MyQueerSapphFic

Discount and New Release Women loving women (WLW)/Sapphic Themed fiction

Author Resources

Software for Authors

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Resources for Authors

 

Resources: Round 2 – Software

A couple of months ago we published a blog post featuring resources for sapphic literature authors. We shared the list with our sister site, iReadIndies and got requests from the authors of the iReadIndies collective to add things like cover designers, writing software, marketing resources and more. We’ve since added cover designers to the list on that site. You can see the full list here.

We’re creating a separate blog post here and page on the iRI site for software for authors because there are a lot of software resources in multiple categories.

This list isn’t intended to be exhaustive. The writing and editing software brands listed here and the emailing platforms are known to many authors, both traditionally published and indie. Plotting software is a newer player on the scene but both types of authors use it as well. The publishing specific software will be of more interest to indie authors than to traditionally published ones.

Writing Software

Microsoft Word: The old standby. Mobile, PC, and Apple products versions. Most editing software add-ins work with it. Cloud storage with MS Office 365. Most Longtime users can make it do lots of tricks and Microsoft rolls out new features all the time. Decent voice to text capability built in. Can be pricy if you keep upgrading or if you use MS Office 365 and pay monthly/annually. No story boarding or built in plotting features.

Google Docs: Free and accessible from any device with your Google login (uses your Gmail account). Browser extensions are available for most editing software. Works similar to MS Word in many respects but without all the underlying code. Also has built in voice to text capability.

Scrivener: The gold standard for writers. Apple and PC versions but the Apple version is more developed. One time cost of about $49 US with updates and most major upgrades free. Good product support. Project management from start to finish with built in tracking capabilities. Store all your notes/research in your book file. See your chapter notes on screen as you work. Storyboarding capabilities. Can build boxed sets. Steep learning curve but there are lots of free materials and videos out there. Can use PC/Apple built in speech to text functions. Can create files for publishing, but the interface to do this with a PC is clunky.

Dragon Naturally Speaking and Dragon Anywhere: Works with MS Word (add-in), Google Docs (browser extension) and other programs for speech to text. Pricey compared to the free speech to text converters Microsoft and Google offer users, but it can be trained to your voice fairly quickly and work much more accurately. Dragon Anywhere is the newest offering, but it’s stilly easy to get Dragon Naturally Speaking and it’s still supported.

Plotting Software

Plottr: There’s lots of plotting software out there. If you’re a visual planner and you don’t want to cover your wall space in boards with index cards or PostIt notes, Plottr is your best bet. Available for Mac, PC, and online. Highly customizable and has useful templates for plots in several genres/formats and for characters. Annual $25 US fee but if you like it, spring for the lifetime deal at $99 US.

Plot Factory: Robust but it’s online software only. No internet, no access. This is freemium software. The free version does a lot and doesn’t limit the volume of your content but feature rich versions cost from $9 to $19 a month/$90-190 a year. Import your own plot templates. US. Audio narrations available even at the free level downloadable as MP3 files.

Scrivener: See above (Writing Software). It’s not a robust plotter like the software Plottr, but if all you need is a storyboard where you can see plot points/scenes/chapters visually and move things around, and you already have this, it’s all you’ll probably need.

Editing Software

ProWritingAid: Free and premium versions. Works with MS Word (add in), Google Docs, and just about everywhere you can write online like on blog posts, comments, social media and more (Chrome extension). Checks grammar, spelling, punctuation, and clarity. Plagiarism checker. Run twenty different reports on your writing based on the software’s analysis. Premium is the robust standard for professional writers both traditionally published and indie. Give your editor the cleanest copy possible. Pricing for premium is $10 a month/$120 a year US.

Grammerly: You’ve likely used the free version of this. It’s always been a great grammar, spelling, and punctuation checker and it has a Chrome extension to allow it to work for you across the internet as with ProWritingAid. The paid version has improved over the years to be nearly as robust as ProWritingAid, but there are far less reports available and it’s more expensive, especially if you can only afford to pay monthly ($30 a month, US).

Hemmingway: Online and desktop for Mac or PC. Not as robust as ProWritingAid or Grammarly but very user friendly and inexpensive at a onetime fee of $19.99 US. Allows the user to format articles and export directly to WordPress and to Medium.

Fictionary Storyteller: Online only. 14 day free trial. After that there are three levels of paid plans from $19 a month/$169 a year US to $49 a month/$399 a year, US. At the lowest level you can work with three active files/stories. Popular with editors especially at the ‘Storyteller Coach’ level.

Publishing Software

Vellum: Mac only. Built in editor. The longtime standard for self publishers who wanted to format books that looked good while being able to edit on the fly. Creates individual books and boxed sets. Easy to use. Updated frequently. Good support. One time cost of $199.00 US (eBook only)/$249.00 US (eBooks and paperbacks). The biggest con is that it only runs on Mac OS systems and only the past couple of MAC OS upgrades. Once Apple stops supporting an OS, new Vellum software updates won’t work. You have to get a newer Mac.

Atticus: Online only. The newish kid on the block trying to unseat Vellum. Aims to unseat Scrivener too, as it too is an editor so you can make changes on the fly. The developers are pushing it as writing software. It’s getting there, but it’s not quite there yet. A cool feature is the ability to store templates for your back matter. You change the template then switch it out with all your stored books and upload the updated version to the retailers. New features are added often. Boxed set creation is now available. User friendly and good support. Cheaper than Vellum at $147 US with lifetime free updates.

D2D: Online only. free. In the days before Atticus, if you didn’t have Vellum or Scrivener, you either learned how to format your MS Word or Google Docs document for conversion to a .mobi or .epub file or you paid someone to format your eBooks. You could also use Draft2Digital (D2D). You still can. It’s still out there and it’s still free. The owners of D2D improve it all the time. It’s user friendly and that’s a good thing because support can be slow. The biggest con with D2D’s compiler is that it’s not an editor. What you see is what you get. Catch a typo? Spacing off? You have to go back to your source file and fix it, then upload your file again.

Scrivener: You can create files to publish directly in Scrivener. If you’ve mastered the learning curve to write in it and use many of it’s cool features, you can probably master it’s publishing learning curve too. Scrivener took years to do a PC update beyond what they took to do an update to the Mac version of their software. Anne gave up on publishing with the PC version well before they finally updated it. The old way of creating .mobi and .epub files with the PC version was a slog. Hopefully it’s improved. Anne used Vellum for a few years, then bought Atticus. She prefers either of those to using Scrivener to do the conversions.

Adobe InDesign: The best software for book layout. Used by professional graphic artists everywhere, often in conjunction with Adobe Illustrator. Monthly and annual plans starting at $21.00 a month US for use out of the Adobe Creative Cloud. Does not include stock photos. You must do your own illustrations (with Illustrator or other such software), provide your own photos, or purchase licensed stock photos from Adobe Stock or another provider like DepositPhotos.

Email

Note: There are dozens of viable platforms out there to use to maintain your email list. Additionally, many webhosts offer this service and can integrate it with your website. These three are the most common standalone platforms. They all have limited free plans and multitudes of features. All have experienced significant price increases in the past two years as they’ve added features to compete with each other.

MailerLite: Free up to 1,000 subscribers. Tends to be the least expensive overall, especially under 2,500 users. It’s also the most basic. There are templates and you can create and store your own, but they’re limited. Integration with websites is also limited but importing addresses is simple. Has automations.

MailChimp: Free up to 500 subscribers. More expensive than MailerLite, but also more feature rich. You can customize to your heart’s content. Lot’s of customizable templates. Integrates with most hosting platforms/software. Automations. Social media scheduling.

ConvertKit: Free up to 1,000 subscribers but limited features. Popular with sales professionals, it’s making inroads with authors. Includes everything MailerLite and MailChimp have, plus ecommerce at paid levels. You can sell digital products and subscriptions. It’s the most expensive of the three.

Marketing Graphics

BookBrush: Online only. Free and paid versions. Great for making graphics that include your book cover, book related images, pull quotes and more. This is not all around marketing software. The free version will let you do a lot to produce marketing graphics that include your cover. Paid versions, starting at $99 a year US, are more robust but they are still based around book covers.

Canva: Online and offline. Mobile versions as well. Robust graphics creation software. The free version does as much as most beginning authors will ever need. If you publish a lot, blog, market on social media, do stuff for other organizations, etc. you’re going to want to spring for Pro at $99 a year US. It will be money well spent because you’ll use this a lot. With pro you have access to far more graphics/stock photos (licensed for commercial use), thousands more templates, the ability to upload fonts, and tons of special features.

Adobe: Adobe is an entire suite of products you can buy as downloadable software or use via Adobe Creative Cloud. You’ll need a combination of products and stock photos to make quality graphics with Adobe, but they will be high quality. Your best bet if you go the Adobe route is to buy the all apps package for $54.99 a month. It’s pricy, but you can do everything you’d ever need with it for yourself and all your author friends.

Introducing iReadIndies International

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iReadIndies Header Logo

And so it began…

Two and a half years ago, indie author KC Luck established iReadIndies, a collective organization “to bring visibility, recognition, and support to independent authors who put their own time, effort, and resources into self-publishing quality sapphic literature.”

Over the ensuing time, more than 200 indie authors have joined the collective at no cost. All are free to participate in free mentoring, training, group marketing efforts, anthologies and more. There are monthly author meetings, a newsletter for authors, social media outlets that allow the authors to collaborate, reader facing social media accounts, and reader groups on Facebook to promote the authors and their work. Indie book loving readers can also be on a mailing list just for them.

In the early days, near the tail end of the first major wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was talk of future writing retreats, conferences, and awards. It was a huge undertaking for KC, and a true labor of love.

KC has decided to step down. She’s established quite a legacy, and she’ll be missed…but she’ll never be far away. In her stead, Erin and I are taking over, continuing her legacy, and building for the future.

Why take over iReadIndies?

We too love indie authors of sapphic literature and the readers who support them. Of all the books we advertise here at MyQueerSapphFic, 95% (or more) are indie. Our weekly newsletter has thousands of reader subscribers who love hearing about discounts on and new releases of the books they love.

All of that said…we’ve decided we need to make two immediate changes that will help us reach out to more authors, reach more readers, and grow for the future.

  1. We’re incorporating and changing the name (slightly) to iReadIndies International – AKA iReadIndies International Inc. – We’ll still have the roots of a collective, but with open arms to the world of sapphic indie literature, the diversity of the writers and authors who create it, and all the readers who love it.
  2. We’re applying to make iReadIndies International Inc. a non-profit organization. – We’ve got a few hoops to jump through to get there including getting the transition made/website back up and running under our management, filing our non-profit application, and obtaining tax exempt status.

Moving forward and into the foreseeable future, I’ll be the executive director of what we’ve been calling iRI, for short. I’ll be responsible for most of the transition effort, and the day to day operations of iRI thereafter. With KC’s help and some input from members of the collective, We’ve already vetted a small starting board of directors to stand up the new iteration of our not quite so new organization. The board will oversee the organization and keep me in line!

Erin Hodgson will serve as the first President of the board. Serving as members and other officers will be authors Edale Lane and Max Ellendale, and voracious reader and editor Tammie Lynn. Going forward, board positions can be added as needed. Multiple authors and a few readers have volunteered to help in other capacities.

Why a non-profit?

KC paid for nearly everything out of her own pocket, out of the goodness of her heart. As we grow and plan things like a more formal mentorship program, writing retreats, writer/reader conferences, visibility at established conferences and events, and annual awards, we’re going to need funding.

  1. The benefits of being a non-profit: We’ll be able to receive tax-deductible donations, have access to grant funding, and we’ll be better able to build credibility with donors and partners.
  2. The challenges of being a non-profit: There are challenges, always, with any organization. For us our biggest challenges will be fundraising, managing volunteers, and complying with regulations.
  3. The future: Being a non-profit will allow us to make a difference in the lives of indie authors and the readers who love great books by giving us not only the platform KC started, but the ability to grow and change with the times…and they are heady times we live in!

What’s next?

I Heart IndiesThe website will be down for a few more days or so, as we transition. Watch for it to return and (over time) expand, watch your iReadIndies email (if you joined the list before the transition), and watch social media. We’ll resume all of the things below and more, soon:

  • Book contests and giveaways
  • Indie author anthologies in multiple genres (mass giveaways!)
  • Author Spotlights/Readings
  • Author (self published/aiming to publish) and writer (write for fun) specific groups for brainstorming, networking, collaboration, venting, and more.
  • New release announcements
  • Mentoring
  • Resource listings
  • Author classes and masterclasses on craft, editing, publishing, and marketing…especially marketing!

Additionally, with funding, volunteers, and lots of planning and coordination we’re aiming for:

  • A website that showcases the authors of the collective and their books, where readers can find great books by genre and trope.
  • Membership sites like KoFi and/or Patreon with exclusive content from authors of the collective to support iReadIndies and programming for the authors of the collective.
  • Awards in 2024 for 2023 works and the establishment of a formal awards nominating and judging process for future years.
  • Writing retreats in at least two locations (US and abroad?) beginning in 2024.
  • A small (weekend?) conference in Scotland in 2024. Exact location to be determined.
  • Representation at various levels at US based conferences in 2024 like GCLS (July, location to be determined), Women’s Week (October, Provincetown), LCLC (October, Palm Springs, California) – We’ll likely – unfortunately – skip ReadOUT in Gulfport, Florida for 2024 and regauge the political climate there in 2025.
  • A first iRI US based conference with an awards presentation in 2025, likely in Columbus, Ohio for the first year.

We’re building on a solid foundation from a great legacy, and we’re just getting started!

 

Resources for Sapphic Literature Authors

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Resources for Authors

This week’s blog post focuses specifically on resources for sapphic literature writers. This is intended to be a living document. Links will be added as they are found.

Here are some of the best online writing and information resources for  sapphic fiction authors and most other authors. (Updated with additions and corrections November 15th, 2023…still not exhaustive!):

The resources below are more general (read, not sapphic at all), geared toward writing craft, or toward the business of being an author, and are not genre specific. They’re also in no particular order. All of them have been used by Anne and she recommends them.

  • One Stop for Writers: Free (lots) and paid (tons) resources for writers. Includes articles, tutorials, worksheets, tip sheets, story maps for plotting, etc.
  • Writer’s Digest: There’s the magazine (online and offline) of course, all the seminars, and a great website with lots of free resources for writers. Anne’s favorite section is, Write Better Fiction.
  • Jane Friedman: Reports on the publishing industry including self publishing and the business of being an author. She has a paid newsletter, The Hot Sheet, a blog, the extremely popular and free bi-weekly email newsletter, Electric Speed (well worth the signup), free and (mostly) inexpensive paid in-person and online classes on running your author business and on writing craft, and more.
  • KM Weiland: Her blog, ‘Helping Writers Become Authors,’ is all about writing craft. There are new posts weekly at a minimum and is always worth a look even if she’s addressing ‘the hero’s journey’ and you write erotic romance. Sign up for email notices of new posts so you never miss one.
  • Janice Hardy: Janice, an author, teacher/professor, and writing coach runs the Fiction University blog/website. She’s down to blogging personally one day a week now on writing craft from a much heavier schedule, but she also has guest posts weekly or more on a wide variety of craft topics.
  • Joanna Penn: Joanna is an author, podcaster, and blogger. Her blog for writers is called The Creative Penn. All of her podcasts featuring herself and a wide range of guests in publishing, particularly self publishing and the businesses that serve indies are archived and also transcribed. She’s written a host of non-fiction books as Joanna Penn about writing and publishing. Most of her fiction is written as J.F. Penn.
  • Anne R Allen: Authors Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris release a once weekly blog post on Sunday on their blog Writing About Writing. These typically cover specific topics about the business of being an author, and sometimes they are more craft focused. They’re always laced with useful examples and informative. They also maintain an excellent resource list for authors.
  • Bryn Donovan: Bryn is an author and an editor who writes both fiction and non-fiction books. She’s well known for her ‘Master Lists for Writers’ and her tomes of writing prompts. Anne follows her very inclusive blog. Anne has bought her books. Anne loves her!
  • Reedsy: Reedsy is a site where you can hire a freelance editor. They also offer a blog with detailed, useful articles on writing, book design, and publishing and they offer more than 50 FREE Online courses that cover writing, book design, publishing, marketing and more.
  • DIY MFA: You can get an armchair Master of Fine Arts in writing if you follow the advice of this site. You’ll focus not only on writing, but also on reading and on community building.
  • Writers Helping Writers: This site has a frequently updated blog on writing craft topics, paid tools and tutorials for many aspects of storytelling (include several through One Stop for Writers), and workshops and webinars with well known authors/presenters (paid with fees starting at $15 for 1-2 hour sessions/higher for longer, more in-depth workshops). The resource list on the site needs an update.
  • C.S. Lakin: C.S. is a novelist, copy editor, writing coach, and more who writes and hosts guest posts on her blog, Live Write Thrive. Her ‘writing tips’ blog posts are some of her most popular.
  • Writer Unboxed: A great site with daily, relatable posts about the craft and business of fiction. The site has multiple contributors with lots of different perspectives.
  • Writers in the Storm: Five women, all authors, who write in a range of genres blogging about writing craft and inspiration. They’ve been writing the blog since 2010 so there are extensive archives which can be searched by month, keyword, and category (from a dropdown list of categories).
  • Writer Beware: For ALL writers. Educate yourself. Stay safe from scams and scammers.
  • The Book Designer: Very useful site for self published authors with archived articles by Joel Frielander and others. Note: It’s now a part of SelfPublishing.com, but the archived articles are great. The articles focus mainly on the parts after the writing is done; book covers, book design, printing, marketing, and more.
  • The Kill Zone: We know we said no genre resources but we’re making an exception for this one because it’s exceptional. Eleven writers including James Scott Bell and Sue Coletta blog for the TKZ about writing, especially about writing mystery, thriller, and suspense works, and about publishing.
  • Kindlepreneur: This site by author and entrepreneur Dave Chesson will appear again when we talk about marketing sapphic books and marketing tools, but a mention as an overall resource is not misplaced. Dave has created or co-created several products of use to all authors including his best known KDP Rocket (a marketing tool focused on Amazon) and the writing/publishing software Atticus. Dave is also well known for his extensive, honest reviews of writing, publishing, and marketing tools.

 

Writing workshops and Training: There are many writing workshops that focus on sapphic fiction. These workshops can be a great way to learn from experienced writers and get feedback on your work.

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Online communities: Besides the resources we’re beginning to develop here at MyQueerSapphFic, there are many online communities for sapphic fiction authors where you can connect with other writers and with readers, get feedback on your work, and learn about the industry. Some of these sites and communities also review books and/or allow advertising. Some of our favorite communities include:

  • iHeartSapphFic – Reader heavy focus with lots of promos for authors to participate in (mostly free/some paid advertising spots) and a book finder database that puts ours to shame. We’re working on it!
  • iReadIndies – A place for readers of indie published books and a collective for indie authors (not published through any established large publisher, university press, sapphic press/publisher, or other LGBTQIA press/publisher).
  • Lesfic Marketing Alliance Facebook Group – Just what it says. Authors only, getting together to share tips and help each other promote.
  • The Lesbian Review (TLR) – Reader heavy focus built on thousands of book reviews. Also review movies and more. There are opportunities to promote and to appear at reader facing events (mostly online through webinars and on Discord)
  • Queer Romance Ink – Mostly a place to advertise (author pays). Large, searchable book database for readers that is growing more sapphic, but leans heavily toward gay fiction. Not just romance.

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Review Sites and Book Bloggers: Some sites and bloggers accept ARC copies, some do not. Some use Netgally. Check with each individual site or blogger before requesting a review or sending your book/eBook.

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Agents and publishers: There are a number of publishers who specialize in sapphic fiction. If you’re interested in getting your work published traditionally rather than self-publishing, you can research them to find the right fit for you. Agents are typically necessary for large, mainstream publishers. There are far too many of those publishers and agents to list.

The publishers below lean toward sapphic literature or accept it exclusively. Each will typically take a direct submission. Check their websites before submitting for information and guidelines.

Other publishers who focus on LGBTQIA fiction and often take direct submissions:

These lists are by no means exhaustive and will continue to evolve.

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These books offer insights into the craft of writing sapphic fiction, as well as advice on how to represent sapphic characters and relationships in a way that is authentic and respectful.

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Awards: There are multiple awards programs for LGBTQ+ books. Some are dedicated to sapphic books and some exclusively to gay books or bisexual books. Other awards and award programs are more general in nature. Listed below are reputable programs authors and publishers can submit to. Many require a submission fee which helps to keep the awards program viable. Some of the organizations giving awards are profiled in other areas of this blog post.

The Goldies – Sapphic exclusive awards in multiple categories given in July of each year by the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) for works published between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year. To facilitate judging, GCLS staggers the submission deadlines. Submissions generally start in late August or very early September of the publishing year for all books published through at least the first half of the year (January through June). the final submission period ends in mid to late January of the year following the year of publication. There is a submission fee.

The Lammys – Given by Lambda Literary each year in May or June for (primarily) books published in the previous calendar year. There are exceptions. Lambda has lesbian specific categories, gay specific categories, bisexual ones, and transgender ones. There are also some overall LGBTQ categories not broken out by orientation including – for some reason – the broad category of ‘Mystery.’ Submissions begin September 1st of the publishing year and extend slightly into the year following. There is a scaled submission fee.

The Lesfic Bard Awards – Sapphic exclusive awards in multiple categories given annually for books published the previous calendar year. Submissions are generally open all year for books published that year and close in January of the year after the publishing year. There is a submission fee. Note, if you write gay fiction as well, they also sponsor the Gay Scribe Awards.

The Publishing Triangle Awards – The Publishing Triangle presents 10 awards annually. Two awards, one for non-fiction, and one for poetry are lesbian only. Others are closed to sapphic books and still others are open to the full spectrum of LGBTQIA orientations. Submissions open in late September and run through early December of the publishing year.

Foreward Indies Book of the Year – These prestigious awards are open to all indie published books, both by individual indie authors and authors from small and boutique presses like those of you with Bella, Bold Strokes, Ylva, etc. Submissions are open year round. They close on January 31st of the year following the publishing year. Finalists in all categories are named in March. Winners are named in June. There is a (steep) fee to submit.

Ippy Awards – An unaffiliated, but prestigious awards program for independent publishers/indie authors who publish books for an English speaking audience. There are dozens of award categories including one for LGBTQ+ Fiction. Early bird entries are in September and November. The current entry cutoff is March 16th, 2024. Submission fees are required for each category of submission.

Stonewall Book Awards – Sponsored by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table. The award honors one exceptional book each year in each of three categories (adult fiction, adult non-fiction, and childrens/YA). Submissions (free) are open during the publishing year. The winners are announced in January of February of the year following the publishing year with the actual award (plaque and monetary) given at the ALA annual conference in June.

Please note: The Rainbow Awards were given each year by Elisa Rolle through 2021. They appear to have stopped with that year.

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Here are some other resources that you may find helpful:

GCLS LogoThe Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) – Mentioned above under workshops and training – A nonprofit organization supporting an international community of readers, writers, publishers, editors, audiobook narrators, and fans devoted to increasing the diversity, accessibility, quality, and visibility of sapphic and women-loving-women literature.

 

 

 

 

Lambda Literary Foundation websiteThe Lambda Literary Foundation – Also, mentioned above, Lambda Literary provides resources for LGBTQIA+ writers, including a mentorship program, a writing retreat, and a literary awards program.

 

 

 

 

The Publishing Triangle is a professional organization for LGBTQIA+ writers, editors, and publishers. They offer a Publishing Triangle websitenumber of resources for writers, including a mentorship program, a writing contest, and a book fair.