Links to Good Stuff!
If you want to try any of these products, please click my links. Most of them are affiliate links, so you will get some kind of special sign up deal, and I will get something, too. Thanks!
Protonmail
I love Protonmail! It's encrypted email, and follows Swiss laws. As time goes on, they introduce more products that are similar to the Google portfolio of products. Protonmail is much newer than Google, so they don't have nearly as many products. But I primarily use my Protonmail for the secure email that keeps prying eyes out.
I value privacy. I imagine Protonmail is not 100% unsypable or unhackable, but when all the big dogs on the email block have no problem admitting that your stuff isn't at all private, in the least bit, not a smidgeon private, and they dig through your stuff for their marketing data, Protonmail just makes sense to me. I don't want people, corporations, or governments digging through my accounts! In that sense, I guess, the Proton suite of products functions like a privacy first anti-Google.
I think I'm on my 5th year of having a Protonmail account. I pay 2 years upfront, and it's cheap. I think when I started, it was like $3 a month, but I have since updated my package, so I think it's more like $10 a month for me now. I love all the email aliases I can use, and I have 2 other domains added to my account for jazzier email addresses. Give it a try--keep the prying eyes out! I think you'll like it!
I value privacy. I imagine Protonmail is not 100% unsypable or unhackable, but when all the big dogs on the email block have no problem admitting that your stuff isn't at all private, in the least bit, not a smidgeon private, and they dig through your stuff for their marketing data, Protonmail just makes sense to me. I don't want people, corporations, or governments digging through my accounts! In that sense, I guess, the Proton suite of products functions like a privacy first anti-Google.
I think I'm on my 5th year of having a Protonmail account. I pay 2 years upfront, and it's cheap. I think when I started, it was like $3 a month, but I have since updated my package, so I think it's more like $10 a month for me now. I love all the email aliases I can use, and I have 2 other domains added to my account for jazzier email addresses. Give it a try--keep the prying eyes out! I think you'll like it!
FriesenPress
This company published my first two novels. They will publish my third novel, too. Their books are high quality. They have various publishing packages, and can help as much or as little as you want. They hope you succeed, but ultimately, the success or failure of your book(s) is/are up to you and the work you put in. I have worked with two of their publishing specialists and some other staff there, who were excellent!
One note, though... once you produce a book with them, they will encourage you to have it printed with their own FriesenPress Bookstore. From my experience, I don't recommend buying many of your books directly through their bookstore. In the case of people ordering my books from them, there were delays in producing and shipping the books.
One note, though... once you produce a book with them, they will encourage you to have it printed with their own FriesenPress Bookstore. From my experience, I don't recommend buying many of your books directly through their bookstore. In the case of people ordering my books from them, there were delays in producing and shipping the books.
Scrivener
The company that makes this awesome writing and research program is called "Literature and Latte." I love that, lol. This is a stellar program for writing a first draft of a novel or a very long academic paper, like a thesis or dissertation. I would continue to use Scrivener for the first editing pass. After that, I would collate the document and get it over to Word.
I think they only charge like $50 or $60 for this, but it easily provides $200 worth of value for writers and academics, in my opinion. The program is highly adaptable, so there is a learning curve to figuring out how to get it to do what you want to do. I'd recommend watching people's YouTube videos on the program if you get stuck. But once you get the hang of it, this is the way to knock out a document of 200 or more pages, organize your research, and easily skip around parts to check and change your prior writing.
I think they only charge like $50 or $60 for this, but it easily provides $200 worth of value for writers and academics, in my opinion. The program is highly adaptable, so there is a learning curve to figuring out how to get it to do what you want to do. I'd recommend watching people's YouTube videos on the program if you get stuck. But once you get the hang of it, this is the way to knock out a document of 200 or more pages, organize your research, and easily skip around parts to check and change your prior writing.
Mint Mobile
Great phone service at a fraction of what the big dogs charge. You can pay up front for a whole year. The year will likely cost only 1-2 months of your current phone bill... then you forget the bill for the rest of the year! They use T-Mobile's towers. If you get good service with T-Mobile, then your Mint should work flawless. I've been with them over 4 years now, and Ryan Reynolds sends me a funny Christmas card each year.
The second month I had them, they emailed me saying that based on my data usage, I was paying for more than what I needed, so they recommended that I pay for a cheaper plan with them! The heat death of the universe will happen five times before Verizon would ever tell you that you are handing them too much cash!
The second month I had them, they emailed me saying that based on my data usage, I was paying for more than what I needed, so they recommended that I pay for a cheaper plan with them! The heat death of the universe will happen five times before Verizon would ever tell you that you are handing them too much cash!
Ally Bank
I've had accounts with them for over a decade. They pay significantly higher interest on their accounts than what any of the brick and mortar banks pay. Currently the interest is 3.3% (but I've seen it over 5%), while most banks grudgingly pay something like 0.01%, which is just plain silly. Of course, inflation outpaces the interest rate, so you're smarter investing in stocks or bonds if you want your money to actually grow. But still, having a comparatively high interest rate on your bank account helps take the sting out of the insulting interest rates most banks pay now.
Block Advisors
We all hate taxes. If your situation is more complex than the 1040-EZ, and you need professional help digging through a mountain of receipts and deciphering the gibberish that the IRS's monsters spew, you might want to give them a try. They've done my taxes for four years, and have done a pretty good job with it. I think. Not that I would understand if they were messing up, though. "Thanks, IRS!"
Inkarnate
This was so cheap that I think I paid for it and haven't used it yet. They don't even have an affiliate link, probably because it is so inexpensive. But I must share this because it is so cool for my nerd brothers and sisters! You make maps! Nerd realm maps! That you dream up, and the program makes it super easy to draw them out and print them! Give it a try! While I didn't make any maps for my first or second novels, I have a couple situations in the third novel that would be easier to understand with a map, so I might use them to put maps in that novel!
Note:
I recommend many products that I use, because they have helped me over the years. I won't recommend any company, goods, or services that I have tried that I felt were rip offs or provided bad service. In the past, I worked for three insurance giants. When I started those jobs, I was excited about the "product." But over the years, I started to feel bad about the various lines of insurance I was selling, and began getting a sour taste in my belly about the companies I was working for. When I realized that I didn't like the thing I was selling, and I felt the negatives far outweighed any potential positives, I ditched that industry!
Now there is no corporate pressure from greedy C-suite executives in giant evil corporations for me to sell, sell, sell or find a new job! These are some things I've found useful. I'll mention them to you. If you don't already use them and think they could help you, then please use my affiliate referral links. Depending on the company and product, using the my links will get you some kind of deal, and then the companies will theoretically pay me a little something. Sounds like a win for you, a win for me, and a win for the company.
Now there is no corporate pressure from greedy C-suite executives in giant evil corporations for me to sell, sell, sell or find a new job! These are some things I've found useful. I'll mention them to you. If you don't already use them and think they could help you, then please use my affiliate referral links. Depending on the company and product, using the my links will get you some kind of deal, and then the companies will theoretically pay me a little something. Sounds like a win for you, a win for me, and a win for the company.
