Hello friends! Sagan here. Welcome back to Indie Author Weekly, where I share my behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books.
If you’re new to this podcast, I am a productivity strategist for multi-passionate creatives at SaganMorrow.com: I help people manage their time and energy effectively, through customized, actionable strategies that work for your unique life and business. When I’m not teaching about productivity to solopreneurs, I spend my time writing romance novels, and occasionally, business books. And that is what this podcast is all about: the adventures of the author life.
Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Today is BOOK RELEASE DAY for Her Bad Idea! Yay! I’m so excited to share this story with the world! For this episode, I want to celebrate the book by sharing why it matters so much, and why you’ll want to read it…
First things first: grab your copy of Her Bad Idea right now on Amazon or Kobo! Links are in the show notes.
Her Bad Idea follows the story of Scarlett, a burlesque dancer with financial struggles. An opportunity comes up for her to win a large sum of money by entering a dance competition—but the only catch is that she needs a dance partner, and unfortunately, she’s stuck with her nemesis!
One advance reader described Her Bad Idea as “A raunchy contemporary romance, the beginning of Scarlett's journey to self-discovery.”
Her Bad Idea is an enemies to lovers, fake relationship, forced proximity, slow burn romantic comedy. Visit SaganMorrow.com/books to grab your copy! I’ll wait while you do that.
...Okay, have you bought the book? Awesome! Let’s continue with this episode.
Now, this is the seventh book in the Polyamorous Passions series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. Polyamorous Passions will be a nine-book series, and it’s really made up of three “trilogies,” with Books 1 - 3 following Emma’s story, Books 4 - 6 following Helen’s story, and Books 7 - 9 following Scarlett’s story. So that means that this book, Her Bad Idea, is the beginning of Scarlett’s story… and it’s a great book to start reading, even if you haven’t read the rest of the series yet! You’ll get a peek at the backstory of Emma and Helen in this one, too. Advance readers are already saying that this book is their favourite in the series so far.
Each trilogy within the Polyamorous Passions series is dedicated to someone different. Emma’s trilogy, AKA the first three books in the series, is dedicated to one of my best friends, Fiona, who introduced me to romance novels as a teenager, and who has been so incredibly supportive with my author journey and polyamorous lifestyle and everything else in life and business—she was a huge lifeline during a tough time in my life a couple years ago, and I often think of her when I’m writing scenes featuring the three best friends in the Polyamorous Passions series.
So, that’s the story behind the dedication for Emma’s trilogy. Helen’s trilogy, AKA Books 4 - 6, is dedicated to my spouse, Mr Science. Given that Helen’s story arc is all about opening her long-term relationship, it felt very appropriate to dedicate her trilogy to my own spouse! Mr Science and I were together for 7 years before I approached him about opening our relationship and being polyamorous, and he has always been so incredibly encouraging and loving. It was at his urging that I actually even started writing the Polyamorous Passions series in the first place, by the way—so we all have him to thank for that little push!
Okay, that’s the story behind the dedication for Helen’s trilogy. Scarlett’s trilogy, AKA Books 7 - 9 and the focus of today’s episode, is dedicated to all of the dear, wonderful, supportive, amazing friends I’ve made through Prairie Diva burlesque dance classes. I joined Prairie Diva several years ago because burlesque sounded like a fun hobby to learn—I never dreamed that it would lead to such beautiful friendships! They are some of the coolest, most genuine people I’ve ever met, and I honestly can’t imagine what life would be like if I’d never met them. Scarlett, being a burlesque dancer herself, wouldn’t exist without the Prairie Diva family! So to my Prairie Diva burlesque friends, I love you all. Thank you for being my muses while writing Scarlett’s story.
So that’s some background to the dedications within the Polyamorous Passions series.
And since today is the launch day for Her Bad Idea, Book 7 in the series, here’s a little teaser about the book:
There's a thin line between love and hate...
Struggling to make ends meet, Scarlett Mitchell is almost ready to leave her burlesque career behind… until she has the opportunity to win a dance competition that could solve all her financial problems.
The only catch? She needs a dance partner, and that dance partner just happens to take the form of sexy, arrogant Pete Fraser.
But Scarlett finds everything quickly spiralling when she starts a fake relationship with Pete in an attempt to make her unrequited crush, Westley Prince, jealous…
Grab your copy and start reading right now by searching “Polyamorous Passions” on Amazon, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble, or visit SaganMorrow.com/books. I’ll include all of those links in the show notes, too!
On the two-year anniversary of the inaugural Polyamorous Passions book, let’s hit the Amazon bestseller list, shall we? That’s right: the first book in this series was published 2 years ago, almost to the day. And now we’re at Book 7! I’d love for these books to make it on the Romantic Comedy bestseller list, especially because there are some really important messages in these stories that the world needs to hear.
Her Bad Idea, and really the entire Polyamorous Passions series, is all about the importance of helping others realize the value of “making their own rules,” and the validity of alternative lifestyles/relationships.
I would say that Her Bad Idea actually includes the least about ethical non-monogamy, compared to the rest of the books in the series. This book is more about Scarlett realizing that she has the capacity to care for more than one person simultaneously, and it’s very focused on sex positivity and self pleasure. It’s also about the concept of things not being mutually-exclusive, and about embracing who we are as unique individuals, and about “coming into your own.”
That’s also why the Polyamorous Passions series can be categorized as “new adult”—they’re sort of “coming of age” stories, except featuring characters in their 20s and 30s, rather than teenagers in “young adult” novels. Aaaaand my books definitely feature mature content! So that makes them new adult romances
Another major theme is the value of positive female friendships—these books are romance novels, yes, and they also highlight the benefit of healthy relationships of all kinds… including platonic. The way that Scarlett, Helen, and Emma support one another as the stories continue is one of my favourite parts, and it truly emulates my own experience with so many awesome female friendships over the years.
Polyamorous Passions is about empowering people to step into who they truly are and what they most desire from life, and it features underlying themes about how you CAN “have it all.”
Readers often say that they love Polyamorous Passions because it combines education with entertainment: these stories are really fun, super easy to read, and lighthearted, and they also share some great information about how to successfully navigate non-monogamous relationships in a healthy, ethical, and consensual way.
Polyamorous Passions empowers readers to live life however we want, in a way that feels good to us, rather than forcing ourselves to fit into a pre-determined box that society has created for us.
Here’s what some advance readers have been saying about this book…
Anie says, “I was looking forward to Scarlett's story... Aaand it's even better than I expected. I was re-reading previous books in the series and it's incredible how much your writing improved. I had to read it right away. I love the tension, it's written perfectly.”
Aw, thanks Anie! My hope and my goal with every new book is that it’ll be better than the previous one.
Alicia says, “This book was so much fun to read and a perfect escape from all the craziness going on in the world right now. I’ve read all the books in the series so far and can’t wait to read more about Scarlett!!!”
Thank you, Alicia! I’m so happy when my books can be a fun escape, and that’s definitely something we all need these days.
Amber says, “I’m loving this book and also having a ‘please get out my brain’ moment at the same time. Scarlet is super relatable to me! The intensity of her feelings for dance and her crush and her financial situation all gave me the feels, and the snarky, punny, sassy exchanges in the slow burn build up between the dancers was fantastic.”
Thanks, Amber! I would classify most of the Polyamorous Passions series as “realism romance,” especially since the types of issues that the characters deal with are struggles, thoughts, or feelings we all might have on a day to day basis. Scarlett’s financial issues are also something I think a lot of us can relate to.
Rae says, “This was the slowest of burns… had me choking on my tea in laughter. Sagan writes wonderful sex-positive books, and this one touches on so many meaningful issues. We *need* another book, stat.”
Thank you so much, Rae. Every romcom author’s goal is for readers to laugh out loud! Scarlett will absolutely return in future books, very soon.
And to you, listening to this Indie Author Weekly podcast right now: I can’t wait to hear what YOU think of Her Bad Idea! Grab your copy by clicking the links in the show notes or visit SaganMorrow.com/books, and please be sure to post a review when you read it, too. That helps more readers find the book!
Thank you so much for buying, reading, and reviewing Her Bad Idea and other books in the Polyamorous Passions series—your support means the world to me.
As I mentioned, I’d absolutely LOVE to get on the Amazon Romantic Comedy bestseller list this week, so please, tell your friends and family about it, buy the book for yourself, and let’s see if we can make it happen together
Now, I would love to hear your thoughts on this book. Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram, @Saganlives, to chat about it! And you can send me a message on either of those platforms if you have requests for future episode topics, too. The more you tell me what you’d like to see more of on this podcast, the better that I can accommodate that. You can also submit your questions or topic ideas anonymously at SaganMorrow.com/question.
If you enjoyed this episode, please take 2 minutes to share this podcast on social media and subscribe and rate it on Apple Podcasts—any time you share it or leave a rating or review, it helps more listeners find the Indie Author Weekly podcast, so every bit counts! I really appreciate your support
By the way, you can access complete word-for-word transcripts of this episode and all past episodes, plus sample chapters of my romantic comedies and a few other bonuses and goodies, on the “secret” version of this podcast. Get access to all of that at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast.
Thanks so much for tuning in to the Indie Author Weekly podcast, and I will see you in the next episode.