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We all need some help. The following list of ten free book publishing software and writing tools are the ones I use almost every day. So I can vouch for how useful they are.
There are so many aspects to being a self-published author. It is sometimes hard to count the number of hats you need to wear every day.
If you have the best online publishing tools and software, you are one step ahead.
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- With Pages, you can create a book, then publish it directly to the store in Apple Books.You can customize your book during the publishing process: add a cover, set your price or offer it for free, add tags to specify age groups or subjects, set up a pre-order, customize availability by date and country or region, and more.
- Top 10 Best Desktop Publishing Software. Desktop publishing software is the perfect tool for graphic designers and non-designers alike when creating stunning documents for professional or desktop printing. There is an ever increasing desire from people wishing to create their own documents, business cards, flyers and brochures.
- QuarkXpress is a desktop publishing software for Windows and Mac OS created in 1987 by Quark Inc., with QuarkXpress 2016 being the current version. The main features of QuarkXpress are optimal performance, the high degree of control over an element’s position on a page (0.001 mm precision), and a software that is greatly expandable with binary code modules developed by Quark or by a third.
My ten best and most useful free book publishing software tools
You have to write, format, design, publish, promote, market, blog, and then find time to connect with our readers.
So you need the best publishing software you can find.
These free book publishing tools will save you a lot of time to do what you do best — writing a book.
1. Canva
Canva is a must-have free tool for all authors and bloggers.
Images are vital in attracting attention. But you should use unique images and never copy or download images from Google Image Search.
Canva is a great graphic design tool that solves this problem with ease.
There are loads of professionally designed templates.
You can find Facebook headers, social media posts, logos, ebook covers, business cards, and Twitter posts, just to name a few.
There is a paid option. But the free version comes with plenty of free images, graphics, icons, shapes, and backgrounds for almost any image project you can imagine.
You can upload your own stock images to use with Canva. Then you can create truly unique images for your blog or online magazine and use on social media.
Best of all it is user-friendly and very easy to use.
You can create stunning ebook covers with Canva. Choose from hundreds of templates or create your own from scratch.
2. Shaxpir
3. ProWritingAid
Prowritingaid is a fantastic grammar and writing checker. It includes so many checks and reports to help improve your writing.
It is one of the best writing aids for self-publishing authors. The tools and reports dig deep into your text and offer you a huge range of suggestions to improve your writing.
You can add extensions for Chrome, Microsoft Office, Google Docs, and Scrivener.
There is a free version of ProWritingAid available that offers you plenty of functionality to help you check your writing.
Authors might think about the modestly priced premium version, which includes all the reports and editing tools.
ProWritingAid is my number one go-to editing tool when I need to work intensively on book manuscripts.
4. Sonar
Whenever you publish a book or ebook on Amazon, you need to add seven search keywords.
Don’t rush into this because finding the best keywords is vital to the success of your book.
There are many ways you can do Amazon keyword research for free.
But one of the best free keyword search tools for Amazon keywords is Sonar.
Al you need to do is enter your seed keyword and then check the results for the best ideas and related search phrases.
You can then click on any of the suggestions to find even more possible keywords for your book.
It shouldn’t take you long to find plenty of ideas for your Amazon search keywords.
However, because it is a free service, you won’t be able to access search or sales volume for each keyword phrase.
If you want to access real-time sales and search data you will need to use premium software like Publisher Rocket.
5. KDP Wizard
KDP Wizard gives you easy access to all of your book data and files in a quick and functional format. It works directly in your Chrome browser.
The KDP Wizard browser app is the Amazon KDP tool for listing and editing all your book information in one place.
There is a Rich Text Editor for book descriptions, to make optimized product descriptions simple.
You can search & select categories easily, speeding up the listing process.
Easy access to keyword profiles, authors, contributors, descriptions, pricing profiles, and more through smart dropdowns.
Copy all page attributes from one listing tab to another, to save time when creating multiple new books.
Check out all the features that are available to manage all your books on Amazon.
Best of all, there is a totally free version you can use.
6. Calibre
Home Publishing Software For Mac
It does everything you could need to do when it comes to ebook creation. It also a great free tool for converting from Microsoft Word to mobi and epub ebook files.
For those with a little technical skill, you can also edit HTML, epub, and AZW3 (Kindle) or mobi.
7. ImageOptim
ImageOptim is a free software application for Mac and Linux users.
It reduces the size of images before using on blogs or websites by using drag-and-drop. Quick, easy, and very efficient. (Windows users can try File Optimizer.)
8. BookCore
Publishing Program For Mac
BookCore provides a powerful book sales tracking platform for self-publishers.
It’s a fully automated sales tracking and analytics service that generates reports, monitors rankings, and tracks reviews on multiple marketplaces.
It’s free to use and works on mobile, tablets, and laptops.
9. GIMP
Book Publishing Software For Mac Free
Working with images is a regular task for authors now.
But Photoshop is very expensive. GIMP is a free open source alternative that works exceedingly well on all platforms.
If you are new to image editing, it will be a learning curve. But no more so than for Photoshop or any other image or DTP software.
For Mac users, there is also Seashore. I also use it from time to time for book design mock-ups for covers.
10. Kindle Create
Kindle Create is one of the must-have self-publishing apps for all authors. It is the best ebook publishing software for authors.
![Free Book Publishing Software For Mac Free Book Publishing Software For Mac](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125805844/411944248.jpg)
You need to download and install the web app on your computer from Kindle Direct Publishing. It is available for both PC and Mac.
You can watch this short video for more information about Kindle Create.
Note: An alternative free app for Mac users is iBooks Author. However, it is an ebook creator software tool that is best suited to interactive ebooks.
Summary
There is a wide range of free book writing software, free word processor applications, and online tools for self-publishing authors.
Apart from my favorites listed above, I use quite a few more to help save me time.
Not everything is free nowadays. But if and when I am convinced a tool, application, or online service is worth paying for, I will.
But most online writing tools and applications a self-publishing author needs to use each day are available for free.