What is the best way for an amateur like me to start improving my game




Study about tempo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_(chess)
your on a good site to ask that question. this site has cheap gm lessons anand has a prodigy program next study some openings in books play a lot of openings to see the ones that you are good at. one easiest to win with for you. you can also go to a website that has a lot of games, openings, etc like chess base.com if you want to get to 1800 or expert study combination play triangleulating your power pieces and also traps and swindles things like that. just a few ideas good luck to you

Kindaspongey must be on vacation. Try one or all of these authors.
Jeremy Silman (Amateur's Mind, How to Reassess your Chess, ...)
Lev Alburt (Six part series of books to reach master)
Bobby Fischer (Bobby Fischer teaches Chess)
Irving Chernev (Chess Openings Move by Move)
Laszlo Polgar ( 5334 Chess problems)
The book I am reading is called "Art of Attack in Chess" by Vladimir Vukovic. Its a good read . Hope this helps!
Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7192.pdf
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Seirawan stuff
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
The book I am reading is called "Art of Attack in Chess" by Vladimir Vukovic. Its a good read . ...
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234424/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/aac.pdf
... Jeremy Silman (Amateur's Mind, How to Reassess your Chess, ...) ...
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095832/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review769.pdf
... Lev Alburt (Six part series of books to reach master) ...
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094013/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/justfacts.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233309/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review905.pdf

It is not necessarily building up your strength. It is more like ridding yourself of weaknesses.
Whatever your weaknesses are, work on getting rid of them. You'll be more productive working on your losses and finding out why you lost with a teacher who can explain things in a much more understandable way than text on a page.