Are you stressed, overwhelmed, or heading toward burnout as an author?
The Relaxed Author shows you how to take the pressure off your art and build a sustainable, enjoyable creative career. Co-authored by award-nominated New York Times bestselling author Joanna Penn and publishing industry veteran Mark Leslie Lefebvre, this book provides practical strategies for authors who want to thrive without sacrificing their health, happiness, or creativity.
What You'll Learn:
Part 1: Relaxed Writing – Write what you love at your own pace. Schedule time to fill your creative well. Improve your writing process in ways that fit your lifestyle, not someone else's prescription for success.
Part 2: Relaxed Publishing – Make empowered publishing choices that suit your personality. Understand traditional and indie publishing paths. Publish at your own pace, retain control of your intellectual property, and deal with challenges like piracy, bad reviews, and cancel culture.
Part 3: Relaxed Marketing – Focus on marketing basics that work. Simplify your author brand and website. Find one form of marketing you actually enjoy and can sustain long-term. Choose social media that suits you—or don't use it at all.
Part 4: Relaxed Business – Decide if you truly want to run an author business. Create multiple income streams. Eliminate unnecessary tasks, organize your processes, and look after your physical and mental health while maintaining a long-term mindset.
Why This Book is Different:
Based on a survey of authors about what stresses them most, this book directly addresses the overwhelm, comparison traps, and impossible standards that plague the writing community. Both authors have built multi-six-figure creative businesses and speak from decades of real-world experience—not theory.
Perfect for authors who:
- Feel overwhelmed by endless writing and marketing tasks
- Struggle to balance writing with life responsibilities
- Compare themselves to other writers and experience imposter syndrome
- Want to build a creative career that lasts for the long term
- Are burning out from trying to write faster, market harder, and do more
What's Included:
- Practical tips from both authors in their own voices
- Quotes and insights from the wider author community
- Resources for further research at the end of every chapter
- Downloadable appendices and bonus materials
About the Authors:
Joanna Penn is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has published 45+ books and sold nearly a million copies worldwide. She left her corporate IT consulting career over a decade ago and now runs a multi-six-figure author business. She writes non-fiction for authors and thrillers as J.F. Penn, and hosts the award-winning podcast, The Creative Penn.
Mark Leslie Lefebvre is a multi-award-nominated writer, podcaster, and publishing consultant at Draft2Digital. He has worked in the book industry since 1992, from bookstores to digital publishing platforms, and hosts the Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing podcast.