Information, inspiration and interviews on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and making a living with your writing. If you need help with writing your book, or you want to learn how to navigate the new world of publishing and book marketing, then join Joanna Penn and her guests every Monday. Also covers the business of being a writer and how to make money with your books.
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From Indie Author To Creative Empire With Michael Anderle
When we start out as authors, it's all about that first book … but after book one, the sky's the limit in terms of what you can build in terms of a creative business. In today's show, I talk to Michael Anderle, well-known from the 20BooksTo50K group, about how he turned his book series into a co-writing empire and now has hundreds of books in multiple languages, and why he's going wide with his new series.
In the introduction, I mention Jane Friedman's round-up of traditional publishing book trends, and the HotSheet newsletter, plus Google's new voice recorder app that transcribes in real-time, even when offline [TechCrunch]
I also give a little report on my experiences at Frankfurt Book Fair, in particular, talking about the audio summit, the emergence of indie collectives, and the possibilities of BookChain. Thanks to everyone I met and talked to, and special thanks to Marion Hill, author of the Kammbia fantasy series who has a featured snippet in the show. I also thanked APub for the great Amazon Crossing session which was the most author-focused seminar I saw at the Fair, and they mentioned you can submit books for consideration for translation here. Other resources mentioned: Streetlib's new free international email newsletter for those interested in keeping up with international markets.
Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, where you can get free ebook formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Get your free Author Marketing Guide at www.draft2digital.com/penn
Michael Anderle is the award-nominated, internationally-bestselling author of more than 40 urban fantasy and science fiction novels. He’s also the co-author of many more with other authors under his company, LMBPN Publishing, which has now sold over 3 million books. Michael is also the co-founder of the popular 20BooksTo50K Facebook group and events with Craig Martelle.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.
Show Notes
* Where the idea of 20 Books to 50K came from
* Starting to think of writing as a business
* Looking at author earnings as daily income rather than lump-sum advances
* How Michael oversees the production of so many creative works each month and how he works with co-writers
* Using a just-in-time model for editing books as they are written
* Thoughts around licensing and shared Intellectual Property
* Opinions on KU vs wide
You can find Michael Anderle at