Having published dozens of books, and hundreds of websites over the last 18 years – you can say we’ve battle tested a fair few products and services. The ones we use in our business and fully endorse, are below.
This site is powered by WordPress using the incredibly stunning & fast Thesis + Focus premium theme (for our Blog), the incredibly simple Optimize Press Landing Page builder (for our homepage), Wishlist Member to secure our member’s area – and hosted on the blazing fast, quality-crafted, SiteGround cloud hosting service.
Writing Tools
- Bear –– My main writing app. Beats Scrivener for its simplicity and cloud syncing across all devices. Switched to bear, from Ulysses in February 2021.
- The Archive –– If you’ve never heard of a Zettelkasten – then you need to learn about how it’s the antidote to note taking chaos. An organised, and searchable ‘Personal knowledge management’ system such as the Archive will change your life as an author.
- ProwritngAid –– Grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. Beats Grammarly if you want to improve your writing long-term. Good for long texts. Chrome extension available, too.
- Hemingway Editor –– Improve readability and complex sentence structures quickly and easily. Free app, too.
Productivity & Organisation
- Evernote –– Keeps my business organised. Great for business receipts, and web clippings.
- Sync –– File storage you can sync to all devices. Beats Dropbox and Google drive for its security, privacy and end-to-end encryption. It just plain works better, too. Plus, you get 5GB free.
- Brain.fm –– Functional music to maintain writing focus. Works for me. I can’t stand silence, though.
- Pocket –– Organize your bookmarks with tags and read offline. Allows you to add highlights & notes to content.
- Workflowy –– Great for mind maps and visualising book projects.
- Moleskine Notebook –– Love ’em for simple note taking and to-do lists that I can take anywhere.
Book Cover Designers
- 100 Covers ––The pros at book cover design for just $100. Use coupon code: KDSPY10 to save 10%.
- 99designs –– Expensive. But, you can get designers to compete for your job. You pay for the best design.
Book Formatting & Editing
- eBook Launch –– Professional ebook formatting service.
- Amazon Guide –– Do it yourself Kindle formatting step by step.
- Kindle Previewer –– Preview how your Kindle books will look.
Self Publishing Education
- Get 10k Readers –– Get your first 10k readers – step-by-step.
- Expert Secrets –– For non-fiction authors looking to scale.
- Audiobooks Made Easy –– Turn your books into audiobooks.
- Hooks for Books –– Writing compelling titles & hooks.
Security & Backup
- LastPass –– The best there is to store’s passwords for use on “all” devices – ultra secure, too. Multiple lockdown options.
- Backup Buddy –– Schedule backups for your WordPress website automatically. Restore is super simple, too.
- WP Security –– Great WordPress security plugin to protect from hackers. Don’t get caught out. This plugin is 100% free, too.
Everything Email
- Convertkit –– Tried all the email providers, Convertkit wins hands down for its simplicity and powerful automations.
- Instant Author Emails –– My email templates and swipe files to grow your book sales. Never be lost for words again.
- Autoresponder Madness –– Using the art of story-driven email marketing to connect, to matter, and to influence the people you seek to serve.
Payments
- ThriveCart –– Incredible cart system. So easy to use & ultra-powerful integrations. One time payment, too.
- Stripe –– Merchant account – quick, painless acceptance.
- PayPal –– Gold standard to pay and get paid.
Analytics & Tracking
- Clickmagick –– Advanced tracking to monitor ROI on advertising spend, complete with a/b testing and so much more. Ultra powerful.
- Hotjar –– Visitor feedback, insights & surveys.
- Google Analytics –– It’s free.
Website Builders & Hosting
- Thesis + Focus Theme – This is the theme for this blog. It’s ultra lightweight, blazing fast, and stunning. Lot’s of customizations.
- Optimize Press –– The first, and best landing page builder for WP there is in my opinion. OP3 – their recent release for Sept 2019 – is so powerful and simple to use. I’d be lost without it.
- Clickfunnels –– Fastest way to test sales funnels, landing pages, optin pages. Expensive though. Not recommended if you’re new.
- Siteground –– Incredible hosting. Tried a bunch. Let down by most. Siteground outperforms them all.
