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This list contains resources that I’ve used on my literary journey. Most of them are free. I have received no compensation for these listings. Hope they help!
Writing Craft:
The number one issue I see in writing is distancing language / immediacy issues. The second is weak point of view; even if it’s consistent it’s usually consistently weak and I’m looking at the character without feeling that I am the character. Powerful verbs help with some of this. Try this article from Jerry Jenkins. Also, try my own list of words to avoid.
{} Purdue University's Online Writing Lab is a starting place for very basic grammar.
{} Grammar Book provides more basic lessons.
{} Grammarly is well-recognized as a review program that can integrate into many workflows.
{} Lane Diamond's Articles can really help those who are past the basics develop their style.
{} All Write Alright offers good articles on everything from describing crying to writing child characters.
{} Here's a graph of major emotions and sub-emotions to assist with interiority.
{} A very useful article on paragraph formatting using find/replace in Word to alter document spacing with p^.
{} K.M. Weiland provides guidance including a whole series on how to write character arcs.
{} Writer Mag is a common resource.
{} Five hundred links on various aspects of writing a book.
{} Although there are many style guides, here's a popular one for fiction from Smash Words
{} Start Writing Podcast - My favorite writing podcast, which I was happy to be a guest on.
{} The grand list of overused plots.
World Building:
{} Dan Koboldt has an authoritative site on world building that I strongly recommend. Articles range from internet myths in sci-fi, to misconceptions about artificial intelligence and cyborgs, to accurately portraying those who are differently abled.
{} Great map builder for speculative fiction authors wishing to start their book with a regional map.
{} Everything you need to know about dozens of medieval weapons. You can also find an article on armor on their website.
{} Cyberpunk Slang
{} Shadowrun Slang
{} A glossary of computer terminology.
{} A list of 42 worldbuilding resources.
{} A physics forum allowing science fiction authors to post their world-building questions
{} The same type of worldbuilding forum for fantasy authors.
{} A list of Fantasy Cliches
{} Jerry Jenkins' article on world building.
{} 42 additional world-building resources
Graphics:
{} GIMP 2.0 –A free desktop program with some in-depth features similar to Photoshop. Includes lighting effects that are useful for creating effects such as glowing eyes or planets (as in the Hemispheres cover).
{} Pixlr – Provides free cloud-based photo manipulation with two levels of complexity appropriate for all users.
{} Book brush - Puts your cover on a 3-D book with clean appearance for ads. Can assist with making ads. Ten free uses per account.
{} Interactive Image - Make images with hotspots/tooltips etc. (free version includes a very small corporate icon in lower corner).
{} Neon Android App – Provides neon text - Free
{} Glitchter Camera Android App – Provides glitch effects - Free, use the app with the purple triangle against the black background
{} Motionleap (formerly Pixaloop) – IOS and Android app that provides basic animation effects for still images – Free
{} Werble Phone App – Basic animated effects (snow, rain, moving images, etc.). Can animate book covers.
{} Giphy - Make animated text and glitch effects
{} Fiverr – Secure contractors for trailers, voiceovers, ads, book covers, vocalists, etc.
{} Photofunia - Used for various photo effects for authors and book ads.
{} Prezi - Site that provides free templates for presentations, marketing, infographics, etc. They use animation to bring them to life.
{}Deep Dream Generator - Site that blends images based on machine learning to create surreal effects based on Google algorithim
{} Typeset in the Future - A deep explanation of Sci-Fi fonts, using the movie Alien and others.
() Nightcafe Studio takes your word prompts and uses A.I. to produce graphic images.
{} DALL-E Same as above, but more cutting-edge.
{} Google Gemini - A.I. uses Imagen 3 for cutting edge images. Will produce people with upgrade, otherwise free.
{} A.I. Outpainting - Extends images. Quality is less than say, Firefly, but free.
Audio:
{} Goldwave – provides basic audio editing and conversion – Free
Video:
{} Wondershare Filmora 9 – provides basic video editing, picture-in-picture, captions, title, audio incorporation. One of the only paid resources on this page; it's around $50.
General Marketing:
{} A list of independent bookstores by state.
{} A second list of indie bookstores.
{} How to market to libraries from the ALA.
{} How to obtain a library control number (do this before your book goes to print!)
{} Book promotion sites list with reviews from Scribe Media.
{} Google Trends – shows trending searches by month and year.
{} Google Alerts – Monitors the internet for content related to keywords. Every author should add their own name and book name to this and obtain email notifications so they’ll know when they’re mentioned.
{} Neil Patel offers an authoritative site about SEO (site engine optimization), keywords, mailing lists, and other tools for websites.
{} Arefs offers additional SEO tools for websites.
{} Mark Dawson offers a paid marketing program many authors use.
{} I've attended some of John Kramer's presentations and found them helpful. He offers some marketing resources on his site.
{} Through the Eyes of Authors program through Abundantly Social– provides an interactive video-chat platform where authors can learn about marketing through both casual demonstrations of marketing ideas and top-notch professionals providing detailed insider tips. I could have never built my author platform without them, as I wouldn’t haven known which questions to ask.
{} Gleam - Run a contest on your website or mailing list where one obtains points for sharing your book, watching the trailer, etc.
{} QR Code Monkey - Generate free commercial-use QR codes for business cards, mailing list signup links, book links, etc.
Marketing Emails:
{} Cloud HQ provides Gmail templates and the ability to create and save email templates in Gmail. It’s available as a free Chrome extension.
{} Send in Blue (now Brevo as of 5.26.23) is a free, easy to use email template creator that also does email marketing and popups.
{} MailChimp – for distribution. Has good integration with other platforms, though there are alternatives.
Website:
{} Webflow – reasonably priced robust platform with exceptional tutorials. Intermediate-level complexity.
{} Wix – Another popular alternative to Wordpress
{} GoDaddy – provides reasonably-priced domain names
{} Google Analytics – provides a wealth of data about your website
{} Hot jar – provides heat maps of where users click on site and other advanced analytics to complement Google. Some things are free. Also is a great tool for putting website surveys on your site, which will open when people click the URL bar to leave it.
{} Crazy egg (similar to above). Mostly paid features I believe.
{} Experte - Everyone knows Neil Patel and Ahrefs, but Experte can batch test your website's speed for all pages at once.
Stock Images and Videos:
{} Pexel (free). The cyberpunk photos are quite overused (I’ve seen many cyberpunk novels with the exact same cover taken from this site).
{} Adobe Stock (ten photos free). Unparalleled HD quality, allowing for tight crops.
{} Envato (some free some paid, for video clips.) The cyberpunk videos are entirely overused.
Editing and Publishing:
{} How to write a query letter.
{} People recommend Scrivener for writing.
{} For publishing, people recommend Vellum (Mac).
{} Duotrope is a paid program that shows you which publishers are accepting submissions each month.
{} Submission Grinder - similar to Duotrope.
{} Calibre - Easy, free program for e-book production. Though lacking some of the more advanced features, it's good for ARCs.
Social Media:
{} Publish.Twitter.Com lets one embed tweet(s) onto a webpage either singularly or as a running timeline.
{} Podbean offers a podcast hosting platform that intergrates well with others for distribution, but expect a monthly fee in the long-run.
{} Everyone knows Goodreads, but Library Thing offers an alternative site.
{} A fantastic page on when and how to post on each social media site with infographic schedule.
{} When to post YouTube videos.
{} Addthis.com – provides social media buttons for website and a customizable mailing list pop-up. Run by Oracle. Free.
{} Restream.io - allows live streaming to multiple platforms (Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube) at once. Works well once set up but test first!
{} Book Bloggers list
Books:
{} If you're writing science fiction / cyberpunk or fantasy scholarly works, a great thematic reference and metanalysis is provided in
The Archive Incarnate by Dr. Joseph Hurtgen.
{} A secondary non-fiction reference is Cyberpunk 2.0 by Dr. Herlander Elias
{} Nabokov's Favourite Word Is Mauve. A good book on textural analytics showing how much flexibility authors have when writing in order to become a bestseller. However, it is heavier on methodology than insights.
{} Putting the Science in Fiction - This book assists with world building, featuring experts on a variety of subjects.
{} U.S. Army – Survival, Evasion, and Recovery by the Department of Defense. This book, one of a series, is a great resource for authors trying to create realistic post-action scenes. Good for writers of any time period including post-apoc.
[] Eric Burne - The Games People Play. I read this book to understand myself better, but it covers the drama triangle and the games that people play in conversation that hurt relationships, which help create realistic characters.
