Tools & Services We Use

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, lightweight & ultra fast GeneratePress Premium theme (for our Blog and homepage), the incredibly simple Optimize Press Landing Page builder (for our members area), Wishlist Member to secure our paying members – and hosted on the blazing fast, quality-crafted, SiteGround cloud hosting service.

Writing Tools

  • UlyssesMy main writing app. Switched back to Ulysses—from Bear (“again”)—in 2022. Simple, powerful, distraction-free writing. It Beats Scrivener for its simplicity and cloud syncing across all devices.
  • ObsidianAn extremely powerful ‘knowledge management system.’ Simple to use, unlike Roam, and makes life so much easier as an author. Especially if you consume a lot of books, trainings and podcasts as I do.
  • Jasper AIThe premier AI writing tool. Great for writer’s block. So much fun, too, to watch what he writes when you’re stuck on how to start or finish a sentence. I’m often left speechless by his creativity. If you use ghostwriters, fire them; save money.
  • ProWritingAidGrammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. It Beats Grammarly if you want to improve your writing long-term. Good for long texts. A Chrome extension is available, too.
  • Grammarly – Unlike ProWritingAid, I don’t like the interface. I use Grammarly for their Chrome extension, which will highlight errors in my writing on all sites. Useful for social media posting, support messages and emails I write.
  • Hemingway EditorImprove readability and complex sentence structures quickly and easily. Free app, too.

Productivity & Organisation

  • ChatGPT (AI)A true “game changer” for productivity as a creative of any kind. I use it as a brainstorming partner, gaining deep insights (empathy) into my target readers, predictive modelling, analyzing competitors, writing comprehensive outlines, creative writing ideas, inspiration, stories, and so much more. Learn more about AI & ChatGPT in my free course here.
  • 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, and you get 5GB free.
  • Brain.fmFunctional music to maintain writing focus. Works for me. I can’t stand silence, though.
  • WorkflowyGreat for simple text-based mind mapping and visualising projects, books and content structures.
  • Moleskine Notebook – Love ’em for simple note-taking and to-do lists I can take anywhere.

Book Cover Designers

  • 100 CoversThe pros at book cover design for just $100. Use coupon code: KDSPY10 to save 10%.
  • 99designsExpensive. But you can get designers to compete for your job. You pay for the best design.

Book Formatting & Editing

Publishing & Writing Education

  • Ship 30 for 30Nicolas Cole has had over 100m views on 3000+ articles across Quora & Medium, with a follower audience of over 98k readers. He teaches ‘attention-grabbing’ digital writing in his course Ship 30 for 30. I participated in Oct 2022. It’s in my top three best course investments.
  • Hooks for BooksWriting compelling titles & hooks.
  • Audiobooks Made Easy– Turn your books into audiobooks.
  • Get 10k Readers – Get your first 10k readers – step-by-step.

Security

  • LastPassThe best there is to store passwords for use on “all” devices – ultra secure, too. Multiple lockdown options.
  • WP SecurityGreat WordPress security plugin to protect from hackers. Don’t get caught out. It’s 100% free, too.

Email

  • ConvertkitTried 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.

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

  • ClickmagickTracking to monitor ROI on advertising spend, complete with a/b testing and so much more.
  • HotjarVisitor feedback, insights & surveys.
  • Google Analytics – It’s free.

Website Builders & Hosting

  • GeneratePress PremiumThis is the theme for this blog. It’s ultra-lightweight, blazing fast, and stunning.
  • Optimize PressThe first and best landing page builder for WP there is, in my opinion. OP3 – their latest Sept 2019 release – is powerful and simple to use. I’d be lost without it.
  • SitegroundIncredible hosting. Tried a bunch. Let down by most. Siteground outperforms them all.
  • WP RocketAwesome WordPress plugin to speed up sites. I use this on KDSPY and KDROI web pages. Every 1-second delay results in a 12% reduction in conversion (sales). If you sell anything online, this will put money back in your pocket.