SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS
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CAMPFIRE: Writing Software for Authors and Worldbuilders
Campfire is a creative writing software platform that allows you to plot and plan your writing projects in a slick, appealing, and highly organised way. Campfire is broken down into individual modules, meaning you only use the parts of their software that you actually need. These modules include: Character Sheets, Relationship Webs, Timelines, story Arcs, custom Encyclopedias, Research Storage, Language Creation, Magic System Templates, and System Flowcharts. Campfire has three sections. Campfire Write for writing software tools, Campfire Learn for free educational resources for all writers, and Campfire Explore for a platform to publish your stories and read stories from the rest of the community. It’s completely up to you whether you make your work public or private. You can also write your manuscript on Campfire, which means you can actually write while referencing your notes and keeping track of all your story’s moving parts. Campfire was originally geared more towards science fiction and fantasy writers, but they’ve worked hard to make their platform suitable for all writers who like to plan and plot their stories. The best thing about Campfire is that you can try all the modules for free, and they have flexible pricing if you decide to upgrade to a subscription.
CANVA: Book Cover Design for Self-Publishers
While Canva is not strictly software, it is an invaluable platform for anyone wanting to create stylish, professional book covers or promotional materials for book launches. If you have your own photographs or pictures, you can upload them to Canva for free. You also have access to a library of over 1 million stock images, graphics and illustrations. Many of these images are also free, while premium images are all offered at a very reasonable price. Using professional photography will allow you to create a high quality book cover that’s ready for Kindle and other ebook sites. There are no recurring fees once you’ve published your high quality design. Canva’s collection of book cover layouts is the probably the best out there. If you plan on self-publishing, but you can’t afford to pay book cover designers, you simply must learn how to create a professional looking cover yourself. Far too often we see writers self-publish their books with an unprofessional cover, hoping that no one will notice or that it won’t matter. Unfortunately, when it comes time to put your book on Amazon the title, the cover (and the blurb) are the only things that matter anymore. Publishing a book with a bad cover is like turning up to a blind date in unwashed clothes and with bad breath hoping your sparkling personality will make up for it! If the cover of your book doesn’t look professional, you’re unlikely to sell many books. And it doesn’t matter how good your story is or how much promotion of the book you do. Your book cover doesn’t have to be an incredible work of art, it just needs to look professional and match the genre or style of the story within. With Canva, there are no excuses for bad book covers anymore!
