Our Favourite Writer’s Resources
There are many excellent websites and blogs that cover independent writing, publishing, marketing and blogging. I hope you find this list useful. If you have any other ‘must read’ blogs you’d like to share, please let me know here.
(Just a quick disclosure – madhouseMEDIA is a business and I’m an affiliate for some of the products I recommend. That means I’ll receive a small payment if you purchase from this page. I only recommend products I think can help you and that I actually have used myself).
Publishing Resources
Amazon KDP
If you want to publish an eBook then the elephant in the room is Amazon. They make it super easy to create an account, publish and find readers (and hopefully make some money selling eBooks). They are an integral part of indie publishing.
Smashwords
Smashwords is your number 2 stop for eBook Publishing. Create a free account and watch your book get shipped out to Barnes & Noble, Scribed, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, Library Direct and many, many others. Royalties are very generous and it’s simple to view all your sales and download reports for every eBookstore you enrol your masterpiece in.
The Book Designer – Book Launch Toolkit
It’s one thing writing a book, quite another giving it the launch it deserves. Joel has teamed with platform building specialist and marketing expert Kimberley Grabas to create a stunning suite of tools designed to help you craft the perfect book launch with ease. The toolkit includes a complete guidebook outlining twenty tools and techniques to facilitate your launch. Also included is seven templates, and five cheat sheets that will make your book launch highly organized and a superb success.
The Book Designer – Media Kit Template
Get expert guidance to create your media kit!
“You can spend several days researching all the elements that need to go into your Media Kit, and another week or two creating it. Or you can finish the entire project in only a day using our 15 handy done-for-you text templates and 9 photo templates. Just remove the instructional text and add your own. All specially crafted by Publicity Expert Joan Stewart.”
Joel Friedlander
TheBookDesigner.com
Get rid of the guesswork, stress and hours of research. Following Joan’s simple instructions, create a Media Kit that wows journalists, bloggers, reviewers, agents, audience members, buyers—even big publishers. Best of all, you don’t have to be a techie to use these new templates. They are simple to use Word files that were created by Joan, who claims she doesn’t have a technical bone in her body! If you can type, you can use the Media Kit.
Great Blogs on independent Writing and Publishing
These are my favourite bloggers. So much to learn and they have so much to share. Highly recommended reading.
- Winning Writers – Best Resources for Poets and Writers
- Jane Friedman
- The Creative Penn
- Jeff Goins Writer
- The Write Practice
- Copyblogger
Writing Competitions
There are some great writing competitions just waiting for you to show of your chops, and maybe win a prize.
Blogging Tools
Every writer needs to have a platform, (at the least a blog and social media presence). You can get started for free and easily upgrade if needed.
WordPress.com is the easiest way to create a free website or blog. It’s a powerful hosting platform that grows with you. Start here
When you’re ready to power up a WordPress blog with all the bells and whistles then Siteground is highly recommended. Fees start as low as $3.95 per month. Click here to get started.
Writing Tools
Scrivener is writing software designed by writers for writers. Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft. Get your free demo copy for Windows or Mac.
Courses
Scrivener can be a little overwhelming when you first use it. Learn Scrivener Fast is the easiest way to get to quickly unlock the potential of Scrivener and let you get on with what you do best – writing.
The course is chunked down into very easy follow videos that reveal all the hidden features and power of Scrivener. Just click on LEARN MORE button to get the full rundown.
Amazon Best Seller Blueprint
Website Advice
Internet Marketing
Where do we start! To be a successful authorpreneur means treating your writing career as a creative business. If you’re prepared to make that leap, these are the gurus I highly recommend.
Marketing Tools and Platforms
If you choose to go down the Authorpreneur’s path, you’re going to need these tools to put a rocket under the business and marketing side of your writing career.
- Get Response
- Leadpages
- Clickfunnels
- Active Campaign
- Aweber
- Mailchimp
Project Tools
Milanote is a tool for organizing your creative projects into beautiful visual boards. Created to replicate the feeling of working on a wall in a creative studio – visual, tactile, and sometimes a bit messy – Milanote is a great fit for freelancers in both the marketing and design spaces. Milanote has heaps of built-in templates to help you get started with a variety of different projects, from creating a mood board to set out the visual direction for a project, to writing that perfect creative brief. Its sharing features make it a great option for those who regularly provide work to clients for feedback.
Milanote’s basic plan is available for free with no time limit.
Book Creation Tools
Designrr creates a beautifully designed ebook direct from your Website, Microsoft Word, Google Docs…and more. For more Sales, Leads, Customer Engagement. Become an Author, Create Information Products. All done quickly and easily. No Design or Technical skills necessary.
