The saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” is so true when it comes to publishing, whether it’s self-publishing or traditional publishing. Authors are writers first and foremost. They know the craft of writing but it’s all the other steps—revising and editing, publishing, and marketing—that can be daunting, even to the most seasoned among them.
I’m always amassing resource links that I have vetted and can recommend to authors. So this post is just that! I’ve categorized the links by topic, so no matter where you are on the journey, or no matter your publishing path, you’ll hopefully find something helpful here.
For full disclosure, none (yes, none!) of these links are affiliate links. I don’t receive any kickback for promoting any of these websites or services.
Writing & Editing Grammar Girl - Mignon Fogarty Chicago Manual of Style (subscription required) Associated Press Stylebook (subscription required) Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook (subscription required)
CMOS Shop Talk (blog; free) Word Hippo Title Case Converter Chicago Style Footnotes The Editor's Blog - Dialogue Tags in Fiction Merriam-Webster Dictionary Plottr (novel plotting software) Editorial Freelancers Association Directory
Publishing – General Glossary of Editorial & Publishing Terms Formatting Your Book in Word Busy Bee Author Assistants (services for authors)
Self-Publishing Publisher Rocket (keywords and ad creation) Book Launchers (nonfiction self-pub services + marketing) IngramSpark (self-pub + global distribution + POD) Lulu (self-pub + POD) BookBaby (self-pub + POD) Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi - membership association) Draft2Digital (ebook distribution) Bowker (official site to purchase ISBNs) Getcovers (budget-conscious cover design) miblart (cover design) ALLi's Partner Member Directory
Traditional Publishing
QueryTracker (for querying agents/publishers) Publishers Marketplace (for querying agents/publishers) How to Write a Novel Synopsis - Jane Friedman (blog from publishing industry expert)
Manuscript Wish List (for querying agents/editors) Duotrope (for querying agents/editors, including for poetry and visual arts) The Big Book of Small Presses & Independent Publishers (for unagented submissions) Writer’s Digest Books (guides to the writing market)
Marketing
Wix (for author websites) Pub-Site (for author websites) Booky Call (book discovery app) Book Funnel (secure delivery of ebooks + email list builder)
Email providers: ConvertKit, MailerLite, MailChimp
Story Origin (cross-marketing promo app)
Prolific Works (secure delivery of ebooks + email list builder)
Newsletter Ninja (author newsletter services)
Social Champ (social media post management)
Canva (online graphic design tool)
Notice a link that doesn’t work? Have a link that you think I should add? Let me know! This is a dynamic and evolving post.