Writing & Publishing
Curated Resource List for Fiction Authors
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Articles & Blogs
"Designing Thriller and Mystery Twists That Work", Samantha Skal via janefriedman.com.
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​"Perform your own Developmental Edit: A Step-by-Step Guide", ​Fictionary's Polly Watt, via writtenwordmedia.com.
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​"How to Structure Your Entire Series", Fictionary Co, Writers & Artists.​​
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"Creating An Author Brand When You Write Multiple Genres", June Stevens Westerfield, Writers in the Storm blog.
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"Commercial and Literary Fiction: What's the difference?", Spread the Word.
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"Colin Walsh discusses Kala with Juliet Grame", Barnes & Noble via YouTube; a fascinating insight into writer Colin Walsh's creative process.
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Helping Writers Become Authors, K.M. Weiland - K.M. has an extensive catalogue of useful writing and editing resources, with particular in-depth exploration of story structure, characters and character arcs.​
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Writer Beware - Blog highlighting the latest author and book industry scams and pitfalls; also offers writing advice and industry news.
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Writing & Editing Tools
ProWritingAid - Comprehensive writing and editing software; works best when used for the tasks you need help with most, otherwise it can become overwhelming, e.g. I find it most useful for its repetition and echoes tools, which highlight where I've used the same words or phrases in close proximity. (Affiliate link)
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Scrivener - Novel and book writing software; I've found Scrivener to be invaluable when writing my own novels, particularly in the brainstorming, planning and first draft stages where I can easily view the book's structure in its entirety, and shift chapters or scenes around accordingly. (Affiliate link)​
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Recommended Books
Note: The following contain affiliate links, but are books I've purchased and found useful or inspiring myself, and trust might be beneficial to you too.
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Save The Cat! Writes A Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You'll Ever Need, Jessica Brody; useful for story structure and planning.​
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The Art of Fiction, David Lodge
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The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot, Charles Baxter
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The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin
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The Healthy Writer: Reduce Your Pain, Improve Your Health, and Build a Writing Career for the Long-Term, Joanna Penn & Dr Euan Lawson
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The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life, Noah Lukeman
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The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How To Tell Them Better, Will Storr; if you buy only one book on fiction writing, make it this one; stories are nothing without great characters to embody them, and Will Storr's book is an eye-opener on what makes people tick and how we can transfer that understanding to our fictional characters and stories.
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The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey, Joanna Penn
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Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work, Steven Pressfield​
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Articles, Experts & Organizations
"The Complete Guide to Query Letters", Jane Friedman - A clear, comprehensive guide to preparing your query letter, from a trusted industry source.
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​"How to Write a Synopsis Agents and Publishers Will Love", Dave Chesson, Kindlepreneur - Key components of a synopsis, and what to leave out.
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"6 Book Marketing Strategies for Standalone Books that Boost Sales", Diana Urban, BookBub
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What Type of Deal is That?, Society of Authors - Link to download a PDF explaining the pros and cons of five publishing approaches, to help you decide which might be best for you.
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The Society of Authors - UK trade union for writers, illustrators and literary translators.​
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The Authors Guild - Professional organization supporting US writers and their rights.
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​Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society - UK organization advocating for authors' rightful payment wherever their work is used.
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Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn - Joanna's podcast includes an extensive backlist, her indie publishing knowledge is second to none, and she's written a number of highly informative non-fiction books; every indie author's go-to source for guidance and the latest industry news.
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Alliance of Independent Authors - Association for self-publishing authors; a hive of information, and on your side in all matters self-publishing; join the community and become a member for additional support.
Publishing & Design Tools
Print Cover Caluculator and Templates, Kindle Direct Publishing - Tool for calculating the spine size your print book will require.
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​Publisher Rocket - Invaluable tool for optimizing your book on Amazon; helps you research keywords, categories, and your competition. (Affiliate link)
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Canva.com - For multiple design purposes, such as promotional materials and ad copy, website content, and even book covers.
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​Book Brush - For book-specific design purposes, such as covers, mockups, promotional and ad copy.
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BookFunnel - An essential book-delivery tool for authors; integrates with your email marketing provider when new subscribers download your reader magnet, and also with your online store when you sell direct.
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Free Book Cover Mockups, by DIY Book Design - A handy mockup tool I've used for many years and still find useful.
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Pixabay - Free royalty-free images, for your book cover, promotional materials or website.
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Shutterstock - Paid, royalty-free, high-quality images.
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Tinypng.com - Tool for compressing PNG and JPEG images; useful for ensuring images don't slow your website loading time.
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Marketing & Promotion Resources
Written Word Media - A popular paid book promotion hub; includes email promotions, promo stacking (e.g. around a new book launch), and promos on Facebook and Amazon; takes the burden of organizing promos off your hands and delivers results.
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BookDoggy - Reasonably priced paid book promotion for free and almost-free ebooks.
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The Fussy Librarian - Reasonably priced paid book promotion for free and bargain ebooks.
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bknights - Quick and easy book promotion for a fiver on Fiverr; perfect if you're just starting out, your budget is tight, or you're stacking multiple promotions together; trustworthy, been around for a while, and gives a nice little bump in downloads.
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​David Gaughran - A digital book marketing guru; David is generous with his knowledge - his website and blog is loaded with practical, useful information, and he has a number of excellent non-fiction books too.
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"Recommended Book Promo Sites", Nicholas Erik; a trustworthy source, with top tips and useful resources.​​
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K-lytics - Alex Newton analyzes Amazon's genre categories on an ongoing basis, and provides in-depth reports on the latest top categories, sub-categories, keywords, cover design, and competition. Detailed and useful information if you're researching which markets to target and how.
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Recommended Books
Note: The following contain affiliate links, but are books I've purchased and found useful or inspiring myself, and trust might be beneficial to you too.
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How to Market A Book, Joanna Penn
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Let's Get Digital: How to Self-Publish and Why You Should, David Gaughran
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Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert, Tammi L. Labrecque
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Successful Self-Publishing: How to Self-Publish Your Book in Ebook and Print, Joanna Penn
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Write like a fiction yogi!
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