Author Resources

After five decades of writing and publishing, I’ve learned that success in this business requires more than just good storytelling–it requires understanding the math, the strategy, the author resources, and the realities behind the dream. Whether you’re just starting your author journey or you’re a veteran looking to level up, these resources are designed to give you the practical tools and honest insights that can make the difference between hobby and career.

Amazon Royalty Calculator

Want to know what bestseller numbers actually look like? Most of us writers operate on hope and caffeine, convinced our book will be the exception to all the rules. But dreams without math are just fantasies. This calculator shows you exactly what different sales scenarios mean for your monthly and yearly income–from brutal reality to bestseller status.

Plug in your current numbers first, then play with your dream numbers. The gap between those two sets of figures? That’s your business plan. I use this tool regularly to keep my own three-year bestseller quest grounded in mathematical reality rather than wishful thinking.

Want to see this calculator in action with real numbers? I wrote a detailed blog post about discovering this tool and running my own brutal sales reality through it–from my current “fancy coffee once a week” income to the bestseller math I’m chasing. Check out the full story here to see exactly how I’m using these projections to guide my three-year quest.

Jutoh: The Bootstrap Author’s Secret Weapon

After five decades of wrestling with various writing and publishing tools, I can honestly say that discovering Jutoh was one of those “where have you been all my life?” moments. If you’re serious about indie publishing but working on a bootstrap budget, this software might be the best investment you’ll make in your author career.

Here’s the thing that sold me on Jutoh: it’s designed by people who actually understand the indie publishing workflow. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, it focuses on doing one thing exceptionally well—taking your manuscript and turning it into professional-quality ebooks across every format that matters.

Why Jutoh Beats the Competition

I’ve tried just about every ebook creation tool out there, from the free options that make you want to throw your computer out the window to the expensive professional suites that require a computer science degree to operate. Jutoh hits that sweet spot of being powerful enough for professional results but simple enough that a 77-year-old guy can master it without losing his remaining sanity.

No Subscription Nonsense: You buy it once, you own it forever. In a world where every software company wants to rent you their tools monthly, Jutoh’s one-time purchase feels almost revolutionary. Unlimited books, no recurring fees, no “oops, your subscription expired and now you can’t access your work” disasters.
Import Everything: Whether you’re working from a Word document, an existing ePub, or even plain text files, Jutoh handles the import process smoothly. It even preserves your formatting, images, and tables—something that’s saved me countless hours of reformatting work.
Output to Everything That Matters: Kindle, ePub 2/3, PDF-ready ODT files, HTML, even MP3 for audiobook preparation. Whatever format your readers prefer or platforms require, Jutoh’s got you covered.

The Learning Curve Reality

Let me be honest: Jutoh isn’t a “click one button and magic happens” solution. There’s a learning curve, especially if you’re coming from simple word processors. But here’s what I discovered—the time you invest upfront learning Jutoh pays massive dividends on every subsequent book.

My first book took me probably 40 hours to format properly as I figured out styles, chapter breaks, and all the technical details. By book five, I could take a finished manuscript and have professional-quality Kindle and ePub files ready in under two hours. That’s the kind of efficiency that makes rapid, consistent publishing possible for bootstrap authors like us.

The software comes with extensive documentation and a searchable knowledge base with hundreds of articles. Plus—and this is something I really appreciate—the support team actually responds to questions promptly and helpfully. When you’re working alone and hit a formatting wall at 11 PM, that kind of support is worth its weight in gold.

Features That Actually Matter

The Inspector Tool: This little gem catches formatting inconsistencies, missing chapter breaks, and other issues that could make your ebook look amateurish. It’s like having a professional formatter looking over your shoulder.
Built-in Validation: Before you upload anywhere, Jutoh checks your files and warns you about potential problems. I’ve caught everything from broken internal links to formatting issues that would have made my books look terrible on certain devices.
Template System: Once you’ve got your formatting dialed in, you can save it as a template and apply it to future books. This is huge for series authors or anyone publishing regularly—consistent, professional formatting across your entire catalog.
Multiple Export Options: I can create my Kindle file, ePub file, and even a PDF version for print-on-demand, all from the same Jutoh project. No more maintaining separate files or dealing with formatting differences between platforms.

The Bootstrap Author Advantage

Here’s why Jutoh is particularly valuable for authors doing everything themselves: it eliminates the need to hire formatters or learn multiple specialized tools. For the cost of formatting one book professionally, you can own software that handles unlimited books forever.

The creative tools are a nice bonus too—the storyboard feature is surprisingly useful for planning series, and the writing goals feature helps keep you on track. But the real value is in the production workflow efficiency.

Is It Worth the Investment?

For me, absolutely. The time savings alone have paid for the software dozens of times over. More importantly, it gives me confidence that my books look as professional as anything coming from traditional publishers. When you’re competing in a crowded marketplace, that professional appearance can make the difference between a sale and a pass.

If you’re just starting out and only planning to publish one book, maybe the free options make more sense. But if you’re serious about building a catalog and treating publishing as a business, Jutoh is the kind of tool that pays for itself quickly and keeps paying dividends with every book.

Visit Jutoh’s website to try their free demo and see if it’s the right fit for your publishing workflow. Fair warning: once you experience how much easier professional formatting can be, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.