1. Vellum
Vellum is a formatting software and here's why you need it.
You'll need to update your books often. I didn't know this when I started publishing. Even if you don't need to fix typos that slipped through (and we all do from time to time) with the dawn of the ebook, you want to be leaving links to the next book in a series or your latest bestseller at the end.
Sometimes you link to your preorder, and the next thing you know it's been two years since that book has gone live and it still says, preorder the next book at the end of the first one.
But wait there's more. Vellum has the extras. Chapter headings, background images? Text conversations, handwritten letters? They are constantly adding things that make their program better which in turn, makes our books better. With a click of a button, you can have everything the pros have and you don't need to be tech-savvy to use it.
Before I had vellum, I had to pay for formatting and then pay every time I wanted to update my book. The more books you have the more you'll need to update and you end up saving a lot of money down the line. I suggest grabbing Vellum when it's discounted, usually around Black Friday, otherwise it's around $400.
2. SendFox
Sendfox will help you "collect" your fans. You can make all the Facebook groups you want, but visibility will eventually drop off. You're going to need an email list. The great thing about an email list is your fans will subscribe and then every time you release something, you'll have a free boost in sales by sending an email. Have a free book to promote? Your list will jump all over it!
But wait there's more. You can take your list of subscribers and use it to target similar customers when you run ads. And that's how you find your perfect audience without competing with the big names that have expensive click-throughs.
Why Sendfox? Well, other sites have more bells and whistles and integrate better into other platforms, BUT you only have to pay for Sendfox ONCE. $50 for up to 5k subscribers, while some of the other platforms are $40 per month. Plus if you go over 5k subscribers you pay $10 for every thousand.
If you keep your list under 5,000 you'll only pay one time ever. This is great for people like me who have kids and disappear from time to time. I can return to the industry and my list without having to pay monthly. Believe me, this will save you a lot of money.
3. Bookfunnel
You might be wondering, how do I even build an email list? Bookfunnel is a great way. Basically, you offer a few chapters of your book for free for those who subscribe. There are group promotions and lots of practical ways to use their tools if you're creative enough.
I once commissioned some artists to draw my characters, then I made a "yearbook" and put it up on Bookfunnel. I put the link to it at the end of the book and people then subscribe to my email list to see the yearbook. It has helped me build very quickly.
But wait, there's more. They're adding audiobooks too, which I could see being a neat tool in the future. I've actually used this service along with Shopify to sell audiobooks directly from my website. I want to say there's a yearly subscription that costs around $100 per year for all of bookfunnel.
4. Canva
Do I think you should make your own book covers? Absolutely not. Pay a pro. But Canva is the marketing tool of all tools. First, you can make a lot of stuff in Canva especially if you get Canva pro.
Promo images, social media posts, header images, backgrounds for inside the book, and maps. Literally, anything you can imagine, you can make with Canva. You can use their stock images and videos to make magic.
5. Fiverr
I am a Fiverr SLUT. The trick to Fiverr.com is not to get someone to make a whole project. Usually, that doesn't work, instead, hire pros for cheap little things to help you make big things.
Do you have a poem in your book? Hire a Fiverr musician to turn it into a song. Use it for your social media posts to build hype. Use it as an intro to your audiobooks.
Write a paragraph about your main character complaining about their situation. Hire a voice actor to read the lines, toss it into Canva, and lay it over your cover for a social media post.
I once turned a short story into an AUDIOBOOK MUSICAL using a combination of these tools.
You can reuse and shuffle these little cheap Fiverr gigs into endless content that always feels fresh.
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