Five Essential Tools for Self-Publishing

As more writers consider self-publishing their work, more resources are springing up to cater to them. However, as in any new market, some of the businesses selling to would-be authors are more useful and credible than others. Here are a five resources with which a potential self-publisher should be familiar.

Wordclay.com

Most people considering self-publishing have heard of Wordclay, but even if you decide to go with another service, there are articles and on the site which can help you navigate the evolving world of self-publishing. In addition, there are frequent contests for poets or short story writers looking to get an even greater jump start into the publishing world.

Scribus

Scribus is a desktop publishing program, which can be used to create a short pamphlet, a book layout and anything in between. It is available for the Linux, Mac and Windows platforms. While not exactly intuitive, there are several free online tutorials available for teaching new users how to use the program. It can also be a great marketing resource if you’d like to create fliers to promote your book or a speaking event. The best part: it’s completely free.

Newpages.com

Newpages has become one of the central resources for writers of all ilks. With its extensive listings of literary magazines, independent publishers and bookstores, the site can be used as an excellent marketing tool for getting the word out about your newly published book.

ISBN.org

If you want your book to have a serious chance at being a success, you need to have an ISBN. Most bookstores will not even consider your work if you don’t have one. In addition, you’ll need to turn it into a barcode, which can be done using fonts at the site listed below.

dafont.com

In order to successfully design your book’s cover, you are going to need some excellent fonts. dafont has thousands of fonts, many of which are available for use in any application. There is an incredible range of fonts on here stretching from the completely plain to the completely unreadable.

Happy publishing!