I use a variety of different tools to help me in my writing career. In the digital age, it takes a combination of writing skill and marketing to achieve your goals. The products shown below help me to do both. Some of them are free and some of them contain affiliate links, which means I receive a commission at no extra cost to you if you decide to purchase. I believe in all of the products listed below and these are all personal recommendations of things I actually use.
Education
Self-Publishing School: I used SPS to learn how to write and publish my first book. I made every penny on my investment back and then some. Without SPS, I wouldn’t have written my first book. You can watch a replay of the live webinar I co-hosted about SPS here.
The Content Operating System: The Content OS is a system for creating 5-10 quality pieces of written content every single day.
The LinkedIn Operating System: Grow and Monetize your LinkedIn account.
Website Hosting
Bluehost: If you’re looking to start a writing career, using a self-hosted blog is the way to go. Bluehost is affordable, starting at $3.95/month, and it’s easy to set up. I even created a tutorial here that walks you through the process of signing up for hosting and installing WordPress on your website. New customers also receive a free domain name with their hosting package.
Blogging & Email Marketing
Converkit: Converkit is an email marketing software you can use to build your audience on line with an email list. It’s the best software available, so just use it. Sign up here.
WordPress: WordPress makes it simple to start a website in a short period of time. It’s the most user-friendly solution for those of us who aren’t technically savvy. Bluehost helps you set up and install WordPress on your website.
Leadpages: Leadpages helps you create landing pages for collecting email addresses, webinar announcements, sales pages, and much more. Out of all the tools I use, it’s had the most impact on the growth of my blog and has personally lead to 1000+ email sign ups. I’ve used Leadpages to get 200+ email subscribers with one blog post, you can find out how I did that here.
Google Analytics: You don’t want to obsess over your traffic, but it’s important to know how many people are visiting your website in order to create strategies to increase it.
Design
Tribe Theme: I used Tribe Theme for my website. I love the simple and clean design it provides.