We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amanda Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amanda below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Being a writer was never something I thought about. I loved to read. But write an actual book? No, thanks. Until 2019, when I had a dream about two characters who moved to California and renovated an old house into a bed-and-breakfast. The story wouldn’t leave me alone. It played out like a scene in a movie in my head, and I knew the only way to make it stop was to get it down on paper. So I did. And it was terrible. I had no idea how to write a book and it showed.

Since then, I’ve attended multiple writing conferences, read tons of craft books, and went to panels about how to write a story, especially a romance. I’m happy to say, with each new story, my writing gets better.

It was through meeting other authors that I decided to move forward with publishing my books. It was scary and way harder than I imagined, but it’s been absolutely amazing!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

First and foremost, I’m a mom and wife. That is my top priority and always will be.

My writing and publishing career come second. I love reading romance novels, or stories that have romance in them. They remind me what it was like when I fell in love with my husband. In fact, if a book doesn’t have a romance plot, I won’t read it.

The problem I ran in to, is a lot of romance novels have an abundance of swear words and sex scenes. I don’t like watching those type of movies or reading those types of books. It’s a personal choice for me (I don’t judge anyone who has a different opinion). But I wanted to create stories that women could read without worrying about their kids hearing the audiobook version in the car.

I wanted to remind readers that real romance is about the emotional connection you make with another person, more than the physical attraction and lust. Those can fade over time. Being able to write clean/sweet romances that readers will love (with kissing scenes that are worthy enough to write home about without going further) is what I want to be known for.

I hope all my stories make people realize that no matter what happens in their life; they are still worthy of love.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In spring of 2023, I had a mental breakdown. My husband and I were both working a crazy amount of hours for four months straight, our kids were being neglected, and our house was falling apart. But I had a book deadline. So no matter what was going on with my husband, children, or house, I had to finish my story.

And I did. I made my deadline, but it came at a price. I cried for weeks on end. I was so stressed. Sleep was difficult. I snapped at my children over the silliest things. I was constantly mad at my husband. My priorities were screwed up, and I felt like I was failing at everything.

I knew something had to change. After seeking some counseling, I realized I’d lost my joy in writing. And what was the point of being an artist if it brought misery instead of elation? If the time took me away from kids without a purpose?

I had to learn (and still have to remind myself often) not to compare myself to any other author. Because that’s what I was doing. I added pressure on myself, thinking I had to “keep up.”

With social media, it’s really easy to see what all the other authors in my genre are doing and feel like I have to do what they’re doing. I have to release as many books as they are, as often as they are. I have to do whatever marketing they are in order to stay relevant. I have to spend the same amount of money they are, even if I’m not making any returns on that investment.

Playing “be like someone else” is exhausting and a huge creative blocker. You start to feel not good enough and unworthy of your art. You wonder if you’re wasting your time because there’s no way anyone would care to read stories you wrote when there’s all these other amazing writers out there.

Through a very emotional and heart-wrenching journey, I had to learn that my author career isn’t like anyone else’s, and that’s okay! I don’t have to do what everyone is doing to keep up. I don’t have to stress and stretch myself too thin to conform to standards set by someone else.

Unless under contract with an agent or publishing house, I get to choose my deadlines. I get to choose when I dedicate time to my family versus my art. There’s beauty in that freedom, but getting there is a difficult path.

I hope any creative person (no matter what form of artist they are) will learn that their journey is exactly that—theirs!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I admit, when it comes to social media, I feel like a grandma. But I’ve met so many amazing people on social media, that I can see the benefit it can bring to creatives and their art.

But here’s how I grew my social media.

First thing I’d recommend is to search for videos on the subject. There are tons of resources available for those who want to grow their audience. Some of the best advice I’ve learned is to make sure to use hashtags that are relevant to your art. Since I’m an author, most of the hashtags I use are book related. I use a few broad terms, then a few niche terms. It helps you reach a wider audience.

Also, don’t follow a ton of people at the beginning and don’t follow those who have nothing to do with your art. I set up a business social media account so I don’t confuse the bots with my personal interests. My business account only follows other authors in my genre or bookstagrammers. I don’t follow personal accounts. It’s better to have more people following you than you following others.

Facebook is dying. It still has some uses, but reels are where it’s at. I don’t do nearly as many of these as I probably should, but they’re time consuming for me (I’m not super tech savvy) and I’d rather focus my efforts right now on writing instead of marketing. But TikTok, Insta Reels, FB Reels, and YouTube Shorts are what’s popular at the moment and will help you gain the most traction.

Don’t make every post about selling your art. The point of social media is to find loyal customers and build relationships with them. If every post is buy, buy, buy, you’ll lose your followers. Post about the behind the scenes stuff to your art, funny memes that have to do with being creative. For me, I do teasers from my books, tell people about other books I’ve read that I’ve enjoyed, ask for input about character names or book titles. Things that make them feel involved in my process. Then when I have a sale or release a new book, people are more willing to buy because I don’t ask them to all the time.

Also, keep your business account relevant to your business. If I start posting recipes or how to change a tire, I’m going to lose my audience. They are there because they are looking for Author Amanda, not personal Amanda. Yes, it’s okay to occasionally share things about yourself, but try to keep what you’re sharing connected to your business. For example, I went on vacation and found a bookstore. I snapped a photo of me in front of the bookstore. I got to share something personal about my trip, but also kept it related to my business of writing books.

If you set up business accounts on multiple social media platforms, set all your handles and profiles pictures the same. If someone finds you on Instagram and then comes across one of your videos on TikTok, they’ll know it’s you because they recognize the name and photo.

Post the same reel to each platform. Don’t make more work for yourself. Also, reuse content. If you have a reel that got great views, change up the music, or words, but post it again a few weeks later.

My last piece of advice is don’t let social media consume you. It’s easy to get lost in it or compare yourself to others on there. For your mental health, take breaks. If you have a video go viral, know you will get a lot of hate comments. You can delete or block them, but again, my advice is to walk away for bit if is starts effecting your mental health.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amandapjones.com
• Instagram: @authoramandapjones
• Facebook: @authoramandapjones
• Other: TikTok: @authoramandapjones