The Creative Penn Podcast
Long-running podcast by Joanna Penn exploring writing, publishing, book marketing, and the creative entrepreneur lifestyle.
Best for: Authors exploring writing craft, publishing business, and creative entrepreneurship — including consistent early coverage of AI writing tools
Details
- Topic
- Publishing Industry, Writing Craft
- Host
- Joanna Penn
- Release Frequency
- Biweekly
- Episodes
- 863 episodes
The Creative Penn Podcast has been a staple of the indie publishing community for over a decade, hosted by award-nominated author and creative entrepreneur Joanna Penn. Episodes cover the full spectrum of the author journey — from the craft of writing and the psychology of creativity to the nuts and bolts of publishing and marketing. Joanna brings a thoughtful, forward-looking perspective, often exploring emerging trends like AI in publishing, global distribution strategies, and the long-term creative entrepreneur lifestyle. The archive has grown to 863+ episodes as of May 2026, with the most recent being EP863 "Verb Your Enthusiasm: Transform Your Writing with Stronger Verbs" (May 11, 2026).
- Best for: Authors who want a holistic view of the creative entrepreneur lifestyle, from writing craft to long-term business sustainability
- Topics: Writing craft, creative mindset, AI and future tech in publishing, multiple streams of income, global publishing, and in-depth author interviews
- Cadence: Joanna shifted to a biweekly interview cadence in 2026 (down from weekly), with intro/solo episodes in between
- Optional support: Free public podcast feed; Patreon supporters at patreon.com/thecreativepenn unlock bonus video and audio content on the author business
- Reach: Self-reported 10.6M+ downloads across 229 countries; 10K–25K downloads per episode places it in the top 1% of podcasts globally (per host's own stats, April 2026)
- Feed note: Apple feed exposes 304 episodes; canonical episode numbering on thecreativepenn.com runs to #863 — use the website numbering for true archive depth
- Where to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and The Creative Penn website
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