A Bevy of Options: Part Deux – FREEBIES! by Keri Kruspe

Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Keri Kruspe as she shares with us “A Bevy of Options.” Enjoy!

Various tools I’ve used to get my writer’s career to get off the ground.

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In my first article, I went through various software/tools I’ve used to launch my writer’s career that cost money.

As promised, here’s the fun stuff… freebies!

As you may recall, I’ve list the things into three categories: marketing, editing, and training. So, sip your favorite beverage, sit back, and enjoy!

Freebies: Marketing

I find marketing a lot of fun. I enjoy putting pictures and ad copy together and putting them up on FaceBook, AMS ads and Bookbub. I’m not saying I’m good at it, still practicing and all. But I can tell you, I couldn’t do it without my free access to these sites:

Bookfunnel — This is an essential tool I use to send out my reader magnet when folks sign up for my mailing list.

MailChimp — MailChimp is awesome! It’s free for those of us who have less than 500 subscribers. There is some manual labor needed unless you give in and pay $10.00 a month for automation. I gotta admit, I like the little chimp finger daring you to “push the button” when you’re ready to launch!

Canva — I can’t tell you how much I love Canva! I wouldn’t be able to post on anything without it. It’s so easy. Even with the free stuff, there is a lot of images, shapes, and backgrounds to choose from.

Pixabay— Just the place to get great pictures (like the one at the beginning of this article) that I use on Canva and BookBrush.

BookBrush — A big contender for Canva. It’s free to use and very easy, but the freebie is only for three downloads a month. I used mine up to make a couple of copies of my 3D book! However, using this site I did create an ad for FB that is doing very well.

Freebies: Editing

Plot Spinner — I first heard of this through our very own Beth Barany here in the Writer’s Fun Zone. A great tool to use to “Test Drive Your Story Idea.” I admit I can get lost playing around with it. (Editor’s note: Plot Spinner comes with our Plan Your Novel home study course here.)

Amazon Description Generator Tool –When you’re ready to upload your book on Amazon, use this tool to generate the codes you’ll need to make your blurb stand out with bold and/or italics lettering.

Bitable –This site claims “Make a video — it’s free!” and that may be true, but the free video comes with a watermark on it. I haven’t used this yet because I don’t want someone else’s watermark on my work. I did play around and making the video was easy enough. Right now the cost of $23.00 a month to remove the mark isn’t in my budget.

Fantasy Name Generator —I couldn’t live without this site! As a scifi/fantasy romance writer, this is one of my favorite tools to use. Not only does it help you with weird names, it is so much more. I encourage everyone to check it out.

Kathy Steinemann Word Lists— How many ways can you describe “chest,” “toes,” “shrug” or even “buttocks”? I have a whole binder on her descriptive lists, and boy does it help!

Honorable Mentions — Put your author “ID” up on BookBub, Goodreads, LoveRomanceReads, and of course, Amazon Author Central.

Freebies: Training

Continuing education is vital to any business, especially when you are starting out your writing career. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of making time to keep in touch with fellow authors and learning from them.

Facebook — So many writing/author groups in FB will offer free advice and encouragement in whatever genre you write in. Sometimes you find answers you never knew you needed!

Romance Writers Association (RWA) —While being a member of RWA is not free, they do offer free courses and training throughout the year for it’s members.

Mark Dawson’s Self-Publishing Formula on YouTube —SPF can either be enjoyed on YouTube, or they have an audio podcast for free. Various topics and guests make it worthwhile for any author to view, learn, and get a different perspective.

Writer’s Fun Zone —I know it may be silly (since you’re already here) for me to mention this blog, but hey, there’s some great articles and educational tools available!

Roundup

A list of Freebie’s wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention a couple of “no brainers”:

KDP on Amazon — It’s free to upload your masterpiece to published in either ebook and/or paper format.

Draft2Digital — A place to upload your book for everyone else in the universe that isn’t Amazon, even though Amazon is available. When you’re there, don’t forget to use the Universal Links. It’s an invaluable tool, especially when advertising with third parties. Not to mention using it with your mailing list and anything you post online, i.e. your own website or other platforms.

I hope you found something useful in my lists of “What Costs” and “Freebies” that I’ve used while launching my writer’s career. If you have questions, leave a comment on this blog or visit me at my website.  I’d love to hear from you… see you next time!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keri Kruspe has been an author since the age of twelve and has always been fascinated with otherworldly stories that end in Happily Ever After. Her current works, An Alien Exchange trilogy will have its first release by Winter 2018. The trilogy conclusions — D’zia’s Dilemma and Ki’s Redemption — will soon follow by the first quarter of 2019.

As a native Nevadan, Keri now resides with her family in the wilds of Northwestern Michigan. An avid reader, Keri enjoys good wine, good food, and watching action/adventure movies. You can find her most days immersed in her fantasy world of writing or traveling with her hubby in their RV, discovering intelligent life here on Earth. Don’t forget to visit her website at www.kerikruspe.com. Leave your feedback and sign up for her newsletter!