Tips & Tricks from Romance Authors

Here's a thing that is actually happening in the romance community right now: Readers are buying the candle before the book. They're purchasing a character art print of a fictional love interest they haven't even met yet. They're hunting down signed bookplates on author websites before launch day. They're adding trope-themed bookmarks to their cart alongside a preorder and a tote bag and calling it a reasonable Tuesday. Romance readers are not just consumers of stories. They'

Be honest with me for a second. When someone asks for your website link, do you send it confidently — or do you add a little disclaimer? Something like "it's a work in progress" or "I know it needs updating, but..." If you're hedging before you even share your own URL, that's not a traffic problem. That's a romance author branding problem. And I get it. When you first built your brand, it probably felt fine. Maybe even good. You picked colors you liked, found a font that felt

Picture this. A reader discovers you on TikTok. She watches your video, laughs at your trope breakdown, thinks "okay, I need this book in my life." She taps the link in your bio, lands on your website and... Nothing happens. She can't figure out what to buy first. The navigation is confusing. The homepage has a Canva logo and a stock photo of roses that could belong to literally any romance author on the internet. She clicks around for thirty seconds, can't find a buy button,

Let me tell you about two romance authors. Author A has a gorgeous logo. Custom script font, delicate florals, perfectly on-brand colors. It's on her website, her social media, her bookmarks. Beautiful. Author B has... a logo. It's fine. Nothing special. She probably made it on Canva in 20 minutes. Guess which author readers recognize instantly? Author B. Because Author B doesn't just have a logo. She has a brand . And there's a huge difference. Here's the thing most romance

Author website conversion in 2026 isn’t about luck—it’s about psychology. The romance authors making consistent sales from their websites understand something critical: traffic means nothing if visitors don’t buy. Right now, you might be getting visitors to your author website. Maybe 100 people visit this month. Maybe 500. Maybe 1,000. But if author website conversion isn’t optimized, most of those visitors leave without buying anything. Here’s the reality: improving your aut

A Shopify store for authors in 2026 can be one of the smartest investments in your author business—or one of the most expensive mistakes. The difference isn’t luck. It’s knowledge. Three romance authors launched Shopify stores in December 2025. One is making $2,000/month in direct sales. One breaks even. One lost money. The only difference? What they knew before they started. If you’re considering whether a Shopify store for authors makes sense for your romance business, this

Author SEO in 2026 looks completely different than it did just a year ago. Google’s algorithm changed everything and romance authors who adapted are getting discovered by readers actively searching for books like theirs. The ones who didn’t? Invisible. Here’s what you need to know—in actual English, not tech speak. Look, SEO isn’t optional anymore. But here’s the good news: it’s not actually scary once you understand what you’re doing. 2026 is completely different from 2025.

Well, we made it. 2025 is almost over, and honestly? What a year it’s been. I’m sitting here with my coffee, looking back at everything we published this year, and I’m kind of blown away by which posts you all loved most. Some of them I expected. Some totally surprised me. And a few made me go “wait, THAT one? Really?” But that’s the beautiful thing about writing for romance authors – you tell me what you need by what you read, share, and come back to over and over again. So

Can we talk about something that’s been on my mind lately? I’m watching Instagram change its algorithm every other Tuesday like it’s got commitment issues, and Facebook… well, Facebook is what it is at this point. Meanwhile, I’ve got three grown boys who barely check social media regularly (they’re too busy living their lives, apparently), and I’m sitting here thinking: what’s the ONE thing that’s actually stable in this crazy online world we’re building our careers on? Email

Let’s talk about something that might make your accountant very happy: keeping more of your book money. I know, I know. You didn’t become a romance author to think about profit margins and sales funnels. You became an author because you love writing stories that make people feel things. The butterflies. The tears. The “I need a cold shower” moments. But here’s the reality that smacked me in the face after a building websites for authors: some authors are making 60-80% of thei

Here's something that might surprise you: 23% of authors selling direct don't even use a Black Friday email sequence. According to the 2025 Selling Books Direct survey, nearly a quarter of indie authors are leaving money on the table by ignoring their email lists during the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Meanwhile, authors who use a strategic Black Friday email sequence see significant direct sales from the same holiday weekend. Same number of books. Same readers. Diff

You built your store. You're driving traffic to it. But only 1 out of every 100 visitors actually buys something. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Most author stores convert at only 1-2%, while optimized stores convert at 3-5% or higher. That's not just a small difference. That's the difference between making $200 and $800 from the same 100 visitors. Here's what that looks like for your Black Friday weekend: At 1% author store conversion rate: • 1,000 holiday visito

Let's play a fun game called "Why Can't Anyone Find My Books?" You Google your author name. Your Amazon page shows up first. Your Goodreads second. That questionable photo from your cousin's Facebook wedding album third. Your actual website? Page two. Maybe three. Possibly in the shadow realm with all those lost socks. Cool. Cool. Cool. Meanwhile, that author who started publishing after you? Their website pops up for every romance-related search in your subgenre. They're get

Real talk: That DIY author website you cobbled together at 2 AM between drafting chapters? We see you. We've been you. We respect the hustle. But we need to have an honest conversation about whether that WordPress theme you bought for $47 in 2018 is still serving you — or if it's actively sabotaging your author career. Because here's the uncomfortable truth: Your DIY author website might be the reason readers are choosing literally any other author instead of you. Ouch. We k

Okay, we need to talk about the glittery, wing-having, shadow-daddies who have taken over romancelandia. Romantasy is eating everything. Your BookTok FYP? Romantasy. Barnes & Noble's front table? Romantasy. That reader group you're in? Discussing whether the shadow prince or the golden retriever fae deserves the girl. Meanwhile, you're over here writing small-town romance, wondering if you should just give your construction worker hero some wings and call it a day. Please don

Deep breath. Your October romance release is coming in hot, your ARC team is assembled, and you've got that perfect book boyfriend everyone's going to obsess over. But here's the thing that might make you spit out your pumpkin spice latte: Your romance book launch website might be actively working against you. We're not trying to add to your pre-launch panic (promise!), but after building websites for romance authors for over a decade, we've seen these same seven mistakes ta