Authors

The following resources have been hunted down over many years and suggestions have come from our own authors, our editorial department, fans of the company and folks who are simply passionate about being/becoming an author. For a truly inspirational infographic packed with links to useful advice and resources, scroll to the bottom of the page.

More resources will be added to this page as we inspect and endorse them. If you have any resource pages that you would like us to consider for this list, please contact us and let us know.

Initially, as an author who wants the world to read and review your work, one of the most important things to have is somewhere online at which to point people. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are all great sites but the really successful writers have their own website too. Here's a link to a non-biased, non-affiliated review of various DIY website builders from Robert Mening, web designer and developer. Have fun building your website!

LEARNING THE CRAFT - FINDING INSPIRATION - The journey from blank page/screen to published book

 - The book that our editors recommend to all writers of commercial fiction, from those just starting out to experienced novelists is How to be a Fantastic Writer, available as an ebook from our store or Amazon, and available as a paperback from Amazon

 - The Writer's Toolkit (the 1st edition of How to be a Fantastic Writer) is one of our earliest publications and back in 2012 we launched it on Facebook. The resultant writer-driven content (advice, tips, guidelines and loads of real examples) is freely available and has become one of our most used resources
 - To help get you started, here is a veritable arcade of interesting, helpful and informative stuff from the Creative Penn
 - Stuart Aken is one of our most prolific authors. He compiles and shares a huge raft of author resources on his website and regularly blogs about his process too

 - Here is some great advice from Kazuo Ishiguro
 - Cody Delistraty has put together this wonderful, if occasionally harsh bunch of inspirational tips from great authors
 - LInda Acaster is one of the most dedicated planners we know. Here she shares the resources that help her be a world class writer of historical and paranormal fiction
 - iUniverse has compiled this really useful list of tips for fiction writers. We heartily approve
 - The inspirational Instagram page Writer Posts is full of a wonderfully eclectic mix of things to inspire your creativity

THE NUTS AND BOLTS - Your ideas might be world-beating, but if they're drowning in a sea of bad spelling and awful grammar no one will ever find them

 - Many universities provide resources to help their students with the nuts and bolts of writing. This link is to the Open University but if you search you will find many more

 - Grammarist - How's your grammar? Check it here

 - The BBC Skillswise resources provide help on spelling, grammar and sentence structure for different skills levels

 - There is some amazing software available  to aid your writing process. The wonderful folks at TechRadar have created a list of free and really useful software

BEING PROFESSIONAL ABOUT YOUR WRITING - If writing is more than a hobby to you, be professional

 - Join a professional body. In the UK the Society of Authors provides invaluable advice and support (including financial) to writers

 - There are Writers' Guilds across the world. Find your local one and check it out. In the UK it is the Writers' Guild of Great Britain

 - If your writing is published, it is available to people throughout the world, including those who pay to use it. Register with your local collecting society to get your secondary royalties. This link takes you to the UK society, the ALCS

SELF PUBLISHING

 - Contrary to popular belief, we are not against self publishing. All we're interested in is the release of Fantastic literature into the world. Self publishing guru David Gaughran explains how he started from zero

 - Build yourself a platform. Although social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles are extremely useful, your own website is a vital marketing tool to help get your name known. Here's a simple website builder guide for beginners

A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR EVERYTHING YOU NEED 

We love to have inspirational stuff pinned to our office walls to remind us of all the amazing folks out there in the creative realm. For working authors, here's a printable, useful, informative and beautiful infographic created by Matt Banner from the amazing onblastblog which contains something for every writer. Simply click here to check it out.

Many writers and writing tutors have written guides from various perspectives. When you are starting out, it is always useful to explore these types of things. Not every technique works for everyone, and we all develop our own ways of working, but the more you read, the more useful tips you will pick up. Here is an example from the prolific author Jerry Jenkins who has put together a 'How to write a book: Everything you need to know in 20 steps' guide.
 

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