Self-Publishing Toolkit
The Best Services & Applications For Authors
I am often asked about what services and applications I use as a self-published author. While there are many great options out there, these are my personal favorites that have helped me the most along the way.
If you have read a number of my posts, then you have likely come across most of these and seen me mention them.
Disclaimer: some of the links may be affiliate links which means if you buy a service, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you – affiliate commissions help me, a lot 🙂
Jasper is my best friend at this point. If you are new here, you won’t know this, but I have used Jasper to grow my publishing business to thousands of dollars per month. Head over to my YouTube channel to learn how and give it a swing with their free trial (10,000 free words).
Generate unlimited, copyright-free illustrations to use in your books using AI for only $20 per month.
I’ve made a video on how I use this beast of a tool here.
Tools For Outsourcing: Formatting, Ghostwriting, Editing, Illustration
Fiverr is a website that connects people who provide services to do things like editing writing, proof-reading, voiceovers, illustration, or cover design with people who need those services.
What really makes Fiverr stand apart from its competition is that it’s (mostly) honest people doing honest work and enthusiastic about what they’re doing.
I love this platform as you can find some real gems on there for some very competitive prices. I have recommended Fiverr in several blog posts for the above services.
My first book was designed by an illustrator on Fiverr!
Tools For Design: Book Covers, Graphics, Book Layout
Canva is a web-based program that makes graphic design easy and accessible to everyone, not just professionals. I use Canva for 95% of the graphics you see on this site as it is quick and easy to use and also comes with a library of millions of royalty-free stock photos!
Of recent, I have also used Canva to compile some children’s books for print (works for projects under 100 pages) and to create logos.
Canva is both an online software and mobile application that enables users to create their own designs for projects in minutes.
If you are not familiar with more complex design programs like Photoshop or Illustrator, Canva is a good shout!
You can also use it to build images with preformatted layouts and templates.
Adobe InDesign is a powerful book formatting tool that gives you complete control over the look and feel of your book. With InDesign, you can easily set margins, add pages, and insert images and other illustrations.
You can also create bookmarks and hyperlinks, so readers can quickly navigate your book. In addition, InDesign allows you to export your book in a variety of formats, including PDF and ePUB.
Tools For Editing And Proofreading
Grammarly is an AI writing assistant that identifies grammatical errors and spelling errors for ultimate clarity. It is presently the world’s most accurate grammar checker.
Many authors, myself included, use Grammarly to help edit and proofread books, so it is an invaluable tool in any author’s toolbox.
It provides suggestions for corrections both on-screen and in a written document space, underlines potential issues within the text with a dotted red line or green underline according to how likely the issue could be an error, tells writers when they have used words incorrectly – automatically suggesting replacements from its global synonym resource bank of 25 million word pairs.
Tools For Self-Publishing & Book Printing
IngramSpark is a platform that allows you to self-publish and distribute your book. They also walk you through each process step and break everything down for you. Although my go-to publishing platform is Amazon KDP, I also highly recommend IngramSpark, especially for first-time authors.
You will learn all about getting your books on bookstore shelves, and in libraries, too!
Book Marketing Tools
Videos are an amazing book marketing tool that most authors aren’t using. I use Vyond to create video trailers for my books and the results have been incredible. In just a few minutes, I am able to create videos that grab attention and get people excited about my books.
The best part is that Vyond makes it easy to share your Videos on social media and embed them on your website or blog. If you’re not using Videos to market your books, you’re missing out on a powerful way to connect with readers and build excitement for your work.
My Tools For Illustration
Of course, there are better and newer ones on the market, but these are what I use and have created many books on. They have not steered me wrong yet!
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