This post is one post out of a series of posts covering Writing Craft, Writing Business, and Writing Inspiration books which I’ve read over the past 30 years. Some of these will be new books, some old, but all will have something to do with the craft, inspiration, or business of writing.
Romance Your Goals is the first book I read by Zoe York, who is better known as a bestselling author of spicy romance novels and novellas.
An author friend recommended Zoe York’s books at her blog, and I decided to try them, even though I typically write speculative fiction, poetry, devotional books, and not much romance, I figured a bestselling indie author probably had some good goal and marketing tips. Besides all of that, she has a practical attitude, which appeals to me.
“My biggest advantage when it came to publishing is that I knew it would be hard. That I knew the path would be bumpy and there would be mistakes and failures along the way, and I just needed to keep my eyes on the prize, in the distance.”
– Zoe York, Romance Your Brand: Building a Marketable Genre Fiction Series
With her experience speaking for her, York’s writing drew me into the first installment of the Romance Your Brand, Plan, and Goals trilogy of books which cover goal setting, knowing your themes, and purposeful planning, in a positive, encouragement, motivational way.
Zoe York not only covers specific goal, theme, and planning strategies, she gives these tips with a sense of humor and graciousness, with the acknowledgement that it has worked for her, but she can’t guarantee it will. Throughout each of these books, she gives the reader a steady stream of no-nonsense advice and kick-in-the-pants motivation, followed by allowances for real life and marketing needs to change plans on the go. She always continues in a pragmatic way with her tips.
“It would be amazing if we could write books and people just magically found them, but that’s not how it works. Finding and growing a reader base is hard, steady, and sometimes slow work.”
– Zoe York in Romance Your Plan: Taking Genre Fiction Marketing to the Next Level
I really appreciated the decision-making tools for creating a solid five-year plan that can be created and recreated as much as an author needs to keep the target moving and the writing moving forward. While this was one of the specific emphases of Romance Your Brand: Building a Marketable Genre Fiction Series, the theme continued in the next two books Romance Your Plan: Taking Genre Fiction Marketing to the Next Level, and Romance Your Goals. Each book has an emphasis and follow through with specific details and charts.
While I don’t plan to use every specific detail in these books as part of my marketing, I recommend these books if you already have books ready to market. They contain some solid ideas, and they are positive to read. If you have a book mostly ready to go or are considering how to plan for a future of multiple book writing, check out the first book.