Tools, Resources, and Services for Authors and Self-Publishers
Publishing a book involves much more than writing a manuscript. Authors today have access to a wide variety of tools, resources, and services designed to help with everything from formatting and distribution to marketing and connecting with readers.
Book marketing podcasts, publishing blogs, and conversations with other authors are valuable ways to discover new resources. The following list highlights several companies and services that authors and self-publishers may want to explore.
Please note: N-K Creative does not endorse these services, and neither my clients nor I have used all of them. Before signing up for any service, do your own research to determine whether it fits your publishing goals, budget, and needs.
Author Tools and Resources to Explore
BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/home/BookBub is a free service that helps readers, authors, and publishers find and promote the best in new e-books. Readers sign up at no charge to receive personalized daily emails that introduce them to the best free or deeply discounted e-books that match their interests. “BookBub is the industry’s leading e-book price-promotion service,” according to Bryan Cohen of the Sell More Books Show. But it is not easy to get your book featured on BookBub. https://evamelusinethieme.com/2016/04/19/promoting-your-self-published-book-with-bookbub
Bublish -https://www.bublish.com/“Bublish is a publishing technology company that helps author-preneurs sell their books and build their brands. The key to accomplishing a range of marketing activities is something called book bubbles, which allow you to promote your book while you are writing it, track reader engagement, improve discoverability, learn more about social marketing and how to use it, among ways to write and promote their books. Bublish is an innovative, award-winning platform, that provides a complete social marketing and digital publishing solution.
Book Funnel - https://bookfunnel.com/ is a service created by indie authors to deliver books to any device with no hassle. Subscriptions range from $20-$250 a year. The number of books stored and delivered depends on the subscription level. Book Funnel is certified to produce advance readers’ copies (ARCs) and is linked to MailChimp to provide integrated email mail marketing.
Vellum - https://vellum.pub/Vellum is Mac OS X software that helps authors create beautiful e-books for Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, and other e-book readers. Created by 180g, a Seattle software company, Vellum simplifies e-book conversion to EPUB, MOBI, and iBook files, the formats required by most e-book readers. Promising e-books in five minutes, Vellum tailors books for each device, store, format, and screens of all sizes.
Reedsy.comhttp://www.reedsy.comIt takes a team to create and market books. Reedsy.com helps authors and publishers build talented teams by providing professional editors, designers, and marketers, who assist in every stage of the publishing process. Reedsy is discriminating about the authors it accepts. So far only the top 3 percent of applications have met Reedsy’s stringent requirements, ensuring that it helps to produce the finest possible books.
Draft2Digital -https://www.draft2digital.comTurning a finished book manuscript into the proper e-book format is something most author would prefer to delegate. Enter Draft2Digital, an aggregator that publishes to such e-book retailers as Apple, Kobo and B&N. Draft2Digital converts Word documents into e-books with clean chapter breaks, functioning tables of contents, and optional back matter to help generate more sales. For authors who prefer paperback editions of their books, Draft2Digital also provides print services.
Patreon – http://www.patreon.com/Money is often a headache for authors, but Patreon offers a way to cure it once and for all. Here’s the premise: You harness the power of your biggest fans by letting them sign up for a monthly subscription to Patreon in any amount they choose. This money makes it possible for you to do what you do best—be creative. Without having to worry about money, you will be free to write and publish your books. It's not easy to identify your most devoted fans, but Patreon finds them for you. Once you know who they are, you can repay them for their loyalty and contributions with rewards you design just for them.
Quora - https://kindlepreneur.com/use-quora-increase-book-sales/Question-and-answer websites come and go, falling in and out of favor with Google. But one that has stood the test of time (and Google’s algorithm) is Quora. Quora is not a typical social media site on which your post has a very short shelf life—sometimes less than 24 hours. When you post a question on Quora, the answers remain visible for a significant period of time. When you post an answer to someone else’s question, your answer stays on that page indefinitely. Best of all, Quora is indexed in Google, so that anyone who asks the same question in Google’s search bar has a good chance of being directed to your answer.
Instafreebie.com - https://www.instafreebie.com/Instafreebie is like a big online bookstore with a twist: The books are free. Think of a bookstore where mysteries are in one section, biographies in another, and romance novels in yet another. Once you know what section to go to, you can find your book. Readers sign up on the Instafreebie website and then search by category for the books they want to read. “We have so many amazing and talented authors here at instafreebie,” says Kevin Tumlinson, ”and we’re really excited to introduce them to you. instafreebie’s Author Spotlight gives reader the chance to meet some new authors and get a preview of their new books before anyone else!
Shawn Manaher, who spoke at St. Louis Publishers Association (June 2016) has a slew of resources to check out: Reading Deals, eBook Submission Tool, The Author Hangout (podcast), Reading Deals Reviews, Book Marketing Tools Blog, Free Guide: The Ultimate Author Checklist, Free Guide: Getting Reviews For Your Book, Free Guide: How to Leverage the Power of Free & Bargain Book Promotions Effectively
So much to learn, so little time.
There is always something new to learn about publishing and book marketing. The good news is that authors have more resources available today than ever before.
Whether you are preparing your first book or looking for new ways to reach readers, take time to explore these tools and decide which ones align with your goals.
Publishing can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to figure everything out alone. The right resources — combined with professional guidance when needed — can help you create a better book and reach more readers.