The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

The Career Author With J Thorn And Zach Bohannon

03.09.2020 - By Joanna PennPlay

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What does it take to build a full-time career from your writing? In today's show, I talk to J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon about some of their lessons learned from the first two years of full-time author entrepreneur life, plus co-writing, in-person experiences, and more.

In the intro, London Book Fair cancellation [BBC] and why the coronavirus might accelerate trends towards remote working, AI and robotics. Plus, Simon & Schuster might be sold [Publishing Perspectives]; DeepZen are releasing the first AI-narrated audiobooks with Findaway [press release], Descript.com releases a new version of Overdub with editing for generated intonation; Deepl.com released a new AI translation model, ‘a quantum leap in translation quality' [Deepl blog]. I recommend A World With Work by Daniel Susskind. 

Do you need help with marketing, publicity or advertising? Find a curated list of vetted professionals at the Reedsy marketplace, along with free training on writing, self-publishing and book marketing. Check it out at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy

J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon co-write post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi novels under Molten Universe Media as well as separately writing horror and dark fantasy. They also run The Career Author together with the weekly podcast and events like Authors on a Train, Rock Apoc, and the Career Author Summits. Their latest non-fiction book is The Three Story Method.

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

* Tips for finding a good fit in a collaboration partner

* Why an ongoing writing collaboration needs systems

* Sharing a simple story construction method with authors

* Why plotting and organizing is so important for co-writing, and how difficult it was to co-write a book with 4 authors on the original, authors on a train, with Joanna and Lindsay Buroker [Listen to the episode here]

* Why introverts J. and Zach make time for hosting live events

* Small in-person events as a way of connecting and supporting authors

* Lessons learned from leaving the day job

* How non-fiction books can also create additional streams of income

* On communicating to a spouse about wanting to quit the day job

* Approaching the traditionally published world with help from mentor JD Barker

* The future of author-publishing businesses

You can find J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon at <a href="https://thecareerauthor.

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