Resources for Writers

Created by: Katie Chambers of Beacon Point

In this 25-minute webinar, you will learn all about these two tools: what they are, when to use them, and the common mistakes to avoid with these tools.

These craft tools help you with writing elements like

• showing, not telling
• manipulating narrative distance
• creating deeper interiority
• enriching characterization
• creating variety
• playing with tension

Created by: Sophie Playle

This 50-minute webinar will give you practical tips for creating lyricism in your writing.

Voice, originality and style … are skills that can be developed. You don’t have to be born with it! Creativity is a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. With the strategies and exercises discussed in this webinar, you’ll learn how to write with more beauty and originality.

We’ll look at plenty of examples and analyse exactly what makes the writing so darn beautiful. You’ll come away with more tools in your writing toolbox – ones that, once you understand them, will become second nature to your writing practice.

Created by: Kimberly Hunt

This 22-minute webinar will teach you how to improve the pacing in a romance novel.

The webinar focuses on the opening chapter, compelling transitions, and how to fix saggy middles and deliver satisfying happily ever afters.

Content includes how to identify where pace problems exist as well as suggested solutions. For seasoned romance authors and aspiring romance writers, this class will provide valuable insights into the art of pacing in romance novels.

• Crafting an Effective First Chapter in Your Novel (Published November 2024)
• How to Deepen the Interiority (Published March 2024)
• 3 Reasons to Use Free Indirect Speech (Published January 2024)
• Showing and Telling, 3-part series
  • Part 3: Fixing Your Told Prose (Published November 2023)
  • Part 2: When It’s Okay to Tell (Published August 2023)
  • Part 1: Finding Your Told Prose (Published May 2020)
• Narrative Distance: What It Is and How to Use it Effectively (Published July 2023)
• How to Fix Info Dumping (Published November 2018)
• How to Spot and Correct Head-Hopping (Published October 2018)

• Not Just for Series: Using Scenes and Sequels for Compelling Fiction(Published May 2025)
• Make Side Characters Real Without Overshadowing the Main Cast (Published February 2025)
• 5 Tips for Writing Characters That Don’t Suck (Published August 2024)
• How to Keep Tension High in the Middle of Your Story (Published August 2025)

• Action Beats: It’s All About Dem Beats (Published September 2019)
• How to Write Effective Direct and Internal Dialogue(Published May 2018)
• 3 Common Dialogue Tag Pitfalls (Published April 2018)

• Common Mistakes in Fiction Writing at the Word and Sentence Level (Published May 2024)
• Varying Sentence Beginnings for Fiction Writers (Published September 2023)
• 5 Unnecessary Explanations to Avoid (Published May 2019)

• Larceny: Police Procedurals for Crime Novelists (Published February 2024)

Written by: Jordan Ring

Stop poking around in the fog: Transform your idea into a book!

You think that writing a book will consume your time, your energy, and your will to live. You think writing a book is impossible, right?

Actually, there’s a proven method for writing a great book that won’t leave you feeling like a zombie lost in a swamp.

Nonfiction Alchemy will show you how to write, publish, and market your book—without resorting to AI writing tools, wasting time and resources pursuing traditional publishing (only to be ignored or rejected), or attending nausea-inducing signing tables at your local bookstore.

If you follow the recipe in this book, you’ll write, publish, and launch a great book in under twelve months.

And the best part? You’ll enjoy every second of the process.

Created by: Jordan Ring

Start your book—today!

If you create a solid book outline, it will write the book for you!

In Jordan’s decade of experience writing and helping authors write, edit, and publish their books,  he’s discovered that a solid book outline is the most important factor in actually starting (and finishing!) your book:

• Get a head start with a template and take the first step to published book.
• Discover the write with why method that will help you finish a book in under a year.
• Learn how to stop writer’s block, by ensuring you always have something to write about.

28 lessons of awesomeness to help you start and finish your book!

• Avoiding Plagiarism and Citing Responsibly (Published June 2025)
• Crafting a Strong Introduction—Hook Readers from the Start (Published March 2025)
• Effective Organization for Nonfiction Book (Published April 2024)
• Effective Transitions that Aid Your Reader’s Comprehension (Published February 2018)

• Reinforce, but Avoid Being Repetitive in Your Nonfiction Book (Published December 2024)
• Make Your Nonfiction Book More Reader Friendly (July 2024)
• Varying Sentence Beginnings for Nonfiction Writers (Published October 2018)

• • From Research to Readability: Helping Readers Understand Your Work (Published September 2025)
  • Avoiding Plagiarism and Citing Responsibly (Published June 2025)
  • 6 Tips for Writing a Self-Help Book (Published June 2024)

Created by: Allison Van Deventer

As it is facilitated and not self-paced, check the website for the next available course.

Finally ready to get a handle on your book? Looking for support and accountability to sharpen your argument? Wish someone would just show you how to figure out your your book’s key priorities so you know what you should keep or cut?

You’ll work alongside a cohort of authors to get clarity on your book’s argument and ensure it’s threaded throughout your chapters. Allison will meet with the cohort to help you navigate the week’s work, give you real-time support and guidance, and answer your questions. She’ll also be there with you, answering your real questions in the course discussion board as you work.

Created by: Katelyn Knox

You don’t want to write a book so narrow that only 17 scholars will read it. (And few publishers will pursue such a narrow project!).

This course helps you avoid the very real consequences to mis-identifying your book’s audience. Don’t waste time preparing a manuscript that will need significant changes. Instead take this course and avoid the pitfalls by going through step-by-step activities to identify who your book’s main audience is, who your secondary audiences are, and how to prepare the book manuscript in light of those audiences.

This resource is an ebooklet available for instant download. The ebooklet walks you through the process of self-editing your fiction book.

This resource is an ebooklet available for instant download. The ebooklet walks you through the process of self-editing your nonfiction book.

• Self-Editing: Using Beta Readers and Critique Partners (Published October 2024)
• Strategies to Reduce Wordiness (Published March 2020)
• 6 Self-Editing Tasks to Reduce Your Editing Costs (Published July 2019)

Created by: Jeanette Smith

This self-paced course walks fiction authors through the process of turning their messy manuscript into a polished, publishable book, whether they’re editing for the first time or finally ready to take control of their revision process.

If you’ve been stuck in draft mode, unsure how to move forward, or worried you’ll never get your book ready, this course gives you the path—and the confidence—to make it happen.

Through 3 modules (mindset, knowledge, and tools) and 12 lessons, you’ll

• Learn the importance of a mindset shift
• Discover how to turn goals into action
• Find an efficient and effective process for editing
• Understand what to look for during editing—and how to fix it
• Develop an understanding of the tools available to help

Created by: Olivia Bedford

Created by: Laura Burge

So many creatives are neurodivergent — and they can really struggle to accept how their brains work and find professional partners out in the world who are ready and willing to help them get there.

While so many people in publishing are passionate about working with and uplifting authors, it can be difficult to know exactly how to go about that without understanding what their authors need and what they experience.

That’s why Laura (who is neurodivergent herself) created this course: so we can all figure out how to work together on projects we’re passionate about and care for each other in the process.

The course contains four parts:

• Understanding Common Experiences
• Practical Tips & Guidance
• Within the Pages (with a focus on fiction)
• Longer-Term Relationships

• The Importance of Storytelling: Connecting with Readers Emotionally (Published January 2025)
• Strategies to Reduce Wordiness (Published March 2020)
• 8 Strategies to Reduce “Be” Verbs (Published May 2018)

Created by: Katie Chambers

In January 2019 I started a bite-sized punctuation series. Initially, I posted a punctuation blog once every month. Now I post one three times a year.

Clicking on the link above will take you to all of them, or you can sort by punctuation mark:

• Comma
• Dashes
• Semicolons
• Colon
• Apostrophe
• Quotation Marks & Dialogue

Created by: Catherine Turner

An interactive course that’ll help you finally demystify homophones (e.g., accept vs. except), get your head around grammatically troublesome words (e.g., bring vs. take), and master subtly different words (e.g., compose vs. comprise).

Learning the differences between certain words is all well and good, but if you don’t cement that knowledge, you’ll forget it straight away!

Grammar Conundrums includes tons of example sentences so you can see these tricky words in action and 750 quiz questions to help you lock in that knowledge forever.

Created by: Catherine Turner

An e-book and workbook combo that’ll help you refresh your memory of punctuation rules, learn the punctuation mistakes you need to avoid making, and polish your punctuation skills so you can wow your readers and clients.

Reading the rules is all well and good, but if you don’t cement that knowledge, you’ll forget it straight away!

Punctuation 101 includes tons of example sentences so you can see the punctuation marks in action AND 150 quiz questions to help you retain the information and lock in that knowledge forever.

Created by: Debbie Emmitt

Tricky Quickies 1 is the wingperson you’ve always wanted.

• Discover if that terrifyingly narrow mountain road you survived was tortuous or torturous.
• Do you forgo or forego dessert or desert? And do you get your just deserts or just desserts?
• Are you immune to or immune from chicken pox and prosecution?

The answers may not be what you think.

Tricky Quickies 1 clearly and concisely explains these and many more similar, everyday English words and phrases, with handy examples of use.

All for a price that won’t hurt your purse strings.

• Mastering Subject-Verb Agreement (Published August 2025)
• Dangling Modifiers Tripping You Up (Published February 2025)
• Subject-Complement Agreement (Published November 2024)
• Misplaced Modifiers (Published July 2024)
• Putting Zombie Rules to Rest for Good (Published December 2023)
• Title-Style Capitalization (Published November 2023)
• Learn the Difference between “Good” and “Well” (Published November 2017)

Run by: Ania Ray
Cost: $47 a month with a free 7-day trial

In this woman-centered writing community, you will improve your craft, strengthen your mindset, and make progress on your writing.

By joining you will receive,

Run by: Leigh Davis, Theresa Green, and a team of volunteers
Cost: Free

A community full of writers from different backgrounds and skill levels. They focus on the foundations of writing to help everyone improve at their own pace.

By joining you will receive access to:

Run by: Robbie Samuels
Cost: Free

A community full of nonfiction writers from different backgrounds and skill levels.

The Pub Hub has several learning and networking opportunities for nonfiction authors:

Run by: Darlene Turiff and Nicole Washburn
Cost: $997 a year or $97 monthly (*link above is my affiliate link)

A community for coaches, speakers, and thought-leaders who are ready to write a book

Get access to all the benefits of the membership:

Published April 2019. Copy editors create style sheets to ensure consistency. Learn what one is, what to include on it, and why an author may actually want to create one to give the copy editor.  You don’t have to create your own, but you will want to know what one is.

Published April 2019. This tutorial walks authors through the process of creating their own style sheets. At the end, I have included some free downloadable style sheet templates.

👉Jordan Ring (Book Coach and Ghostwriter): Jordan will partner with you to write a lead-generating book that will propel your business forward. As an author himself with a marketing background, he writes your book with you and ensures it doesn’t launch to crickets. His ghostwriting includes ongoing publishing and marketing assistance.

Want to know what the process looks like? Check out his pdf guide that outlines his process in 15 steps.

👉Jonathan Jordan (Nonfiction Ghostwriter): As an award-winning storyteller and writer trusted by billion-dollar CEOs and startups, Jonathan has helped his clients turn their stories into results, awards, bestseller-status, and speaking gigs. His services require an initial consultation call to see if you’d be a good fit.

Check out his newsletter Everything Is Storytelling and see how your story can change your life and others.

👉JWC Publishing (Business Book Coaching and Ghostwriting): JWC Publishing brings together a team of skilled coaches and ghostwriters dedicated to helping you create a book that doesn’t just collect dust—it makes a lasting impact. The owner is also the cofounder of the Academy of Ghostwriting, so you’ll be working with top-tier professionals. With three tailored coaching packages, JWC Publishing meets you where you are and helps you get your book across the finish line.

👉Erin Lund (Nonfiction Book Coach): As a  nonfiction book coach, Erin helps others write client-attracting, transformational books that amplify their authority, build their business, and impact lives. With her in your corner, you will always have guidance to confidently know how to best proceed with your book.

She offers coaching services for self-help, personal development, altnerative spirituality, holistic wellness, and education authors.

Created by: Katie Chambers of Beacon Point

If you’ve never worked with an editor and aren’t really sure what to expect from the process, this webinar will help you have a better understanding. The process can be a learning curve and can be a bit overwhelming, so it is best to take the time to learn now.

Topics covered in this webinar:

• The four levels of editing and the difference between them
• What you can expect from your editor
• Why editing costs what it does
• The basic structure of the editing process

• A Guide to Self-Publishing a Book (Published December 2023)
• Is Self-Publishing the Right Path for You? (Published July 2025)

Beacon Point editing clients receive this guide for free. 

Created by: Katie Chambers

You’ve hired an editor—your manuscript is in good hands—so now is the perfect time to start working on everything that comes after editing.

This comprehensive guide walks you through every step from polished manuscript to published book.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A step-by-step breakdown of what can come after editing:

• Tips to DIY or hire the right professional
• Which steps are must-dos (and which are optional)
• Vetted service provider recommendations for every step

Authors often struggle with staying organized across long timelines. This management planner helps you track

1. Manuscript status

2. Editing and revision stages

3. Deadlines and goal setting

4. Expenses

5. Beta readers/feedback

6. Publishing tasks (self or trad)

7. Marketing efforts

8. Book details (metadata)

9. Progress summaries

This gives you a clear system from start to finish in your publishing journey.

• Boots-on-the-Ground Book Marketing (Published April 2025)
• Become a Book Marketing Pirate: 17 Tips to Sell More Books (Published September 2024)
• What’s Next: Marketing Your Book Post-Production (Published January 2021)
• How to Build and Grow Your Author Newsletter (Published April 2019)

Created by: Shelly Zevlever

This Notion page is set up to accompany you across the process of setting up your social media accounts, getting ready for launch, and all the details in between that help you market your book. While some steps may be more relevant to first-time authors, you may use the recommended advice no matter where you are in your journey. Whether to get some inspiration on what to tweak in your own process or to set up your new pen name, this is the place for you.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Ideas for social media at every stage of your publication journey including the writing, pre-launch & post-launch phase of your book.
• What to include on your author website.
• Ways to organize your Advance Reader Copy (ARC) Team and the Book Influencers you want to reach out to.
• Charts & tables to organize your expenses and royalties.

If you don’t have a launch team (people committed to reading and reviewing your manuscript), I suggest using one of these paid services to get ARC readers. You may worry about giving your book away for free, but you aren’t going to get paying customers who don’t know you if you don’t first have reviews.

The companies listed here are ethical because you are paying them for providing a service—finding ARC readers for you. The reviewers themselves do not get paid (which is unethical).

Book Sirens—affiliate link
Booksprout—if you use my affiliate link, you get a free month

If you have a launch team, great! If they don’t follow through and leave you reviews, you can always come back to these services.

Written By: Robbie Samuels

Too many books fade into obscurity—not because they’re poorly written, but because the author didn’t have a clear strategy for what happens after publication. A well-crafted book deserves more than a quiet release. Without a book launch team strategy, it won’t reach the people it’s meant to help or generate the results you hoped for.

In LAUNCH Your Book! An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Reviews That Drive Revenue, award-winning author and book launch strategist Robbie Samuels shares the proven approach he’s used to coach entrepreneurs through launching a nonfiction book, attracting Amazon reviews, and turning their book into a pipeline for business growth.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build a launch team filled with likely prospects and referral partners
• Generate 50+ Amazon reviews that increase discoverability and influence buying decisions
• Use a soft launch to set the stage for turning a book into a business asset

The book includes free tools to help you put the strategy into action.

Run by: Robbie Samuels

A low-cost way to market your book and boost sales. You can sign up to be part of the campaign or get on the waitlist for the next campaign. To participate in the campaign, you lower your kindle price to 99 cents and email your list at least once during the four-day campaign advertising the flash sale. What you get in return: your book cover included in the campaign graphics, other authors promoting your book to their email list, a guest appearance on a live-streamed author panel, and Robbie promoting your book.

Created By: Carol Abrahamson

Carol and her team will research and identify 8 high-quality, custom-selected, perfect-fit book awards to apply for, then they assist in helping you decide which ones to go for and in submitting to your top picks.

While you wait to hear news on whether you received an award, they help you fulfil your author goals through info-packed workship training and specialized strategies, insights, and tips (which workshops and assistance you receive depends on the pacakge you purchase). When you win, they celebrate and promote your book to industry insiders seeking award winners. And whether you win or not, they will then identify 8 more perfect-fits for your same book for free and begin the process again.

They offer three packages, depening on your goals.

• Sell More Books ($500): Perfect for authors looking to build an author empire of book sales. This service includes a live workshop with about 2 dozen strategies for selling thousands of books to single and bulk buyers plus time to begin your action plan for the ones you’ll adopt.
• Build Your Business with Your Book ($1,000): Ideal for authors wanting to establish or grow their business or brand through important new high-value relationships generated because of their book. This service includes a live workshop to begin creating the right customized action plan to get you/your book noticed by the right part of your market.
• Become a Sought-After Industry Leader through Your Book’s Expertise ($2,500): Tailor-made for authors seeking recognition as an acclaimed expert, thought leader and preeminent, undisputed industry leader with extensive influence that reaches far beyond book sales. Leverage high-impact, low-cost unusual income streams to get noticed, admired and in demand in ways that out-shine competitors. This includes a live deep-dive workshop about 11 distinctive, differentiating, high-octane unusual income streams that can ignite every expert’s business and industry profile plus planning time to begin detailing your action plan for adding 1 or 2 to your business this year.

Created By: Jane Ubell-Meyer

Jane and her team will place your physical, ebook, and/or audiobook in 10-15 luxury hotels, poolsides, and hospitals, right in the room.

As an award-winning entrepreneur, film and TV producer, and magazine publisher, Jane knew that book marketing required layers, as “it’s never one thing that gets a book to stand out and get noticed.”

Their program includes a multi-layered marketing system to help your book get national media, social media, and direct reader attention.

• Placing your book in hotels, poolside locations, and hospitals
• Arranging print/digital media and magazine placements
• Creating social media content and reels
• Featuring your book in their newsletter and author spotlight
• Including your book in the Bedside Reading magazine
• Providing media recap reports

Additional programs:

• Review packages
• Podcast packages (coming soon)
• Media training
• Sponsorship training (Yes this is a “thing”–this helps authors align with companies who can either buy or sell books for them)
• Bedside Reading Book Cover Awards: offer exposure for the book to over 60 countries with thousands of people voting on their favorite covers (over $6K in prizes) *affiliate link

They have various programs available depending on budget and needs: bedside reading bronze, bestseller, bedside reading, and individual marketing and coaching sessions.

• When you might need to seek legal counsel 

How to Write an Effective Claim Statement for an Arugmentive Essay

3 Components to Writing an Effective Thesis Statement

How to Write Winning Intro Paragraphs 

Created by: Katie Chambers of Beacon Point

Your Resume is a powerful career marketing tool; thus, your resume should be a persuasive marketing piece and not a dull career biography. Don’t let your resume go unnoticed: take charge, and follow this course to learn how to get your foot in the door and market your greatest commodity: yourself.  I have heard many say, “I have applied for several jobs, but I don’t have any interviews lined up.” It all begins with your cover letter and resume. While I do not always get the job, I have always gotten the interview, even over those more skilled than I. Why? Because resume writing is an art, and I have learned that art.

In 28 short videos, you will learn how to revise, write, design, and format your resume in the best way possible to sell yourself. Selling yourself is what you need to do daily: you sell yourself to your date, your boss, your child, your prospective employee, your friend, and even to yourself!

Student Review: I previously purchased another Udemy resume writing course a couple of years ago, but Katie’s course is so much better. It’s like night and day. Katie is VERY thorough, by explaining her topics, then showing examples of exactly what she means. She also shows several before and after examples, which I loved. It’s nice to have an instructor that knows how to teach a subject in detail. In addition, she actually answers your questions on the Q and A board. Thank you Katie, great course.