Super Special Cover Love #6

Special Cover Love post today.

To start us off, here are some covers that I think are all kinds of awesome lately.

I read a review of this which started with:
'This book is such a train wreck and I loved it!'
Yeah. I'm betting I will too.

Not your dainty flower-type heroines, are they? WANT.

Simply adore the colouring on this one, how everything blends in.
It's a beautiful shade of blue, and oh so intriguing-looking, no?

AND NOW FOR THE SUPER SPECIAL PORTION OF TODAY'S BROADCAST.

Read below.

Do you remember way back when I was all celebratory because my friend Meg Spooner got a book deal for her epic trilogy, and I was over the moon for her? And then she and my other friend (who is now one of my closest friends BECAUSE of Meg), Amie Kaufman, scored a book deal for their co-written trilogy These Broken Stars (with Disney-Hyperion of all people. I love Disney-Hyperion something fierce.) Well SKYLARK is the first book in Meg's trilogy and it's released TODAY! Go buy it now! It's getting fabulous reviews from those lucky bloggers who scored ARCs. 

And how pretty is this cover? She lucked out with her cover designer, didn't she? Apparently it's the same designer who did Incarceron and THAT is a pretty cover.

So all I'm saying today is YAY MEG! HUZZAH! and CONGRATULATIONS. One book down, five to go! ;)

What covers are you falling for right now?

Ba(n)d Romance Cover Reveal and a sales graph

My internet threw the biggest tanty lately, and doesn't work at all on my desktop PC, and has only been working on the odd occasion on my netbook so I have been interneting on my PHONE.

This is not conducive to blog posting.

I want to say a belated thank you to some wonderful book bloggers for doing the official cover reveal last week of my next short story, Ba(n)d Romance which comes out August 13!

Thank you to Carole of The Life of Fiction, Stacey the Readinista, Juhina & Farah from Maji's Bookshelf and Judith & Ellen from I Love YA Fiction. I heart you all.

In case you missed my last post with the ARC GIVEAWAY (scroll down one post!) of Ba(n)d Romance and you didn't see the cover nor know what the book is about...check it:

A new 5,000 word short story coming August 13, 2012!

Jordan thought she and Paul were forever. Then she found out about Missy: Paul’s other forever.
Now it’s the night of the sophomore dance. Jordan’s on stage with her band, Paul’s text bombing her and Missy’s in the audience with murder on her mind. Unfortunately, it’s not Paul in Missy’s sights.

Another short and sassy story from Sarah Billington.


Add it to your TBR list on Goodreads here.


It's a fun story and I hope you enjoy it when it's out!
Yikes that's soon. Exciting!


Tomorrow (Tuesday 31 July, 2012) I am the industry speaker at 12:30pm in the chapel at NMIT Fairfield, Victoria, Australia at which I'll be discussing my editing and cover design business, Billington Media, and my success as an independently publishing author. And exactly how I did it. So if you're in the area, come along and ask lots of questions. I'll even have paperback copies of The Kiss Off on hand!


I'm doing a powerpoint presentation. With a sales graph. It looks like this:

I quite like that graph. :) Slow build, but build it sure did, and all because of my awesome readers.

Super-special cover love post tomorrow!

Laters,

Summer Splash Blog Hop - PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES!

Welcome to the Summer Splash Blog Hop!

What is the blog hop? It is where 70+ authors all have GIVEAWAYS on their blogs, and you hop from one to the next to the next entering to win prize after prize after prize! Not to mention the SUPER GRAND PRIZES.

Oh, you want to know more about the Grand Prizes? There are six.  What are they? 

GRAND PRIZES

***
NOT ONE, BUT TWO KINDLE FIRES
$75 AMAZON GIFT CARD
$50 AMAZON GIFT CARD
KINDLE BOOK COVER
SIGNED BOOKS FROM SEVERAL AUTHORS


Visit the GRAND PRIZES page for more details...

HOW TO ENTER: GRAND PRIZES

***
TWEET USING THE HASHTAG #SUMMERHOP


It's that simple.  We'll keep track of all the tweets and then draw for the grand-prize winners at the end of the hop.  Winners will be announced on August 1st.


RULES:
Tweets MUST include the hashtag #summerhop (This is how we track them)
Tweets MUST include a link to the blog hop.


You are free to tweet as much as you want throughout the hop.
More Tweets = More Chances to WIN!!!


***As a side note, our authors will be tweeting about the hop as well, but they are not eligible for any of the grand prizes.***


Here are some sample tweets you can cut/paste:


WIN Kindle Fires, Amazon gift cards and more at the #summerhop http://ow.ly/cpfDv  #freekindle #free #giveaway #win


WIN FREE SWAG at the author #summerhop http://ow.ly/cpfDv prizes include two kindle fires! #freekindle #free #giveaway #win


WIN more than 75 prizes at the author #summerhop http://ow.ly/cpfDvprizes include two kindle fires! #freekindle #free #giveaway #bloghop


WIN BIG at the author blog hop. More than 75 prizes including 2 kindle fires!http://ow.ly/cpfPN  #summerhop #bloghop @freekindlefire


***NOW GET HOPPING
AMAZING AUTHOR GIVEAWAYS AWAIT YOU!!!***

So what are YOU offering me, Sarah?

I'm so glad you asked!


I have a paperback of The Kiss Off up for grabs on Goodreads...

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Kiss Off

by Sarah Billington

Giveaway ends July 31, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

AND...

NEW BOOK ALERT!

Ba(n)d Romance

A new 5,000 word short story coming August 13, 2012!


Jordan thought she and Paul were forever. Then she found out about Missy: Paul’s other forever.


Now it’s the night of the sophomore dance. Jordan’s on stage with her band, Paul’s text bombing her and Missy’s in the audience with murder on her mind. Unfortunately, it’s not Paul in Missy’s sights.


Another short and sassy story from Sarah Billington

Win it here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are you waiting for? Get hopping! Win prizes!

Much love,

Blog Award!

The lovely Deirdra of A Storybook World surprised me with an award! I think this is the first award my li'l blog has received.

Pretty shweet.

I'm chuffed.

That One Night: Releasing Soon!

So the cover for my next short has been out for awhile on Goodreads, but the blurb telling you what my next release is actually ABOUT has been allusive.

Well it's READY.

And it's HERE. 

You wanna know what That One Night is about? Sounds like a random hook up, doesn't it?

Well NO.

DESCRIPTION

Can a friendship that lasts just an hour be completely perfect?

A year ago, Annie and Bree were best friends, then they graduated high school and it turns out a year is a long time.

When Annie shows up at her best friend's birthday hoping to slip back into the friendship that was, she discovers she's no longer a part of Bree's world and decides to slip out quietly without making a scene. 

But a chance encounter on the way out means that sometimes you can find friendship when you least expect it.

Coming SOON SOON OH SO SOON (Coming this week).

Add it to your To-Read list on GoodReads!

Click me!

Adios!

Writing Retreat Swooniness & The Kiss Off 2

Hello most excellent ones!


I just spent the week in a house by the beach all by my lonesome with NO TV, NO INTERNET (except on my phone), just me and my computer and plotting devices (highlights, note cards, pens, thesaurus, Blake Snyder's book Save the Cat) and books I've been dying to read (I read Dead is the New Black, Au Revoir Crazy European Chick and am halfway through Preloved!).


It was so very productive and brilliant and awesome.


It rained a lot, but that just helped me get shit DONE and it propelled me into The Kiss Off 2!


Do you know what it's about yet? Have I told you that?


THE KISS OFF 2 DESCRIPTION
The money's in! Poppy's royalties for penning the accidental hit song The Kiss Off that shot her boyfriend's band to super-stardom are in and she knows EXACTLY what she's doing with it.
THE KISS OFF 2 (COMING 2013) will include:

• A road trip to a summer music festival with an unexpected passenger.
• Camping.
• The realization too late that they don't actually like camping.
• Sunburns.
• Accidental topless swimming.
• Paparazzi punch ups.
• A news-worthy (yet totally false) love triangle.
• Obsessed fan girls.
• A stalker.
• And an overwhelming request from someone super-famous.

Not only is it about all that, but Poppy meets her singer/songwriter idol and this is essentially what happens:

It's not going to be pretty.


Are you on Goodreads? Add The Kiss Off 2 to your To-Read list! If you actually WANT TO, that is.

Click me!

Hope you all had a great weekend,

Love you lots!

The Summer Splash Blog Hop!

I hope you peeps up in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying your Summer, spending it in the water or at least in front of the air conditioning.

BE WARNED:

Down here in the Southern Hemisphere, our cats don't have to worry about melting right now. I am sitting under the ducted heating in my dressing gown and Ugg boots and I think most cats are too.

But that doesn't stop me from participating in Summery stuff!

Yep - between July 23 and 31 there are something like 70 authors offering PRIZES!

You hear that? There will be tons and tons of STUFF TO WIN!

It's a free for all, I assure you. And authors of every genre available will have prizes on offer, from Amazon gift cards to custom jewellery and SO MANY BOOKS. so stay tuned for that.

Including TWO Grand Prize Winners of a KINDLE FIRE!

Yep.

Excited yet? Me too.

Stay tuned.

Paperback Writer

Guess what, you guys?
I'm no longer simply a writer of ebooks.
I am now also a writer of PAPERBACKS.

And it is AVAILABLE NOW from CreateSpace and Amazon and coming soon from Book Depository and Barnes & Noble and a whole stack of other great places.

Yes, yes I have stroked it like a cat because it's so pretty. What's your point?

Cover Love #5

Hello there fellow bookavores!

As you know, I am a book whore. I am friends with some book bloggers who receive books from publishers that they either don't want to read or are done with and want to pass on to others so as to share the love and I think I am getting a name for myself as a bit of a hussy as I NEVER SAY NO.
Not just because the stories inside hold so much promise, but because the artwork is damn pretty too.

So without further ado, here are some of my fave books covers at the moment! They're not necessarily new, but they ARE most definitely AWESOME.

I kind of think these are awesome but in totally different ways. Except some of that type is impossible to read.

What do you guys think? Do you have some book covers that simply demand you buy that book?