Quick note: I’m starting to get a lot of requests to add resources to this page. At this time I am not going to do so because this is just a page of resources I know well and have found personally helpful. I am unwilling to add resources to this page that I haven’t had the opportunity to vet thoroughly and at this time I don’t have time to do that for unknown-to-me resources.
If you’re thinking about getting into writing or self-publishing, there are a lot of resources out there to help you get started.
This post from Penguin Random House is a good overview of the trade publishing process where you get an agent and publish through a publisher.
Here’s a reading list with my favorite books on writing and writing craft as well as links to my own books on writing and self-publishing: A Reading List for Writers
If you prefer to read in print, here’s a link to a site where you can buy most of those books in print: Best Writing Advice Books
Also, some Masterclasses that I really enjoyed (available at masterclass.com):
Neil Gaiman, Will Wright, Dan Brown, Margaret Atwood, Shonda Rhimes, Aaron Sorkin, David Baldacci, Neil deGrasse Tyson
A few blogs that I really like:
Patricia C. Wrede (an author who posts every Wednesday about writing craft)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch (an author who usually has a business blog post every Thursday)
If you’re writing short stories:
Check out The Submission Grinder for a list of short story markets and response times.
If you’re submitting to agents or publishers:
Check out Query Tracker for a list of agents and their response times.
And Writer Beware for information on identified publishing “schemes, scams, and pitfalls”
(Also, when it’s up and running Absolute Write has a good forum with threads on publishers and agents.)
If you’re self-publishing:
I also have Sell That Book, Data Analysis for Self-Publishers, Affinity Publisher for Fiction Layouts, Affinity Publisher for Ad Creatives, and Affinity Publisher for Basic Book Covers, Affinity Publisher for Non-Fiction, currently available on most retailers. The Affinity books are also available in two collections, Affinity Publisher for Book Formatting and Affinity Publisher for Ads and Covers.
There are also a number of titles about print books, audio books, AMS etc. that I’ve unpublished because some of the platform information became outdated but where the rest of the information is still valid. Those are available on Payhip here. The Payhip store also includes Excel templates for things like tracking advertising spend and calculating breakeven ACOS for AMS ads, for example.
The Affinity courses are also available as video courses through Udemy and Sell That Book and Data Analysis for Self-Publishers are available in audio.
M.L. Humphrey 