Top 25 Tools for authors 1. Dark Room (http://they.misled.us/darkroom ) Fullscreen, distraction free, writing environment. Like photographers use Dark Room to focus on developing photographs, the same way the "Dark Room" (http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/product/writeroom) application is for authors to focus on "writing quality contents". It is a clone of WriteRoom (Mac OS X application). 2. Writemonkey (http://writemonkey.com/) If you use Miscrosoft Word 2007, you'll see a nice looking ribbon at the top of the page. But honestly, most people don't use all the features provided when writing books. Writemonkey is a zenware program and allows for distraction free writing by blacking everything out on your screen except for your typing. (Find out more about Zenware: http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/definition/zenware) 3. 1ChapterFree (http://www.1chapterfree.com/) This is a free service which can help you publish the "1st chapter" of your book for free. I suggest that you put all the necessary information about the book on your own website and then publish the 1st chapter on 1chapterfree.com (it is a high traffic website and should be helpful to get more readers.) 4. Grammarly (http://www.Grammarly.com) is an automated proofreader and your personal grammar coach. Correct up to 10 times more mistakes than popular word processors. Instant proofreading Instantly find and correct over 250 types of grammatical mistakes Contextoptimized vocabulary suggestions Improve word choice with contextoptimized vocabulary suggestions Plagiarism detector: Avoid plagiarism by checking your texts against over 8 billion web pages 5. Scrivener (http://www.Scrivener.com) is a powerful contentgeneration tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing
and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft. 6. ACX (http://www.ACX.com) is an easy way to turn any book, new or old, into an audiobook. imagine an open marketplace, one where anyone who holds the rights to an audiobook—an author, agent, or publisher—can be matched with the narrators and studio professionals who can get those audiobooks made. Consider this: In 2009, while the market for digital media was expanding enormously, about one hundred thousand books were published, and not even five thousand of those were produced as audiobooks. 7. Dropbox (http://www.Dropbox.com ) Available as an app as well as a desktop service, Dropbox has saved the work—literally—of journalists and students alike since its inception in 2007. Creation of an individual folder that can be accessed with a username and password means that users can access this folder from any platform—and that loss of a laptop no longer means loss of work. 8. Evernote (http://www.Evernote.com) Sketchy memory? A user network of more than 35 million shares your pain. Accessible from almost every device, Evernote allows you to capture anything from drawings to web clippings and make it searchable from your laptop, cell phone, or camera at your convenience. The result is a network that shares project notes, favorite websites, and story ideas, yielding happy news making.
9. Writing Prompts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writingprompts/id417683378?mt=8) Almost all writers have suffered from the “block.” With 60 sketches, 250 scene elements, and 600 text prompts, this Apple app offers prompt generators to keep juices flowing. And with text prompts available in online or offline mode, an Internet connection is no longer required. 10. Poetreat (http://poetreatapp.com/) For the poet who thinks "meter" has to do with parking and struggles with rhyme from time to thyme, there's an app for that. Poetreat is simple stylish interface that allows users to easily structure a rhyme scheme. Stuck on a word? It will instantly provide a plethora of options even slant rhymes (you can find a rhyme for orange). Whether writing in iambic pentameter or traditional haiku, Poetreat provides the structure needed to create a literary masterpiece.Once you're ready to publish, Poetreat makes it simple to post on Facebook and Twitter. 11. Dragon Dictation (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragondictation/id341446764?mt=8) Since most people can think a lot faster than they can pound the keyboard, this app is the salvation for inspiration and ideas alike. Dragon Dictation is today's version of "Take a letter, Miss Jones", without Miss Jones. Just hit "Record" and diction instantly transforms into text. Hit "Done" and you are all set. Then copy and paste the text into any word processing program with a simple doubletap. Dragon Dictation even has a feature to put lengthy text directly into SMS or email. Publishing to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is just a few taps away. 12. Self Control (http://www.SelfControlApp.com) In a techsaturated world it's all too easy to drift away from some serious researching and start checking out vacation spots or sampling a new song. What does it take three clicks? Two? and you're staring at a beach! SelfControl is Adderall for your mouse. The app will help create a
"Whitelist" of sites to keep things focused and on track; or, if easier, just "Blacklist" the major distractions that will likely kill productivity. Set the app's timer for whatever length of time serious focus is needed, as long as its 24 hours or less. 13. Spice Mobile (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spicemobile/id519101876?mt=8) provides the inspiration when finding the right words is a challenge. Stuck at "It was a dark and stormy night?" Need to flesh out a character or scene?Let Spice Mobile tap into its comprehensive collection of famous literature to help put some mojo back into your manuscript. While directly copying the masters is a major nono, there's nothing a little nudge from Will Shakespeare or Ernest Hemingway to break up the cranial jam and get your juices reflowing. 14. Aweber.com (http://www.Aweber.com) If you’re an author, you need to be communicating with your subscribers via email. It’s used by over 120,000 small businesses. 15. GetResponse.com (http://www.GetResponse.com ) GetResponse is an autoresponder service, like Aweber and MailChimp. The difference? Their automation rules let you target subscribers based on particular actions, such as: ●
Whether they opened an email
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Whether they clicked on a link
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Changes in contact preferences
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Completed transactions
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Birthdays (and other important dates)
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etc.
16. MailChimp.com (http://www.MailChimp.com ) MailChimp is an autoresponder service like GetResponse. The difference? They let you send up to 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers, for free. No contracts, and it’s free forever. 17. YASIV (http://www.YASIV.com ) Yasiv is a visual recommendation service that shows what books are most closely related to your book. Once you start using this tool, you’ll be HOOKED. 18. Facebook Graph Search Facebook has a very advanced search capability, but most regular users (and even most authors/marketers) have no idea how to tap into that power. Here’s a great article on 17 ways to do so: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebookgraphsearchmarketing/ 19. Word Mixer (http://uniquenames.com/wordmixer.php) Need help coming up with cool fictional character names? Say no more. Word mixer is what you should be using. 20. Rafflecopter Run a giveaway on your own blog or website. There is a free version to use, where you can embed the giveaway in a post. You can also pay more for additional features, such as conducting surveys/polls and adding a photo prize slideshow.
21. BookBub BookBub is one of the more wellknown advertisers for indie authors. The site sends out promotional emails for books daily to hundreds of thousands of subscribers. They offer 25 different lists, categorized by book genre, that range in price from $20 to $1450, depending on
the price of the book. Their biggest lists, mysteries and contemporary romance, average 2,000 sold books per promotion.
22. Wattpad Wattpad is one of the largest sites where you can upload your work for free and get feedback
23. Story Cartel Offer your ebook free for a limited time on Story Cartel to attract new readers. This site is all about creating relationships with authors and readers and building lists. During a book’s promotion, readers are able to download the book for free and are then encouraged to write a review. In exchange, the author gets a list of readers who download the book and can directly engage with them. Afterwards, readers can choose to be added to the author’s newsletter.
24.Noise Trade Although Noise Trade started as a music marketing company, it has since expanded into ebooks and audiobooks. Authors sign up for free, and can choose to either offer certain chapters or a whole book for free. In exchange for the book, readers provide their email address and zip code, helping to build the author’s email list. Readers can also choose to tip the author, so in many cases even though the book is free, the author earns money.
25. Paypal Subscriptions (http://www.Paypal.com ) When you use PayPal Subscriptions and Recurring Payments, your customers can purchase automatically recurring subscriptions from your website, or even using a link in an email! Subscriptions and Recurring Payments is a lowcost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments for content site subscriptions, newsletter fees, club dues, or recurring donations, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps. Subscriptions and Recurring Payments is only available for Business or Premier accounts.