Digital Tools for Writers: Boost Your Writing and Marketing

Digital Tools for Writers are often a topic of conversation, and I get asked regularly about the tools I use in my writing career. To make things easier, I’ve put together a quick and simple guide to share my favorites. Just a heads-up, some of the links are affiliate links, which means you might get access to special offers or extra features. The digital tools for writers I recommend are ones I personally use and believe have made a significant impact on managing my author life and business.

Getting the Writing Done with Scrivener

Okay, obviously the first thing is absolutely Scrivener.

I’ve written all of my books in Scrivener, a tool I absolutely love. It’s worth every penny of its current $95 price tag! Scrivener is one of the best digital tools for writers who need an organized workspace. I appreciate how I can keep everything related to a series in one project, making it so easy to manage and navigate my work. Whether it’s for outlining, drafting, or editing, Scrivener’s features make the writing process smoother and more efficient. It’s hands down my go-to writing tool—whether you’re on Mac or PC, it’s a game changer for writers!

Tracking Your Words & Staying Motivated with WordKeeper

Next, I’m notorious for struggling to stay motivated and remain consistent with my writing. That’s where the iOS App, Word Keeper comes in. I create my WIP project, set my deadline, and it works out how many words I need to write to reach my target word count by that date. Each day, I can start a writing session, and then log my words. It not only keeps track of my progress, but also automatically updates the words per day I need to get it done by deadline. With reminders and stats, it’s a great way to track my progress, remind me to get the words done, and focus on not breaking the chain of writing consistency.

Create Eye-Catching Designs and Images with Canva

Canva is an an invaluable digital tool for writers looking to enhance their online presence and branding. With its easy-to-use platform, you can design eye-catching visuals like social media posts, promotional images, business cards, and more—no design experience required. Canva offers a wide range of templates, fonts, and graphics, making it simple for writers to create professional, visually appealing content.

Simplifying Social Media with SmarterQueue

Social media is an essential part of a writer’s marketing strategy, and I make sure to keep an active presence. Thanks to the amazing Laurie Wright, I discovered SmarterQueue and the power of recycling evergreen content. Essentially, you create content once and then schedule it to recycle automatically. The more content you produce, the less repetition you experience, allowing your content to continually grow and evolve.

This system lets me batch content creation on days when I’m in the creative zone, and then SmarterQueue takes care of posting it on the schedule I set up. This frees me up to engage on social media for fun—responding to readers, interacting with fans, and enjoying the process—without the stress of constantly wondering what to post next. It’s been a game changer in how I approach social media and marketing!

Mailing List Magic with MailerLite and BookFunnel

For managing my mailing list, I absolutely love MailerLite and the sleek new design they’ve rolled out. It’s an excellent platform for keeping track of subscribers, setting up automations, and sending both occasional and regular emails to my fans. While I could definitely improve my consistency in sending content, that’s more about carving out time for it on my end. MailerLite, however, makes it incredibly easy to design, schedule, track, and measure the effectiveness of my email campaigns.

Another fantastic tool I rely on is BookFunnel. It’s not only great for growing your mailing list but also perfect for delivering free books to subscribers, helping you connect with readers and build your audience.

Managing Market Research with Publisher Rocket and K-Lytics

Two more tools I absolutely love, use, and highly recommend are Publisher Rocket and K-Lytics. First up is the incredible Publisher Rocket, created by the brilliant Dave Chesson. Publisher Rocket is a game-changer for keyword and category research, providing real-world data that helps you make informed decisions. One of its coolest features is the ability to peek behind the dashboard of other authors’ books, giving you a sense of their sales and categorization strategies. It’s powerful, fast, and incredibly easy to use.

Next, we have K-Lytics, brought to us by data guru Alex Newton. K-Lytics offers in-depth industry reports that analyze data from Amazon and major publishing houses to uncover what’s selling, what’s trending, and what works in the market. Alex and his team also provide detailed reports on specific genres and niches With these reports you can dig into the data to identify popular tropes and emerging sub-genres, making it one of the best digital tools for writers who want to stay ahead of trends.

I’d love to hear from you!
What tools do you use to enhance your writing and marketing? Do you have any favorite digital tools for writers from this list, or have you found other resources that help you stay organized and productive? Drop your thoughts and experiences in the comments below—I’d love to continue the conversation and learn what works best for you!