Hey,

It seems to start earlier and earlier every year – much to the chagrin of this traditionalist.

Poor old Halloween hardly receives a proper burial before the holiday decorations go up. And with the huge focus on online everything these days, some fear that the true meaning of Black Friday is being lost.

Which of course is the age-old practice of elbowing seniors out of the way to grab a ridiculously priced television.

It’s the mooooost wooooooonderful tiiiiiiime...

I want you all to realize your television-grabbing dreams this year. With that in mind, I ordered a minion to release a pair of delectable deals early from the Sarcophagus of Bargains so that you can take some of the pressure off next Friday.

And I think you will like them too:

1. DepositPhotos – 100 Stock Photo Credits for $39.

2. MailerLite – 33% off Annual Plans.

Many of you only need the above links – you already know you are jumping on these deals. But for those who want a little more info than that, let’s get into it.

1. DepositPhotos

DepositPhotos is one of the best stock photo sites around and, with this Black Friday offer, easily the best value.

I use stock photos for all sorts of things:

• Vision boards (imagining my characters and locations when starting a new book)
• Cover art (i.e. hand it to my designer and let them do the rest)
• Website graphics (keeping a “file” of themed graphics is super handy)
• Ad images (again, having a selection of evocative stock photos which match the mood/feel/vibe of your book cover will be so useful, over and over again).
• Newsletter graphics (my words are gorgeous and can command attention all on their own obviously but a little razzle dazzle never hurts).
• Blog graphics (if you think this is overkill, you haven’t heard the story of the indie author who got sued for reposting copyrighted images on her blog and had to pay thousands to settle the case).

All of these things are super useful to me, but where I see the most value for authors is in taking more direct control of their branding.

For me, branding is one of the big markers of success – one aspect of the many headed beast that is self-publishing which really separates the best(sellers) from the rest.

The last time this DepositPhotos deal was running earlier this year, I decided to show you how to construct a winning brand from scratch, only using stock photos – inventing an author called Kirk Jameson for the exercise, designing him several on-brand covers, and generating lots of ad images to tie in with that brand – again, only using stock photos and free software (and only spending about two hours on the process).

You can read that guide to branding here, and then you can see all the book covers and ad images I made on Kirk Jameson’s Facebook Page – along with lots of notes and comments to explain both the process and the thinking behind each concept.

Or you can just jump on the deal now and start building your own killer brand:

​Get 100 DepositPhoto credits for $39 at AppSumo!

This is an affiliate link, so I will earn some commission if you purchase. But it doesn’t affect the price you pay.

$39 is the (joint) lowest price this deal has ever been at – and you won’t get it cheaper anywhere else (including direct from DepositPhotos). You’re saving 87% off the sticker price of $300 – it’s a great deal.

Not only that, he says with a dramatic flourish, you get a further 10% off if you avail of this early deal before Black Friday Proper kicks off. Which means you can get 100 Stock Photo credits for just $35.10 which is the (actual) lowest price ever.

I'm not sure how long that extra 10% off lasts, so do jump on this now if you are buying stock photos this year.

Another great thing about buying it from AppSumo is that these credits never expire, and if you change your mind you can avail of their excellent 60-day moneyback guarantee. Which I have exercised after a bad case of Deal Fever back in 2020 so I can personally tell you that it works. 😅

Buying stock photos has set me off on so many different creative journeys – it’s like a whole bunch of writing prompts on tap, an idea factory for your marketing efforst, a cheat file for communicating with readers, and Grade A fuel for the creative parts of your brain.

Oh the places you’ll go…

2. MailerLite

Are you thinking of trying out MailerLite? Or perhaps switching to a yearly plan to save money? This week you can do both of those things at a big discount.

Indieland is marked by continual change but one constant is that MailerLite remains the #1 choice for indie authors – and my personal recommendation as the best email marketing service for most. It’s certainly the best value in terms of price and feature set – and deliverability, most importantly.

Plenty of more hyped up services have come and gone while in the last several years without getting anywhere near MailerLite’s stellar track record of hitting readers’ inboxes. This is the unsexy work that goes on in the background but which is critical to your success and doesn’t get talked about enough.

Those with more involved requirements – e.g. complex automations, courses, or direct sales – might profit from choosing a more premium service like ConvertKit (deal coming next week btw). But most authors don’t need that level of complexity which makes MailerLite a perfect fit for them.

This week you get a killer discount on switching to a MailerLite annual plan – 33% off, which is basically four months free. I usually start out with any service on a monthly plan but once I’m comfortable with that choice I always switch to an annual plan to save money, and this is quite a big discount as these things go. So if you were thinking of switching yourself, now is the time to do it.

Or if you were thinking of trying out MailerLite, then they are also offering 90% off your first month – that’s for new monthly plans.

Existing annual planners can’t avail of these deals, but there are more discounts if you have decided to switch to an Advanced Plan – which might suit those with some more complex needs, but perhaps not quite enough to justify the price jump to ConvertKit.

To tempt more people into the pool of advanced swimmers, MailerLite has announced a couple of new features too – including AI-powered smart sending, which sounds interesting, and lots more A/B testing for those who love optimizing everything.

You can read lots more about all the deals over at the MailerLite Black Friday page.

Again, that’s an affiliate link, so I might make a small commission if you purchase something. But I only act as an affiliate for products and services I use myself – and which I personally recommend.

I’ve used MailerLite for my fiction lists for several years now, for example, while ConvertKit handles my more complex non-fiction requirements – and that balance is working great for me. I’m starting a new pen name, and that list will definitely be housed at MailerLite too.

Putting my Monet where my mouth is.

OK, I better leave it there before the crowd begins to turn. The big move is in just over a week so I’m up to my guts in packing nuts and I better get back to it.

Lots more deals coming at you next Friday!

Dave

P.S. Packing this week is thoughfully soundtracked by King Creosote and Something To Believe In.