Joanna Penn explains how to make a living with your writing - including books, blogging, product sales, affiliate income, advertising, sponsorship, speaking - and more. Recorded for the IndieRecon indie author conference April 2015 Watch the video with commentary here: http://youtu.be/r2-bMS9US0k http://indierecon.org/ http://thecreativepenn.com/entrepreneur/

1. How to make a
living with your
writing!
with Joanna Penn
@thecreativepenn
#indierecon

2. 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.

3. 2008 ...

4. 4
What do you value?
What’s non-negotiable?
Design a life, not another job
What is a living?

5. What are you willing to
change to live that life?
What are you
willing to give up?

6. “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/

7. Don’t rely on one source of income.
Develop multiple streams.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23155134@N06/14747424846/

8. 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

9. http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/01/07/know-your-rights/
Publish in multiple formats

10. 10
Royalty split deals available
with narrators
!
Non-fiction authors -
consider recording your own
http://www.acx.com/

11. 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!

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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!

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

16. 16
Write more
books!
!
Digital shelf
space. Total # of
sales.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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. 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. 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

22. 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

23. 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. 24
Develop your voice &
community, social proof and
attract opportunity

25. 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?
(p://www.flickr.com/photos/87765855@N00/3105128025/

26. Content is a
long-term
strategy,
whether it’s
books or a
blog.
!
It takes time
to grow.

27. 27
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

28. 28
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/

29. 29
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/

30. 30
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. 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

32. 32
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. 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

34. www.TheCreativePenn.com/alliance
Continue to learn from others

35. “When should I quit the
day job?”

36. Don’t rely on one source of income.
Develop multiple streams.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23155134@N06/14747424846/

37. • 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

38. !
!
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.

40. 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