#romance authors

[vivilove-jonsa]

rlly thrilled to hear both of you are doing well with ur books. if u don't mind me asking: is it financially viable? Could u do something like that and support urself or is it more like pocket money? are there startup costs? (feel free to ignore this ask if this is something you don't want to talk about)

Hey Anon,

I don't know if you're the same anon but I'll post the link to the ask that sparked this question for any who are curious here.

The answer to all your questions can be yes (helpful, right?)

Details below the cut...

Is it financially viable?

In my opinion, yes but you and I may be at very different stages in our lives. Are you a student? A parent with young children? Are you struggling to pay the light bill? Do you have time and energy to throw into writing daily or nightly around real life? These things matter.

Could I live off what I'm earning since I started self-publishing nearly a year ago? Hell no. I have a very good full-time job with benefits and an excellent retirement package. My husband and I have both agreed I can't walk away from that for anything less than six-figure earnings but I can say our mortgage has been covered by my writing for the past six months. That's meaningful to us and worth my time and effort.

Does success happen? It does but I won't sugarcoat it. For every Lucy Score, Cora Reilly and T.L. Swan, self-published romance authors who are millionaires, there are thousands out there who are making much, much less. From $20 to $10,000 in a month, it varies widely! But there are things you can to do increase your chances of hitting it big.

Also, I should mention that Amy and I are Amazon exclusive, part of their Kindle Unlimited subscription service. The good part about that? We earn 70% of our sales versus 30% if we were classified as Wide authors (people who can publish elsewhere like Smashwords, etc). The not so good part, you're very dependent on Amazon. For now, it's worth it for us and the (very different) niches we chose do well in KU.

Startup costs -

KEEP IT MINIMAL! I would not throw tons of money into fancy formatting software or professional editing if you're looking to self-publish your first novel. Do the work yourself, take advantage of free resources, sites and tools and see a profit (hopefully). I published my first book May 31st last year and I had made up my initial startup costs by the time my second book was released in late July.

What you actually need..

Royalty free images to make covers - $40 and up, up, up

Catch deals from Deposit Photos. Twice a year they do a deal through appsumo where you can get 100 images for $40. It's a steal of a deal. GIMP is free software you can download to make covers. Find YouTube videos to show you how. It's all out there and free. But it takes effort. Sorry, no shortcuts there :)

Reader Services - $10/month

Many, many self-published authors use bonus stories or free stories as Reader Magnets to draw readers and future fans to their newsletters. You need a system to funnel those readers and collect emails. Bookfunnel is who I use. Some of their services are free but you pretty much need that $10/month to make use of the good stuff. They also offer author swaps and newsletter building promos if you want to grow your list of followers. StoryOrigin is an alternative site some people use.

Newsletter - $0

I use Mailerlite which is free up to 1k subscribers. There's also Mailchimp. You can have freebie landing sites from Mailerlite. I haven't bothered with a paid website domain yet but I know this is something I'll need to look into soon.

ARCs - $10 to $20/month

Booksprout is the one I use. There are probably others. I think it's about $10/month for the beginner subscription to get those reviewers. I'm using a mid-list author plan now ~ $190/year. Some niches make use of SM more for this.

Advertising - $0 to thousands

Don't bother until you've got a book or two out there (come ask me if you get to that point). I'd say the only advertising you should focus on to start with is your passive marketing - your blurb, your cover and the keywords you enter on Amazon that make your book discoverable. Beyond that, paid advertising can wait.

However, you can use Tiktok to get your book noticed. Amy is learning the ropes of this and we've both seen people whose sales have skyrocketed thanks to one or two good Tiktoks to draw readers. One person made $10k in a month off of ONE good Tiktok. Other SMs have their successes, too. This is not an area I excel at though. I'd need one of my kids to teach me more... lmao.

Finally, I'll say, I didn't go into this thinking it would make me rich and famous. I wrote 3 million words of Jonsa out of love over the course of five years. I've written 350k words of original fiction the past year and it's paying the mortgage. Thankfully, I love what I'm writing and I've set myself a five-year plan for my 'side hustle' to see how I feel in 2027. We'll see where I am then. Fingers crossed I can claim I'm a six-figure author!

But what you can achieve in self-publishing can be phenomenal if you're writing to market (giving romance readers those tropes they love and hitting the expected story beats) in a genre and niche that has hungry readers. Our discord has verified tiers so people who say they're making 50k in thirty days aren't just blowing smoke. They've proven it. Imagine making money like that and then, if you're at a point in your life where you want to try, GO FOR IT.

#writing #self publishing #romance authors

[rightwriter]

Calling all romance writers! Abbie Emmons has some tips for you :D

#writing advice #youtube #rightwriter #writing tips #writing #Youtube #nanowrimo 2023 #nanowrimo #preptober #abbie emmons #on writing #romance writing #romance authors

[fixing-canva-book-covers]

Another fix, this time for Elena Armas’ The American Roommate Experiment.

There are several frustrating things at play in this one for me: the lack of a defined colour palette, the inconsistent style of artwork, the faceless people and overly realistic shadowing on clothes (indicating that the people in these drawings were originally just photos, traced over and filled with basic colour), the randomly cluttered in assortments of motifs and vectors… it gives it a confused, cluttered feel.

I tried to follow the good old rule of thirds here while also establishing a more structured colour palette, giving the author’s bottom third a little cityscape to provide setting context. I removed the pizza and the gramophone entirely, replacing them as a feature with the little brass apartment key and adding the paper manuscript sheets for the lead’s romance book as a more obvious and compelling motif. I shifted the text down and filled the top third with the legs of the two character vectors (to avoid having to try and make the faces look less empty and slender man-esque) and I switched out the colour of the lady’s pants to draw the same pink through the cover art and lead the viewer’s eye down the page.

What do we think?

#Canva cover art #booklr #bookblr #Booktok #tiktok #tiktok books #romance authors #romance #romance novel #contemporary romance #book illustration #illustration design #I should probably put a disclaimer on these soon so no one comes to hate on me #this is not shade against the artists who created the original cover art #I am sure that they are doing the best they can with the briefs they are given #and likely have their hands tied by whoever ends up filtering their art through dozens of marketing hands and briefs and whatever #all power to them #this is more an exercise in personal vindication #and if anyone wants me to put together a cover for their book please hit me up #happy to do commissions #also happy to try and fix other book covers that you hate so send them #over to me #graphic design is my passion #lmao #Elena armas #cover redesign #the american roommate experiment

[djrusso-romance]

Hi all! I have a bunch of ARCs remaining for my second-chance M/M merman romance, Scales Like Stars! If you’re interested in romantasy and would be willing to take an ARC, let me know!

What's in it:

Second chance romance

Found family

“Touch him and die”

Friends to lovers

Dangerous selkies

Frightening sea monsters

Quiet nerd/lovable golden retriever jock (MMCs)

One very grumpy as heck ancient merman

Ensemble cast

First in a new series

Contemporary fantasy (alternative Earth-like setting)

Book2Read link that will also show you the blurb

#romance books #romance authors #fantasy romance books #fantasy romance #merfolk #lgbt books #indie author #indie books #arc readers wanted #romantasy #bookish #writers of tumblr

[averyeastonwrites]

Are you ready for an enemies-to-lovers Broadway romance novel?? Coming 10.14.22! Pre-order below!

#broadway book #broadway guys #musical theatre #new books #hamilton #romance novel #dear evan hansen #musicals #waitress the musical #six the musical #beetle juice #lin manuel miranda #contemporary romance #romance authors

[delia-pavorum]

I’m on Instagram!

Feel free to add me as a friend and help make that follower count look a little less pathetic 😅 

#reylo #instagram #reylo fandom #romance authors #rom com

[tccbookdesign]

One for the romance writers (or mystery I guess? It has that vibe)

PLUCKING PETALS (Get it? No...okay).

It be cute. It be standard pricing so ain't that ouchy on the wallet.

(also pricing is aud so already like at least 20% cheaper than USD).

It be fully customisable and exclusive to your forever story wo.

#amwriting #amediting #book cover design #creative writing #writing help #premade covers #publishing #ampublishing #beautiful book cover #beautiful book covers #indie publishing #indie punk #romance writers #romance authors #mystery writers #mystery authors #this is one for the romantics #pricing ain't that bad i think #it's aud so really almost like minus a quarter against USD lol

[gdnewsam]

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1144756

#book #books #black book #black books #black writer #black writers #black romance #black love #love and romance #romance #romance book #romance books #romance reader #romance readers #romance author #romance authors #romantic #steamy romance #steamy romance book #steamy romance books #steamy romance addict #steamy romance novel #stesmy romance author #steamy romance reader #millionaire romance #UpgradeYou #NoelleVella

[dariasdossier]

#monster romance #monster lover #siren romance #fantasy romance #paranormal romance #romance quotes #thesailorssong #dariavernon #dark fairytale #romance authors #spicy books

[emilovesmm]

#queer romance #mm romance #gay romance #angels demons #lgbt romance #gay demons #queer demons #queer books #lgbt books #romance authors #morally grey #forbidden love #dystopian romance #paranormal romance #romance quotes

[findinghea]

The Book That Made Me Want to Quit

If you’re a newsletter reader or have followed me since September, you probably know the answer to this question. I appreciate it when another author shares their low points, so I figured I could share mine. Ever since Flame For You came out in March 2022, and readers met Quinn Walsh, they’ve asked me if Kayleigh, his little sister, is going to get a book of her own. Look, I might not be in the…

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#Disability and kink #disabled characters #Mercy Denton #Raleigh Damson #romance authors #writing romance

[fixing-canva-book-covers]

Fixing Canva cover art: Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams.

This is one of the first ones I fixed. Design-wise, I actually really love this cover! I just wish it didn’t fall down so spectacularly on the dozen or so weird anatomical issues on display. I reshaped their faces, provided a subtle contrasting outline around their profiles to make them pop a little more (they’re the main characters after all!) and gave this poor girl back her ass. And the back of her head. And her shoulder. I can see what they were going for with the guy, but again, this poor guy is just totally lacking shoulders and like, human joints. So I de-plasticened him a little bit. And I gave him more human proportions for his face and head, and bulked up that lacklustre looking hair.

It’s subtle, but I think the changes make all the difference!

#practice makes perfect #Sarah adams #Canva art #Canva book cover #fixing Canva book covers #booklr #Booktok #TikTok #TikTok book club #I genuinely do like this cover though #it’s got a lot going for it! #the colour palette is great #the general layout is fabulous #just wish they hadn’t phoned in the people so badly #romance authors #romance books #literary romance #rom com

[djrusso-romance]

I'm burnt out, but not with writing. Not yet, I don't think. I noticed that I had a very negative reaction to opening up TikTok to be bombarded with "I got a book deal!" videos and "I just sold 1,000 books!"

Normally, I can cheer people on and be happy for them. But lately that just isn't the case. Lately, I've been dealing with intense jealousy. So instead of letting the jealousy go to where it's toxic, I pulled away from most social media except for my own marketing. I don't like that I feel this way, but I know it's normal.

You can only handle so many people succeeding and winning at their dreams around you before you just sort of... get exhausted by it all. It's not that I don't want people to succeed, I do. It's just that it reminds me of how I'm working my ass off and treading water. Maybe one day I'll get there. Maybe I won't. But I know that I need to take care of myself better.

#self care #personal #jealousy #I am nothing if not self aware #I let pro writing aid edit this post #authors of tumblr #booklr #romance authors

[rs-hawk]

Working on my novel and couldn’t figure out why it felt so empty. I didn’t have any filler. It was all 100% plot. The characters only interacted when necessary. I didn’t prattle on about the scenery or how the birds sounded. I had all my fuller stuff that I loved saved in another file because I “didn’t need it”.

Y’all, I knew this existed in TV shows but it didn’t hit me until this that everything is being whittled down. We are so starving for filler that we snap up anything. I unload all mine on Tumblr or keep it in a massive Google Docs. It SUCKS.

Honestly? Death to plot necessity. Revive filler. Revive unnecessary interactions. Revive just vibing with characters sometimes. I don’t want to just consume the plot and I don’t want to just create the plot either.

#writers on tumblr #writing #fantasy romance #author #writer problems #i wrote something #authors #my writing #thoughts #my thoughts #filler #filler death #draft #drafts #rough draft

[hammione]

3 ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS ROMANCE BOOKS TO MAKE YOU SWOON

Okay. Picture this. Close your eyes and picture this (and to be clear, I mean close your eyes after I tell you what ‘this’ is). This: you’re dressed in a white, beautiful dress, hair curled to perfection and heels polished. You look good and you feel even better; after all, you’re on your way out of work to meet your latest beau. He’s a man with a good job, nice personality and an even nicer…

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#book recommendations #book reviews #book-lovers #books #ejbookpromos #Emily henry #Evie dunmore #meg cabot #reading #romance #romance authors #romance-tropes

[maishaaa]

Book Review: King Of Greed - By Anna Huang (Not worth the hype)

❝I lost you once, and I never want to lose you again.❞ Synopsis:  He had her, he lost her…and he’ll do anything to win her back. Powerful, brilliant, and ambitious, Dominic Davenport clawed his way up from nothing to become the King of Wall Street. He has everything—a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and more money than he could spend in a lifetime. But no matter how much he accumulates,…

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#blogger #book blogger #book community #book lovers #book review #fiction #heartbreak #longreads #love #novels review #pain #readers of wordpress #romance #romance authors #romance book review #romance novels #romantic novels