I want to share my go-to recs for books and other resources when people ask me for further reading to help improve their craft and up their marketing game. I’m sticking to just a few of my faves here because I don’t want to overwhelm you with recs—I get that no one has the time to read all the craft books, take all the courses, watch all the videos, etc., so here are the cream of the crop!
I don’t tend to recommend writing books to writers because writing is such a personal process and you don’t need learn complicated frameworks that you must rigidly adhere to in order to write “properly”—you have to figure out your own methods and rhythms and rituals to learn what works and what doesn’t for you. That said, I recommend Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes for romance writers specifically because it does a good job of walking you through the major beats of a standard romance novel. From there, you can figure out what you can do to play within these confines, and then how to subvert expectations and innovate.
Not a writing book, per se, but an amazing read for any kind of creative is Jessica Abel’s Growing Gills. If you happen to suffer from procrastination (*raises hand*), this will help you figure out how to find the time and motivate yourself to get the work done. I really liked this one.
Christina C Jones is an incredibly prolific bestselling romance author, and she has a great YouTube channel where she talks about her books, self-publishing, and marketing, among other things. After 60 books, she knows self-publishing inside and out, and she’s sharing her wisdom in her videos. Her YouTube is also part marketing platform as well, so you can also watch what she’s doing to promote her books.
Zoe York’s Romance Your Brand is all about how to create a romance series brand and build consistency within your series with careful planning so that Book Five feels like the continuation of the plan set out from Book One, not shoehorned in and only vaguely connected. Zoe’s a bestselling romance author, and she also has a YouTube channel where she drops a ton of useful info about marketing, writing, and self-publishing.
I’m a huge fan of David Gaughran and his book marketing savvy—his weekly newsletter is PACKED full of info about optimizing Amazon, ads, and email marketing, and I actually look forward to seeing them pop up in my inbox. I recommend all of his marketing books, and he just release a FREE course called Starting From Zero about self-publishing and your author platform—I did it, and it’s well worth taking, especially if you’re relatively new to publishing (though I think even seasoned pros will get something out of it).
If you’re looking for thoughtful, uncomfortable, but necessary discussion about where romance has been and where it is (or should be) going, you should be listening to the Shelf Love Podcast. Host Andrea Martucci interviews a wide range of romance authors, academics, and influencers to love on romance but also critique it and point out where it’s falling short.