Resources
From Category: Business, Marketing, and Technical Resources
Submittable
This online submissions manager is used by a growing number of contests and journals. You can also use it to manage resumes and job postings.
Submittable’s Universal Submission Tracker
Launching in 2020, Submittable's Universal Submission Tracker is a new record-keeping feature available to anyone with an account at their online submissions platform. The designers say: "In addition to tracking the progress of submissions made using Submittable, you can now add submission details for any opportunity made outside of our platform, including the status, submission date and title, name of the organization reviewing your work, and internal notes specific to that submission."
Substack
Substack is an easy-to-use platform to create free or paid-subscription email newsletters. Good for sending out short articles, poems, or blog posts.
TCK Publishing’s List of 100+ Author Tools
TCK Publishing is an independent publishing company specializing in digital marketing. Founder Tom Corson-Knowles teaches online training courses in self-publishing and book promotion. This list compiles over 100 basic tools to write, design, and market your book.
TCK Publishing’s List of Top Kindle Book Promotion Sites
This list ranks the top sites that advertise discounted Kindle e-books to consumers, based on how much traffic they get. The article also includes a link to TCK's companion piece about sites that list free e-books.
TechRadar Recommends the Best Free Text to Speech Software
This 2018 article from the product review website TechRadar recommends various free programs to convert text to audio files.
Tertulia
Tertulia is a no-frills website builder for authors who don't want to tinker with complex software programs. They have a library of website templates designed to showcase books, and an email capture tool that integrates with popular newsletter programs like Mailchimp. Pricing is under $10/month.
The Business of Being a Writer
By Jane Friedman. The expert publishing blogger teaches writers about the economics of their industry in this book from the University of Chicago Press. The book is intended to help writers craft a realistic plan for earning money from their work.
The Great First Impression Book Proposal
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of five how-to books for writers, including 'The Frugal Book Promoter', has condensed her expertise into 'The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book in 20 Minutes'. Check out other useful resources on her website.
The Innocent Loss of First Rights
In this 2023 article for the writing resource site AuthorsPublish, Craig Westmore explains what "unpublished" means in contest and magazine submission guidelines, and how to avoid inadvertently making your work ineligible. Complicating the issue is the fact that journals' rules differ. Sharing your work for feedback in online forums, for example, can disqualify it for some submission opportunities but not others.
The Novelry
The Novelry offers a variety of online workshops and coaching for novel-writers. Get help with plotting, editing, and staying on track to finish your book. A bonus feature is that they will work with graduates of their courses to pitch their books to literary agents. See their website for success stories.
The Tipping Point for Best Selling Authors
In this 2016 post from his blog Dying Words, a resource for mystery and thriller authors, crime novelist Garry Rodgers interviews nine best-selling indie and self-published writers about the strategies that took their book sales to the next level. Some common themes: build a mailing list, focus on your niche, and keep putting out new titles that are well-written and professionally edited.
TrailerShelf
A project of Wildbound PR, TrailerShelf is a curated site that features book trailers in a variety of genres including literature and fiction, mystery, young adult, spirituality, history, biography, art books, children's literature, and indie authors. There is no charge to submit your book trailer, but the site is selective about acceptance, based on the quality and creativity of the video and the expected audience for the book. They expect to add a paid advertising feature with modest fees. Wildbound PR founder Julia Drake says, "The prices [are likely to] range from $10 for social media amplification to $75 for being featured in our Top Trallers section. There's no way to tell on the site whether placement is paid for or not, but bear in mind that we have to accept the submission, so if we feel that the placement is not warranted, we won't accept the sponsored listing. We will have a special section to highlight great trailers for self-published and indie books to help self-published and indie authors get more exposure."
Translation Shop
Translation Shop is an online clearinghouse for finding certified translators for your official documents, business communications, or academic papers. Their site representative explains, "We are ATA certified, which offers objective evidence that a translator possesses the knowledge and skills necessary to provide a quality translation."
Web Hosting Rating’s Top 100 Web Design Resources
Freelance website developer Lisa Sanovski reviews service providers on her Web Hosting Rating site, which includes this extensive list of her favorite resources for fonts, graphics, stock photos, logo editors, and other web design tools.
Website Setup: 10 Best Website Builders
Website Setup is web designer Robert Mening's tech support site for artists and small business owners seeking to set up their own website or blog. Authors who are weighing the pros and cons of a custom design versus website-building software will benefit from this list, updated annually, of the most user-friendly and cost-effective site builders.
When Do I Earn Out?
Fantasy novelist and software engineer Hana Lee created this free online calculator to determine how many books you must sell to earn out your advance. Input your royalty rates and list prices for hardcover, paperback, e-book, or audiobook sales to see your sales targets and how much your publisher will earn.
When You Write
Editor Jessica Majewski reviews technical tools for writers and offers productivity tips at her website When You Write. Check out her recommendations of the best keyboards, dictation software, grammar-checking programs, editing services, and more.
Writer Beware’s Guide to Selecting Reputable Literary Agents
Writer Beware, a project of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), shares detailed guidelines for evaluating the credibility and experience of literary agents, plus warnings about common scams in this field.
Writer’s Online Toolkit
At the online portal for Maryville University, a Catholic college in St. Louis, MO, this article reviews a number of popular software programs for authors and explains their purpose. Included are website blockers to filter out distractions, programs for keeping track of your drafts, and plotting and editing tools for fiction writers.
Zapsplat
Zapsplat offers hundreds of free sound effects and music clips to download, sorted by style, with helpful short descriptions for every clip. The musical tracks are generally 1-3 minutes long, appropriate for a book trailer video.
