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Welcome to the third pillar of this company’s public resources! Everything on this page is about helping you, the writer, whether it is through templates, cheat sheets, or any other tools needed to get a head start in your profession.
This includes ready-to-use templates such as:
- Query letters to get editors and agents hooked on your book!
- Non-fiction and fiction book outline templates to ensure you’ll write a book worth reading.
We also have concise guides and breakdowns on a variety of topics, including:
- Colour psychology (great for book covers)!
- The three-act structure.
- And the simple steps you can take to make promoting your book on social media a better experience!
Since we intimately understand the challenges that can come with being a writer, especially a self-published writer, all resources on this page are free to use. You won’t even need to turn straw into gold to save your firstborn later.
That said, if you would like to see more resources like this, or if you would be interested in hiring our services professionally, be sure to reach out to us here.
Now, without further ado, please see below for all our publicly available tools:
- Design Tools (contains expert tips on colour theory and printing considerations)
- Fiction Tools (has a done-for-you fiction outline template, plus a concise graphic breakdown of the three-act structure)
- Marketing Tools (contains query letter templates and a social media cheat sheet to make promoting your work that much easier)
- Non-Fiction Tools (has a ready-to-use non-fiction outline template to help you plan your first book: skip to the end of this webpage if this is what you came for!)
Design Tools
Book Cover Colour Psychology Guide
Why Does Colour Psychology Matter?
Colour psychology matters because your book cover needs to be downright poetic with how much information it conveys using barely any words.
For a cover to be effective, it needs to catch your audience’s eye and communicate what your book is about. The title is one part of this communication. The shapes are another. But so is the colour. Whether you need to DIY your own cover, or whether you want a clearer concept to hand over to your designer, it’s important to first understand at least a little bit about colour psychology.
Know what each colour tends to convey. Know which colours go well together and why. Stand a better chance of catching any unintentional colour implications in your design before they go embarrassingly public. Our one-page guide isn’t exhaustive, but it will concisely aid you in all we have just described.
Pre-Emptive Colour Psychology FAQ
This FAQ is written by our designer and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Harvard Ink as a whole.
Q: Are complementary and analogous colour schemes the only colour schemes that exist?
A: Nope. You also get:
- triadic schemes (think Superman’s outfit)
- tetradic schemes, (like triadic, but four colours instead of three)
- monochromatic schemes (like analogous, but it’s just one colour relying purely on tints, tones, and saturation for variety)
- split-complementary schemes (like regular complementary, but instead of two opposing colours, it’s one colour paired with the two analogous partners of its opposition e.g. instead of red and green, you’ll have red paired with a blueish-green and a yellowish-green)
All of them are worth checking out. The two schemes I’d included in the guide are just the ones I’d felt best for sneaking concepts like contrast and harmony into the minds of aspiring authors, many of whom won’t have art backgrounds. With only so much space in the guide (the original brief was just for one page), I also felt it better to give the reader the info they needed to be reasonably good with two effective and broadly-applicable schemes, rather than giving them a uselessly tiny amount of info for six schemes.
Q: Why isn’t [insert information of choice here] in the guide?
A: If there’s popular demand for the guide to be expanded, then we’ll expand it (or write a blog about it). Just let us know! For most cases, what’s already there should be enough to help you settle on or even improve your book’s colour scheme.
Q: Are colour schemes part of colour psychology?
A: Technically they are part of colour theory. But, seeing as colour theory is all about how we mentally respond to different colours and their placement… yes? We’ll go with “yes”.
Q: Are black and white colours or not?
A: Technically they are shades and tints, respectively. If you apply both a shade and a tint, you’ll get a tone. If you put them into a paint tube, you’ll get a pigment. That said, there’s only so much space one has to get technical, so I’ll still refer to them simply as “colours” when it’s expedient to do so, even if it isn’t technically correct (the best kind of correct).
Q: What are the connotations for the colour “grey”? Why wasn’t that colour included?
A: Because its meaning is very intuitive. Grey has many of the more positive connotations of both black and white, so one can infer the meaning of “grey” from that. The negative connotations are slightly trickier, but also very intuitive… overall, grey is industrial, sophisticated, mechanical, dirty, dull, mysterious, bland, murky, dreary, rainy, urban, and more.
Q: Is brown its own colour? Isn’t it just a dark desaturated orange?
A: Browns in general are desaturated variants of all the warm colours (e.g. yellow, orange, red), whether light or dark. That said, it exists in the popular consciousness as its own colour, with its own meanings, to such an extent that it needed its own entry under the “Colour Meanings” section.
Q: What about pink?
A: Pink may just be a lighter red, but similar to brown it is so distinct in the popular consciousness, and has so many of its own meanings, history, and baggage that it felt worth including as its own colour under the “Colour Meanings” section.
Q: Why does white have meanings like “mourning” and “death” attached to it?
A: Our guide notes that colour meanings can be influenced by culture, and this is one example. While Western civilizations tend to associate white with concepts like purity (as seen in the wedding dress), in Eastern civilizations you’re more likely to see white at a funeral than a wedding. If you see a concept you didn’t expect associated with one of your favourite colours, consider why that is. Depending on your book’s themes, setting, or audience, it may be worthwhile for you to consider how different groups may interpret your colour choices. It’s also why I advise that, no matter which colours you choose, the rest of the elements in your book need to support the meanings you intend to convey. That way confusion can be minimized.
Printing Considerations
Why These Printing Considerations?
This ready-made resource for new authors is designed to help you get your first books printed with confidence thanks to a simple, step-by-step process.
Each step is not just there to help you ensure quality; they’re also there to ensure you choose the correct printer for your needs.
Fiction Tools
A Book Outline TEMPLATE for Fiction
Why Should I Use an Outline As a Creative Fiction Writer?
A fair question. After all, Stephen King doesn’t use outlines, and neither does George R. R. Martin. But Stephen King developed his own writing process in high school, and every George R. R. Martin fan is still waiting with bated breath for the Winds of Winter to release before the restaurant at the end of the universe closes down for good.
Outlines are an invaluable tool for ensuring you stay on track as a writer. They help you plan your plot and get all the important details laid out in advance so that, even if you don’t feel particularly inspired on a given day, you can still write and produce good work.
To succeed as a professional writer, you either need constant, razor-sharp focus coupled with endless inspiration, or you need to build yourself a foundation to support you when your focus is blurry and your inspiration is low. A well-drafted outline is that foundation, and can make the difference between your book getting published… or being stuck as an incomplete draft forever.
Fiction book outlines also synergise well with the three-act structure (see further below for that tool), as both encourage you to look at your story on a more technical, reflective level. Consider using both together for the best results.
Tips for Using Our Fiction Book Template
- The folder can be unpacked using either WinRAR or 7zip.
- The contents come as MS Word documents for easy editing.
- You are welcome to copy and paste the contents of our template into your own MS Word document or similar if you find our watermark too distracting. Just be sure to link people here if they want their own copy of our fiction book outline template!
The Three-Act Structure
Why the Three-Act Structure?
The three-act structure is a simple, versatile layout that lets your story pitch and pivot, twist and turn, while still remaining coherent. In other words, following this structure is an easy (well, relatively easy) way to write a story that is both interesting and not too hard for your readers to follow.
The structure is commonly used not only for writing books, but also theatre scripts, screenplays, and more. It can also be adapted to single scenes or even dialogues where tension or conflict needs to be a key element, as it allows that tension/ conflict to be explored in an entertaining yet logical progression that feels natural.
As you can see, the three-act structure can be adapted for all sorts of fiction writing, both in the macro scale (with full books) and the micro scale (with single scenes). Our three-act structure graphic is adapted for writing fiction novels at the macro level.
Tips for Using the Three-Act Structure
Conflict and antagonists:
- While a story can have many antagonists, make sure to have one main antagonist to structure your protagonist’s story around.
- Remember that conflict can be internal, not just external.
- Some antagonists are dark lords leading fearsome armies. Others are colleagues or neighbours in conflict with our protagonist. Choose a main antagonist that’s appropriate for the story you want to tell.
- Not all antagonists are human, or even alien. An unexpected cancer diagnosis can present the reader with an antagonist they might know all too well.
- In stories with multiple fleshed-out points of view, remember that everyone is the protagonist in their own story, with their own main antagonist to triumph against. Unless all your PoVs are working together, this may mean that each one needs its own three-act structure to follow.
- In smaller scenes or dialogues, it isn’t always necessary to clearly define who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. Just make sure the stakes and the conflict are established quickly and easy to understand.
Exposition and character development:
- Exposition isn’t about info-dumping your reader. Instead, give them only the information they need so that, when the inciting incident comes along, they know enough about your protagonist, their motivations, and the world they inhabit to care about the stakes you’ve just established. The rest can be filled in naturally as your story progresses.
- That said, if you can engage in further worldbuilding and character development without making it sound forced, then do it!
Climax and resolution:
- Not all endings need to be happy.
- Not all endings need to be tragic either.
- That said, if you want to write a horror or a more tragic story, consider how rebuilding the confidence of the protagonist after the midpoint can be used for a larger emotional punch towards the climax.
Freedom:
- Like a good pirate code (at least, in fiction), the three-act structure is more like a strong set of guidelines than actual rules.
- That said, before breaking a guideline, make sure you understand why it is there first.
- Other than that, don’t let the rules get in the way of telling a good story.
- Just remember that this structure makes it easier for you to raise the stakes, introduce plot twists, and more while still keeping your story entertaining and believable. Don’t ignore it lightly!
Marketing Tools
To help with self-promoting your books.
Book Marketing Checklist
Why Use This Checklist?
Unless you have an advertising background, marketing—even at a basic level—can seem quite involved. Especially if you are new to the writing industry.
This checklist lays out all the major marketing activities to keep in mind, roughly in the order you’ll usually perform them. While this resource won’t fully replace having a marketing expert on-hand, it will at least let you know what to expect if you want your book to gain traction. This can help you decide early on which aspects of marketing you can handle yourself, which aspects you need to look into further, and which aspects you’ll need to save up and hire an expert for.
Just remember that the information in this resource isn’t inflexible: you can certainly adapt and change the order of the listed activities based on your overall marketing strategy. That said, if you don’t yet have a marketing strategy, and can’t even begin to fathom what one may look like, you can’t go wrong with reading over your checklist before plotting your next move.
Query Letter Templates
Why Query Letters?
Simply put, there will be times when you want an agent or editor to look at your book.
The query letter is what entices them to do so.
The templates linked above are there to ensure you are able to do so, and won’t just be stuck relying on the goodwill of your friends or local Facebook group for beta-readers or editing assistance. Not to mention, the rest of the marketing process gets much easier if you have an agent who likes your work. A good letter is what gives your work a chance.
Tips for Using Our Templates
- The folder can be unpacked using either WinRAR or 7zip.
- The contents come as MS Word documents for easy editing.
- You are recommended to copy and paste the contents into your own MS Word document or similar so that your final letter doesn’t contain our watermark or footer.
- Be sure to customise your font and font size according to your needs.
- Go to “Page Setup” or your word processor’s equivalent to ensure the page size is suitable for your needs. We have set these documents to use MS Word’s “Letter” size by default.
- It’s okay for a more formal or business-oriented letter to go on for more than one page, just remember that your reader’s time is precious (on that note, make sure to add page numbers like “page 1 of 2” to make your reader’s life easier).
- Make sure to tailor the tone of your letter to your reader. Some agents/ editors appreciate humour in their correspondence, while others don’t.
- Make sure you inject some of your personality into your letter.
- If emailing your letter as an attachment, save it as a PDF first. PDFs are harder to tamper with and are more likely to preserve their formatting after download. Both of those facts are important if you want to make a good impression.
Speaking of emails: if you haven’t already, make sure to set up an email signature for your account. At minimum, a good signature will include:
- Your full name.
- A link to your author page or website, if any.
- Your social media links (if you use them in your capacity as a writer/ author).
- Optionally, a professional photo of one of your books or your author headshot.
This will help your emails seem more serious, and not at all in a bad way. If you don’t have an author page, book page, or website, you can instead fill in your occupation (e.g. “[Genre] Author” or “Author of [Insert Name of Your Book Here]” for fiction, or even just your previous/ other occupation if it’s relevant to your work as an author in nonfiction).
Social Media Cheat sheet
Why a Social Media Cheat Sheet?
If you’re like our resident formatter, the last thing you want to do is go onto social media to promote your work. But, as a writer (especially a self-published writer), interacting with social media is essential if you want your book to gain traction. This cheat sheet is here to help you skip some of the normal growing pains so that you can get a head start to your social media skills (and hopefully have more time free for your writing)!
Non-Fiction Tools
A Book Outline Template for non-fiction
Why Are Outlines Important for Non-Fiction?
Similarly to outlines for fiction, non-fiction book outlines let you refine your initial plans and build yourself a strong initial foundation for your work.
Unless you literally never run out of inspiration, or never have unfocused or disrupted days, a well-constructed outline will always be handy for getting you back on track and keeping to your manuscript’s word count goals.
In other words, taking the time to use our template and build a strong outline could just be what helps you get your first non-fiction book published!
Tips for Using Our Non-Fiction Book Template
- The folder can be unpacked using either WinRAR or 7zip.
- The contents come as MS Word documents for easy editing.
- You are welcome to copy and paste the contents of our template into your own MS Word document or similar if you find our watermark too distracting. Just be sure to link people here if they want their own copy of our non-fiction book outline template!
