Joanna Penn is a bestselling author, professional speaker and entrepreneur, voted as one of The Guardian Top 100 Creative Professionals 2013. Joanna writes thrillers, crime and horror as J.F.Penn, and practical non-fiction as Joanna Penn, including the #1 bestseller, How To Market A Book. Joanna’s site, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted one of the Top 10 Blogs For Writers three years running and offers articles, audio and video on writing and creative entrepreneurship. Connect with Joanna on twitter @thecreativepenn

How do you balance your work as an author with the demands of your blog, speaking appointments etc?

I have a sign on my wall, “Have you made art today?” so that is always my focus. I’m a morning person so I tend to create early on and then do other things later in the day. I schedule months out in a Filofax and also keep a timesheet on OfficeTime (app for the iPhone) which helps me track the hours I spend on various tasks.
My #1 priority is always to focus on the next book, but I juggle that with promoting existing work, professional speaking and ongoing tasks like interviews, blogging, my podcast and social media. Luckily, I enjoy everything I do, including the marketing, so all of this is my kind of fun!

In your experience, what are the top concerns for self-published authors?

* Building a trustworthy team in order to deliver a high quality product. This includes editors, cover designers, formatters and potentially marketing partners. Self-publishing is a misnomer as it’s all about teamwork, which is why I prefer the term indie (independent) author. I have a great team in place now, but it’s taken a while to get it right.

* Discoverability and being found. Even traditional publishers struggle with this, and professional indie authors are always on the lookout for something new to try. I am always open to new marketing ideas, and I love learning from others. It’s best to have an entrepreneurial attitude of bootstrapping, trying things out and not worrying if something fails.

If you were a writer starting from scratch, how would you build your platform and brand as an indie author?

I don’t think it matters how you’re publishing, as traditionally published authors still need to build a readership too. If starting again, I would focus on writing several books first, so customers have more than one product to purchase and I have time to discover what my own brand might be. I would set up a website with images and information that my readers will enjoy, and I’d have an email list for them to subscribe to so I could communicate about new books and competitions. Then I’d choose one method of ‘discoverability’ and focus on that with lots of energy. That could be podcasting, or YouTube, or Twitter or Pinterest, or whatever. I’d pick one and focus there, meeting readers, connecting with others in the author community and building an audience slowly.

If authors are going to enlist the help of writer service providers, what should be their priorities?

Going back to the top concerns for indies, you need a team and this is a business. I invest primarily in professional editors of different kinds, professional cover design and interior design, as well as tech support for my websites when needed and email list management. I will also invest in specific marketing opportunities if there is evidence that it will deliver sales, for example, reader email services like BookBub.com which have proven sales capability.

What, for you, are the greatest benefits of self-publishing?

Creative freedom, control and speed are important to me, along with my entrepreneurial love of wanting to make an impact on the world.
I also find the financial possibilities of being an indie author attractive. A book is the ultimate scalable product, and fiction, in particular, can earn income for an author for their entire lifetime. My books now sell in 30 countries, and although many of those countries are only a trickle of sales right now, I foresee a huge boom in the digital market globally in the next five years. As an indie, I can move fast and take advantage of those opportunities, although I would always consider partnering with an entrepreneurial publisher for some projects. It’s certainly an amazing time to be an author!