Resources for Independent Authors

So you want to self-publish? Here are some of the best resources for independent authors and aspiring writers, broken down by topic.* Please note that a lot of the websites mentioned also include links to buy books written by those authors about more specific topics.

*I categorized these resources based on my own experiences with them; if you believe any of them have been placed in the wrong category or not placed in a category they belong in, please feel free to let me know.

Writing

• Helping Writers Become Authors – K.M. Weiland’s blog
• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• Scrivener – writing software by Literature and Latte (see the Note About Scrivener below for more information)
• Goins, Writer – Jeff Goins’ website

Editing

• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• Helping Writers Become Authors – K.M. Weiland’s blog
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Book Designer – Joel Friedlander’s website
• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• Scrivener – writing software by Literature and Latte (see the Note About Scrivener below for more information)

Cover Design

• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Book Designer – Joel Friedlander’s website

E-Book Formatting

• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• Scrivener – writing software by Literature and Latte (see the Note About Scrivener below for more information)

Print Layout Design

• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Book Designer – Joel Friedlander’s website

Publishing

• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• Scrivener – writing software by Literature and Latte (see the Note About Scrivener below for more information)
• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• Kindle Direct Publishing – publish your books on Amazon (e-books and print books)
• CreateSpace – publish your print books on Amazon (CreateSpace has now been absorbed by Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (see above))
• Draft2Digital – distribute your e-book to a variety of e-book retailers

For alternatives to Amazon, see Alternatives to Amazon below.

Marketing

• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• Your First 10,000 Readers – Nick Stephenson’s website
• Prolific Works (formerly Instafreebie) – a site where you can offer free books to readers as an incentive to join your mailing list, as well as collaborate with other authors to do cross-promotions

Entrepreneurship

• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• Your First 10,000 Readers – Nick Stephenson’s website
• Goins, Writer – Jeff Goins’ website
• Melyssa Griffin – Melyssa Griffin’s website
• Michael Hyatt – Michael Hyatt’s website

Author Platform

• Write. Publish. Repeat. – a book by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant with David Wright
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• Your First 10,000 Readers – Nick Stephenson’s website
• Goins, Writer – Jeff Goins’ website
• Michael Hyatt – Michael Hyatt’s website

List Building

Developing an e-mail list is a big part of Marketing and Author Platform, but it seems to be the most confusing (and perhaps also most important) part, so I decided to make a new category for it here.

• Your First 10,000 Readers – Nick Stephenson’s website
• Melyssa Griffin – Melyssa Griffin’s website
• CreativIndie – Derek Murphy’s website
• MailChimp – a list building service
• Prolific Works (formerly Instafreebie) – a site where you can offer free books to readers as an incentive to join your mailing list, as well as collaborate with other authors to do cross-promotions

Websites and Blogging

• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s website
• Goins, Writer – Jeff Goins’ website
• Melyssa Griffin – Melyssa Griffin’s website
• Michael Hyatt – Michael Hyatt’s website

Note about Scrivener

Before you decide it’s not worth the money or the effort, get the free trial, go through the tutorial, and give it a fair shot. Scrivener has an intense learning curve and it took me about three hours to get through the tutorial, but being able to use Scrivener in every stage of production (planning, writing, revising, and publishing) has revolutionized the way I write and made me a much more effective writer than I ever would have thought possible before I used it.

Alternatives to Amazon

There are other options besides Amazon, but I don’t have enough personal experience with them to feel confident recommending them. If you’re willing to do the research yourself, here are some of the alternatives I’ve heard bandied about:

Publishing and Limited E-Book Distribution (only to their own brand stores)

• Kobo
• Barnes & Noble (Nook)
• Apple iBooks

Wider E-Book Distribution (distribution to a variety of e-book sellers)

• Smashwords
• Draft2Digital – Update: I’ve started using Draft2Digital, but am still including it in this list so you can find it grouped with other e-book distributors.
• BookBaby

Print Publishing

• Ingram Spark
• Lulu