Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur,

bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing, publishing options and marketing ideas for your book.

You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint and lots more information at

TheCreativepen.com. And that's Penn with a double N. And here's the show.

Hello creatives. I'm Joanna Penn. And this is episode number 586 of the podcast. And it is Friday the 12th of November 2021 as I record this.

In today's show, I'm talking to Michael Baskar, who is an author and also the founder of

publishing company Canelo. So he is firmly entrenched in the traditional world, but he's also

a kindred spirit around new technologies.

So we have a great conversation about AI tools for writing, blockchain NFTs, and where the

publishers are keeping up with technology. We also challenge each other in this conversation,

so I think you'll find it interesting. So that's coming up in the interview section.

In publishing news this week, well, it's really mean a big few days, to be honest.

Huge news in audio as Spotify acquires Findaway, the parent company of Findaway Voaway voices which is actually just one of the services

under the umbrella of findaway so spotify's press release says it's spotify's ambition to be

the destination for all things audio both for listeners and creators the acquisition of findaway will

accelerate spotify's presence in the audiobook space and will help

us more quickly meet that ambition, says Gustav Sonderstrom, Spotify's chief research and

development officer. We're excited to combine Findaway's team best in class technology platform

and robust audiobook catalogue with Spotify's expertise to revolutionise the

audiobook space as we did with music and podcasts.

We plan to build on Findaways significant innovation in the space and we're going to

supercharge its growth, bringing everything Spotify knows around personalisation and discovery,

...