sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Five Minute Promo : Day 18

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Welcome to day 18. On Day 11 I had you share a related item on Facebook, and on day 12 I had you share an unrelated item on Twitter. Today’s task has you sharing something which may be either on another social media platform – and this is one I’m looking forward to.

5 Min Promo #18

Take a photo of something yummy and share it on Instagram. If your book focuses on or features any particular foods, you might create an instagram post featuring that food. But, if not, feel free to take a photo of anything yummy- a sweet treat, a steaming bowl of soup, even some fresh fruit. People love pictures of food and, when they engage with that picture, they may head over to read your profile which, in turn, promotes your book.

Here are a couple of simple examples I have used before. This is a photo of the first, perfect, cherry tomato I picked last year. Later, I also used it as the subject for a Poetry Friday post.

Tomato 2015

And here’s a more recent one, featuring chocolate, Sweet Escape and my Sage doll.

Sage with choc

So, clock’s ticking, off you go and snap a photo. If it takes less than five minutes, use the rest of your time to check your other social media accounts. See you tomorrow.

Five Minute Promo: Day 16

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Welcome to day 16. I’m having a lot of fun writing this series of posts and also carrying out each five minute task myself as I promote my new book Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape. I know people are reading them because I’m getting new followers on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. But it would also be lovely to get more comments and questions here on the blog, just so I know who’s listening and what you are finding does or doesn’t work for you.

Anyway, over to today’s task.

5 Minute promo #16

Head over to Twitter and tweet about someone else’s book. That’s it. Write a tweet about a book that you love – could be a new release could be an old favourite. Add a link, or a photo or whatever you like.

Here’s a book I’ve recommended on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It’s a good one.

Why? Because your Twitter followers love to hear about things other than YOUR book. And because, as an author yourself, you know how great it feels to hear that someone else likes your book.  It’s called spreading the love – or paying it forward.

This task is so quick that it may not take five minutes. So, use the rest of your five minutes to update your other social media. Or take a four minute breather 🙂

See you tomorrow.

 

What Does an Editor Do?

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Whether you self published or whether you are published by a trade publisher, getting a book ready for publication is a long, detailed process. One of the key parts in any book’s development is editing. The editor works with the author to take a manuscript and make it into a finished story ready for market. And, importantly, though every author needs to proofread and edit their own work, they also need an editor other than themselves to make the manuscript polished and full of zing.

Sally Murphy

Without an editor, I might still be throwing my hands in the air!

A good editor:

1. Sees the promise in your manuscript, like an unpolished gem, then figures out how to polish it so that it really sparkles.

2. Knows the genre you are writing for – and, especially if you are writing for young people – understands what suits a particular age group or readership.

3. Is way more than a proofreader (though these are important, too) and the difference between a structural edit and a copy edit.

4. Spots bits of your story that don’t work, and gives you suggestions so that you can make changes you are comfortable with.

5. Is an ally, wanting your book to work almost as much as you go.

Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape went through several rounds of edits. Changes suggested and acted on ranged from needing to make the work longer, to making the ‘baddies’ badder, to spotting errors in syntax and grammar. Editors rock!

 

 

Five Minute Promo: Day 13

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Okay, it’s now Day 13 of the 5 Minute Promo Challenge and, if you’ve been here since day 1,  it should be getting easier. If you are new here, it’s still easy, though you are welcome to go back to day 1 and start from the beginning. All you need is 5 minutes a day and a book to promote.

Today’s task takes you back to Instagram, where you have already set up an account (if not, now’s the time).

5 Minute Promo # 13

Here's a selfie I took sans book.

Here’s a selfie I took sans book.

Snap a book selfie and post in to your Instagram account. A book selfie is a selfie (ie photo of yourself) with your book. It can be as simple as a photo of you holding your book, or you can get adventurous and come up with something unique. If your book is about an acrobat, take your selfie reading the book while standing on your head. Or, if like me,  your book features chocolate, take a selfie of yourself, your book and some chocolate.

Feeling camera shy? Don’t worry – a selfie doesn’t have to feature you smiling into the lens. Here’s a selfie I took of my feet a month ago, and this one  features my shadow. Experiment until you find something you’re happy to share.

As always, feel free to leave a link here or tag me, @sallymurphyauthor on Instagram and I will comment.

 

Five Minute Promo: Day 12

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Welcome to Day 12 of the 5 Minute Promo. We are more than one third of the way through the challenge and by now you should be finding most of the tasks pretty easy – because you did the setting up of accounts and platforms in the first few days and now it’s mostly about keeping it all ticking along with new content and an increasing audience.

Today’s task is another easy one, similar to yesterdays. Are you ready?

5 Minute Promo #12

This whale tail is completely unrelated to all of my books, but it makes me smile.

This whale tail is completely unrelated to all of my books, but it makes me smile.

Head to Twitter and  share a link to something completely unrelated to your book. If you’re a football fan, tweet about your football team. If you’re a gardener, tweet about your roses. If you have a dog, tweet a link to a dog video. You get the idea? Something that is not about your book or even about stuff that happens in your book.

How is this promoting your book? It isn’t, not directly. But, indirectly, it helps. You see, people on Twitter (and Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest etc) don’t like constantly being advertised at.

If you met a friend in the street and started trying to sell your book, they would probably get turned off. But if you exchanged genuine conversation with them and then they heard you’d written a book, they might be interested in buying it.

The same goes online. People want to hear from you about all kinds of stuff and then, as they get to know you, they are more likely to respond to the plugs you give your book.

So, off you go. In the next five minutes find something to share and Tweet it. If that doesn’t use your whole five minutes, spend the rest of the time seeing what other people are tweeting about and try retweeting or replying.

Enjoy. And see you tomorrow.

 

5 Minute Promo: Day 9

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Good morning. It’s Day 9 of the 5 Minute Promo series and, if you’ve been following along, by now you should have your Facebook Page, Twitter , Instagram  and Pinterest accounts all set up and have started adding content, including two blog posts and other content. Today’s task is probably going to take you less than five minutes but at the same time it is going to save you time in the future AND help you find new content to share on your various social media platforms. What is it?

It's always good to know what's being said about you.

It’s always good to know what’s being said about you.

5 Minute Promo #9

Set up a Google Alert for your book.  Doing this will mean that any time your book gets mentioned online, you will get an email notification letting you know. Then, once you’ve checked it out and made sure you like what you’re reading <grin> you can share the link to a review, discussion, teaching idea or whatever via your Twitter account, or your Facebook page, or you can Pin the content to your Pinterest board.

I  have a number of these alerts – one for each new book (including, of course, Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape) as well as more general alerts for topics including Sally Murphy Author (that’s me!).

If you’re not sure how to set up an alert, there is a simple guide here.

Enjoy – and drop back tomorrow for the next 5 minute task.