Award Winning eBooks only 99c!

Hello fellow bookavores!

Sorry for my absence. August has just been pretty intense for me. I've been editing up a storm for clients (cos I do that too - I'm an editor...did you know that?) and am really excited about some new books that will be coming your way over the next few months. I'm so lucky I get to be a part of them. 

I've been working away on my final assignments for my Bachelor of Writing & Publishing degree (it's nearly over!) and putting Poppy in some pretty awkward situations as I work on The Kiss Off 2. But I'm sure you expect that of her.

But enough about me - I want to draw your attention to some books that are so awesome they've won awards. And they're really cheap right now! 

Check it out: 

Readers! Eight award winners in the 2012 eFestival of Words "Best of the Independent eBook Awards" have grouped together to offer you an amazing opportunity. They've reduced the prices of their award-winning novels to 99 cents for August 27 and 28th!

Whether you like to read mysteries, romance, horror, young adult, women's fiction, or fantasy, this group has it. Are you a writer yourself? Do you want to learn all about digitally publishing your next masterpiece? They've got you covered there too.

Get all eight award-winning ebooks for the price of one single paperback!

Award Winners

Best Mystery/Suspense: Dead is the New Black by Christine DeMaio-Rice
Best Non-Fiction: DIY/Self-Help: Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran
Best Horror: 61 A.D. by David McAfee
Best Romance: Deadly Obsession by Kristine Cayne
Best Young Adult: The Book of Lost Souls by Michelle Muto
Best Fantasy/Urban Fantasy and Best Novel: The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III
Best Chick Lit/Women's Lit: Carpe Bead'em by Tonya Kappes
Award for Best Twist ("I've Been Shyamalaned"): The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A.A. Logan

Here's a one-stop shopping link for your convenience: http://amzn.to/MO7qBY

Book Blurbs

Dead is the New Black by Christine DeMaio-Rice
Laura Carnegie gave up on the man of her dreams a long time ago. He's fashion designer Jeremy St. James, and not only is he her boss, everyone knows he's gay.

When the woman who holds the company purse strings is found dead in the office, and Jeremy's arrested for the murder, everything changes. If Laura can just solve this crime, keep the cops off her tail, break up a counterfeiting ring, and get the show on the runway by Friday, she might stop being Seventh Avenue's perpetual loser.

If you love Project Runway, or enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, try Dead Is the New Black.

Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran
This guide contains over 60,000 words of essays, articles, and how-to guides, as well as contributions from 33 bestselling indie authors including J Carson Black, Bob Mayer, Victorine Lieske, Mark Edwards, and many more.

It covers everything from how the disruptive power of the internet has changed the publishing business forever to the opportunities this has created for writers. It gives you practical advice on editing, cover design, formatting, and pricing. And it reveals marketing tips from blogging and social networking right through to competitions, discounts, reviews, and giveaways.

If you are considering self-publishing, if you need to breathe life into your flagging sales, or if you want to understand why it's a great time to be a writer, Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should will explain it all.

61 A.D. by David McAfee
61 A.D. For ten years, Taras has lived in the young city of Londinium, feeding off the city’s underbelly. But now Theron, his old enemy, has come looking for revenge, and Taras’ nights of living in relative peace are about to end.

Yet not even Theron can slip into town unnoticed, and the Council of Thirteen sends Ramah to deal with the two renegades once and for all. But unknown to the Council, a much older enemy is also in Londinium, and this time even the great Ramah might not be safe.

Set against the backdrop of the Iceni uprising in Roman-era Britannia, 61 A.D. continues the story of Taras, Theron, and Ramah, as they fight their way through history.

Deadly Obsession by Kristine Cayne
Nic Lamoureux's perfect movie star life is shattered by a stalker who threatens any woman close to him. When he meets photographer Lauren James, the attraction is instant--and mutual. She's exactly the sort of woman he craves, but the stalker makes deadly clear Lauren is the competition.
And the competition must be eliminated.

"Stock up on ice cubes because this is definitely one sizzling debut. Readers will be hooked from the first sentence- on the book and on Nic! As rich as a white chocolate cheesecake, Cayne's entrance into the suspense genre is invigorating, explosive and simply intoxicating." ~ RT Book Reviews Top Pick

The Book of Lost Souls by Michelle Muto
When teen witch Ivy MacTavish changes a lizard into her date for a Halloween dance, everything turns to chaos. And when no one is powerful enough to transform him back except Ivy, it sparks the rumor: Like father, like daughter. Worse, someone has used an evil spell book to bring back two of history's most nefarious killers.

Ivy's got a simple plan to set things right: find the real dark spell caster, steal the book, and reverse the spell. No problem! But first, she’ll have to deal with something more dangerous than murderous spirits: the school’s hotter-than-brimstone demon bad boy, Nick Marcelli. Demons are about as hard to handle as black magic, and Ivy soon discovers it’s going to take more than a lot of luck and a little charm if she wants to clear her status as a dark witch, get a warm-blooded boyfriend, and have her former date back to eating meal worms before the week’s end

The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III
Against the backdrop of epic warfare and the powers of ten mysterious gods, Lucia struggles to understand The Black One.

Her father-king wants war.
Her messianic brother wants peace.
The black god wants his due.
She suffers all the consequences.

"Moses is a fine writer deserving of success, and I think that it will follow ... I really enjoyed Moses's work." - David Farland, NYT Bestselling Author of The Runelords

Carpe Bead'em by Tonya Kappes
Hallie Mediate was raised by her (slightly) crazy Great Aunt Grace on the wrong side of the tracks in Cincinnati. Hallie escapes her hometown and never looks back.

That is, until she’s transferred back to the hometown. Not wanting her past to cross paths with her future, Hallie puts her life on hold.

Aunt Grace is still up to her old tricks, but Hallie finds some sanity at a local jewelry-making class where she uncovers a hidden talent for beading.

Will she keep searching for the happiness she may already have found?

The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A.A. Logan

Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver would sooner see Thomas Ford dead than ever let that happen.






Happy Reading, lovelies!

New Book Alert

Coming Very Soon...

New eBook release! The Witch's Curse

Happy Wednesday, blogophiles!

Since December my ebook sales have exploded and I'm thrilled and hope all you out there reading my books are enjoying them. If you're so inclined to write an honest review on Goodreads or the store you bought it from, I wouldn't hate it. :)

So guess what? You know that goal I had for 2012, in which I write 30 new ebooks?

Here's the first one!

In this new short supernatural thriller from Amazon Best Selling author Edwina Ray, when fifteen-year-old Alex is caught out in the secluded forest admiring the giant tree set in a moss-covered clearing, she is sure Josh is pulling a prank on her.

Be careful of the witch's curse, he says. The tree has the power to kill you in the most horrible of ways.

Alex didn't believe him.

Maybe she should have.


Now available for only .99c on Amazon US, UK, Spain, Italy and France!

Did you notice that 'best selling' thing? You did, huh? Well Edwina Ray is officially a best selling author, with The Runaway gracing the top 100 short stories lists on both the Amazon US and UK sites!

Rather exciting, that.

I have enrolled The Witch's Curse in Amazon's Kindle Lending Program for 3 months as an experiment, so unfortunately it is unavailable for other ereading devices at present. But never fear - all my other books are available, and The Witch's Curse is coming to Smashwords, Nook, Kobo, Itunes, Sony et al in April!

Next up, ebook-wise is a Sarah Billington YA romance set at summer camp in which Katy is totally crushing on the water sports counselor, Toby, and she's pretty sure he's crushing on her too. But then her friend Teeny announces that she likes Toby and enlists Katy and her campers to help her get him.

And for Edwina Ray, it's darker things indeed. In such a small town, it was little wonder that the night the Gabarski's house burned down the whole population turned out to watch it go. Luckily, no one was injured, however no one's seen Mr. Gabarski since that night.
Ryan likes the hint of danger and solitude he finds in the condemned home. Until the night he finds a dead body there. And the murderer knows what he found.

On that happy note, have a good night/day, everyone!

Sairz

New eBook! Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular

Guess what you guys!

Moving away from zombies for a bit, I'm amping up to launch my next ebook, my first full-length NOVEL ebook, too!

Thirteen year old Kaley’s best friend Jules is an alien clone. That has to be it. Because Jules wouldn’t dress like that or act like that…and she definitely wouldn’t be friends with Meg-a-bitch.

Kaley can't wait to start at her new school with her best friend Jules. Jules was away in Europe all summer (worst summer of Kaley's life!) But it's cool, now school is starting and everything is going to be awesome. However as the school bus pulls up on that first day, Kaley barely recognizes the silky hair and glossy lips as Jules gets off with the cool kids and with their arch-nemesis Meg, the popular girl (God only knows why) who made Kaley and Jules's lives miserable in elementary school. In Europe, Meg had somehow won over Kaley's best friend and Kaley finds herself frozen out.

LIFE WAS COOL UNTIL YOU GOT POPULAR is a first person MG told through Kaley’s eyes, chronicling the initial pain and incomprehension of what happened to destroy their friendship. But that doesn't last long. Kaley decides that underneath the bleached blond clone with the personality transplant, Jules is still in there. Somewhere. And she is going to get her best friend back!

This book has been in my life for three years and has had so much positive feedback that I can't wait for it to be out in the world with you.

Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular will be released on Amazon (early edition already on Smashwords!) early September for $3.99.

If you are a book blogger or book reviewer and would like either to review Life Was Cool on your blog, or would like an interview or guest post provided then I'd be love to be a part of that!

Shoot me an email, kay?

Love Sairz

I, Zombie Release Announcement and Excellent Reviews!

I'm tres excited. Why, you ask? Because I, Zombie has been released!

It's all official and up and ready for reading! 

I, Zombie, the newest eBook by my alter ego, Edwina Ray is available from Amazon and Smashwords now!

Like Zombies? Ever wonder what's ACTUALLY going on in their heads? You thought there was NOTHING, didn't you. 

Well you would be wrong.

I, Zombie is a dark comedy and a quickie read with a surprise ending. At 99 cents, like my other shorts, this is quite the bargain.

Check out these fantabulous reviews!

"Well done you. I write feature movies (horror, rom-com, sci-fi etc), have won 3 film awards, and thought every angle in the zombie genre had been explored. I was wrong, you have proven in such an original and hilarious way. To have the story run from the point of view of the zombie makes this a pleasure to read, and gives hope to the future of the horror genre. Keep doing what you do." - Vinnie Cleghorne

"This is dark and wonderfully creepy! I love your writing style, very clean, compelling and top notch" - Heather McCorkle

"Wow. For some reason, I found this strangely hilarious. Great job! It's always admirable-and quite refreshing-when someone isn't afraid to give gory details." - ClearasMud94

"I can't claim to have ever read a funny zombie story narrated by a zombie, or simply a funny zombie story as a matter of fact! But this is sinfully hilarious. And original. Having read your other work, I'm spun out that it's so different. I'm impressed." - Shirley Marr

"I always enjoy a fresh take on the zombie subgenre. Thank you." - JasonDavis

"LOL. We needed a book inside a zombie's mind. :)" - Dewdette

Next post, I'm going to show you inside the cover design process, and the original sketches that the artist, Emma-Lee Nosworthy of MadCowArt.com came up with. It was really fun working with her!

G'night, my loves,

Sairz

More Gore or Less Gore? Cover Wars

So Edwina Ray's next ebook is coming SOON. I'm quite excited by this one as it has shocked readers who know me and my personality, and what I usually write. This is why I created Edwina Ray. Some Sarah Billington fans may not want to experience the internal monologue of a zombie with a craving for crunchy bones and fresh, steaming, drippy hearts.

It is quite different.

I have been lucky enough to be working with illustrator Emma-Lee of MadCowArt.com on the front cover and I'm really happy with what she has produced.

LESS GORE OPTION

But I wondered whether it needed more gore. So she added some which came out like this:

MORE GORE OPTION

The front zombie's gore level has not changed because he takes care of himself. But check out the other zoms.

What do you think? Which cover do you like better? MORE GORE or LESS GORE?

 I, Zombie Cover Art: Do You Like More Gore or Less Gore?

• 
  
  More Gore - Drippy Blood is AWESOME
• 
  
  Less Gore - Less is More

view results
Free vote poll

Decisions decisions.

Sairz/Edwina

A small (but significant) change

You MAY have noticed that the blog has a new name. It's no longer about Sairz That Writer Chick, but is The Sarah Billington Blog.

'Why?' you ask? Or maybe you're thinking more along the lines of 'Yo dawg, wassup wit' dat?'

Well let me break it down for you homie, I used to be Sarah the writer. I was aiming for publication and that was that, really.

But nowadays, I believe I have a lot more to offer. As countless writers are, I'm a bit of an introvert in real life. I find it hard telling people how brilliant I am, that I'm good at what I do. I cringed just writing that, actually.

But aside from being Sairz that writer chick, I am also a freelance editor, having worked on sales copy, academic journals, novels and short stories. I am an eBook formatter. I formatted my own and have the skills and know-how to do it for you too.
Do you like my ebook covers? I designed them myself and had a whole lot more fun than I thought I would in doing so.

I am a multi-skilled multi-tasker.

Though not as multi-tasking as this chick.

I still identify myself first and foremost as a writer. That's who I am. I am thrilled to be testing the shiny new publishing opportunities available through eBookstores with some works, while others, my agent and I are finding the puuuurfect home for with traditional publishing houses.

But eBook formatting, cover designing and editorial are all things I can DO. And do well.

And it's about time I acknowledge that I, Sarah Billington, gots me some skillz.

Email me at SairzBillington at gmail dot com with details of your project for a quote.

Laters,

Sairz

Resistance is futile: Bookstore sales and eBook updates

 So I tried really hard not to go to any bookshop sales. A bunch of them are closing down and selling their stock for ridiculously awesome prices but I was NOT GOING. I don't need more books, I don't have the money to justify buying more books. I will not succumb!

Until this morning, I did.

I gotta say, I didn't do too badly. Since the sale's been on for awhile now, most of the stuff on my list of must reads were gone, but I got a couple of promising titles, including this one which I've had my eye on for awhile now:

It totally looks like a zom com. I'm currently writing a zombie comedy myself so, naturally, it caught my attention.

Though I gotta say, the ultimate zom com is most definitely this:

If you have not watched Shaun of the Dead then you are missing out on something magic. For realz.

Moving on.

There is still time to grab my award winning short story eBook Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid for FREE from Smashwords with the coupon code TB47A. You can read it online through HTML or Javascript or download the Kindle, ePub, PDF, LRF or PDB versions, depending on how you want to read it. Coupon code ends Sunday!

You can also get a story of unrequited love, The Ballerina & My Best Friend, which, like Life Was Easier, is available from Smashwords and Amazon.

Aaaand....Coming soon!

A completely free short by Edwina Ray.

More later,

Sairz

Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid eBook Coupon!

It's an exciting time to be a writer, with digital publishing exploding and opening up new markets for selling your work.


Today, I uploaded my very first eBook for sale!

Jess is at a party and girls and boys around her are locked together at the lips and hips. When did everyone grow up so fast? She's not sure she wants to, but her girl friend Carla points out a boy across the room with eyes only for Jess. 


Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid won the Gippsland Award in 2009's Fellowship of Australian Writers Awards. 


And for this week only, you can download it FREE.


Go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52869 

Enter the Coupon Code TB47A before Sunday 17th April 

and the story is yours at no charge.


I hope you'll review or rate it if you enjoyed it. And spread the word! 
There is more to come,


Love 


Sairz

eBook, eMag, eNewspaper - What Will Be The Difference?

 In the digital age, it's getting harder and harder to define exactly what a book is.

Is it the physical item you hold, that has a front cover and a back cover and has a satisfying heft to it in your hand? Is it full of wonderful text and in some cases like non-fiction and picture books, illustrations, photography or some sort of artwork?

What makes that different to a magazine then? What makes it different to a newspaper? There is a big difference between physical books, magazines and newspapers, but with eReaders, tablets and the Ipad and all of the above texts so readily available on these devices nowadays, what really does make the difference between a magazines, newspaper or book?


The lines blur as eMagazines are essentially just like eNewspapers, as are illustrated non-fiction books and picture books.

Without the physical item to hold and the difference between a novel, magazine and newspaper made obvious through their shape, texture and feel, perhaps one day, when the print industry has (GRIM PREDICTION ALERT) folded, there won't be such definitions. Perhaps one day everything will just be "a text".

What do you think? Do you think this will be a good thing or a bad thing for the future? The "everything will be just be called a text" part, I mean. Yikes, the end of the print industry is another matter altogether.

Sairz