Every author has a love-hate relationship with technology. It is critical to modern publishing and can save huge amounts of time, but it can also be a vexing source of frustration. I have lost count of the times I beat my head against the wall while trying to learn a new program, and that’s from an IT professional with decades of experience.

Every step along the publishing journey has some sort of tech attached to it. And to make matters worse, there are countless options and very few standards. There are popular and reliable choices, but most of it remains tethered to situational need. Choosing the right tool can be a hair-pulling process, especially for writers with minimal know-how.

I was already comfortable with a lot of the core technology when I first started out, and even I found it frustrating to manage. Thus, I thought it would be helpful to outline the tried-and-true software that builds my authorship.

Quick disclaimer: this list will focus on software, not websites. There are countless sites that help with publishing, but I want to highlight the core programs that make it possible. That said, I will also highlight any related service as it pertains to the tech.

LibreOffice Writer  (drafts, paperbacks)

Where everything begins. When it’s time to start a new book, I open a fresh Writer document and get to work. I always begin with a “notes” doc, then write each chapter as a separate file. This is just a personal preference, as I like to compare dates and word counts. From there it’s on to edits, polish, and formatting. The entire paperback process happens in Writer, from the first draft to the print-ready PDF.

Why not Microsoft Word? Because they lost me as a customer after the Windows 11 debacle. In the wake of that insanity, I switched to LibreOffice. It’s a free and open-source suite that can open, edit, and save Microsoft Office docs. You can even set up Writer a fully functional Word clone. I would rather support a non-profit company that cares about its users rather than give another cent to Microsoft.

Grammarly  (editing)

This nifty little plugin has saved my bacon several times. When it comes to editing, it pays to have multiple lines of defense. Word processors will catch most of the spelling and grammar mistakes, but not all of them. Grammarly will sniff out the rest, which is enough to justify the install. My only complaint is that it can be a tad invasive, especially online, so I keep it disabled until needed.

Calibre  (eBooks)

Creating eBook files is its own special hell. Not because it’s overly complicated, but because every outlet has different rules for publishing. Plus, you need to provide both ePub and MOBI files to ARC/magnet services like StoryOrigin and BookFunnel.

Thankfully, there are tools available that do most of the heavy lifting. My go-to is Calibre, an open-source software suite that can import paperback files and use them to generate eBooks. Very handy, but far from perfect. I still need to clean up the output and work through a laundry list of tweaks to make sure I satisfy all the publishing requirements. Those rules are constantly changing, so prepare to lose days of your life trying to figure out what settings you need to get across the finish line.

Once the eBook is finished, I distribute it through Draft2Digital. This will take care of most outlets, but Amazon and Google remain the stubborn outliers. They demand full control over their own distribution (shocker), so you have to do those manually.

There are countless options for eBook software. Heck, even LibreOffice has the capability. Just be sure to pick something reputable (i.e not the highly restrictive Kindle Create). The ones that advertise simplicity are often the least usable. Creating eBooks is difficult. You need a software package that provides a high level of customization. You’re going to need it.

Affinity  (cover design)

There was a time when I used Adobe Photoshop for all of my graphic design. But much like Microsoft, Adobe lost me as a customer when they decided to launch a terrible new era of subscription-based software. Adobe has become synonymous with enshittification, where a product gets more expensive while also getting worse.

Unfortunately, leaving Adobe meant that I had a lot of PSD files that needed migrating. After much trial and error, I found Affinity, a graphics program created by Canva. It can open and edit PSD files (even the ones I created with Photoshop CS 2003). And most importantly, it can export print-ready PDF files with all the proper embedding. Affinity was an absolute godsend that impressed me from the start. It quickly became my go-to graphical software.

When it’s time to design a cover, I download a template from Amazon, then plunder Pixabay and Unsplash for royalty-free images. I design the eBook version first, then create a separate file for the paperback. A common tactic is to create the paperback cover first, then trim it down for the eBook version. But sometimes I would forget to switch between RBG (eBook) and CMYK (print) modes, which makes a huge difference in quality. Keeping them separate is a little more tedious, but it eliminates dumb errors.

Publisher Rocket  (ads, keywords, browse categories)

This software was a one-time purchase that paid for itself many times over. Navigating the hellscape that is Amazon Ads is an exercise in futility. The sole reason for Publisher Rocket’s existence is to make sense of that madness.

With a few clicks, I can generate thousands of relevant keywords for my ad blocks. It can also calculate how well the keys perform based on competition. The time savings alone have been well worth the investment. I now rest comfortably knowing that the marketing grind has been mercifully streamlined.

Publisher Rocket can also help you find the best browse categories and search terms to help you stand out in the crowded Amazon marketplace. It’s so rare to find a piece of software that is worth every single penny. This is one of them.

WordPress, Divi  (author website, landing pages)

For most of my professional life, I created websites from scratch. Real scratch, as in writing every line of code myself. I have worked as a developer for over three decades and I greatly prefer having full control over the source code. The problem is, web technology changes so fast that any code I write is obsolete the second I publish it. There are too many variables to keep up with, so there comes a time when convenience outweighs control.

Thus, I abandoned custom code for a content management system. WordPress is the go-to for most, so I installed it on my hosting server. It saves a ton of hassle, as I just select the plugins I want and let the dev team worry about security. I also invested in Divi, a page-building theme that plugs directly into WordPress. I wanted a powerful visual editor that was reliable and easy to use. Divi fit the bill and I’ve been using it for years.

And for anyone interested, I use NameSilo for my registrar (because they offer free WhoIs protection) and Bluehost for my hosting server (because they’re reliable and offer good bang for the buck). This combo has changed several times and it will likely change in the future. But for now, I’m happy with the pairing.

And many more …

I use several other programs to handle peripheral tasks, but that’s more personal preference than publishing boon. And that’s not even touching the multimedia software needed to create trailers and audio books. The burden of choice is real, and hopefully this post lessens the pain from draft to publication.

So there you have it, the current bundle of software that builds my authorship.

Some may see this as a “duh” post, but we were all newbies at one point. This would have definitely helped me in the beginning, so it stands to reason that it may help someone else. And when these tools inevitably become obsolete, well, then we’ll find more weapons to battle the multi-tentacled beast that is publishing.