If you are an independent author who uses the Internet, you will find this list of well-known and not-so-well-known websites useful. If you have any suggestions for additional sites, please share links to them in the comments.

1. Support Details

One thing you can be sure of on the Internet is that, sometime, somehow, you will encounter a website that doesn’t seem to work the way it should.

Normally, you can contact tech support to get help – but it’s often difficult to know whether the problem lies with the website or with your computer setup.

If someone asks you if you have “cookies” turned on, or if you’re running the latest version of Chrome, you may not know the answer. The Support Details site gives you an immediate overview of important details about your computer system, and even allows you to easily email everything right from the web page.

2. Bounce

A picture really can be worth a thousand words – especially when trying to communicate something about a website. If you’re having problems, or simply want to share a site with a friend, or make some comments on the design of your own site, Bounce is a very easy way to grab a screenshot and add some annotations.

3. Every Time Zone

The Internet has made global communications faster and more convenient than every before – but the challenges of time remain the same. If you are collaborating with a team in multiple locations, it’s always useful to quickly check what time it is where they are.

The Every Time Zone site provides an interactive at-a-glance diagram that will help you avoid calling your publisher at 3am.

4. Boxoh

If you’ve spent a year writing your book, another year publishing it, and waited afew more weeks for it to be printed and shipped, there’s still the seemingly endless wait for your first copies to arrive.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were one place where you could conveniently track your package’s progress, whether it was sent via UPS, FedEx, USPS, or DHL? Boxoh lets you do just that – and even provides maps and an RSS feed to keep you up-to-date.

5. Dropbox

Quite possibly the most useful thing on the Internet. Dropbox gives you a special folder on your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) where you can save all your important files – correspondence, manuscripts, articles, photographs, or anything else.

Then it smoothly copies all of those files to the Dropbox website and keeps them up-to-date automatically every time you make a change. Not only that, but it will keep old versions of all your files – so if you accidentally delete a chapter, you can go back to a previous version.

All your files stay on your own computer – so you don’t need to worry if the website breaks – but you get the benefit of an extra backup on-line. And you can access your files from the Dropbox website at any time, from any computer you happen to be using. Backup, convenience, and fool-proof operation – what more could you ask for?

6. Co-Captain

Authors who partner with WinePress Publishing also get the benefit of our own, unique, in-house developed Co-Captain website – where they can send and receive messages, check their sales report, place orders, and track every aspect of their book’s production. It makes the publishing experience faster, easier, more efficient, more interactive, and more enjoyable.

Malcolm Fraser is the Executive Officer at WinePress Publishing, and serves as the assistant to the Executive Publisher. He helps to oversee and coordinate all of WinePress’ different departments, handles customer service issues, contract development, and also contributes to programming and designing websites and author blogs.