sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Blog Tour Stop Three

by

The blog tour to celebrate the release of Snowy’s Christmas continues today. If you’ve just tuned in, every Sunday for eleven weeks David, Snowy and I are visiting a different blog to talk about Snowy, about writing and about illustrating.

Today both David and I are visiting the Soup Blog to share five things you may not already know about Snowy’s Christmas. In actual fact it is ten things in total – because I shared five things about writing the story and Dave shared five things about illustrating. So, head over to the Soup Blog to learn more. And, while you are there, you can enter Rebecca’s competition to win yourself a copy of Snowy’s Christmas.

In the meantime, some more sightings of Snowy’s Christmas have been reported. It has been spotted on sale in two Kmart stores (in Cannington, WA and Kalgoorlie) and also in Myer and David Jones in Perth city. Am guessing this means it will be in more Kmart, Myer and David Jones.
If you see Snowy in a store, drop us a line and let us know.

Off on Tour

by

The virtual launch may be done and dusted, but the celebrations to mark the release of Snowy’s Christmas are still in full swing. Today marks the beginning of our eleven week blog tour. Each Sunday for the next eleven weeks we’ll be visiting a different blog to talk about Snowy, about the writing and illustrating life, about Christmas – in fact about whatever the blog owners ask us to talk about (and perhaps some things they don’t, lol).

To get started, today David and I are both visiting Dee at Deescribe Writing Blog. So hop on over and see us there. And, while you’re there, scroll down to read Dees’ lovely review of the book.
Want more? Well, here’s the schedule for the rest of the tour. And, while we’re not there yet, all of these blogs are wonderful places to visit at any time.

Week One: October 4Deescribe Writing Blog www.deescribewriting.wordpress.com
Week Two: October 11Write and Read With Dale http://livejournal.com/users/orangedale/
Week three: October 18Alphabet Soup Blog www.soupblog.wordpress.com
Week Four: October 25Let’s Have Words www.letshavewords.blogspot.com
Week Five: November 1Sally Murphy’s Writing for children Blog http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
Week 6 November 8 Aussiereviews Blog http://aussiereviews.blogspot.com/
Week 7 November 15 Samantha Hughes’ Blog http://samantha-hughes.blogspot.com/
Week 8Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s Books Blog http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com
Week 9Stories are Light http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/
Week 10The Aussie Christmas Blog http://aussiechristmas.wordpress.com/
Week 11Tales I Tell http://belka37.blogspot.com
I’ll keep you updated with each new stop – love to see you there 🙂

Christmas is Coming – and my Christmas PB is here!

by

What a wonderful day! Take a look at the cover of my new picture book which was released today:

Snowy’s Christmas tells a very Australian Christmas story about a little kangaroo (Snowy) who gets to help Santa out as only a kangaroo can. And, if you look closely at the cover you’ll see that the illustrator’s surname is also Murphy – because it was illustrated by my wonderful brother in law David, making it a real family effort.
If you have a moment or two to spare, pop over to the Aussie Christmas blog where we are holding a virtual launch right now. There’s lamingtons and Vegemite sandwiches and cordial and even a nice white wine, a few speeches, some links and lots of great company. Drop by and join in the fun.

Happy bookday Snowy!

April Update

by

A quick update for April – not because nothing happened during April, but because I’ve been so busy planning May that I’m hoping you’ll come back here tomorrow and read lots of what I have to say.

So quickly, here’s my April news.

The month started strongly, with author Katie Hines interviewing me on her blog on April 1. You can read the interview by clicking on the link.

Soon afterwards, I had an email from Walker Books advising me that they will be publishing my second verse novel, Toppling, in the first half of 2010. Walker have been so wonderful to work with during the publication process for my first verse novel, that I am just rapt that I’ll be working with them again.

During April I did the final proofread and tweaking on my picture book, Snowy’s Christmas, which will be published by Random House in November. This has been so much fun to work on, with the illustrator, David Murphy, being my brother in law. I can’t wait to see it in print – and has just, in fact, gone tot he printers.

Also in April, I managed to get some work done on my works in progress – a new novel for upper primary, a nonfiction book for adults, which is still in the planning stages but is getting closer, lots of poems and more.

But a large part of April was spent on planning May. Tomorrow, May 1, marks the release of Pearl Verses the World, and in lieu of a launch I am planning a whole month of celebrations here on this blog and around the internet. There’s a blog tour, a poetry challenge, guest bloggers and more. More will be revealed tomorrow – so stop by then and see what’s going on.

February Update

by

I have decided that every month is a busy month, so instead of beginning by saying “February was a busy month”, I’m going to start with: February was a month. But I can’t resist saying that it was a happily busy month, with plenty of excitement and good things happening.
The biggest thing in my writing life this month was the arrival of an advance copy of Pearl verses the World. Holding this little gem in my hands for the first time was awesome, and I’ve been carrying it around everywhere I go to show it off. The release date, May 1, is still two months away, but I’m celebrating already and can’t wait for it to go on sale.
Also very exciting, the final line art for my new picture book, Snowy’s Christmas, has been delivered to the publisher, another step in the road to publication complete. David is doing such a good job with the artwork, and I’m sure the finished product will be divine.
February was also a time for me to ramp up my promotion efforts. Promoting published books is a big part of every published author’s work, but it is a challenge to come up with different ways to build the buzz about a book. To that end, I started a yahoogroup for Australian authors and bloggers who want to be involved in blog tours, called aussieblogtours. In a short space of time we have managed to build a small but enthusiastic group, and have already had three tours.
Our first tour was to spread the word about my own, The Big Blowie. I visited five blogs in five days. If you missed the tour, you can still read the posts (and see how a blog tour works) at the following blogs:
I also hosted the two other tours, by young author Brenton Cullen and the mysterious Tiffany Mandrake, which was lots of fun.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, I went visiting to the Amory of Aardvarks blog on February 1
and again on February 8.
Amidst all this, I did manage to find plenty of time to write this month, with the Murphlets going back to school and leaving the house strangely quiet. I put the finishing touches on a verse novel and also a picture book, wrote some new poems and started planning two new projects. I also flitted up to Perth for a couple of day at the Apropos Poetry Festival organised by Writing WA, and to attend the February SCWBI WA meeting.
Finally, of course I read some wonderful Australian books and reviewed them for Aussiereviews. Seventeen new reviews were added in February.
That’s my news for February. Stay tuned in March, when I’ll be adding more interviews, writing advice and, of course, news.

January Update

by

In spite of my still being largely on holidays, January has been a busy month for me. Just the way I like it, really.

There’s been lots happening with my forthcoming titles. Earlier in the month, Virginia, my editor at Walker Books sent me through a new, slightly revised cover for my verse novel, Pearl Verses the World. I loved the old cover but adore the new one, tweaked slightly to really highlight the delightful Pearl. Pearl will be released in May, and I can’t wait! Check out the beautiful cover:


Illustrator Heather Potter has done a wonderful job with it.

I also saw another round of roughs for my picture book with Koala Books, Constantine and Aristotle (though there is some talk now of changing the title). The wonderful Ben Wood is doing an outstanding job of the illustrations and I’m looking forward to seeing them finished.
And, of course, work continues on a project close to my heart, the picture book I am doing with my brother in law David. Snowy’s Christmas will be published by Random House in November, and David has finished the pencil sketches. They are just delightful.

I was also busy with Aussiereviews in January, adding forty new reviews. I also started a blog to complement the site, The Aussie Reviews Blog. This was to take the place of the Yahoo Group I had set up through which to send website updates. The use of a blog is quicker and easier, and seems to have been well received. If you wish to be alerted about updates to Aussiereviews, you can sign up to the blog.

I have also geared up my promotional efforts for the year because promoting oneself and ones books is essential for any author. I had my author site, sallymurphy.net updated, with details of my newest books and forthcoming books, and some broken links fixed. I also decided it was time to update my author photo which was about five years old. The new one is on the right, and makes me look five years older than the last one did (lol), but I like it. And I have joined in some blog tour groups, so that I can both host and participate in some blog tours. Tomorrow I’ll be hosting author Random Noble and later in the month I hope to go on a blog tour of my own. I also started a yahoo group for Australian authors who want to participate in blog tours, which is just gearing up. If you’re interested in joining in, the group is called Aussie Blog Tours and is open to any Aussie author who has a blog.

So that’s my January news. February is promising to be a big month too, so keep your eyes on this page for more news.
sallymurphy.com.au