Hey-ho !

As we wind down the year that was, I have a favor to ask—and there's something in it for you.

I'm planning what delights to create and offer you in 2026—workshops, resources, partnerships, discounts—and I want to make sure I'm actually giving you what you need, not just what I think you need.

That's where you come in.

I've put together a quick survey (about 5 minutes) to understand where you are in your romance writing journey, what's tripping you up, and what kind of support would actually move the needle for you.

Your answers will directly shape:

• Free workshops I bring to you from expert service providers (editors, cover designers, formatting specialists, marketers, translators, audiobook producers, etcetera and so on)
• Exclusive discounts on services romance authors actually use and love
• New courses and resources that solve your real challenges, not generic ones
• The Author Ever After community direction for 2026—I want to continue to build a space that makes romance writers excited to turn on their camera and hang out with other romance writers

This is me asking 

What do you need? How can I show up better for you?

And here's the fun part—

Every person who completes the survey adds $1 to a prize pool (up to $150 USD). One lucky writer will win a gift card to the online retailer of their choice—Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, your favorite indie bookstore, wherever you love to shop (as long as they sell online gift cards).

You can't win if you don't play!

Something Old (but updated!)

This goes out to you if you've published a book or are getting ready to.

Dave Chesson and his team have updated their Book Description Generator and I could not be happier! If you've uploaded a book to Amazon (or B&N or Kobo) you've had to deal with the boring, plain and even ugly formatting you're offered. Now you just drop your blurb into the tool, format til you love what you see, then copy the code to your retail sales page! Pure magic! (Well, HTML coding, but it feels like magic!) Thanks, Dave!

Something New

Until this year, I'd never read a mafia romance. I assumed I wouldn't like the sub-genre since laughter is my love language. But when Author Ever After community member, Leah Merrill published her first book (an Italian mafia romance), I bought it. Turns out, I can love mafia romance!

Another thing I've loved over the years are the K-Lytics reports that analyse the sales history and growth of different genres on Amazon. In December, they released the Mafia Romance Market Seminar.

According to the research:

Twenty-four months ago, authors witnessed the industry giant’s acknowledgment: Amazon introduced a dedicated Kindle category for "mafia romance books."

Since then, sales-rank performance across the bestseller list has been exceptionally strong.

And according to Google Ads, the global search interest for the specific term "mafia romance books" exceeds 22,100 searches per month. For comparison, that’s 67% of the search volume for "romantasy."

If you're interested in writing bad boys, this could be a genre to give a try in 2026.

Something Borrowed

Etsy. If you, like me, struggle to create scroll-stopping social media graphics—"Dammit, Janet, I'm a writer not a graphic designer!"—check out the folks who know their way around Photoshop and Canva. For under a pizza, you can get a month or more of designs, ready for your witticisms and author content.

Oh, if if you reply and tell me which two meme-worthy quotes from my youth I mushed together, it will make me laugh which will trigger my "I love you" feelings!

Just search for "romance author" and you'll find (almost) no end of delights. I'm particularly fond of this rom-com book launch collection. Now I just need to finish my WiP so I can justify buying it! (I've not bought from this seller, so this is not an endorsement).

Something Blue

I may have to stop this "something" game since the blue damn near kills me every time I write one of these. Saw this meme ... and it feels like more proof that I am a cusper since neither Huckleberry Hound nor SnoopDogg defined my little cohort.

xo,

Danika Bloom

Author Ever After 💖

Swoonworthy Services 😍

Where romance writers become romance authors. Write it, finish it, publish it—together.

PS—If you click just one link today, please make it my planning survey. The upside if just a few people click is that you stand even better odds of winning the gift card. And if lots of folks click, the odds reduce but the prize goes up! Fun, fun, fun!