About

Setting out to self-publish a book is like heading out West to look for gold. You show up with nothing, have to buy tools, get outfitted, make a claim, then figure out what you’re doing, get the gold out of the ground, refine it and trade it for money.

A lot of people will sell you shovels, but few people really want to see you succeed.

Over the past few years I’ve been developing tools for authors. Whenever I needed something made for a website, I hired a coder. Whenever I saw a way to make things easier with templates, guides or training, I developed it myself.

My name is Derek Murphy, and here are some other useful resources I’ve made.

Creativindie.com is my main blog where I talk about making money as a writer. Creativindie Covers is my book design site.

If you want to do your own book design, I’ve added templates and tutorials to www.diybookformats.com and www.diybookcovers.com.

If you need help editing your manuscript, check out www.BookButchers.com.

And for making author websites in WordPress, I set up www.authoridentity.com.

For the next few years, I’m going to dedicate 100% of my time to writing my own fiction, and running experiments in guerrilla book marketing. I set up a page for my fiction writing at www.UrbanEpics.com; and I’ll talk about book marketing on Creativindie and www.marketingforwriters.com

Good luck with your book!

If you find any of my resources useful, please share them with other authors.