Sally Murphy's Blog, page 45

Writing a Series Vs Writing a Stand Alone Story

I’ve written over 40 books (actually, hundreds if you count the ones I’ve written that haven’t been published) and the writing of each one has been different. But Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape is the first book in my first ever series and, as such, I was keenly aware as I wrote it of how different writing the first book in a series is from writing a stand alone story.

Firstly, before I could write story number one I had to have a strong premise for the whole series: strong enough to cover at least four distinct stories (since that was the number specified in the initial contract). I needed a premise that would give my characters opportunity to experience conflicts (problems) which would be varied but revolve around the same characters. I came up with the idea of a girl whose parents were television chefs, since that would allow me to use varied locations and scenarios.
Secondly, I had to plan my characters. Every story needs characters, but again, in a series, I had to plan not just the main characters – Sage, her parents, and her best friend Lucy – but also minor characters. In the first book I decided there would be two ‘baddies’ and I had to decide if they would be recurrent characters and whether they would be bumbling baddies or really nasty. This would set the tone for the rest of the series and was really important. In the end I decided my baddies would be not comic-book bumbling, but still a bit silly rather than horribly bad.

Sage Cookson, the title character, is a girl who has lots of adventures.

Thirdly, I needed to consider the level of self-containment. Some series must be read in the order of release to make sense, with each title leaving the reader on a cliff-hanger so that they want to read the next book to find out what happens next. Others are so self-contained that each book stands completely alone, and there is no need to read one to understand the others. I decided I wanted to sit somewhere between those two extremes: I want each story to be resolved so that a reader is left satisfied, and I also want a reader who picks up book 2 or 3 or 4 not to feel lost. But, at the same time, I want my characters to develop over the series. So, the books are sequential, but after Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape, each book will include enough mention of back-story that a reader isn’t left confused, without those earlier stories being ruined for a reader who wants to go back and read them out of order.

 

I am still working on the series, and the exciting news is that there will be at least six books in all. And, as I write each book I think back over these three points, and continue to learn more and more about series writing. I hope Sage Cookson won’t be the only series I write in my career.

In the meantime, Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape is now available online and in good bookstores.

Five Minute Promo: Day 7

Day seven of the five minute promo challenge means we are more than a quarter of of the way through. Thanks for coming back – and, if you’re new here, thanks for dropping by.

Today’s task is one which could be done in as little as five minutes, or could take a whole lot longer. But, because I promised that each task would be five minutes (or less), I did a test run to make sure it was possible. So, here goes:

5 Minute Promo #7: Make a Book Trailer

A book trailer is a short ‘film’ adverting your book – like a movie trailer, though usually much shorter. It can be as simple or as complex as you, your talents and/or your budget will allow, including sound effects, acting, voice overs, visuals and more. If you are going to do all that, it will likely take you much, much longer than five minutes, but, if you use a simple tool such as Photo Story, and images you already have on hand, it can take as little as five minutes. Here’s my five minute effort:

I like using Photostory because it’s free, very simple to use, and creates it’s own music, so there are no copyright issues. I use my own pictures or ones from my books, so that again there are no copyright issues – and, in this case, because I already had them, it only took me five minutes to arrange them, add text and music, and create the video. The end slide I created in Paint. If I had more time I would have made it longer and probably included a voice-over, which is simple to do in Photostory.  There is a good explanation of how to use Photostory here.

 

As I said earlier, if you want to take longer than five minutes, there is no end to what you can do. Here is a longer trailer I made several years ago (in fact, the very first book trailer I ever made):

And here is much cleverer Booktrailer made by a wonderful teacher:



( created by Julie Hembree and shared here with permission.)

Anyway, the timer is ticking, so off you go and make your own booktrailer. When you’re done, upload it to Youtube, then post it on your website, your Facebook page and Tweet the link. As always, if you leave a comment here, I will check out what you’ve done. Have fun!

Five Minute Promo: Day 6

Set your timer and get ready for today’s 5 minute task, because I’m going to jump straight into it. Yesterday I promised the last day of getting you to sign up for social media platforms, so today I want to suggest you do something quick and easy – and it’s about signing something rather than signing up.

Day 6: Creating an Email  Sig Line

If you are like me you probably write and send dozens of emails every week. Some are writing related and others aren’t. But every one of those emails can bear an advertisement for your book or books. If you email your child’s teacher about her homework -and there’s a signature line? Your teacher learns about your book. If you forward a referral to your doctor? Your doctor learns about your book. If you send a query to a new ediotr? The editor learns about your previous book AND sees that you are willing to promote your work. It’s win win.

So, today’s task is to open up your email program and create a signature line which advertises your book (or books). Here’s a screenshot of mine:

You can see mine has pictures, my name plus the URL of my website. You could use text instead of pictures, and you could add more links (for example to online bookstores). There’s lots of possibilities.

 

There’s a quick guide to creating a signature for Outlook: here. If you use a different program, use a search engine and you will find a similar guide.

So, what are you waiting for? Your five minutes starts now. As awlays, feel free to leave me a note, or tweet me and let me know how you go.

5 Minute Promo: Day 5

Gosh. It’s Day 5 already. July is whizzing by. and, hopefully, if you’ve been following along, you’ve been busy spending a whopping 5 minutes of each day promoting your book(s).  If you haven’t, just twenty minutes (give or take a few) will bring you up to speed, ready to tackle day 5’s task which is (drumroll please)…

5 Minute Promo #5

Set up a Pinterest account. Yes, you’ve got it, I want you to join another social media platform. This is the last one, I promise (for now!). So, after you’ve read my few words, head over to Pinterest, sign up and you are ready to Pin. There’s simple instructions on how to get started here and instructions on how to set up a board and start pinning here. You might extend your five minutes and set up a board about your book. Here’s one I’ve set up for Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape here.

Already on Pinterest? Your five minute task is to make sure your profile and account is up to date and, once that’s done, use the rest of your time to pin two new pictures to one of your exitsing boards. Easy peasy. Feel free to follow me, Sally Murphy Author, while you are there.

Pinning is easy and fun. Here is a sample of things I’ve pinned from this site:

A quote with photo – and, of course, my web address so people know to visit me.

And:

A poem I wrote, added to a photo I took and again with my URL and twitter handle.

 

 

5 Minute Promo: Day 4

Welcome to Day 4! If you are following along at home, by now you have written a blog post, opened or updated your Twitter account and opened or updated your Instagram account. You’ll have noticed that so far all of the tasks I’m sharing are to online – because using social media and the internet is such a quick, free way of promotion. And today, I continue that trend.

5 Minute Promo #4

Create a Facebook Author Page.Assuming you are already a member of Facebook, it will take only a couple of minutes to start a page for you, the author. There’s a quick guide to starting a Page here.

I posted this pic on my Facebook page the day my author copies arrived.

An author page is different than your personal profile where you can post about your kids, your walks on the beach, or your dog. Instead, your Facebook page is about your brand as an author. Having said that,  not every post will be about selling your book. As a starting point, use your author photo (if you haven’t got one, it’s time to take one), a header picture which might be something from your website and add a cover photo of your book. Once you’ve posted something, invite your friends to like it.

Already have a Facebook page? Of course you do! Then your five minute task is to make sure your photo is up to date, and post something new. Then, because your five minutes won’t be up yet, invite the friends who haven’t yet liked your page to like it now.

Want to see what a Facebook author page looks like? Feel free to look at mine and follow it. I’ll do my best to entertain you with regular fresh content.

5 Minute Promo: Day 3

Welcome to Day 3. If you’ve been playing along, by now you’ve posted a blog post about your new book, and set up or updated your Twitter account. Each of these things should have taken you only about 5 minutes. That’s why this series is called 5 Minute Promo. If you are new to the series, feel free to take minutes to catch up. I’ll wait here .

Okay, so time for today’s five minute promo task. You ready? Good

5 Minute Promo #3

Head over to Instagram  and set up an account. You can do this on your desktop or laptop, but will find it just as easy to use a phone or tablet – and to download the app. That’s because Instagram is designed for phones and so works best there.  Not sure what to do? There’s a quick help guide here, which will guide you step by step through the process. Once you’re set up, feel free to follow me @sallymurphyauthor  and drop me a line so I can follow you back. All of this should take you less than five minutes.

 

If you  already have an Instagram  account, use the five minutes to check that your profile picture, bio and account details are up to date, and of course to post a picture or like the pictures of others.

Not sure what to post? Here’s a recent photo that I posted:

You can see I took an opportunity to show off my new book (have I mentioned before how much I love the cover? ) as well as the new earrings I’d bought to celebrate its release.

See you tomorrow for Day 4. In the meantime, if you’re enjoying these tips, or have any questions or comments, feel free to comment here and I’ll get back to you.

5 Minute Promo: Day 2

Bubbling soda water.

If you’ve just tuned in, every day for the month of July I am sharing a five minute promotional task you can do to promote your book(s) – and, because I have a new book out (isn’t it pretty?), I’m doing each of those things myself. Without further ado, here’s day 2’s task.

5 Minute Promo #2

Set up a Twitter account. If you don’t yet use Twitter, trust me that it’s so easy it’s something a grandmother (that’s me)  can and does do every day. If you are unsure, there is a good guide here. And, once your set up, I’ve previously blogged about ways to make use of Twitter.

If, like me, you already have a Twitter account (mine’s here), your five minute task is to head over to your account and make sure it’s up to date: is your profile picture current, is your bio the best it can be, and how many people are you following?

Right, timer’s on: go! Once you’re set up, feel free to Tweet me @sallymurphy and I’ll check you out.

 

 

5 Minute Promo: Day 1

If you a regular follower of this blog, you might know that today is release day for my new book: Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape. If you are not a regular follower, firstly, welcome and secondly, you know that it’s the release date etc. And, by the way, isn’t the front cover amazing?

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post: 5 Minute Promo.

As an author, I’ve long been aware just how important it is to promote my own books. Sure, my wonderful publishers do their bit, but they have lots of books by lots of authors to promote. Wheras me, I only have my own books to focus on, and generally one at a  time. But I’m busy – sometimes frantically so – writing new books, working my way through a PhD project, visiting schools, festivals and conferences, not to mention running a household. So, my promotion can’t take hours and hours every day.

Ont op of that, the most important time for me to be promoting my new book is in the first month of its release. Bookshops get new stock in every month. That means my book is only new for a month. If I want it to sell well, it’s important that I promote heavily during that month, in the hopes that it will sell well the booksellers will continue to stock it, and stock my subsequent books.

So, putting those two things together: the need for quick promotion ideas, and the need to do them especially in that first month, I sat down and brainstormed 31 things (one for each day of the month) that could be done in five minutes or less.

And, because I like sharing, I’m going to share those 31 things, one each day. So, if you have a book to promote, or have one coming out soon, you can play along at home. Every day I will post a new five minute tip, and give examples. If you join in, let me know how you are going, either by commenting here, or on twitter  (feel free to follow me).

 

So, enough about what I’m going to do. Let’s get on with it. Here is the first idea.

5 Minute Promo #1

Write a blog post announcing your new book . Make sure you include the cover image, and a link to where the book can bought. Give some details about the book.  (If you don’t yet have a blog, then use the five minutes to head over to a free blog platform such as wordpress or blogger and set up a simple blog).

Here’s my post (or you can just scroll down) which I combined with a post about Poetry Friday, because that’s my usual Friday post, and because it will spread the word to my poetry network.

Playing along? Set your timer for five minutes and head off and write and post that blogpost, then leave a comment below with a link and I will check it out.

 

 

Poetry Friday: A Story Tree and a New Book

It’s Friday which means it’s Poetry Friday, which is always exciting, but this particular Friday is extra exciting for me because it’s also the release day (book birthday!) of my latest book, Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape. More on that in a bit.

First, though, a poem.  When I walk around the lake close to my house there is a lovely grove of paperbark trees in a swampy bit at the back of the lake. I often stop and admire the trees, and feel like they are watching me back. Paperbark trees are amazing, in that their bark really is like paper – and it sheds like rough cut pages. When I was a kid, I used to collect pieces and write on them.  Here’s a photo of one of the trees, which I took during a quick lunchtime walk this week – in between showers of rain, which made everything damp and shiny and heavenly-smelling.

I came home and had to write about that tree. Here’s what I came up with:

 

The Story Tree

Hello tree

I wish I could read

the stories

etched deep

in your sepia paper.

Are they tales

of what you’ve seen

what you’ve heard

what you’ve felt

since you first drafted yourself

here in the swamp?

Or are they fables

of what you’ve imagined

might lie in other tree-libraries

in far flung places?

 

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy, 2016)

It’s kind of apt that this week’s poem is about stories because, as I said, today I’m celebrating the release of my latest book, Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape.

I just can’t enough of looking at the beautiful cover! This is the first in a series of  adventures, where Sage travels around Australia – and even overseas – with her parents, who are television chefs. Wherever they go, something always goes wrong, and Sage is at the center of fixing it. In Sweet Escape, the family visits a chocolatier who, it turns out, isn’t very pleased to see them.  So far the book has only been released in Australia, but it is available online here.

 

Have a great Friday. I know I’m going to.

Book Bling

Over the years I have had a lot of fun sourcing jewellery that matches my various books.

There were frog earrings for The Floatingest Frog.

 

There was a necklace and earrings featuring the globe for Pearl Verses the World.

 

Toppling had a necklace (which I made myself) plus earrings and a bracelet.

Head Hog had a necklace with a blue glass hog.

Hide and Sleep has two pairs of owl earrings.

While Snowy’s Christmas had kangaroo ones.

I even have earrings for books I either haven’t written yet, or that I’ve written but haven’t been published yet (watch this space!):

But, today, the postie brought me a little package with my latest earring purchase – and just in time, because these ones are to match Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape, which is released tomorrow. Guess when I’ll be wearing them?