OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
I spent a couple of days in Stockholm last week, and did three events in just over 24 hours for Lava Forlag, meeting authors at all stages of the journey. Here are my reflections on my time there.
The indie revolution is expanding… and it is incredibly exciting to see the light dawning in people’s eyes.
The Swedish publishing industry is still in the old traditional, print dominated way of doing things right now. Ebooks haven’t taken off yet, Amazon hasn’t opened its .se store and authors are still focused on the route of agents and publishers to reach readers.
I was told that the biggest publishers are integrated with the media companies – in the same way as Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp owning Harper Collins, the Fox Network, The Times and the Wall Street Journal.
When big media owns all the publishing channels, there is little chance for the independent voice against such established behemoths. But change is coming …
I was asked to Stockholm by the lovely Kristina Svensson, an indie author who sees the digital future coming to Sweden in the next few years. I spoke to the audience of authors about my reality, the world I live in, where authors are writing what they want, publishing what they want, and in many cases, making a decent living from their words.
In my world, authors sell books globally, in ebook, print and audiobook format, they are paid monthly and they have creative freedom and control over timing – all without a publisher.
When I spoke at a packed gallery space in downtown Stockholm on Monday night, I saw the light dawning in some people’s eyes at the possibilities.
Some of those authors saw their future in my current existence – and that is truly exciting.
We take for granted our incredible reality these days and it’s only by stepping outside, to those places where the change hasn’t come yet, that we can really appreciate how far we have come.
I didn’t enter this author life via the traditional publishing route. As a business woman and an entrepreneur, I only pursued this author route when it became a viable business option as a self-publisher.
Embracing the indie way was natural for me, as someone who doesn’t like asking permission, who has no patience with waiting, and no love for power imbalance.
I have stopped speaking at events where the industry tries to cut authors down to size, where they negate creativity and try to crush us back into the box where they once controlled the rules. I don’t want to speak to groups that aren't delighted at the explosion of expression that is happening now.
I don’t want to argue with people who don’t see my way of life as a valid choice. I don’t try to convince people that going indie is fantastic anymore. I only want to speak to those who are keen to learn about the new ways of being a creative in this exciting digital world.
Entrepreneurs create new things out of their heads – and the world we live in right now embraces entrepreneurs. It worships Silicon Valley startups. Well, we’re entrepreneurs too.
Writers are artists and creatives and entrepreneurs, just as the painter, the sculptor, the dancer, the dressmaker – and anyone who creates new things in the world.
Entrepreneurs don’t wait for permission, they try new things, they fail, they pivot, they keep going in the face of criticism.
The next big opportunity: Joint ventures with other creative professionals
One of the sessions I did in Stockholm was a lunchtime seminar on “How to sell more books.” As none of the authors who were present actually self-published direct on KDP, discussions on metadata and keywords fell on rather confused ears. So I started with what seemed to me like the biggest issue.
There are 9 million people who speak Swedish. There are over 400 million who speak English. If you want to sell more books, then they need to be in English. Luckily, Swedes mostly speak excellent English but they still need help with translation and editing. I had the most number of questions about how this would be possible without paying half a years salary to a translator.
Here’s what you have to consider: the world has changed!!
Not just for you, but for everyone involved in the publishing industry. Editors and cover designers, who were laid off from big publishers, now happily freelance for indie authors. Many of them continue to work for traditional publishing, well as freelancing on the side.
In the same way, translators are discovering the joy of working in collaboration with authors. For years, they have been undervalued by publishers, treated as ‘workers’ rather than creatives in their own right. I’ve now partnered with six translators and I can tell you, translation is an art, it’s definitely a creative process.
You don’t have to follow the rules anymore. In fact, there are no rules!
I’m about to start working with a Portuguese translator, who has books of his own in a genre similar to my ARKANE series. He wants to translate mine alongside his, so together, we can mutually promote, and it will be quicker to have more books out if he translates at the same time as writing his own. He’s currently working on Terry Pratchett’s books – and we’re doing a 50:50% royalty split, as I have done with all my translators.
This is only possible in a world where creatives just try stuff, take risks and ‘play' together.
Other creative industries do this very well – look at musicians and dancers, film-makers, actors – most other creative industries collaborate in every work. Authors seem to default to timidity. They say “but I can’t do that .. no one would work with me.” Really? Have you actually tried asking?
Collaboration is a (not so secret) weapon for indies. When you own your own rights, you can do anything you like.
You can put 12 books in a box-set and together, you can hit the New York Times and the USA Today bestseller lists. You can co-write with multiple different authors. You can write a single book with multiple authors. You can do promotions together. You can write books that feature each others’ worlds. You can do anything you like when you own the rights. Other creative professionals work together collaboratively. It’s time for authors to do the same. Try asking and see what happens.
Stop waiting, stop asking, stop begging to be picked. Embrace the opportunities in front of you. Create!
Photo credit: Petra Rolinec,www.8tiesbaby.com
I’ve been involved in so many extraordinary collaborative projects, both with other authors and with people from elsewhere in the arts. They can add up to so much more than the sum of their parts, and the ideas that can flow between you can create something truly remarkable. Even if you only do it once, you will take away from it so many things that will help you with your own work.
Hi Dan, yes, I think it’s going to be one of my major focuses in 2015. I have been a control freak for way too long, time to relax the boundaries!
Thanks so much for the reminder, Joanna!
Yes, we have it good as indie creatives. I’m collaborating with two translators at the moment, one for German and one for Spanish. I’ve collaborated with Indie musicians and songwriters and included mp3s in the digital copies of my contemporary romance series (QR codes to the bandcamp site in the print). I’ve started a new mystery/suspense/thriller/sci-fi/romance (yes, I can have as many genres as I want!) serial series. I’m going to release novellas instead of full-length novels because that’s what I think will work best for this story idea.
It’s awesome being the captain of your own ship. 😉
That’s fantastic, Lee. I love the idea of collaborating across the creative industries 🙂 See you on the high seas!
Great post, Joanna. I was happy to see you addressed the size of the Swedish market and recommended they make their works available in English.
When I was at the Salon du livre in Paris, that was one of the big objections of some authors in the crowd. The English market was big, and therefore those authors could support themselves, but the French market was much smaller, and there wouldn’t be enough sales to support them in their writing. I have to admit though, no one encouraged translating to English, and when I asked one of the French self-published authors Amazon.fr was featuring on all their panels he told me he didn’t bother translating because English people didn’t read works by French authors, even when translated. If you have any opinions on that I’d love to hear them, but I took at as a bit of an old-school view, as I’m not sure readers care where the author is from when they’re browsing Amazon or iBooks looking for something new to try.
Anyway, sounds like you enjoyed your time in Stockholm. Keep up the great work! 🙂
Hi Paris, I think France is probably one of the most closed environments right now, and I wouldn’t expect it to open up anytime soon because of the legal stuff being put in place to stop Amazon discounting and to protect the French industries – all to the detriment of the reader, IMHO. I think a lot of readers read books from people whose nationalities they don’t know – lots of authors use pen names in other languages – so I think it’s odd to think that way. So I agree, that’s an old school opinion and times are a’changing!
I completely agree. I love France, and I even respect the spirit of some of the things they’re trying to do, but they’re going about it in a completely wrong-headed fashion by keeping book prices high and making it hard for people to self-publish their work. There are so many other ways they could help small publishers and bookshops without making it so hard on readers and writers, but unfortunately it seems they’ve just cowed to the big traditional players in the market and are trying to hold onto a status-quo whose time to change has come.
I feel like you may have told me this before and I forgot, but are you looking into French translations of your books at the moment, or waiting?
Just to add my 2 cents, I am a French writer and I make a decent living as a Kindle author. It’s hard work but it is possible. Anyway France will follow the same road as others regarding publishing but it’s gonna take much more time. Why? Because the legacy publishing industry is dragging its feet, whining and asking for more and more help from the government.
On the other hand, you have thousands of writers with sparkle in their eyes like their Swedish counterparts who start understanding what’s really happening. I think soon they will be unstoppable. 😉
As for translations, I hired a (talented!) German translator and signed with AmazonCrossing for the English version of my series (Vol. 1). It will be released in February 2015. Enough to say, I am on Cloud 9 !
PS : By the way Joanna, great post ! I share your free + fighting spirit. 😉
Hi Joanna!
I have a question to add to my comment above : when you share revenues with a translator, how do technically you split the money? Who is taking care of the accounting side and making sure everyone is honest?…
I know you’re busy but thanks in advance for any advice or article you can point me to. 😉
This is my personal setup – but basically, I publish the book and I disburse the funds after receiving it. I keep sales reports in a shared Google Doc so it is all transparent.
A couple of thoughts on this post: first off, I love how happy you look in all the photos, Joanna! I can definitely tell you love what you do, which is so inspiring. 🙂
Regarding translation, it is definitely an art. I used to translate a lot (I stopped because of grad school—doing a masters degree has a way of taking up a ton of your free time!) and am hoping to start again soon. It is very difficult to do and I think it’s definitely more of an art than a science. Unfortunately, I work into English, so we probably won’t be collaborating anytime soon. 🙁 If I worked in a foreign language, though, I would definitely love to work with you.
Thanks 🙂 This is the first set of speaking photos where my passion has been captured and I don’t look like a muppet – big kudos to Petra, the fantastic photographer 🙂
Thanks also for commenting on translation – I think that if more authors put themselves out there, more translators might find them and be interested … it’s a market on the cusp of exploding IMHO!
Hi Joanna
it was a pleasure to finally meet you, and I am so happy because you make me get new energy about this.
Great post and hope to see you in the future <3
Kind regards
Susanne Ahlenius
Hi Susanne, it was great to meet you too, and I am thrilled you have new energy for the years to come – you will be at the forefront of the change, I’m sure!
Joanna, I sooo relate to your insistence on Not Asking for Permission. That’s exactly also the reason I wouldn’t even consider searching for an agent or publisher, besides the fact that the one painting I sold (from a prior incarnation this lifetime as a visual artist) I continue to bemoan no longer owning.
Do you think you need a certain level of success to attract someone willing to collaborate?
Hi Laure, So glad you don’t ask for permission either 🙂
In terms of attracting collaborators, I think building relationships is the way forward – the question is how you do it. It could be podcast interviews, or through twitter or blogging, or in person, or by seeking people out. You need to be visible – however you define that!
I have read many postings and books on this topic but this is the best. Great rallying call for independence and freedom.
Thanks Elizabeth – we love in exciting times!
Joanna,
Thank you for continuing to educate and motivate little ol’ me in Dekalb, Illinois. I have an hour+ daily commute to the day job and use that time to listen to podcasts like yours. I really appreciate the time you take to expedite the learning process for the rest of us.
Derek
Thanks for letting me share your commute, Derek!
Yes!!!
High five Venkatesh!
Joanna, I LOVE this post! It’s so inspiring. Thank you. As you know, I’m a hybrid author who did come from the traditional side and it was a total paradigm shift to realize I could publish what I want. What? I could partner with whom I want? Publish my own books, create an income stream and produce products? UNTHINKABLE previously! And the pubs had us right where they wanted us.
True story: an editor at Harcourt, who knew I was on a listerv of writers (back when listservs first allowed us to connect and take us out of isolation), said to me, “I think it’s creepy.” She meant it was creepy that writers(and illustrators) were communicating with each other. Talk about wanting full control! (Funny side note: other day I interviewed CJ Lyons for my podcast, and because I’m doing a book trailer for her for videosforwriters.com and she suggested I ask you, too! LOL!)
Even with the vast possibility and the enormous excitement it holds for us, it’s very hard for many traditionally published writers to cross that bridge psychologically to being a writerpreneur, especially if one isn’t entrepreneurial in the first place.
So thank you again for such an inspiring post. I know many who will love it, and I’ll share it with my peeps.
Thanks Katie, and from what I’ve seen of all the things you’re doing, you definitely have paradigm shifted! Your video stuff embraces things that most authors are petrified of 🙂 Keep on truckin!
Joanna,
Thanks for another brilliant post, and for emphasizing the need to collaborate with other creatives.
I work in isolation and sometimes think about reaching out to other authors and publishing experts.
What’s holding me back?
Perhaps it’s a lack of vision about what I want to accomplish as an indie author.
Could be it’s a knee-jerk reaction to protecting my privacy.
Maybe I want to avoid others’ expectations of me and the push to finish a “work-in-progress.”
I’m sure there are a lot of reasons why indie writers aren’t herd animals, but when we finish writing and move into marketing, we have to join the herd or (book sales) die.
Perhaps that’s why I save your newsletters, instead of bookmarking your blog. They sit in my inbox, nagging me to move forward.
I value your advice, and the successful way you’ve combined your spirit of entrepreneurship with writing, publishing and marketing. I’m looking forward to the release of your new book this week.
Thank you,
Madeline
Hi Madeline, it’s completely fine to work in isolation if that’s what you WANT to do. There are no rules and there’s no need to do what others are doing. I have just found real joy in the collaborative side of things.
All the best with your books!
Thanks Joanna. My first novel won’t be out ’til November (my own deadline), but I’m constantly plotting world domination with my writing partner. I look at e-books as the tip of the iceberg when it comes to self-publishing. There is nothing stopping us from incorporating other media into our work. Right now my partner and I are using Instagram to post clues in our free middle grade novel delivered in weekly episodes. I foresee using audio and video as well, without having to leave the page we’re reading. The only thing that should hold us back is the technology. Sometimes we have to wait, but these days we won’t have to wait for long. Maybe one day my protagonist will stop off the page in a 3D hologram and say, “Thanks for reading my story, Joanna…you’re not going out dressed like that, are you?” Hey, dream big or stay home, right?
Ron,
Do you have a publisher or are you going independent?
I’ve been talking with Wendy Dean of The Omnibus Publishing about her hybrid/indie-friendly partnerships, and I like her model.
It’s a new company with a very dynamic owner with an interest in new technology.
She told me she’s looking for children’s book authors with works that can be adapted to work with convergent/social media and mobile apps. Sounds like your treasure hunt on Instagram is a neat use of technology.
I don’t think my genre (romance) is right for her company, but you might be interested in viewing her website. Just ‘Google’ it.
(Look at me, trying to reach out and connect two creatives!)
Madeline Sloane
Thanks. Madeline. I’ll look it up. I plan on using both indie and trad publishing. Thanks dor the tip!
Thanks Ron, and I am also a fan of incorporating other technology too – I will be looking at how to use 3D printing in a book, as well as looking more closely at Oculus Rift.
“e-books as the tip of the iceberg”
Indeed they are! I’m so excited about what’s coming next – for me, 3D printing and Oculus Rift VR are on my list for investigating in 2015 🙂
I love this post Joanna:) We have so much to be grateful for as Indie Authors and Entrepreneurs. I have been seriously thinking of finding a German translator for the 1st in my Historical Romantic Suspense series 😉 I love what you’re doing and just reaching out to people and seeing if they would be interested. So I’m going to ask you – would you mind if I asked the German translator you worked with, to see if he’d be interested in a 50 – 50 split with my book?
p.s. awesome post – now I feel inspired to get more books out there… and it was also a kick in the pants – thanks… just what I needed 🙂
Hi Lorna, of course, you’re welcome to ask any of my translators – I can’t promise they will say yes though 🙂
Joanna, I don’t know you, but I just wanted you to know I love this post so much. I saw it over on The Passive Voice and thought I should come over here to express my high five to you.
I agree with you wholeheartedly about giving up trying to convince anyone. People can do what they want. It’s fine. This is what we’re doing. We love it. We don’t have to defend it or evangelize it. There are so many willing entrepreneurial authors who want to learn–why waste time or energy on people who just want to argue about it? Pfft. Boring.
Well done, Joanna!
Thanks Robin – let’s just focus on those people with positive attitudes, keen to engage in this amazing journey!
Wonderful post, Joanna. Thank you for the positive feeling and the excitement.
Dean – you’re my hero 🙂 You and Kris continue to point the way with your indie success. Thank you for all you do and share.
Ah! I love it! I’ve stopped putting my energy into fighting things where the ideas and things that I love are not appreciated. I’d rather focus that energy on creating with and for people that think outside the box.
Exactly 🙂 Create, don’t argue! I might make a t-shirt of that!
This is such an inspirational and positive article and I totally agree with you about the great opportunities for indie authors. I was at a book launch the other night for an acquaintance whose book was published by one of the Big Six and it was a really crazy feeling that at one time I would have been slightly envious,but at the time of attending the launch my self-published historical literary novel was actually in two Amazon Top 20 lists, just behind Hilary Mantel’s latest and just above Cloud Atlas! Who says you can’t do it alone!
Congrats on your success, that’s amazing! I’m sure your friend will be coming over in a few months time, asking how you did it as well …
Hello, Joanna,
I have discovered your books and I have been influenced by your optimism. Your change of life is inspiring.
I am also looking for a translator into English and offer myself as a Spanish translator.
I love your books, thank you for all the ideas that you share.
This really puts things in perspective. What’s become the “norm” for us isn’t even available in other countries. I’m sure this will change soon, and those that have been thinking about it and preparing for it will be in the best shape.