Resources


Building a Web Site

  • Getting Started with Blogger - If you don't have a website and are looking for a easy and free solution, than Google's Blogger may be the place to go.  The Independent Writer's Support Group is a blogger site.
  • WIX -  WIX is a website hosting services that provides all of the tools that you might need to easily create a nice looking website. While it has a free version, you are likely to end up spending somewhere between $10.00 to $30.00 per month if you want to avoid having WIX ads on your site or if you want to use your own domain name.
  • WordPress - WordPress can be confusing.  By itself it is simply a template and plugin management tool that allows you to build your own website.  Where it gets tricky is that you can go to a commercial website like wordpress.com and pay them to host your website or you can download wordpress from wordpress.org and build your own website.
  • Namecheap.com - Namecheap is not a website, but a one stop hosting service.  You can register your domain name there, get a website hosting package, install website management software like wordpress directly from their control panel.  This is a paid service - nothing is free.  But, and this is a big but, you'll probably spend between $50 to $100 a year (as opposed to a month at other sites).  It does require you to do the setup. If you aren't comfortable with technology make sure you know someone who is.  A website hosted at Namecheap can be easy to maintain, but a little tricky to setup.  
  • How To Build Your Own Self-Hosted Author Website In 30 Minutes - Joanna Penn's summary on how and why to build your website. 
  • The Basic Components of an Author Website - Jane Friedman's list of essentials.
  • Sample Template - This is a template for the type of information that you might want to include on your website.

Writing Tools

Using OpenOffice

  • Getting Started with OpenOffice - A quick introduction to starting to write with OpenOffice including a recommended set of starting styles.
  • OpenOffice to HTML for Kindle - Basic steps to prepare an OpenOffice document for upload to Amazon KDP.
  • Scrivener - Scrivener is a writing desktop. You can do your outline, write your story, track your notes and research, manage you images and create a valid epub, mobi, pdf and a bunch of other file formats when you are all done.

Book Covers

Do It Yourself


Outsourcing Cover Work

  • Yocla Book Cover Designs -  YoCla designs is the work of Clarissa Yeo. Pricing and samples of her work are available at her website.

Images

Editing Software

  • Draftmap - Online or downloadable software to help proofread your document. Checks for repetitive words, passive voice, adverbs, cliches, readability, and style issues.   (Free for small sections, $19.99 for unlimited use)

Advice Sites

  • She's Novel - Quoted from the site: "She's Novel is dedicated to helping you write novels that endear readers, excite publishers, and launch your writing career." 



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