I only put links here that I think are valuable to authors, legitimate and/or that I have used. That’s why I’m only starting with a few. Note: some of these I am affiliated with, some I am not.
Have you ever wondered what keywords would perform best for your book?
Or what categories you should use for your book?
Or how much your competitors are making with their book?
If so, then I have the perfect tool for you! It was specifically created for authors who wish to sell more books and ebooks.
Publisher Rocket helps me in four key areas:
- Best Keywords for my book
- Who my Competitors are (so I can learn from them)
- Best Categories for my book
- Best Keywords for my AMS ads
With this tool, I stopped guessing what keywords I should be using for my books, and instead was able to find keywords that were actually typed into Amazon’s search bar by real shoppers.
One of Publisher Rocket’s most powerful features is its Competition Analyzer that lists the books that rank on the first page of Amazon for a particular keyword. This feature also allows you to see how well any of your competitors’ books are performing and in what categories their books are currently enrolled in.
Publisher Rocket also lists all of Amazon’s 11,200+ categories and subcategories, along with how many books you would need to sell in order to be the #1 bestseller. So instead of sifting through all those categories ourselves, this tool does all this for us.
And if you run sponsored ads on Amazon for your books, then this tool is absolutely indispensable, because its ads feature helps us effectively and efficiently create a large list of profitable keywords for any of your campaigns, all with NO monthly subscription fee.
It also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, which makes the testing of the software absolutely risk free to us.
So if you’d like to give Publisher Rocket a whirl and a shake, you can do so right here: PublisherRocket. (or click on the image) I’ve been using this software for years now and can’t imagine launching a book without it. I hope you find it as helpful and indispensable as I do. Currently (2023) the cost is $97.
**But if you don’t want to learn another new program, feel free to hire me to do any of the above mentioned tasks. Just let me know what Rocket feature you want and I’ll give you the cost for the service.
BooksGoSocial is a site that helps authors with different aspects of publishing but mainly marketing, and don’t all authors need help with marketing! If you click on the image, it will take you to their list of online classes. If you want $20 off any of their services, contact me and I’ll send you a code.
BooksGoSocial also has access to NetGalley. If you are interested in getting reviews through NetGalley, I recommend using BooksGoSocial. I used them for NetGalley services and it was well worth what I spent.
They also will do Amazon ads for you. I haven’t tried this service yet, but I will. I’ve done Amazon ads on my own and I broke even, which means I did sell more books, but I really didn’t like the hassle of doing it.
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Independent Publisher Book Award – hosted by the Jenkins Group
This award contest has been around a long time and has a good reputation.
I have submitted to them.
They are a good group
Moonbeam Awards – Children’s book award put out by the same company as the IPPY award.
I submitted one of my books to this contest as well
Reader’s Favorite Book Award: I have entered a couple books into Reader’s Favorite. This is also a place to get reviews – including one for free. I have not used their paid review service
indieBRAG Award – Only for self-published works, 13 genre categories
I’ve heard it’s a nice group to work with
Midwest Book Review is a reputable book review site
They ask a tolerable reader’s fee. Only fair, really.
IngramSpark is the self-publishing branch of Lightning Source. (Note: this is not as inexpensive a way to publish compared to kdp.amazon ie., you might want to hire someone to do your interior pdf file to meet their specs, and they charge a setup fee -$49), but IngramSpark has more distribution options and less quality issues than amazon.) You get to choose the % cost to your for selling to the various distribution channels. They recommend 55%, which is that industry standard, but you can choose a different percentage if you so choose (which I would not recommend).
kdp.Amazon’s cost for their wider distribution channels is 60%, and your book might or might not be available to libraries but it’s still “a must” place to publish for any author because of their brand recognition.
If you live in the Midwest, the MIPA has a yearly award contest which ends in December. It’s a reputable contest and does not cost a lot to participate.
CKBooks Publishing 