Joanna Penn on Productivity and Audio for Creatives - a podcast by Mark McGuinness

This week’s guest on The 21st Century Creative Podcast is Joanna Penn, an Award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers and dark fantasy, which she writes as J.F. Penn. She is also known for dispensing information and inspiration for authors and creatives via her popular podcast The Creative Penn, and her books and courses.



She’s here to talk about Productivity and Audio for Creatives - two subjects that I think have recently become a lot more relevant due to Coronavirus, drawing on insights from her books Productivity for Authors and Audio for Authors.







In the first part of the show I reflect on the sad news that Kristin Linklater, the world-renowned voice teacher who gave me a wonderful interview for Season 1 of the podcast, passed away last month.



I talk about what I learned from Kristin as a teacher, and also about the positive news that her team and network of teachers will be continuing her work at the Linklater Voice Centre in Orkney. If you have been touched by Kristin’s work and you would like to help it continue, you can contribute to The Kristin Linklater Appeal.



In the coaching segment I share a wish for us all, about how we approach the world after lockdown and social distancing.



Joanna Penn

Regular listeners to The 21st Century Creative will already be familiar with Joanna Penn, a best-selling thriller author and creative entrepreneur who has appeared on the show twice before, talking about Mindset for Creatives and how to be a Healthy Creative.







I’m delighted to welcome her back today to talk about Productivity and Audio for Creatives - two subjects that I think have recently become a lot more relevant due to Coronavirus.



Joanna is a good friend of mine who lives in Bath, just down the road from me in Bristol. In normal times we meet up for a coffee every few weeks to talk creativity and business and generally set the world to rights.



But now we’re not allowed to meet in person, one of the first things we did when lockdown started was to meet up for a virtual coffee on Zoom and try to make sense of the new reality, and work out what we could do to help our fellow creatives find their way forward.



Because she’s always leaning into the future, exploring new technologies and trends, so she’s a great person to have in your corner at a time like this. And she’s got some really valuable insights into what we should be focused on going forward.



We also talked about her two latest non-fiction books, Productivity for Authors and Audio for Authors. Both of these were written before Covid arrived on the scene, but as I say to Jo in the interview, I think they are both very timely in the new reality for different reasons.



Starting with the Productivity book, it’s been a real eye-opener to see how millions of people are suddenly having to adapt to new ways of working, taking more responsibility for their time and their productivity, and Joanna’s book is full of great advice on this subject.







Because like most authors, she’s been doing this for years - working alone in her home office and her local cafe, and producing 33 books as well as hundreds of podcast episodes and blog posts, as well as a whole range of elearning courses.



The second book, Audio for Authors, is a really interesting and unusual topic - because there are plenty of books that talk about creating specific things like audiobooks or podcasts, but this is the first one I’ve come across that takes a strategic look at what audio as a medium can do for your creative career or business.







And let’s face it, with conference venues, theatres and other spaces for connecting with people having taken a massive hit recently,

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