Super Helpful Articles

• Launch your book to five-star reviews
• 4 Ways to Find Readers Who Love Your Work 
• How to Get Readers Before You Write Your First Book
• How Authors Can Find Their Ideal Reading Audience
• How to use Beta Readers to Launch Your Book
• How Working with Beta Readers Will Help You Sell More Books
• How to Throw a Virtual Book Launch Using Facebook Live
• You can also check out our blog posts on Running a Beta and Finding Readers

Web Software for Authors

• Fictionary – Creative editing software for fiction writers and editors. They offer a 2-week free trial. It looks great, is easy to use, and helps you assess and analyze your work with an objective eye.
• BookBrush – The easiest way to create professional ads and social media images for your books. From templates to backgrounds, to font selection and brand stamps, this is a one-stop shop for creating your own marketing images. 

Recommended Businesses

• CamCat Publishing – Independent publishing house that focuses on genre fiction in the following areas: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Romance (but they're looking really hard at a couple of Westerns, too). The people here are worth spending your time with and really know what they're doing.
• Smashwords – The world's largest distributor of indie ebooks. Authors earn 80% of list price on books sold directly through Smashwords, and 60% of list price on other e-book retailers, including KOBO, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
• Nancy Cavillones – Assistant for Indie authors – we met Nancy at SF Writer's Conference this year. She is passionate about helping authors with the business end of things, and offers strategic marketing planning and general business help for a reasonable hourly rate, in addition to helping you find reviewers that are perfect for your book.

Other Resources

• Destination Published – Online courses, one-on-one consultations, free material, books, all to help authors figure out the self-publishing industry. Carla is also someone we really like :)
• Poets & Writers small presses list – Great starting place for authors seeking the right publishing house. The whole website is great, and definitely worth spending some time on.
• Jane Friedman's website – Author and speaker whose mission is to help authors succeed. Her blog is great and she offers and links to a number of affordable classes.
• Publisher's Marketplace – Highly recommended by publishers we know. It's the best place to find trends in sales and publishing. You can sign up for a free weekly digest.

We'll add to this list periodically. Do you know of something that should be listed here? Shoot us an email, and we'll check it out!