Writing & Formatting Software:

There are many tools available to help self-publishers today, beginning with writing software . . . and completing the picture with formatting, design, and other creative software help. The more you search, the more help you’ll discover.

Scrivener Writing Software

www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

software available at Amazon and other locations – they offer free trials

A great software for writing using storyboards, and word tracking! Recommended

 Jutoh Writing & Formatting Software

http://jutoh.com/

Jutoh makes it easy to create eBooks in popular formats that you can sell on many eBook sites, including Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iBooks. Recommended.

Scribus

Scribus  free software for the interior design of your book Open Source Desktop Publishing

Adobe InDesign CC

Adobe InDesign CC Page Layout design (for those who invest in software)

Lucid Press

LUCIDPRESS IN 60 SECONDS – Adobe InDesign can be expensive. If you want a free, online alternative, try Lucidpress!

Pressbook

Is for those who prefer to pay for formatting rather than master the skill set needed.

The Book Designer

Purchase templates to help you create a professional book design. This is for those who need assistance in formatting and book design (low learning curve). Templates can be used over and over again.

Templates by Joel Friedlander – for those who prefer help with their formatting

Recommended

Before you design and format get the facts you need to know from the source:

 Kindle Publishing Guidelines

Smashwords Style Guide

Book Cover & Marketing Design software:

A freeware similar to Photoshop is Gimp

Gimp logo www.gimp.org/
GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package. This page should help you get a taste of what GIMP is capable of. You can also have a look at our introduction page or browse through the tutorials.

GIMP is Free Software and a part of the GNU Project.

Recommended.

Photo Advanced

Gimp tutorial for text

Gimp tutorial for text with effects

XDTutorials.com

GIMP 3D Text Tutorial – Simple Methods + Advanced Techniques – XDTutorials.com

Adobe

Adobe Photoshop CC   Create and enhance photographs, illustrations, and 3D artwork. Design websites and mobile apps. Edit videos, simulate real-life paintings, and more. It’s everything you need to make any idea reality. (for those who invest in software)

Canva

Canva aboutEasily Design Stunning Visuals – Canva makes design simple for everyone. Choose from hundreds of professional templates to create social media graphics, eBook covers, presentations, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.

An alternative tool to help make book covers and social media posts that stand out.

Easily create beautiful designs. Use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics. Mobile friendly. Recommended.

Learn how to maximize Canva for your business or your personal brand. Get inspiration, learn how to get started, and create your own beautiful designs using Canva.

Canva Tutorials HERE.    Try it out for free https://www.canva.com/

Articles about design:

The Book Designer

Articles about book design – and so much more. https://www.thebookdesigner.com/category/book-design/

Genre design templates: https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2017/03/designing-genre-fiction-new-book-design-templates/

ALLi

https://selfpublishingadvice.org/book-design-advice/

Wired

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/19-ingenious-design-books/

Indie Unlimited

https://www.indiesunlimited.com/2014/02/11/how-to-download-and-install-fonts/

Humblenation

humblenations.com/2012/04/12/14-tips-for-good-kindle-cover-design/

14 Tips for Good Kindle Cover Design

Typography 101 Everything a beginner should know

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/typography-terms-introduction

FONTS:

Smashing –   FREE FONTS   New High-Quality Free Fonts

www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/free-fonts/

Every now and then, we look at select fresh free high-quality fonts and present them to you in a brief overview. The choice out there is enormous, so the time you need to find them is usually the time you should be investing in your projects. We search for them and find them so that you don’t have to.

My Fonts  https://www.myfonts.com/

Fonts  https://www.fonts.com/

Urban Fonts / Free Dirty Fonts: https://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/dirty-fonts.htm

For affordable book cover options check out my new site

EZ INDIE DESIGN

Other Helpful Freeware:

Calibre  http://calibre-ebook.com/

Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books.

  • Library Management
  • E-book conversion
  • Syncing to e-book reader devices
  • Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form
  • Comprehensive e-book viewer
  • Content server for online access to your book collection

Testware:

Russell Phillips’ Author Tools

Quick links and tools used when publishing:
ISBN check digit calculator, creating audio books, downloads from your website, create apps and quick links to iBooks & Kindle store & more

Book promotion

www.bookpromotion.com/category/tech-talk/

Tech Talk – Info on  SEO, Meta tagging, WordPress Plug-Ins and more.

Tutorials:

The Book Designer

Tons of professional information from Joel Friedlander on topics from internal print page design to eBook covers!

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

Educator

educator logo     Website or Blog Design – Tutorial for Word Press

www.educator.com/computer-science/wordpress/hague/

Adobe Effects: NALDZ Graphics

Amazing Adobe Effects

Free Social Media Icons: 50+ Most Amazing Adobe After Effects Tutorials You Need to Learn by Ronald Bien  

Photoshop CS6

FREE samples from Educator.com‘s Photoshop CS6 lessons that help you through your image editing journey.

CS6 Intro  https://www.educator.com/software-training/adobe-premiere-pro-cs6/snape/introduction-to-premiere-pro-cs6.php

Adobe courses search http://www.educator.com/#search?Adobe

Web design http://www.educator.com/computer-science/web-design/echavarria/

WordPress courses search https://www.educator.com/software-training/adobe-premiere-pro-cs6/snape/introduction-to-premiere-pro-cs6.php#search?wordpress

Video & Images:

Google

accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin Your Google Account is more than just YouTube.

Talk, chat, share, schedule, store, organize, collaborate, discover, and create. Use Google products from Gmail to Google+ to YouTube, view your search history, all with one username and password, all backed up all the time and easy to find at (you guessed it) Google.com.

Create your own You Tube channel

www.youtube.com/channel/UCSayPBDIpl739kcswMsFopA

Brainy Video

www.brainyvideo.com/  Here’s How to Show Up in a Powerful and Authentic Way / Steven Washer – Dean of Students

More Freeware:

Irfanview

What is IrfanView?  http://www.irfanview.com/ . . . one of the most popular viewers worldwide! IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE  (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, 2008, Vista, Windows 7.

It is designed to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.

IrfanView was the first Windows graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple (animated) GIF support. One of the first graphic viewers WORLDWIDE with Multipage TIF support. The first graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple ICO support.

Sound:

Audacity®

is free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/
Great to use if you want to do an audiobook or book trailer. Record and test – share.
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use. Developed by a group of volunteers and distributed.
Join the Audacity user community and help other users.

Images:

Getty Images

http://www.gettyimages.com/creativeimages/royaltyfree

Support Public Domain artists

www.publicdomainpictures.net/top-images.php

www.public-domain-image.com/

Learn about Creative Commons License

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Looking for more information?

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