Sarah's blog

Nice things

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:15:00 GMT

Her Best Worst Mistake has been out for nearly 10 days now, and people have been saying nice things. Phew. Always a relief to know that a book is connecting with readers, but even more so in this case because Her Best Worst Mistake is far more my book than any of my others, due to the fact that I've published it myself.

The self-publishing process has been a real eye-opener, both easier and harder than I thought. The actual mechanics of getting the work out there and loaded to the various retail sites is pretty user-friendly and fast. Amazingly so, actually. But the writing part was just as hard, if not harder than usual because I didn't have my trusty, adored editor by my side. Usually, she's the one who decides if a book is ready to go or not, but this time I was the one who decided it was time to stop tinkering (or rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic!) and get the book out there. A heady but also scary moment, trust me.

But as I said, so far people are liking my book, and that's a wonderful feeling. In case you missed it, there were some lovely reviews around and about. Dear Author's Dabney did this review and gave me a much-coveted A, The Season Blog gave me an ego-boosting five stars and Top Pick, as did Harlequin Junkies.

I've also had an avalanche of emails from readers telling me how much they loved Martin and Violet's story. Apparently we all have a bit of a thing for uptight Englishmen who are secretly sex gods under their pin-stripe suits. Who knew? As well as lusting after Martin, people are also connecting with Violet. I'm thrilled that people understand her - she's one of those heroines I was very keen to find a happy ever after for. She's so earned it.

In case you missed the buying links on the book page and previous blogs, the book is available for $2.99US at Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Kobo and Diesel Ebooks. I'm hoping we'll have Barnes and Noble Nook and iBookstore availability soon. The book is available globally, is DRM free and should be the equivalent price in various major markets. One price for all, I say!

If you haven't read it yet, I hope you do so soon and that it gives you a few hours of fun and emotion and escapism. If you've already read it, thank you! And I hope you enjoyed.

Ready to roll!!

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:29:00 GMT

My first self published novel, Her Best Worst Mistake, is now ready for download at both Smashwords and Kindle. Smashwords offers almost every format known to man, so if you need epub or pdf or plain text, that's the place to go. So far I've had some lovely feedback from readers. I'm so excited this story is finally out there. It's been sitting in the back of my brain and then (half-finished) in my computer for far, far too long. If you get a chance to read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing.

And I really did have a hoot - Violet and Martin are so much fun. Watching them realise that all the animosity they have always felt toward each other was actually something else was about the most fun you can have while alone with your computer (well...almost!).

I'd love to hear back from readers once they've read this book - doing it all myself makes this one feel that little bit more personal than when I have my publisher and all their resources and support standing behind me. Any and all comments are very welcome!

The book is priced at $2.99 and you can buy it here at Amazon and here at Smashwords and here at Kobo and here at Diesel Ebooks. Happy reading.

Her Best Worst Mistake

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:34:00 GMT

Okay. A lot of you have asked for it, and (hopefully) in a couple of weeks you will be able to read it: Martin and Violet's story, now titled Her Best Worst Mistake.

When I was writing Hot Island Nights, I originally intended to tell Elizabeth and Nate and Violet and Martin's stories in parallel, cutting back and forth between the two. But I ran out of words. At a certain point in the book, I realized that I was going to be struggling to tell Elizabeth and Nate's story alone in the allocated word count, let alone squeeze in Martin and Violet's, too. So I made the decision to pull Violet and Martin out of the book. I left in the bit at the end, however, where they turn up in Australia, surprising Elizabeth and Nate. While I didn't intend for this to act as a teaser, I did get lots of letters from people asking when/if I was going to tell Violet and Martin's story. At the time I said "hopefully" and "maybe".

I should add, I was a little bitter and twisted about having to pull the story in the first place. I loved Martin and Violet's oil and water relationship, and having to abandon it was hard. So the notion of telling their story in a separate work was very appealing to me. I suspected, however, that it wouldn't be a full book, more a novella. And I wasn't sure how I would sell that to my publisher. Then I decided to just write the story and see what happened and decide at the end of the process how to get it to readers. The story comes first, right?

Well, I started writing, and I didn't stop until I had written almost a full book. In hindsight, perfectly predictable because I always write long and have to cut words out. And in the time since Hot Island Nights came out, the publishing world has been flipped on its head with the huge leaps in self-publishing and ebook only publishers etc, etc. I took a look around, and I decided that it would be fun and interesting to try to publish

Her Best Worst Mistake myself. If it floats, I will definitely consider doing some more stories to fill in the gaps between my Harlequin releases. If it sinks, then I will stick to my knitting!

I've had a lot of fun getting the cover designed and organising all the things that go on behind the scenes to make a book happen. I have been helped and advised by some lovely, lovely people. I hope that readers connect with Martin and Violet's story. I so enjoyed writing it - it was a romp, actually, really, really enjoyable - and I hope that conveys itself in the reading.

One of the things I have learned about self-pubbing is that it's hard to select a definite sell date because we are reliant on third parties to process files and put them up for sale, and they do this to their own timetable. So I while I am aiming to have this book available in the first week of May, please bear with me if it's not available in all formats immediately. While some platforms can publish within 12 hours, others are a little more time consuming, and I will keep updating the Her Best Worst Mistake book page with buy links as they become live.

In the meantime, if you haven't read Hot Island Nights, you can buy it here and here. I should note that it's not necessary to read either to understand the other, but I hope that together they form a neat little set.

As always, I would love to hear from readers, so any and all comments are very welcome.

Happy Reading!

DABWAHA time again

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:30:00 GMT

I have been fortunate enough to be nominated for the DABWAHA tournament over at Dear Author/Smart Bitches Trashy Books again this year. It seems they liked All They Need enough to send it into the Colleseum of romance writing. A lovely thing, indeed, and incredibly flattering since I am in the same category as the fabulous Karina Bliss, Sarah Morgan (twice!), India Grey, Caitlin Crews and Tanya Michaels. I am fully prepared to be smacked down in the first round, but what an honor it will be!

If you care to participate (or, you know, vote!) you can follow the tournament here.

And in a quick update on my books, More Than One Night is out now, and I have Within Reach scheduled for August and Suddenly You in September. Australian readers will be able to get their hands on these books in September and December, respectively. More on both these books as we get closer to release.

Hope you're all reading some awesome books. I am part way through Joan Kilby's Protecting Her Son, an April Super Romance and it is SO GOOD. Joan also has her fabulous rom-com caper e-book, Gentlemen Prefer Nerds out this month with Carina Press. It's getting lovely reviews and is the perfect fun, flirty, sexy read.

Till next time...

More Than One Night

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:12:00 GMT

Yahoooooo! It's official - More Than One Night is out there! My latest Super Romance is set in Sydney, Australia, and follows the storyof former Warrant Officer Charlie and Rhys as they discover that their single smokin' hot night together has unintended consequences.

This is my take on the perennial romance theme of the "accidental baby" and from the outset I was determined to make this story as realistic as I could. Every step of the way I asked myself how it would feel to be in this situation. For example, Rhys is angry when he first learns that all of his life plans have been derailed. As unattractive as that is on one level, I think it's an honest human reaction and I wanted to be true to that.

I'm not going to say much more about the story because I don't want to spoil my own book (!!) but I will add that Charlie is one of my favourite and most heartbreaking heroines. She doesn't know it, but she needs Rhys and she needs this baby. I so wanted her to be happy by the time I finished writing this story.

I'm not sure that I've told people that I'm on Twitter these days. This whole "writer-as-own-PR-agent" thing slips by me most of the time, but I am officially a Tweeter (or whatever people who use Twitter are called) and my address is @mayberrysarah, so tune in if you're keen to chat or even just listen in. Most of the time I'm talking about my new puppy, the deliciously cuddly Max, or food. My two obsessions! But sometimes I talk about my WIP.

I hope you're having a great month, and I hope that you enjoy More Than One Night if you get a chance to read it. There are excerpts and behind the scenes information on the Books page if you want more info, but I'll leave you with the back cover blurb:

From bed to baby to…bliss?

A chance encounter. A steamy night together. That's all Rhys Walker signs on for when Charlotte "Charlie" Long sashays across his path. Sure, maybe he catches a glimpse of forever in her eyes. But the brush-off note the gorgeous brunette leaves the next morning says it all, doesn't it? Time to move on.

Rhys never expects that moving on actually means reconnecting with Charlie. Or that her big news changes everything. Becoming a father now, under these circumstances, never factored into his plans. Yet he's not as upset as he thought. Because now he has the opportunity to explore that glimpse of forever…and turn it into reality.

Meet Max, the new man in my life

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:02:00 GMT

My main man and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while now. I'm at home a lot on my own, and we've both always been dog people. For a couple of years we've been looking at breed information, trying to work out what sort of dog would suit us. We started out desperately wanting an English Staffordshire Terrier - and we may still get one once we have become more expert fur parents! - but then we went on holidays at Christmas and spent some time with my brother-in-law's dog, Sammy.

Sammy is a Bichon Frise Poodle cross - ridiculously white and fluffy and cute. Exactly the sort of dog I always swore I'd never have (come on, romance writer with a small fluffy white dog? Next I'll be wearing nothing but pink and lying on a chaise lounge eating bon-bons all day and dictating my next book...) This preconception died a quick death when I saw how damn cool Sammy was first hand. At the beach, he took off like a fluffy little rocket, bolting along, his feet barely touching the ground. He was friendly, non-aggressive, incredibly affectionate. My husband fell in love with him.

Never one to let an opportunity slip through my fingers, I capitalised on this love by hunting for Bichon/Poodle crosses the moment we came home. They were hard to come by, however, and I realised it was going to be a waiting game. In the meantime, I puppy-proofed the house, finally getting around to installing door handles on the wardrobe and room doors we painted six months ago. I am very fond of my shoe collection, you understand.

In my searching on the internet, I discovered miniature labradoodles, and, through them, Cavoodles. This is a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - a very loving, docile breed recommended for older pet owners - and a poodle, which is widely acknowledged as one of the smartest dog breeds. Everything we read about Cavoodles was encouraging, and then we discovered that a breeder who was highly recommended had some puppies. The result is below.

Meet Max! He is 8 weeks old, very cuddly, very delightful. He sleeps through the night like a good boy and is slowly becoming more bold and interested in our back yard. He was a little fussy with his food initially, but the raw beef mince we gave him last night went over a treat, so I have finally found something he loves. Phew!

My favorite moments so far are when I stretch out on my big chaise lounge (yes, I know, dangerously close to that cliche) and read a book with him snuggled on my chest or under my arm. He loves to burrow close and snuggle up. Sigh.

Puppy love: I highly recommend it!

PS. If you're looking for book info, here's the down low: More Than One Night is out in March, available early at Harlequin.com in February. Within Reach is out in August, and Suddenly You will be out in November. Cover art will be displayed as soon as I get my hot little hands on it, and next post I'll give you a run down on the outlines for those last two books. Until then, happy reading!

Max had a visit from my sister and her kids yesterday. They were great with him and he loved their attention.

It was very hot yesterday, so we gave Max a little sprinkle via the watering can. He liked it a lot.

Happy New Year

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:05:00 GMT

I hope you had a great Christmas and a champagne-worthy new year. I had a lovely time with my family, then I travelled North to spend a few days on the NSW coast with my husband's family, before arriving in Sydney for New Years Eve. We were lucky enough to score an invite to a mutual friends' apartment on the harbour and enjoyed absolute ringside seats to Sydney's world famous New Years fireworks display. It was fabulous, and I can now tick this experience off my bucket list with a big smug smile on my face.

I took a number of photos, but most of them were pretty shaky since I was using my iPhone. But some of the videos were pretty cool, so I'm going to embed one below for you so you can share the view. In case you're wondering, yes, that is me toward the end with the very loud "oooooh!" What can I say, the fireworks were pretty damn cool!!!

We got back home yesterday, and it was straight into the chair, fingers on the keyboard as I started in on my next Super Romance, which is scheduled for November 2012 and tentatively titled Harry's Story at this point. (This will definitely not be the end title of this book, but it's my working title for now.) This book features Harry Porter, the brother of Mel from All They Need. So far, he's shaping up to be a fun hero!

New cover alert

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:14:00 GMT

Well, I have been holding off on showing my new cover because I wasn't sure if the artwork had been finalised yet, but I found it up on Amazon today. I guess that means it's final, huh? So, without further ado, here is the cover for More Than One Night, my March release:

This is my first really noticably Australian cover, I think, and I love it. It's got a honking great Sydney Opera House in the background, so there's not much doubt about where it's set, and I love that blue, blue sky. My hero and heroine - Rhys and Charlie - are standing on the balcony of Cafe Sydney, one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney. It's on top of the old Custom House and has a view of both the Opera House and the bridge, which is pretty damn cool. The food is also not too shabby! I have taken my heroes and heroines to this venue a few times over the years - Becky and Cal from my novella Back To You (featured in the Hot City Nights anthology) had their reunion dinner at Cafe Sydney. And I'm pretty sure I've taken other books there, too - I shall have to sort through my patchy memory.

This book is scheduled for March 2012, but will be available in February at Harlequin as part of their early release program, as usual. I'll share some more about the story as we get closer to its release date. In the meantime, don't forget that my latest release, All They Need, should still be available in-store and on-line. And, of course, all my books are now available as e-books. Having just discovered the joy of instant downloads myself, I can assure you that getting a book without leaving the comfort of your own home or having to wait for the post man is very, very addictive. And maybe slightly dangerous for my bank account!

But enough about all that. You probably wouldn't mind a blurb, eh? Here's what the back cover copy says:

From bed to baby to...bliss?

I is excited!

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:42:00 GMT

I woke up this morning to learn that USAToday.com have reviewed my latest book, All They Need. I confess, there was some squealing and whatnot. It's a very generous review, too. I may have even forwarded it to my mum and dad, something I don't normally do.

One of the things I liked the most about the review - apart from this awesome quote "I've always enjoyed Mayberry's books, but reading this one was like finding a twenty-dollar bill in your coat pocket, then unfolding it and finding a fifty wrapped inside. It started out great and just kept getting better" - is that the reviewer seemed to like Mel, my heroine, almost as much as I did. She really “got” her, and that is a precious, precious thing. It means that I wasn’t tapping away at my keyboard for nothing, and that the pictures and ideas and conversations in my head have translated to the page strongly enough for readers to see the same pictures and ideas in their heads. For a writer, that’s pretty much as good as it gets.

If you’ve already read All They Need, I hope you enjoyed it. As I’ve mentioned several times around the traps, this was the hardest book of my career. I got lost in it and had to write my way out of several corners. And it was late. So late I was a little scared. Me and my editor turned it around in record time, though, and the art department delivered me the most amazing cover. Every time I look at it I want to ring Mel and Flynn up and invite them over for dinner - they seem that real and complete to me after all this time.

Just so you know, I’m going to be working with my site designer to add a “coming soon” button to the site, but until then my next book is out in March 2012. More Than One Night is the story of Charlie, who has recently left the Army, and Rhys, who has just started up his own IT consultancy. When they meet, the instant attraction is undeniable. So, you know, they don’t deny it. If you know what I mean. But then things happen to ensure that this will be more than one night for the too of them. More on this book as it’s release date draws closer.

I’m off to a big catch up with all my Melbourne based writing buddies today. My writing buddy Joan Kilby will be there, and Anne Gracie and Nicola Marsh and Fiona Lowe and Keri Arthur and talented debut author M.J. Scott. It’s gonna be a good one!

Things that are happening right now

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:54:00 GMT

First up - and perhaps most importantly - I have a book out. All They Need is currently on the shelves in bookstores right now, and it will of course be available as an ebook forever and ever. So far, people seem to be enjoying Mel and Flynn's story.Phew. Dear Author said nice things here. And there have been some other nice reviews, too. It's always nice when the story finds its feet out there in the big wide world.

I also had the good fortune to be asked to do a podcast with Dear Author and Smart Bitches Trash Books recently. I got to talk via Skype with Jane and Sarah and had a little too much fun. The result is a rather long podcast that has just gone live over at Smart Bitches. Great if you have a long trip planned, I imagine - like flying to Mars or maybe circumnavigating the globe. But seriously, it's not that long. You'd probably only make it to the moon. Apparently I can talk. Who knew? (Actually, I knew this. All my friends know this. My telephone company knows this. And now you do, too.)

Work wise, I am beavering away on back-to-back Neighbours scripts and enjoying them all very much, thank you. Good storylines, nice character stuff, a bit of light comedy. It's all good. Once this latest script is done and dusted I will be diving back into my latest WIP, which is currently titled All Good Things. We shall see if that title remains. I suspect not. Need to put my thinking cap on and get some more title options going. This book is about Angie and Michael. Michael was once married to Angie's BFF, Billie, who dies in the prologue from an undiagnosed heart problem. In helping Michael deal with his grief while simultaneously weathering her own, Angie finds herself first attracted and then falling in love with her best friend's husband. Juggling guilt, grief, love and hope keeps them both occupied for quite some time. I am really enjoying writing this story and can't wait to jump back into it.

I really, really wish that I had permission to share my next Super Romance cover with you, but it's not quite finalised yet. More Than One Night is due out in March and is set in Sydney, and I have been bestowed my first distinctly Australian cover by the wonderful talents in the Harlequin Art Department. Yes, there is a dirty great Sydney Opera House in the background! Woot! It's a very pretty cover and the heroine, Charlie, and the hero, Rhys, look just right. Hopefully I'll be able to share it with you very shortly.

Righteo. I'd better start writing for the day. I'm having lunch with my lovely Super Romance buddy Joan Kilby today. Hopefully I will be taking her some fresh cherries and strawberries from our orchard. Fingers crossed the birds and snails haven't massacred them...

Shiny and new and squeaky clean!

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 03:50:00 GMT

Hello! I'm thrilled to be talking to you from my new website. Not only is it beautiful, my fervent hope is that it's hack proof. My last blog was unfortunately the victim of a number of Wordpress hacks, and I finally threw my hands up in the air in disgust and decided to start from scratch. Since it had been a while since I'd updated the site, I decided to give the whole thing a face lift while I was at it, and you're looking at the result.

In content, it's not too different from my last site. If you're interested in my books, there's an excerpt as well as some Behind The Scenes information about each title. If you would like to drop me a line, feel free to comment here on the blog or send me a direct email via the Contact Me button.

If you've dropped by to see what's going on with me as well as what's up with my books, here's a quick update:

I've been madly working away on lots of projects. I have an as yet untitled story that I'm still completing that I am considering self publishing. I'm checking into a few legal matters at the moment and will talk more about this when I can, but the finished book should be about 40,000 words and hopefully very sexy and lots of fun.

I've also got some more Super Romances in the pipeline. All They Need will be released in November. I'm really proud of this book, and excited about how readers will respond to it. And I'm totally in love with the cover - it almost makes me wish it was winter down here in Australia, with the cosy snuggling and whatnot. Almost!

After November, my next Super Romance is due out in March. More Than One Night is a story about a one night stand that turns into a whole lot more. I'll talk more about it when the release date gets closer. Then I believe my next books are tentatively scheduled for August and November of 2012.

So, a big year coming up, and I have several more proposals I'm working on.

Sorry it's taken so long for me to get my site up and operational again. I wanted to do it right and in a way that gave me more control in the future, and thanks to my fabulous designer, Shane from Analogue Creative, I think I've finally cracked that particular nut. Stay tuned for more from me as it occurs to me!

Stay well, and happy reading.