I've been slowly learning about all the new tools and resources out there for authors and thought I'd share some of my favorites here for you guys.
(Free and Paid Options)
BookSprout is an easy way to help keep your Review Team organized. With a free account, you can have up to 20 reviewers. The site keeps track of who has reviewed and where. You can also require that reviewers post reviews to specific retailers (like Amazon), block reviewers from requesting titles if they don't follow through, and report pirates. Paid accounts offer more features, but even the free account is worth giving a shot!
(Paid options only)
BookFunnel is another great service for authors with review teams. It's also incredibly helpful for authors wanting to grow their mailing list and streamline sending books. I've been using it for several months and cannot say enough about how much I love the program. I can team up with other authors to create giveaways, send gift copies of books, send ARCs and automatic reminders to my Review Team, set up sales pages, etc. I can also integrate it directly to my mailing list, which has been a tremendous help in growing the list! The service isn't free, but it's worth the $15 a month that I spend on it. If anyone wants to give it a shot, let me know! I can send you an invite that'll allow you to test-drive the service for a month.
(Free and Paid Options)
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that allows you to create designs. I use it for book teasers, business cards, bookmarks, postcards, social media graphics, and more. You can use the service for free, which I love, or you can pay for a monthly subscription that gives you access to more features (like a brand kit, an extended stock photo library, and the ability to resize graphics for use on all social media platforms). Even the free service has an impressive number of tools and features. That said, Canva can't do it all. But it'll certainly get the job done when it comes to creating teasers and social media material. You can also create book covers using the service.
(Free functional mockups, must pay for lifetime access to the mockup library)
I've been using MockUpShots for a while to create great mockups of my books to use in teasers, social media posts, etc like the one below. There are a ton to choose from! It's a little on the expensive side, but Adazing offers sale pricing on their products frequently.
If you aren't getting their newsletters already, I highly recommend them. There are a lot of great products, services, and freebies offered.
If you aren't getting their newsletters already, I highly recommend them. There are a lot of great products, services, and freebies offered.
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| One of my mockups from MockUpShots.com |
(Free tools, but must pay for the program)
Hubby bought me lifetime access to this at the beginning of my year, and it's definitely been worth the investment. I can figure out what categories and keywords to use and how well they perform without a lot of trial and error or hours upon hours of research. They also offer a ton of free resources, tutorials, and tools (like their HTML Generator for KDP) via the Kindlepreneur website. It's worth checking into if you don't already use it!
(Free to join, premium access offered)
BookWorks is a community of Indie publishing professionals who share tools, tips, tricks, and resources. I honestly don't even remember how or when I got on their mailing list, but I'm definitely not complaining. I religiously read their newsletters. They're that helpful.
(Free to use)
As I add new resources and tools to my go-to list, I'll share them here for you guys too.
Please do not spam me with requests to add your service or program. I only share those I actually use.
xoxo,
Ayden
*The only affiliate link included in this post is for MockUpShots (which I use frequently).
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