No Mas to Outdated Rules 📚✍

Fun fact: I woke up one morning in late 2025 and just thought, “Nope… I’m not doing this anymore.” What is “this,” you ask? Well buckle up because I’m going to lay it out for you in the plainest language possible. The truth is “this” isn’t a singular thing; it’s a culmination of BS in the publishing world that I’m just not willing to participate in. Here’s the rundown:

NO MORE WRITING TO TRENDS
Now, I’m sure that there are authors/publishers out there that would say this is career suicide, and maybe they’re right, but I CANNOT handle the jump on that train mentality that leads to a glut of formulaic books that feel like they’ve been copy/pasted/packaged to be like the ones we all LOVED in the beginning. It also clogs up the traditional publishing market because THEY start following these trends and have no interest in branching out into anything different until one of them dares to take a chance on “something new” and it takes off, shifting the market once again. Trying to predict these shifts/changes is impossible and exhausting, and I’m just not gonna do it. I’m writing what *I* want to write/read and letting the chips fall where they may. I didn’t start writing to gamble; I did it because I wanted to read certain types of books so I wrote them.

NO MORE PUTTING UNNECESSARY DEADLINES ON MYSELF
Do I need deadlines? Yes, because ADHD, but I won’t set releases months away and work tirelessly to meet them. Will this hurt my pre-orders? Probably. Will it help my sanity and my stress level? Yep. Sure will, and as I’m pushing 50, I realize that’s more important than cranking out content to stay relevant. Period. The goal should be to put out the best book possible and I won’t sacrifice that to rapid release new works.

NO MORE STRESSING ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
Ugggggh, do I have a love/hate relationship with SM. Can it be helpful? I guess so, but there is so much jockeying and learning and trial/error that comes with it that it can consume SO MUCH of my time (writing time, to be exact) that I find it counterproductive at some point. Rather than worrying about if something is perfect before posting, I’m going rogue. Is my hair a rat’s nest? Sure. No makeup? Probably. Rambling nonsensically? Highly likely, but that’s who I am and what I do so it feels authentic and I think there’s a market for that in this curated world. And if there isn’t…oh well.

NO MORE TAKING CRITICISM FROM ANYONE WHO FEELS LIKE SHARING IT
That’s just a hard no all the way around. Do I read critical reviews of my books? Absolutely! There’s a lot to be learned in those 3 star reviews, especially from readers who are new to my backlist. But will I sit and listen to someone who wants to tell me what I could have done better on a book I wrote five years ago in a series that’s already complete? Nope. Nothing productive is coming from that, and I like my peace of mind so….

NO MORE MISSING OUT ON FAMILY TIME TO WRITE
This one is pretty obvious but bears mentioning. I think I likely missed out on some things when my kids were younger so I could write, and while I wouldn’t say I regret that, I now realize that it’s not how I wish to spend that time. It’s very easy to get caught up in your word count and demands of fans, and I see it happen to a lot of authors out there (myself included at times). But once you remove yourself from that energy, it’s hard to want to go back to that.

NO MORE LETTING RANKINGS/REVIEWS/SALES DICTATE MY WORTH
I’ve been around a long time now in the publishing space. I’ve had two traditional publishing deals and self-published. I’ve had at least two series go viral (before BookTok and going viral was even a thing), and many others that have sold at least midlist well. I’ve weathered the highs and lows of this everchanging market without sacrificing quality or who I am in the process. But I have absolutely been guilty of thinking I suck because a new release doesn’t hit hard/sell as well as the last/rate as highly. I’ve been discouraged from finishing projects I was so excited about because of the momentum loss those things can breed. This has been and still is the part of publishing that I struggle with the most. It’s like it’s never enough. If you hit a list, it wasn’t high enough. If you sell like crazy, it’s not as crazy as someone else. Comparison really is the thief of joy, and I’ve seen in real time what that can do to a career and your mental. So, moving forward, I’m not buying into it anymore. I’m writing because *I* like the story and the characters, and *I* would want to buy and read it if I hadn’t written it. That is going to be my satisfaction, not the external validation…

But don’t get me wrong. I’d love for another series to go viral, to make ALLL the $$$ and win all the awards and have all the ratings. I’d be a fool not to So please do keep buying and reading and reviewing them, and posting and messaging me about them. I may not be letting those things dictate my worth, but I do still love them.

As always, thank you for being a reader and a fan.

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All Myra Morningtide wants to do is go home.

Unfortunately for the cursed mermaid, she’s been banished from the sea and landlocked in The Devil’s Playground—a rogue pocket of Seattle that the outcasts and miscreants of the supernatural world call home. Myra would do anything for the chance to return and enact revenge on the one who betrayed her; the one responsible for her punishment.

And Yael Kristoris plans to exploit that truth.

The charming yet cunning fae from Myra’s recent past can’t be trusted, but when deadly events force her into a magically binding deal with him, she has no choice but to use her secret power to help find what he seeks if she wants a shot at the vengeance she craves.

But as it goes in The Playground, exposure is dangerous and secrets can kill, and Myra fears Yael will risk both to meet his end—even if it causes hers.

THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP, the first gritty urban fantasy romance novel in the The Devil’s Playground series by USA Today bestselling author Amber Lynn Natusch.

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