Resources

 Writing Resources

Firstly, this list is by no means comprehensive, and it mostly contains resources I've used.

Secondly, if there's anything I've missed let me know.

Thirdly, I put this list together rather quickly so please forgive any typos or mistakes and it will be updated as and when I'm able to.

Publishing Tools

• Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) -Amazon's self-publishing platform. If you're going to use this site, I recommend downloading some of the book templates from the help section and the Kindle Create program.
  
• Draft2Digital -self-publishing platform that allows you to publish in more places than Amazon, though there is a small fee for signing up and fee if you don't sell enough books in a year. Very easy to use. Links to Books2Read (see below) and partnered with Smashwords.
  
• Lulu -self-publishing platform which is more geared towards academia and single publications (IMO).
  
• Google Play Books -Google's self-publishing platform. Easy to use, including promotional tools.
  
• ACX -Audible/Amazon audiobook creation site. Links to your KDP books. This site is both for authors and narrators, and there are royalty share options where you don't pay the narrator directly yourself.
  
• Ingram Spark -another self-publishing platform. I don't have any experience with this one.
  

Other Resources and Tools

• Author Central -If you have a book for sale on Amazon, make sure you claim your author profile.  You can customise your profile, track reviews, see the sales ranking reports, add books and recommendations, and some other useful things.
  
• Goodreads -Create an author profile to track ratings and reviews.
  
• PLR -Public Lending Right- register with the British Library to get paid when your book is borrowed in the library.
  
• Amazon Ads- Amazon's ad services.
  
• Books2Read -Sister site to Draft2Digital. This free site allows you to create a custom universal book link that can direct potential readers to their preferred bookstore. The site will automatically search for your book across different online stores to put them all in one place (you can manually add the links if you need or want to). You don't need to be published with Draft2Digital to use this site either (although it helps).
• 3D Book Cover Creator -upload an image of your book cover and crate a 3d picture of your book.
• Inkarnate -Fantasy map creator.
• Reedsy
• Bookbub

Fun Stuff

• Writing Exercises & Prompts -a free site that does exactly what it says on the tin.
• Name Generator -random names.  There's some other generators on here too.
  
• Random Word Generator -great for writing prompts.
• Word Cloud Generator - an easy to use word cloud (just copy and paste your text into the box)

Submission Stuff

• Modern Manuscript Format -a guide to formatting often used for professional submissions.
• HorrorTree -this site is amazing; not only does it list multiple SFFH/Spec submission calls, it also has articles and serials
• Submittable -a submission portal that also includes listings (though some publishers clog up the recent listings with recurring posts)
• Duosuma -another submission portal that also includes listings.
• The Submission Grinder -a submission tracker that can not only help you find submission calls, but you can use it to give yourself an idea of how long a publisher takes to respond.
• Rubery Book Awards -a yearly competition for indie and self-pub authors.
• Creative Future Writers' Awards -an annual development programme for talented writers from underrepresented backgrounds.

Publishers

• COMING SOON- I've got a lot of publisher sites bookmarked; I'm going to need to set aside some time to add them here.