By now, we've all heard of Grammarly and Microsoft Word, but that's not all there is to writing. What about note-taking, website building, cover designs, publishing, or marketing? It's called writing, but there's so much more than just writing.
So, to save you time, we've put together a list of our twenty favorite writing resources for indie authors.
Kindlepreneur specializes in marketing strategy but has dozens of courses, podcasts, reviews, and apps to teach you how to do everything on your journey to publishing, such as outlining, writing, cover design, formatting, marketing, editing, and advertising.
Kindlepreneur is so good that it's been recognized by Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu Publishing, and Writer's Digest.
Book Brush, which you've heard of if you have been on Kindlepreneur since it was praised pretty heavily in a debate of Book Brush vs. Canva.
Book Brush is a design website where you can create book mockups, covers, ads, and social media posts. Similar to Canva, Book Brush narrows its design down to books only and therefore offers more options for writers specifically.
It was mentioned in Kindlepreneur, BookBub, and ProWritingAid, so it must be worth it.
As seen on EmailToolTester and Capterra, MailerLite is anything but lite. Small and easy to use, this email campaign manager carries a mighty punch. You can create email campaigns, websites, landing pages, popups, and so much more, not to mention, it's free.
While it does come with a Pro Version, that has a 14-day free trial, you can create a free account and use a good amount of its features with the basic account. This email marketing genius creation is very easy to use and intuitive with its design.
BookFunnel has been praised so much all over the internet, I can't even list how many sources love BookFunnel, but for a few, JustUseApp and KBoards have both said that BookFunnel is a legit, safe way for authors to get a larger email list, and spread the word about their book, while also securing safe ARCs.
With reader magnets, printable book download codes, and secure, certified email tools, BookFunnel is the best tool on the market for ARCs, all for only $10 a month.
I think every author on planet Earth has heard of Reedsy, but just in case you've lived under a rock your whole life and your name is Patrick, Reedsy is a community where you can write your book, and also find professionals to help you along your journey. With a wide selection of ghostwriters, editors, proofreaders, and translators, there's everything you'd ever need.
Reedsy also has a writing tool where you can write chapter by chapter and then export your beautifully pre-formatted book in multiple different formats, ready to go and ready to publish.
One Stop for Writers is... well, a one-stop for writers. It has everything to start the writing process, from writing ideas, to character building, story maps, worldbuilding, and everything in between.
The website itself is clean and easy to navigate, and just in case you do get lost there is an information desk with everything you need to know about the site. While this site isn't free to use after your first two weeks, it is well worth $9 a month.
With all-around good reviews from ProWritingAid and Carol Baldwin's Blog, we highly suggest you take a look at One Stop for Writers.
While I'm aware that most things from Microsoft are out-of-this-world expensive, OneNote is free. What is OneNote you ask? OneNote is the only note-taking app/website you'll ever need.
You can make different notebooks, and from there different folders, and unlimited pages within those folders, to keep everything organized. It's clean and easy to use, making navigating easy as pie. You can even share your notebooks as a link, PDF, or plain text, as well as printing.
Websites like PCMag, TechRadar, and TrustRadius approve, and so do we.
When it comes to world-building, Notebook.ai steals the show easily. The perfect website for character descriptions, world-building, and writing discussions. As seen on SaasWorthy, TrustPilot, and PruductHunt.
Similar to BookBrush, Canva is a design took where you can create book covers, ads, and social media posts, but it also branches beyond book-y things. YOu can create posters, videos, presentations, and business cards. They can also print these things for you and send them very quickly.
You can use all the basic features for free, or you can upgrade to get advanced features, and also to add a team to your plan. So, if you're a part of a book launch team, Canva might triumph over BookBrush.
From PCMag to Website Planet, the internet loves Wix. While I wouldn't suggest Wix for an online store or musician, because those features are pricy, it is well-fitting for blogging, author websites, and portfolios.
Wix is a website builder, and in short, it’s a very popular one. While there is a limited free plan, which I use for my author website, if you want to do anything advanced or too fancy, you have to upgrade to a paid plan. With over five hundred templates, a drag-and-drop easy-editor, SEO tools, and the ability to hire Wix Professions for some extra assistance, we definitely Wix five stars.
Want to know a secret? This very blog is built with Wix.
I think we're all pretty aware of what KDP is, but in short, it's a publishing company that publishes ebooks and paperbacks straight to the Amazon Marketplace. With easy to use book creator, converter, and publisher, KDP takes the trophy for indie publishing.
It offers a special took for book series, ebooks, and paperbacks also, as well as a cover designer for free. With paperbacks, you get a free ISBN, but ebooks don't need one. With a great community, easy-to-read reports, and an amazon marketing, strategy tool, KPD is the king of the publishing world.
Coming up as a close second in the race for ultimate publishing companies is Lulu Press Inc. Lulu doesn't just publish e-books and paperbacks like KDP though, Lulu ranges from e-books to magazines, to comics, to yearbooks and more, and allows you to make them private for your ordering only.
Lulu Press was recognized by Reedsy as a good publishing company for small books and beginner authors and was given a good rating from the very popular SelfPublishing.com.
One of my personal favorite publishing companies is Kobo, a very popular e-book and audiobook publisher that's easy to use, and completely free. With a simple, step-by-step publishing process, and a quick approval time, Kobo is perfect for first-time authors looking to explore the world of publishing.
Barnes and Noble Press is the parent of the largest bookstore in the US, based on floor space, so it's safe to say that Barnes and Noble is pretty popular, but nevertheless, they still accept indie authors.
I've had personal experience at Barnes and Noble Press before, and to say the least, it takes the cake for my personal favorite. With great customer service, a book cover generator, and a wide selection of publishing tools to help with e-books, paperbacks, and even hardcover books, this is the real deal and the ultimate goal for any indie author.
So, everyone on planet earth has heard of Google, and it's pretty easy to say, we've bought a book or two from Google Play Books, so wouldn't it just make sense for publishing with them? Fortunately, they make it extremely easy for indie and beginning authors.
Reaching over two billion people in over seventy-five countries, you're bound to spread the word about your newest creation pretty quickly. With easy-to-use reports, analytics, and even a promotions center, you'll fall in love with Google Play Books Partner Center.
If you're familiar with the premise of Wattpad, then Webnovel shouldn't be too far off. Unlike Wattpad that combines the author and reader point of view into one site, Webnovel doesn't. Wenovel is the website for readers to read free books and discover new authors, as well as join the where they can discuss the books they've read. Inkstone is for the writers to create their art and then put it onto Webnovel. They can also track their views, and who adds their book into their personal libraries.
Creative Arts Writing is a social platform for writers and readers alike, and it's not just for e-books. You can put books, short stories, poems, essays, and even blog posts there. It's all completely free to use, and there is an option to sell your works as well, which Creative Arts Writing takes no cut from. There's an entire community of authors and readers, and different groups to join for what you like, as well as an entire membership area.
With over two hundred and seventy-five templates and forty-three million designs created since its inception in 2010, PosterMyWall is one of the leading resources in customizing online and print graphics. Catering to more than three million users per month, and thousands of small businesses, PosterMyWall uniquely offers the facility of animated videos and still graphics templates on the same platform.
PosterMyWall is an online resource for all your graphic design needs with tools and templates that make it fast, easy and affordable to create stunning graphics and video marketing content - with no artistic talent required. Every day, millions of businesses and individuals use PosterMyWall tools and templates to create marketing content and get the word out directly with email campaigns, social media publishing, MMS marketing, and more.
Featherproof is a traditional publishing house, and one of the only ones I personally approve of. They are currently not accepting submissions, but when they are, they're easy to work with, easy on your wallet, and offer all-around great customer satisfaction.
Hemmingway has slowly been gaining some traction as the news of its fantastic editing skills has spread. The website itself is completely free to use but very limited. The Hemmingway Editor 3 app is for Mac and PC for only $19.99. On the app, you can publish directly to Medium and WordPress, as well as export your work as a Word Document.
Here is what The New Yorker has to say about Hemmingway - “Hemingway Editor is, like a good editor, attuned to the places where vanity seems to be getting the better of things.”
In conclusion, there are a lot of good resources for writers, they're just slightly hard to find because when we find good ones, we tend to try and keep them our little secret. I had to push myself to not be greedy with a few of these links, but it's time I share my treasure.
So go ahead, dig through my treasure chest, I've removed all the booby traps.