Co-Writing In A Shared Universe And Changing Indie Business Models With Martha Carr

How can you create a universe big enough for multiple series? How can you co-write successfully? How can you pivot your business model to achieve your creative, financial, and lifestyle goals? Martha Carr talks about these things and more.

In the intro, Simon & Schuster is back up for sale [Reuters, Episode 662 with Jane Friedman]; The New Gatekeepers report [Ben Evans]; Marvellous Maps.

Today's show is sponsored by Ingram Spark, which I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 40,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries, and more. It's your content—do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Martha Carr is the best-selling author of over 200 urban fantasy novels. Her newest series, Queen of the Flightless Dragons, will be coming out on Kickstarter in May 2023 with Book One, Eamon.

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 is below. 

Show Notes

* The mindset shift when switching from traditional to indie publishing

* How to take notes, and then turn those notes into books

* How to know when an idea is big enough for a universe

* Rules to follow when creating different series arcs within a universe

* Pros and cons of co-writing

* Establishing contracts and protecting intellectual property when co-writing

* How the business model is continually changing for indie authors

* Kickstarter and why it is valuable to growing your audience

You can find Martha Carr at MarthaCarr.com

Header image created by Joanna Penn on Midjourney.

Transcript of Interview with Martha Carr

Joanna: Martha Carr is the best-selling author of over 200 urban fantasy novels. Her newest series, Queen of the Flightless Dragons, will be coming out on Kickstarter in May 2023 with Book One, Eamon. So welcome to the show, Martha.

Martha: Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for asking me.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk to you. So first up—

Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing.

Martha: So I started writing actually, shoot, about 35 years ago,