Sarah Maxwell
Sarah Maxwell is the founder and owner of Saucy Books, London’s first romance-only bookshop based in Notting Hill. She previously worked in tech, across firms like Uber, Spotify and Epic Games. Equal parts entrepreneur and bookworm, Sarah created Saucy Books as a love letter to independent bookstores, bold women, and the belief that pleasure is a worthy pursuit.
She is currently loving A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena, particularly the beautiful world building with its stained glass backdrop and the tension from multiple love interests.
“bookstores really are a true third space, a hub for community and connection in a different way.”
What made you want to open up a romance-only bookshop?
I never expected to open a bookstore, but I was mad that I couldn’t find my favourite authors anywhere but online. I looked at the US and saw there were 100-plus romance bookstores, and zero here, so I decided to open one myself. I was consulting in AI and Entertainment at the time, and I found such comfort in reading these books, so much so that I wanted to be able to share that with other people.
One of the reasons I wanted to open a physical store first rather than starting online was because I felt like people needed an actual place to come and celebrate reading romance. The prevailing thought for someone with a career in tech would be to build online and then scale, but bookstores really are a true third space, a hub for community and connection in a different way. Every women’s group I’ve ever been part of has been focused on growing your professional self or exercise but reading is totally different. It’s all about pleasure, and that creates a different energetic connection with people, which I think is really special.
The reality is, selling physical things in a physical place is very different from scaling a monthly subscription online and requires a different skill set. There’s a lot of competition: I can’t compete with Amazon on price or Waterstones on exclusive editions yet - yet being the operative word! The thing that makes bookshops like ours stand out is building community – making people feel welcomed, helping them find books easily and being dynamic and engaging in what we do. Because it’s not really about the books, right? It’s about connection and finding commonality with other people.
How did you find the transition from tech into the book trade?
I truly wondered if I could do it when I first started. I looked into it and thought, ‘I’ve run other businesses, been CEO of a software company, held other executive roles. I understand what it takes to take something from zero to one. I am a strong storyteller; I’ve written two unpublished books. I understand how to build narratives and communities and I’ve done that many times in other capacities. Why can’t I do this?' This has been a lovely amalgamation of all my skills – some that I didn’t expect to draw on in bookselling. There are parts of the industry I don’t know yet, but that makes it interesting; I like being challenged. I can safely say that I’ve found the thing I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, which is really special to me.
I am all about the vibe – Saucy Books is designed to be social, enthusiastic and focused around that joy of talking about books. But behind all the whimsy and fun, it is a business and I take that seriously. It’s not an extension of a book club or a hobby. It’s a challenging space to be in but I’m not afraid to challenge the status quo. At Uber, I built both Uber’s global brand and later Uber Eats from scratch. I’ve taken on major competitors before; I’m not worried about Amazon. I remember when I first started out, no one really seemed to take me seriously – or trust that I had all this experience under my belt – but I’m nearly 40 and I’ve got nearly 20 years of experience running and setting up teams from Uber to Spotify. If my 20s were for trying out new things and experimenting with different challenges, my 30s have been all about honing and finessing so that I can more easily step into the person I want to be.
“I’m not afraid to challenge the status quo… I remember when I first started out, no one really seemed to take me seriously – or trust that I had all this experience under my belt.”
What titles are you finding that are doing really well in store?
While there’s an entire subset of Bookstagram and BookTok accounts that people look to for recommendations, I still find that books that are popular in the store are not necessarily the ones that are popular online. Hand-selling matters a lot and there are books I’ll sell that do not have much coverage online; word of mouth and recommendations are the strongest drivers by far. At the end of the day, it goes back to being able to trust the person in front of you. A good example is Silver Elite by Dani Francis. It came out in May 2025 and got a lot of mixed reviews online, but it’s one of my most popular books.
If you like The Hunger Games, you’re going to like Silver Elite. If you’re fatigued from a really big romantasy series and you need a break from fae and dragons and gods, it’s a really easy one to read. Everyone I give it to loves it. I do have to be careful, especially when determining which books to stock, to figure out which books have a lot of marketing spend and hype versus the ones that are actually being read and loved.
What’s been the most rewarding part of the process of setting up a bookshop?
I’m going to come back to the community. Our connection to readers and authors is what has made Saucy Books so successful. I love being able to meet authors and have them come to the bookshop. The more I know an author, and the more context I have about their writing process or what they put into the story or what inspired them, the more connected I am to the book because I know the person behind it. It’s challenging for authors right now – there’s a pressure to not just be a brilliant writer but also to be a full-time content creator to help market their books, which may not come naturally. I love being able to tell authors, ‘We sold 100 copies of your book!’ They often don’t see those numbers or hear how their books have moved readers.
Our readers are just as wonderful – right before I came downstairs, one of my customers, Louise, came and dropped Christmas gifts off for the whole team. How sweet is that? She’s such an avid reader, she comes to all our events and is just so supportive. Our events have meant that she’s found other people to connect with and has made so many new friends, and we’ve become friends ourselves through the store. It’s such a lovely ripple effect.
“It’s stories written about women by other women, so you’ll see male main characters with strong communication skills or high EQ, which is so attractive to readers.”
What do you think has brought about this surge in popularity for romance as a genre?
Romance has always been around; it’s just that it goes through marketing waves. In the early 2000s, everything was ‘chick lit’ and now it’s romantasy. Romantasy is just fantasy with a romance subplot. Some books don't even have the spice that people think underpins romantasy – they’re more of a slow burn with an epic fantasy backdrop. Everything else in media and culture is designed around the male gaze, so I think one reason why these books have resonated so well with people is because it's the only place where you find the female gaze so prominent. It’s stories written about women by other women, so you’ll see male main characters with strong communication skills or high EQ, which is so attractive to readers. I also don’t see it really going away – people use reading as a healthy form of escapism. Right now, things are intense – the political climate is pretty hectic and people are bombarded with short-form content. A book is a good way to take a breather, step back and lose yourself in a way that’s healthier than avoidance.
Despite how popular the genre is, there is still a little bit of snobbery, which is also reflected in how romance authors are viewed. In my experience, the authors don’t ever position themselves as crafting the next great piece of literature but that doesn’t mean that the books aren’t well-written. I get frustrated when these books are just dubbed ‘fairy smut’ or ‘porn’ or even ‘chick lit’, because so much time and creative energy goes into building these worlds and crafting characters that people grow to love and care about. It feels unfair that just because a book has a couple of chapters with romance and chemistry, that it all gets labelled in a very smutty way.
Ultimately, there’s an honesty in how we connect with stories as a romance reader, because romance is so accessible as a concept. We know there are going to be two characters with some sort of chemistry. Having that baseline gives authors a lot of license to introduce more complex topics, around politics, physical autonomy, healthy boundaries and what good communication looks like. You learn things – the stories can mimic other aspects in life that you might not have encountered previously. Obviously there’s more to be done to change perceptions, and I try really hard to be conscious of the fact that I get to bring in books you wouldn’t find in a traditional bookstore and expose people to something different. We do have quite a robust selection and it’s always growing. Readers want disability representation, queer authors, Black authors and we give them a place to find them. A lot of people come in and say, ‘Oh, you can’t find this book anywhere!’, but they know that we will have it at Saucy because we prioritise good love stories.
“One of the ways that I ensure I’m really celebrating the books is to face them all outwards so you can enjoy the covers.”
Is there anything that you purposefully thought about when creating Saucy Books as a physical space?
One of the ways that I ensure I’m really celebrating the books is to face them all outwards so you can enjoy the covers. The books in the genre are beautiful and everyone spends so much time creating them, why not show them off? Also, I’m a big believer in colour theory and try to pair books that are visually cohesive to make it easier for people to see. People do very much judge books by their covers so it helps them to then make a decision once they’ve looked at it closer.
A lot of bookstores organise their books alphabetically by author, which doesn’t help much since people often don’t know the authors. I try to create vignettes: workplace romances, sports romances, or covers featuring bakers for Bake Off, grouping them in mini-collections and curating focused chapters. Most people are seasonal readers, so right now I am bringing in mystery and thrillers set in the woods to fit with a wintery cabin theme and I’ll decorate accordingly too.
Organising by trope also helps: enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, etc. Most people can navigate the store easily but it’s also really fun getting to know them more and being able to recommend something I think they’ll enjoy. One customer shopping for Christmas told me his wife spends mostly by the pink shelves when they visit the shop together, which is where we store our contemporary romance so it gave me a good starting point to help him find the right gift. We just focus on what the book is about so we don’t have everything labelled in the shop. There isn’t a specific queer section or a section devoted to certain representation. The store’s not that big, and the reality is everything is romance, so it’s all woven together. Our customers read everything and it’s something I really applaud them for.
“Ultimately I think that romance as a genre would really benefit from a truly global outlook.”
Looking ahead, what shifts would you like to see across romance — from the books themselves to how they’re published and promoted?
The brilliant thing about romance is that there’s something for everybody. I think we’ll see more thriller-romance hybrids soon. Many thrillers already have romance subplots, so we could see more genre convergence. I’d personally love more dystopian romance – we’ve had a few, but I’m always on the lookout for more. I love The Hunger Games, and the current political climate makes dystopian commentary feel even more timely.
As for how books are published and promoted, there are inherently old parts of publishing that don’t make sense to someone like me. For example book rights are sold by region, but the internet is borderless. Often readers won’t understand why a book isn’t available in a certain country. I have authors published by the Big Five in the US who visit but, without a UK publisher, it is hard for me to get their books. We saw this most recently with Rachel Reid’s series and the show Heated Rivalry. There was an appetite to read the books back in November, but they’re not released in the UK until the end of January. My customer base is international, which gives me insight into how people buy and read worldwide. Ultimately I think that romance as a genre would really benefit from a truly global outlook.
I think we’re seeing more interesting things happen in marketing, because romance readers are so engaged and enthusiastic. Something I learnt from my time running experimental marketing at Uber is that contextualising can be a really great way to reach people. Fandoms usually rely on TV or movies, but here, very few romance books have been picked up and adapted. There’s a bit of a disconnect between the fanbase and what’s available to them. People want to celebrate, so far we’ve hosted events that allow readers to celebrate the books they love. We hosted an ACOTEA, where everyone came and shared their fan theories for the sixth book for A Court of Thorns and Roses, but that’s just one small example. I’m excited to explore more ways to engage the fandoms within romance.
Tell us about a woman in publishing who inspires you.
I’m excited to see Lucy Stewart from Hodder get promoted and given a bigger role. I met her before opening Saucy Books and she feels like a true collaborator for us, which I really appreciate. She’s enthusiastic, supportive, brings such creativity and fun,and is someone I will always be inspired by. I’m so excited to see what she does next and I know that she’s a great advocate for the genre.
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