How do you know when an idea should become a poem or a short story instead of a longer work? How can indie authors publish and market poetry and short fiction in today's market? Joanna Penn and Orna Ross explore the creative processes, and the business behind writing short-form work, and discuss why being authentically human matters more than ever in our AI-driven world.
In the intro, How publishing has changed since 2015 [
Jane Friedman];
The Two Authors Podcast; Anthropic settles piracy copyright lawsuit [
WIRED;
The New Publishing Standard];
AI-Assisted Artisan Author webinars;
The Buried and the Drowned out now; Long distance walking and resilience at midlife [
Books and Travel]
Today's show is sponsored by
Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to
www.draft2digital.com to get started.
This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at
Patreon.com/thecreativepenn
Orna Ross is a multi-award-winning historical fiction novelist, poet, non-fiction author, and the founder of the
Alliance of Independent Authors. Her latest poetry collection is
Night Light As It Rises.
J.F. Penn is the Award winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror, and travel memoir. Her short story collection,
The Buried and the Drowned, is out now.
This discussion was originally published on
the Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast in July 2025.
* How poems “choose” their writers and the difference between emotion-driven poetry and character/place-driven short stories
* W.B. Yeats' prose outline technique for poetry and why it helps writers actually finish their poems
