I’m finally putting together a list of the tools and resources I use to build traffic, increase conversions, design amazing promotional materials and advertisements, write and publish books, build courses and landing pages, and make passive income online.
It took me about 10 years to figure it all out, and the first five years I worked really hard and didn’t make very much money. But now I can pretty much write full-time, own my time and schedule, live a nomadic lifestyle and create my own magnificent adventure.
These are some of the tools and resources that helped me get here.
Platform Basics
Tracking Book Sales
Hosting
- WP-Engine +++
- SiteGround ++
- GoDaddy +
WordPress Themes
- Thrive
- Elegant Themes
- Theme Forest
Landing Pages
- Draft2Digital
- Optimize Press
- LeadPages
- ClickFunnels
- BookLaunch.io
Email Marketing
Book Writing and Editing
- Scrivener
- Learn Scrivener Fast
- Plot Dot: a Visual Guide to Plotting (mine) [FREE PDF]
- The Zombie Guide to Good Grammar (mine)
Masterclass
- Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers
- Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing
- Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing
- James Patterson’s MasterClass
- Judy Blume Teaches Writing
- Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art of Storytelling
Book Reviews
- Book Review Targeter
- Author Marketing Club
- Reviewers for Books
- BookRazor
- 100 Reviewers
- Instafreebie
- BookFunnel
Book Design
- Vellum
- 99Designs
- YouSign
- DIY Book Cover Templates (mine)
- DIY Book Formatting Templates (mine)
- Creativindie Book Covers
Courses and Education
- Joanna Penn’s How to write a novel
- Mark Dawson Ads for Authors / Self-publishing formula
- Nick Stephenson First 10K readers
- Blank page to published author in 90 days (free workshop)
- 21 Day Bestselling Author Platform + Guerrilla Publishing (mine)
- How to Build a Profitable Online Business in 24 Hours or Less (mine)
- Paid to Create: Produce More Great Work (mine)
Online Courses (Build your own)
Inspiration and Goal Setting
- The Very Serious and Boring Coloring Book for Responsible Adults (mine)
- Color and Grow Rich (mine + N. Hill.)
- Productivity Planner for Writers
My Books (get these free)
- How to Write, Format, Publish, Promote Your Book
- 100 Publishing Questions Answered
- Cover Design Secrets that Sell More Books
- Book Marketing is Dead
- Guerrilla Publishing
Book Promotion + Keyword Research
- K-lytics
- Ebook Booster
- AKReport
- Book Marketing: free ebook submission tool
- KindleSpy
- KDRoi
- KDPRocket
- PUBLISHER rocket
Book Editing
Read my review of ProWritingAid here.
Blurbs
If you need help writing a blurb that converts – which can make a huge difference – Bryan Cohen has a blurb writing service to help.
EXPERT SECRETS
This is a book by Russell Brunson, the founder of Clickfunnels – it literally changed my business, and was a huge turning point in my life. I was frustrated because, even though I get a lot of traffic and people seem to trust me and love my content, I wasn’t making sales. I already knew I needed to focus more on telling stories, but I didn’t have a clear, specific roadmap.
The most revealing sentence in the book is this: “Teaching the best content can actually hurt sales. But learning how to identify, break and rebuild false belief patterns got people to take action they needed in order to change. I learned how to tell stories.”
Russell has a “just pay shipping” deal – he’s a hardcore internet marketer so his pages are a bit overwhelming, but the information in this book changed my life.
Other Creative Projects
I like to stay busy with lots of weird stuff. Here are a few things I’m interested in…
- Treasure hunting. I like pirates and metal detectors and exploring old ruins. I love ancient mysteries. And I’m helping a friend set up a Yukon gold mining experience.
10 Comments
Derek, I notice you have sign up button on your facebook author page. How did you do that? I have a mailchimp account, which is what I’d like that link to go to.
Thanks for your help!
Christine
You can add a button and link where ever you want, I just linked straight to my mailchimp form.
Thanks – it took me a lot of messing around on both sites but I figured it out.
Best to you!
Christine
Watched your Plot videos, liked them very much, but didn’t take any notes because I intended to track down your offered PlotDot.pdf and Sample outline. But they were not where you said they’d be, but rather ‘they’re at my site’. But I can’t find them here either. I’d have given up by now, but I have to know if this all some sort of bait and switch. Can’t imagine such a nice guy would do that. It’s likely I’m just not looking in the right place. But I have to know now that I’ve put in such an effort.
[email protected]
sorry about that, must have forgotten to add the link:
https://www.slideshare.net/DerekMurphy/the-plot-dot-a-visual-guide-to-plotting-unforgettable-scenes
Hi there Derek I am just sending oodles of gratitude for your kind advice and support which is so generously given AND which is all working. Thank you soooo much. Have a brilliant day – in fact have a whole heap of ’em. : )
Hey Derek – GREAT tools! Do you have a list of recommended editors that write descriptive text and/or blurbs? 90+% of respondents love my cover but think the descriptive text is the reason for no sales. Appreciate whatever resources you can point me to.
You probably should know that several of the links under the heading My Books (get these free) lead to books that aren’t yours and aren’t free
I hope you soon add a section for AI tools. Thanks.
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