For Writers

Writer Beware

  1. Marketing scams/Phony Publishing houses to be aware of, thanks to the Writer Beware Blog

Media & Publishing

  1. Clear and kind basic guide to creating your own website. Seriously, Ogi and the team at FirstSiteGuide lay it out so well for you! How to Make a Website
  2. If you want a monetized website, WIX can be a good option. And in How to Use a WIX Builder (2020) Karol K. takes you step-by-step through a build, with photos and explanations. Super helpful.
  3. Free (you do have to create an account) online designing/media/photo site. Use it for your media kit, logos, graphics, etc. Canva.com
  4. Beautiful, high res stock photos that are copyright free (always check the fine print first.) Freestocks.org, Unsplash.com and my favorite, Stocksnap.io
  5. Book cover designers: Custom packages starting at 495$, pre-designed covers starting at 195$ Damonza.com. Largest selection of pre-designed covers out there, The Book Cover Designer.com. Starting at 65$ (some of the cheaper ones are pretty rubbish, to warn you.)
  6. Joanna Penn & The Creative Penn.com’s giant list of book cover designers.
  7. A Master List of 16 Romance book cover designers (they also usually offer different media creation like logos, websites, swag, and illustrations if you need!)
  8. If you’re brave enough to go it on your own, Poster My Wall is a Canva-like media creator site that has a great option for building your own book cover. The unique feature they have is a free creator tier where you only pay for the media/templates you use. It’s a good budget option!
  9. Review Sites for Your Author Toolbox-websites and bloggers who may review your book if you ask nicely.
  10. Sacrifices for the Marketing Beast; an Author Toolbox Post-fairly low priced websites which offer advertising for your book.

General Resources

  1. Article from Zen Business which covers all the basics of being an author from skillsets to careers to self vs. traditional publishing. This one was discovered by Amelia from Mrs. Lincoln’s writing workshop at SLCCN. (Thanks, Amelia!)
  2. Your brutally honest road map to getting published. 25 Steps to being published from Delilah S. Dawson. NSFW
  3. Good Basic Starter Page for everything you could want for platform, industry & marketing, from Writers Helping Writers.
  4. A Hot Steaming Sack of Business Advice for Writers by author Chuck Wendig. Brutal, hilarious, practical and terribly NSFW. Very much worth a read.
  5. Directory of reviewers for indie publishers.
  6. Fantastic resource for describing your characters who have dark skin, without resorting to “coffee” or “chocolate” from the blog Writing With Color.
  7. Legitimate writing contests that pay winners, list curated by The Write Life.

Query Letters/Querying

  1. The Queryshark Janet Reid takes big, educational bites out of queries.
  2. http://absolutewrite.com/. Query Letter Hell-when Janet isn’t mean enough.
  3. Writer’s Digest take on query letters.
  4. Jane Friedman’s take on query letters.
  5. How to write a query letter-good basic post that covers everything at once, with an infographic-from Reedsy
  6. Actual successful query letters from AgentQuery Connect. You don’t have to be a member to read the entries, but signing up is a good idea if you’re querying.
  7. Publisher’s, Agents & Querying from the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The most complete listing of this type I’ve found, highly recommend.

Writing Tools

  1. Choosing your POV  and tips to combat head-hopping from Julianne Johnson.
  2. Hemingway Editing app highlights all (I mean all) your errors including passive voice, adverbs, and readability. Paid and free versions.
  3. Index of Romance Tropes to inspire you, from Mindy Klasky.
  4. Randy Ingermanson’s take on head hopping (The author of “Writing Fiction for Dummies”)
  5. Jerry Jenkins fabulous examples in Showing vs. Telling: What you Need to Know.
  6. Writing in Deep POV, contains examples of how to do it, from Kristin Kieffer at Well-Storied.com
  7. Editor Arlene Prunkl’s excellent take on showing and telling with examples of each.

Plotting/Outlining/Character Development

  1. Different Plot Outlines Free downloads from Writer’s Digest.
  2. Outlines, Characterization and Plotting Different free downloads for plotting & character from Duolit
  3. http://writershelpingwriters.net/ Everything. Just everything. Search what you need.
  4. Writer’s Toolbox from a Writer’s Path. Fairly random and covers a lot.
  5. Nina Amir’s list of 20 Things Aspiring and Published Authors Can Blog About from the site Write Fiction Now.com.

For Writers of Historical

  1. Courtship, Old West Style by Author Kristin Holt (great resource for historical romance.)
  2. Full text of the hilariously named “Marriage and Home: or, proposal and espousal: a Christian treatise on the most sacred relations to mortals known: love, marriage, home.” by “A Clergyman” from Port Melbourne, Australia, 1888. Ignore the fantastically Victorian title and read through it for all kinds of courting & marriage rituals from the era (another good one for historical romance).
  3. Scanned copy of The Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility: In Manners, Dress, and Conversation
  4. 19th Century.com All kinds of fun reading about the 1800s
  5. Writer’s Dreamtools Quick and dirty summary of the 1800s, all major events, inventions and figures.
  6. A History of Sacramento by St. Francis Parish.
  7. Digitized copies of California newspapers 1846 to Present.
  8. The Comstock Lode from Wikipedia.
  9. Dayton NV Historical Society

Random

  1. Book Charities. From the Huffington Post. Find a way to give back with your old books.
  2. 100 Best Romances from NPR reader voted bests in several genres.
  3. Dear Author reviews for your own book, recommendations and best-of lists from readers.
  4. Book tropes! If you’re in search of a specific trope to read, here are: A Good Grovel! Beauty and The Beast, Sick/Sudden Imminent Danger, Mail Order Bride, Dork/Nerd romance, A Damsel Not in Distress
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