Audio treat

Can’t wait until 11 January for Stand By Me to come out?

I’ve got your back.

You can listen to an EXCLUSIVE sneak peek of the audiobook, read by the fantastic Luci Fish, below.

Hope you enjoy!

Nineties nostalgia

Remember when Right Said Fred​ were too sexy, Kris Kross​ had you jumping with your jeans on back to front at school discos & The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air​ was on BBC2?

Travel back to the best decade ever - the 90s - for a heartwarming tale about the power of friendship.

STAND BY ME. Out 11 Jan.

Pre-order today for just £1.99 by clicking HERE.

Cover reveal

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present the cover of my third novel, Stand By Me.

It’s a fresh, different look from my last two books and, I must say, I’m delighted with it.

Thanks to all the lovely folk at my publisher, Avon HarperCollins, for coming up with such a fantastic, eye-catching design.

You can pre-order by clicking HERE.

Now roll on 11 January when you’ll all be able to get your hands on a copy...

New novel

Stand by, folks. 

It’s almost time to say hello to my latest book, which will be released in January, as you can see from the teaser picture above.

I’m really excited about this one, which will be my third published novel.

Stand By Me is a whole new story, with a fresh set of characters that I hope you love as much as I do.

However, I can tell you that there’s a special guest appearance from someone you’ve already met in Time to Say Goodbye. 

I saw the opportunity to revisit this particular character and just couldn’t resist having a little catch-up with them.

I can’t wait for you all to read it.

Watch this space for more information as we get closer to release date.

Literary festival

I’m looking forward to appearing at Burnley Literary Festival on Friday 6 October.

I’ll be talking about my books, reading from my next novel and offering advice to budding new authors. 

If you fancy coming along, you’ll be very welcome indeed. 

The event is at Burnley Central Library at 1.30pm.

Order your FREE tickets here: 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/FDDLLH

Plenty to be excited about

I’ve received several items of exciting post recently.

First there was a copy of the Chinese edition of my debut novel, Time to Say Goodbye, which looks totally different to the original but fantastic nonetheless.

Next to arrive was a hard copy of the If Ever I Fall audiobook. I was delighted to get my hands on this: an excellent unabridged version of my second novel, narrated by the very talented Emma Gregory and Leighton Pugh.

Finally, most exciting of all, I’ve just received the page proofs of my next book, Stand By Me, which will be out in paperback and as an ebook on 11 January 2018.

I absolutely can’t wait for this one to be released. I’m really pleased with it. If you enjoyed either of my previous novels, I think it will be right up your street. There might even be a certain character you’ll recognise from Time to Say Goodbye, although I’m afraid that’s as much as I can say without giving anything away.

You can, however, find out a little more about the plot of Stand By Me by clicking HERE, where it’s also available to pre-order.

Being sent the page proofs by my publisher is always a big moment. It’s the first time I get to see the words laid out exactly as they’ll appear in the final product. It’s also something of a farewell, since I get to read the story over just once more, make any final corrections, and then that’s it: my ‘book baby’ leaves my hands for good.

Anyway, I’d better get cracking. Time’s ticking and I’ve got a deadline to meet  . . .  

Next novel on its way

I had to share this lovely picture of the If Ever I Fall cover that my daughter has just drawn.

She did her own version of the Time to Say Goodbye cover last year too. That’s now framed on the wall of my study (see below); this one will be joining it in due course.

In other news, I’m currently busy working on the copy-edit of my next novel. This is one of the final stages of the editing process. Once complete, the manuscript will be typeset and turned into page proofs by my publisher, Avon HarperCollins. Then I’ll get to read it through one more time before it goes off to be transformed into an actual book.

The title of my third novel is Stand By Me. It will be released here in the UK on Thursday, 11 January 2018.

Get it while it's hot

Enjoying the summer?

Well here’s a hot offer for you.

The ebooks of both my novels are now on sale for just 99p* in the Kobo, Kindle and iTunes stores.

Yes, that’s right: you can buy my entire works (so far) for less than £2. That’s cheaper than a glass of wine and, unless you’re an incredibly fast reader or an exceptionally slow drinker, each of these books will last you much longer.

Award-winning author Stewart Foster described Time to Say Goodbye as ‘a very beautiful book about death and its effect on the family.’ He added: ‘It’s sad and extremely moving, yet somehow allows you to laugh at the same time.’ 

Meanwhile, The Sun newspaper gave If Ever I Fall a five-star review, describing it as ‘a heartbreaking tale of love, grief and devotion’. And Sunday Times bestseller Miranda Dickinson found it ‘exceptionally beautiful, emotionally charged and inspirational’.

So what are you waiting for?

In other news, if you’ve already read my first two books and are wondering what’s coming next, I’m currently in the editing stages of my third novel. It has the working title A Friend in the Dark and is due for release in January 2018, so not too long to wait.

*Price correct at the time of writing – but it won’t be for long, so best get in there while you can. 

Your reviews really help

Have you read & enjoyed IF EVER I FALL?
Please take a moment to leave a short Amazon review.
It's a great way to show your support. pic.twitter.com/LABwGoRxv4

— S.D. ROBERTSON (@SDRauthor) April 1, 2017

Radio interview

I dropped into BBC Radio Lancashire this afternoon for a chat with the lovely Nishma Hindocha about my new novel and life as an author.

If you missed it but would like to listen, here’s the catch-up link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04wqm6b

(I’m on air from about 1 hour 23 minutes into the show.)

If you haven’t got a copy of If Ever I Fall yet, the ebook version (Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play) is currently on offer for the special price of just 99p. It’s only until the end of March, though, so just a couple more days to grab a bargain.

Lastly, a big thank-you to the Books on the Underground fairies in London for helping to spread the word again this week about If Ever I Fall. These pictures of staff posing with the book at Victoria Station really made me smile.

Station bookworms caught in the act! @BooksUndergrnd @BOTUBookFairies 'If Ever I Fall' @SDRauthor 📚 read & enjoyed at Victoria Station.🚇✌️ pic.twitter.com/kvKA9ZLjTc

— Graham Lewis (@grahaml32933778) March 27, 2017

Book blog reviews

There were some great If Ever I Fall reviews on the book blogs over the weekend.

Check these out:

https://needingescapism.wordpress.com/…/if-ever-i-fall-s-d…/

https://hannahreviewingbooks.blogspot.co.uk/…/review-and-ex…

http://anovelthoughtwithjess.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/blog-tour-if-ever-i-fall-by-s-d.html

Thanks to Lor​, Hannah​ and Jess for the support.

Music as you read

Do you like listening to music while you read?

If so, I might have just the thing for you.

I’ve created a Spotify playlist to accompany my new novel, If Ever I Fall.

The link is HERE. Give it a try. Hope you enjoy it.

If Ever I Fall is OUT NOW

Publication day is here at last for my second novel, If Ever I Fall.

It’s available to buy right now. Yippee!

I’d love to hear if you spot copies out in the wild. (Clue: Tesco and WHSmith are good places to look.)

The best way to reach me is usually on Twitter (@SDRauthor) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/sdrobertsonauthor).

If you prefer to do your book shopping on the Internet, you can order it by clicking HERE.

‪Please do take a moment to leave me a quick review online if you’ve enjoyed reading this new book or my last one, Time to Say Goodbye. It’s a great way to support an author and always massively appreciated.

The Big Read

With less than a week to go until publication, I was delighted to see my new book, If Ever I Fall, selected as The Sun newspaper’s Big Read today.

Here’s a copy of the review:

In other news, Sunday Times bestseller Miranda Dickinson has also been generous enough to give the following fantastic endorsement of the novel: 

‘If Ever I Fall is exceptionally beautiful, from the touching story to characters who will steal your heart. Emotionally charged and inspirational, this is a book not to be missed. It will stay with me for a long time.’

Release day is next Thursday (9 February). In the meantime, to make sure you get hold of it asap, you can pre-order your copy HERE. 

One month to go

So we’re nine days into 2017 and that can only mean one thing: just a month to go until the publication of my second novel.

If Ever I Fall will be released here in the UK in paperback and ebook formats on Thursday, 9 February. (I might have already mentioned that once or twice. What can I say? I’m excited.)

If you’re excited too and simply can’t wait another month, why not whet your appetite with a free Kindle sampler of the first few chapters? You can download that HERE. 

To make sure you get your mitts on it as soon as possible, you can also pre-order the full book HERE. 

I can’t wait to hear what you all think of it. If you do read the sampler, please take a moment to leave your thoughts in the form of a quick review, which is always helpful.