people will

come to you

• Include the option of people hiring you early on & see what happens

• Do some work for free to get testimonials. Proactively seek this out.

www.TheCreativePenn.com/consulting/

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TheWriteLife.com/category/freelancing/

http://www.makealivingwriting.com/

If you want to find freelance writing work …

But remember, this is work for hire. Remember to build your

own assets too.

31

Sponsorship / Advertising

• Develop niche audience & have a regular way of talking

to those people

• Need evidence of traffic

• Approach appropriate companies or/ they will approach you over time

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Affiliate Income

• Develop niche audience

• Find products and services that they need & that fit your brand & long term

goals & ethics

• Promote those products & services in an authentic way. Use them yourself!

33

Learn the business• You need to understand the

business of being an author if you want to do this for a living, not just

the craft of writing.

• Even if you have an agent and use traditional publishing, you want to

understand your rights and the money flow.

• Empower yourself!

http://viewbook.at/authorbusiness

www.TheCreativePenn.com/alliance

Continue to learn from others

“When should I quit the day job?”

Don’t rely on one source of income. Develop multiple streams.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23155134@N06/14747424846/

• When you have sustainable income from multiple sources so you are not too stretched

• When you have downsized

and lowered your expenses so you’re not stretched

• When you know this is what you really want to do & you

can’t take your day job anymore!

• For me it was after 3 years of part-time working & I earn about 1/4 of what I used to

!

!

We all have limited time. !

What will help you create a body of work you’re

proud of? !

And create a life you want to live?

Strategy is choosing what you DON’T do, as well as what you do.

Get your free Author 2.0 Blueprint + email and video series

www.TheCreativePenn.com/blueprint !

!

Any questions? Tweet me @thecreativepenn https://www.facebook.com/

TheCreativePenn