Guides / Software

Stack

Author software worth paying for

Most of the stack is free. The paid pieces should each remove a specific pain — not a vague “pro author” feeling. Some links below are affiliates; disclosure.

Free on purpose

• Amazon KDP — upload, print on demand, pay nothing up front.
• Google Docs or Word — a manuscript is text. Fancy software will not finish it for you.
• Kindle Create — ugly, adequate ebook formatting if you refuse to buy Atticus yet.
• Dream Authors tools — titles, outline, royalties, blurb. That’s why they exist.

Pay once, use for years

• Atticus (~$147) — write + format ebook and print, Windows and Mac, no monthly fee. The usual recommendation if you’re not already in Vellum.
• Publisher Rocket — keyword and category research for Amazon. A commission-based tool we point to because guessing keywords is how people light ad money on fire. Confirm current pricing on their site.

Pay if the pain is real

• ProWritingAid or similar — line notes, not a replacement for a human editor.
• Canva — diagrams and simple nonfiction covers. Hire a designer for fiction.
• Reedsy — a marketplace for editors and designers. You are hiring a person, not buying a package from a press.

Skip

Vanity presses. “We will get you into bookstores” without a named bookstore. Fake review farms. Monthly AI novel mills. Anything that wants your rights in exchange for a PDF of hope.

Wide distribution via Draft2Digital and print via IngramSpark are real; they are later, not first, unless you already have stores asking.

Start in Studio, which is free to try

About 1 minute.