General Resources
Links marked with a * are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. I only recommend resources I personally use or have tried and believe in. All Amazon book links are affiliate links.
Blogs & Websites
My Writing Tips blog
https://www.talenawinters.com/writing-tips
Posts about the craft and business of writing from yours truly.
Author Kristen Lamb
Weekly posts about the craft and business of writing delivered with wit and sass.
Jane Friedman’s Writing Advice Archive
https://www.janefriedman.com/writing-advice-archive/
A treasure trove of knowledge from one of the most respected voices in publishing, both traditional and indie.
One Stop for Writers
https://onestopforwriters.com/
Just what it says—from the creators of The Emotion Thesaurus and the Writer’s Thesauri collection is this fantastic tool to do everything from create characters and world-build to tools to help you outline and plan.
While those services are behind a paywall (after a free trial), you can get a lot of great information from their blog for free at https://writershelpingwriters.net/.
Writer Beware
https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/
A great resource to educate yourself about how to guard against unethical or predatory companies, contests, service providers, and agents.
Books
See the index for this section for books I recommend about other author-related topics.
The Writer as the Protagonist
by Jennifer E. Lindsay
What would happen if we approached our writing journey the way we’re taught to approach our stories?
Part writer's guide, part journal, The Writer as the Protagonist: Using the 'Hero’s Journey' to Plot Your Career as a Writer looks at how writers can harness familiar concepts found in captivating stories (both film and print) to map out their own writing journey.
Reclaim Your Author Career
by H. Claire Taylor
Breaking an author business down into four main components, Reclaim Your Author Career uses the Enneagram framework to help writers rediscover their core motivation and align their work with what fuels them. By examining creative values, persona, themes, and protagonists, Claire guides you deep through an exploration of yourself that will leave you wiser, refreshed, and excited to make the tough decisions that lead to lasting success.
Courses
Holly’s Writing Classes
Taught by author Holly Lisle.
https://hollyswritingclasses.com/
If it weren’t for Holly’s How to Think Sideways novel-writing class, I would probably not be a published author now. She has amazing classes on all subjects writing-related, and several of them are free introductory courses (that are still chalk-full of powerful content.)
Podcasts
The Creative Penn
Host: Joanna Penn
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/
The Self-Publishing Show
Hosts: James Blatch and Mark Dawson
https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/
Mark Dawson is an award-nominated, multiple USA Today bestseller, with more than 20 books and over 2 million copies downloaded worldwide in multiple languages. James Blatch isn’t – but he’s doing his best to learn how.
Writers Ink
Hosts: J.D. Barker and J. Thorn
https://writersinkpodcast.com/
A podcast about the business of writing with hosts J.D. Barker and J. Thorn.
Stark Reflections
Host: Mark Leslie Lefebvre
https://starkreflections.ca/
Interviews with creative professionals from the publishing and other industries with reflections from long-time publishing industry professional Mark Leslie Lefabvre.
Six-Figure Authors
https://6figureauthors.com/
Hosts: Lindsay Buroker, Andrea Pearson, Jo Lallo
The podcast that helps you take your author career to the next level.
Alone in a Room with Invisible People
https://www.alonewithinvisiblepeople.com/
Hosts: Rebecca Galardo and Holly Lisle
Established author and writing teacher Holly Lisle and her daughter, writer Rebecca Galardo, have discussions about the craft and business of writing (mostly the craft) based on experience and questions from their community.
Services
Reedsy
Use to find vetted professionals from graphic designers, editors, and typesetters to business and marketing coaches.
Findaway Voices
Use this service to find a narrator, produce your audiobook, and distribute to retailers, or bring your ready-made product and use their distribution service only. They also own Authors Direct, a direct-to-readers storefront for audiobooks.
Professional Organizations
Alliance of Independent Authors
https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/
ALLi helps authors to publish great books, reach more readers, and selectively license their publishing rights, instead of exclusively contracting to a single publisher.
Join to gain access to private forums, contract advice, discounts, guidebooks, literary agent, advice, advocacy and more.
There are too many options for me to list them all here, but I encourage you to become a part of a community that will help you along on your writing journey.
Look for writing guilds, local critique groups, or online critique groups to help you improve your craft and provide network and support. Most countries and individual states or provinces have their own guilds or organizations, and there are often national organizations that focus on specific types of literature or genres.
Conferences
When Words Collide
https://www.whenwordscollide.org/
One of the premier literary festivals in Canada, hosted in Calgary, Alberta, Canada every August. (Currently a virtual conference during the pandemic.)
Communities
Wide for the Win (Group - Circle or Facebook)
A positive, safe, uplifting place to learn how to launch or grow your author business. Focus is on succeeding selling wide (as in, advice and community does not discuss selling on Amazon, which is covered extensively in other groups, but on all the other places you can market your books).
20 Books to 50K (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k
A “safe place to discuss how to ethically make money as authors.” Includes Amazon as a main part of the strategy discussed. The name is based on the idea that it takes approximately 20 published book to be making $50,000 USD per year.