About (writing tips)
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.
Book writing tips
My name is Derek Murphy, and here are some other useful resources I’ve made. (I’m nobody, but my writing and book design resources have gotten over 3 million views and I’m a usa today and WSJ bestselling author… also I got featured in CNN for renting castles).
Creativindie.com is my main blog where I talk about making money as a writer. My most popular articles on about:
I also have a free video course on writing fiction on youtube.
Writing apps & software
I keep a big list of best writing software, including some newer AI writing tools. This is going to make a huge difference for authors, especially tools for editing and proofreading your book.
If you need help editing your manuscript, check out www.BookButchers.com.
I’ve also made some fun AI writing tools, like GhosttheWriter.com or Promptoria.com
Book cover design (publishing)
Creativindie Covers is my book design site; I’ve been talking about how to use book covers to triple sales for almost a decade, at writing conferences around the world, but more recently I’ve set up some online graphic design tools so that self-publishing authors can get a more professional book design without the premium budget.
If you want to do your own book design, I’ve added templates and tutorials to www.diybookformats.com and www.diybookcovers.com.
Writing and publishing fiction
For the past few years I’ve been trying to make a living with fiction, and it’s going OK even though I haven’t hit huge numbers I’ve sold about 100,000 copies of my fantasy novels. I talk all about how to build a platform and sell books, so you can go through my free materials (there’s a ton) or join me when I open up a course or coaching program.
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.