In this interview Joanna Penn talks about her successful blog on writing, self-publishing and book promotion at The Creative Penn.

Tell us a little bit about your blog.

Many people dream of writing a book, but they don’t realize how accessible this dream is in this digital age. The Creative Penn is designed to help people who want to write a book and publish it, as well as learn how to market and promote it in a competitive market. There are articles, free downloads and also a podcast for people to listen to with interviews, information and inspiration for writers and authors.

I started the blog after I went through the process for my first book and realized other people needed to know this information. I am passionate about helping others achieve this dream, and I love to share what I learn along the way.

How long have you been blogging for? What made you want to start blogging?

I started blogging in July 2008 in order to raise the profile of my first book at http://www.HowToEnjoyYourJob.com. But I discovered I was more passionate blogging about my lessons learned rather than the topic itself so I started http://www.TheCreativePenn.com as a way to share information.

What were some of your biggest challenges when you first started blogging?

I didn’t have any traffic, I didn’t know how to use the technology and I was just a little voice amongst all the rest. I felt inadequate and felt I was howling into the void…. I think most people feel this way when they start blogging.

How did you overcome these challenges?

I decided I wanted to learn from the pros so I did Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind course and put all that into practice. That set me up in terms of the tech side plus a lot of the tips for blogging. But the main thing was being passionate about my topic and blogging 3-5 times per week which got me more of an audience in about 6 months.

What is a recent milestone that you have accomplished with your blog? How were you able to achieve this milestone?

I hit one year of the blog in December 2009 and I’m very happy with that. When you start a blog, you don’t necessarily know where it’s going. The Creative Penn is my third and the only one I have truly got into. It is definitely continuing as I enjoy it so much!

I am also in the Top 5 writing blogs in Australia which is a good milestone.

I have achieved these by posting quality articles and podcasts regularly and social networking to get traffic. I have definitely put the hours in but it has been a very enjoyable time.

How do you manage to find the time to create so much blog content, write your book, do speaking engagements, update Twitter, and also hold down a day job?

Time to do all these things is a matter of priority for everyone! In 2009 I set myself a goal to establish a blog presence as a platform for my writing, so it was a priority to get a decent weight of online content behind me. I basically spent most evenings and weekends in 2009 working on “The Creative Penn” content as mentioned, and I also work 4 days per week so could also spend that extra day on it.

I schedule my content by writing all blog posts on a sunday and also schedule my tweets with SocialOomph. I cram podcast interviews in before work as US decent time is just early for me. I don’t have a TV or children so that also provides me more time.

In 2010, I am aiming to complete a novel as well so I am going to get up earlier in the mornings to write creatively before work.

What is your next goal that you want to achieve with your blog?

I am aiming to be no 1 Writing blog in Australia and to do that I need to raise my stats in all areas so I am continuing to focus on quality posts, traffic and subscribers.

What is your best tip for other people out there who might be new or struggling with their blogging?

I still think I am new at blogging :) but here’s some tips

1) Only blog about what you are passionate about and can sustain over the long term. It doesn’t make money for most people so you do it for love. I love my blog and the interaction I get with readers, but I couldn’t have sustained it for any other topic

2) Hang in there! It definitely takes 6 months at least to get some traction. I found Twitter very useful for boosting traffic as well, so combine your quality posts with social networking for faster results.

Thanks again Joanna for taking the time to do this interview.

Joanna Penn is the author of 3 non-fiction books, a blogger, speaker and international business consultant. Her blog, The Creative Penn, is aimed at helping people write, publish, sell and promote their own books. She is also the creator of the Author 2.0 Blueprint, helping authors/writers use web 2.0 tools. It is available for free at http://www.author2zero.com. Joanna is British but is based in Brisbane, Australia.

Tagged as: Books, Interviews, Writing