sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

What I Read in December

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December was a busy month, but I still managed to get through 25 books, thanks especially to audio books.  I do love a real, physical book that I can cuddle up to on a couch, or in bed, or wherever, but for the car, or as company during housework or chores, audiobooks are wonderful – and the discovery of Borrowbox, which lets me borrow audiobooks straight to my phone for free, has enriched my life this year. (If you want to know more about BorrowBox, which is probably available to you, too, at your local library, there’s a good article here).

My favourite book for the month was, incidentally, one I discovered through Borrowbox, and which I am so in awe of! Artichoke Hearts,by Sita Brahmachari, made me cry and smile and feel all of the feels – and wish that I could write like that!

So, here’s the list of 25 with links to my reviews (or, where I haven’t reviewed them, to the book in a bookstore or elsewhere online). I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading.

Picture Books

Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros, by Meg McKinlay & Leila Rudge

Paddy O’Melon The Irish Kangaroo, by Julia Cooper & Daryl Dickson

A Bag and a Bird, by Pamela Allen

Reena’s Rainbow, by Dee White & Tracie Grimwood

A Perfectly Posh Pink Afternoon Tea, by Coral Vass & Gabriel Evans

Feathers, by Phil Cummings & Phil Lesnie

A Thousand Hugs from Daddy, by Anna Pignataro

Younger Readers

Game Day: Patty Hits the Court, by Patty Mills & Jared Thomas

Game Day: Patty and the Shadows, by Patty Mills and Jared Thomas

I Don’t Like Poetry, by Joshua Seigal

It’s OK to Feel the Way You Do, by Josh Langley

Artichoke Hearts,by Sita Brahmachari

Ruben, by Bruce Whatley

Young Adult Books

Sparrow, by Scot Gardner

In the Dark Spaces, by Cally Black

For Adults

Some Kind of Wonderful, by Giovanna Fletcher

The Way Back, by Kylie Ladd

Believe and Achieve, by Paul Hanna

The Mini Motivator, by Paul Hanna

The Sales Motivator, by Paul Hanna

The Money Motivator, by Paul Hanna

An Almost Perfect Christmas, by Nina Stibbe

How to Be Thin in a World of Chocolate, by Michele Connolly

The Kindness Pact, by Domonique Bertolucci

Playing the Matrix, by Mike Dooley

Having got this post ready to go, I realised that, of course, this was my last list for 2017, which lead me to go back and add up my total for the year. Pleasing to see that I managed 197 books in the midst of a busy year. But, of course, there are still thousands and thousands of books that I WANT to read.  Maybe in 2018 I’ll figure out how to read in my sleep 🙂

Recognition – and What It Means

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Time for Meg, Anna and I to once again ruminate on a single topic across our three different blogs. If you’ve been hiding under a rock these past three weeks – or just simply haven’t had time to check out our blogs – each week we’ve been each blogging on our individual blogs on the same topic, and then discussing the similarities and differences in our approaches.

Today’s topic is, quite fittingly, being shortlisted or otherwise recognised in awards lists. I say it’s quite fitting because, as it happens, the three of us were all on the same shortlist last year – the Younger Readers shortlist of the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards, 2011.

I’ve been pretty fortunate when it comes to shortlistings and awards, these past few years. Pearl Verses the World won the children’s category of the Indie Book Award, 2009, was an Honour Book in the 2010 CBCA Awards, Best Book of the Year for Upper Primary in the Speech Pathologist Awards, Winner of the Young Readers Category of the Family Therapist’s Award and was  shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, the WA Premier’s Literary Awards. Toppling, as well as the CBCA Shortlisting won the Children’s Book Category of both the Queensland Premier’s  Literary Awards and the WA Premier’s Literary Awards, as well as being an Honour Book in the KOALA Books, and shortlisted for others.

 So, it’s been a pretty exciting couple of years. Prior to Pearl‘s release none of my other books had ever  won anything, let alone been shortlisted. So when I got the call for my first ever shortlisting I was pretty chuffed. That’s an understatement. I was sworn to secrecy at the time, and I was at work, so I did a mad happy dance around the office but then couldn’t spill the beans on what was so exciting. And each subsequent bit of recognition has had a similar response. I dance, I drink champagne, I ring and email family and friends, and I smile a lot.

But why? What’s so good about being shortlisted? Is it just an ego trip for the author?

You bet ya. It’s all about me, me meeeeeeee! Look at me I shout, look at MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Nah, just kidding. The reality is that individually those shortlistings have not made me rich  or famous. But each shortlisting is a sign that a group of judges have chosen my book from amongst the hundreds of books published each year and said there is something special about it. It is recommended for readers. A shortlist is usually the top five or six books in the category, so to be on that list means the judges think your book is one of the top six of its kind. For me, that is a huge confidence boost. As a writer, I work mostly in isolation and I spend a lot of time wondering what I write w is any good. Being shortlisted, or winning an award, says to me that I’m doing okay, and it keeps me going doing what I’m doing.

Then there’s the publicity. Being recognised (I’ll use this term because it kind of covers both shortlisting and winning) can attract publicity to a book which, in turn, can boost sales. This is especially true for the CBCA Awards, because these are the main children’s book awards in Australia. If a book is on the shortlist, most schools and public libraries will buy one or more copies. This is a huge boost to sales figures. And bookshops which have not previously stocked the book are more likely to do it. I’d like to say this true for all awards, but the publicity for other awards does vary. for example, the WA Premier’s Book Awards last year rated only a small article in its home state newspaper. Without the publicity there is not always a flow on effect for book sales.

There’s also, sometimes, a cash prize, generally only for the winning book, though some awards (such as the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards) do award cash to the short listed authors.  Cash prizes can vary from a few hundred to thousands – and, either way, this cash is very welcome. Being able to make a full time income from writing, especially for children, is pretty rare. So a cash prize can mean the ability to take time away from a day job to write more, or it can simply mean food on the table. For myself, the first significant cash prize I won helped with the deposit on our family home, and the second paid for a break from teaching. No flash cars or holidays, but rather a really welcome financial relief.

In my writing area (which is a corner in the lounge room) I have a wall for my various certificates. My beloved has taken the time to hang them neatly and to rearrange them when others have come in. Sometimes this wall is what keeps me writing. When a rejection comes in, or sales figures aren’t what I’d hoped, or just when I read yesterday’s writing and wonder whether it’s good enough, I sit back in my chair and the first thing I see is that wall and it reminds me that I can do it. There are people out there who do like my books. Especially validating are the awards that have come from young readers, which mean that kids (the very readers I hope to reach) like what I’m writing.

So, what’s it like to be recognised with a shortlisting or award? Fantabulous! Do I write to win prizes? No. I write because I love writing, crafting stories, and sharing them with the world. Being recognised for it is just a bonus.

When the Reviewer Gets Reviewed

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I’ve been reviewing books for more than ten years, mainly for my own book review site, aussiereviews. I love sharing the word about books with readers and, along the way, promoting the work of wonderful Australian creators and publishers. But it wasn’t until my own books were published and, subsequently, reviewed that I understood the impact of a review.
Reviews are important, in my opinion, for several reasons:
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  • They help sell books. By reading reviews, people hear about the book and might go out and buy it (or, online, click through a link and order it).
  • They are free advertising for a book. (If they are positive reviews)
  • For potential readers/teachers/librarians and booksellers they inform them about new books, highlighting their appeal, strengths and weaknesses, so they can make informed purchasing decisions
  • For authors, they can make you feel good (if the review is positive) and (whether positive or negative) they provide feedback.

Note that I’ve put the benefits to the author last because, in the end, reviews are not written for authors – or, at least, they shouldn’t be. They should be written for potential buyers and readers.Along the way that means they help authors to sell books and to learn, but that’s really incidental.

So I knew all this, of course I did. But then, having written a couple of thousand reviews of other people’s books, I started to get reviewed. My earliest trade titles, Doggy Duo, Floatingest Frog and Pemberthy Bear garnered a few reviews. But when my first verse novel, Pearl Verses the World, was published, suddenly lots of reviews started coming in. My little book was reviewed in newspapers, magazines, on websites and on blogs. It is still being reviewed, almost three years after it was first published.

Before Pearl was released, I’d had lots of people tell me how good it was – my mum, my kids, my editor, my friends. But then it was released intot he big wide world and I had to face what people who DIDN’T know me would say. Waiting for those first reviews was scary.

But then they started coming. And reviewers seemed to like it. They said things like:
 This slender little book is, like its heroine, a treasure.
                                    (Magpies, May 2009)  and
Expertly written.
                                    (Coast Kids, June 2009)  and
A poignancy that is truly touching.
                                    (Reading Time, August 2009)

Reading these reviews made me feel pretty good. They stroked my ego and made me feel like a real author. I printed them out. I showed them to anyone who’d read them. I cried tears of joy when I read them.

But then…

I got a bad review.

And it  wasn’t just a little bit bad. The reviewer (in a big name newspaper) hated my book. She said the verse was clunky and that she just didn’t feel moved to care about Pearl.  Added to this, the title of the book was misspelled and I wasn’t attributed as the author. Instead, the poor illustrator copped the criticism for her writing skills. (Note, I’ve not named the paper or the reviewer because I do not wish either of them ill-will.)

It was not a good review. There was nothing nice said about the book. Interestingly, the first thing that happened after this review, was that no one wanted to tell me about it. I knew my book was being reviewed on that date, but being interstate couldn’t buy the paper. But friends saw it, and didn’t know whether they should show me it. Once I did see it, I had an email from my publicist trying to reassure me. And my Mum and Dad were very cross on my behalf!

But me? To be really honest, I was a little cross at the misspelling and the mix up over the author, but as for the comments, I was able to get over them pretty quickly. I guess I was lucky because there had been lots of nice reviews previously, so I was able to focus on those instead.

But did I learn anything from this bad review? Yep.

  1. Not everyone will like every one of my books – just as they may not like my new haircut, my new dress, or (shock horror) me.
  2. Clever titles get misspelled (and the verses/versus thing has been a recurrent problem for this book)
  3. Reviews matter to the person being reviewed – but they aren’t FOR that person.
  4. Stuff happens – and then you move on. I couldn’t change the review. I had no right of reply, so worrying about it wasn’t going to do a thing.

In the three years since then, I’ve had lots more reviews – for Pearl, for Snowy’s Christmas and for Toppling. There’s been lots more good ones and, I’ll admit, others that were not so good.  I read them, I smile (if they’re good) or feel a bit sad (if they’re bad) and then I try to move on. With a new book coming out next month, I know I’ll be waiting eagerly for those first few reviews especially which tell me how my book is being received, but then I’ll get busy with my next project.

Reviews do matter – but they can’t rule a writer’s life.

Want to see what two other Aussie authors think about getting reviewed? Head over to Meg McKinlay’s blog As In Egg and then to Anna Branford’s blog. As you can see, we’ve all got together and blogged about the same topic on the same day, so we’d love to hear what you think about our varying perspectives.
And, if you haven’t yet visited my review site, Aussiereviews, please do. It’s just been relaunched with a brand new look.

sallymurphy.com.au