Blog | Alison Morton's Thrillers

What interests readers?

Authors write books.

Books get published.

Then it begins…

Authors, publishers, publicists and promoters go into full swing, telling the world about the new book, the author’s lifestyle, their children, garden, holiday. Background posts about the book’s setting, the author’s journey, research discoveries, insights, writing hints are posted. Facebook profiles and pages are populated with photos and shared information and friends and fans interact. Tweets are crafted and tweeted, retweeted by friends, jolly conversations are had in 140 characters.

Authors talk in libraries, bookshops, at conferences and exhibitions. They appear in the printed press, national newspapers, on radio and television. Videos are made about the book, the author chatting about how they work, where they did their research, what their book is about.

Does it matter?
Now, I’ll come clean… I LOVE all this. I love talking to people about books, events, research and finding out about other authors, where they’ve been, what they think, wht they’re up to. I’m a nosy type. 😉

But suppose you don’t? Suppose all you want to do is write books and you hate technology and promotion. Are you bound to sink in the fiercely competitive book market of today?

And let’s think about the reader. Yes, they probably do like to find out about new and interesting books. I think that’s a given. And if the author has published previous book(s), readers may be on the lookout for the next one. But do they want all the minutiae of the author’s life?

Sometimes, I think I can hear the readers and fans shout, ‘Switch off and get writing the next damn book!‘

So what do you as the reader, you want from the author and publisher?

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, and PERFIDITAS. Third in series, SUCCESSIO, is now out.

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INCEPTIO in New York!

Woo-hoo! Karen, the heroine of INCEPTIO has arrived in New York, her home town.
(Of course, this is the real New York we know in our timeline…)

After the terrific success of its trips around the tube as a Book on the Underground in London in the real world, INCEPTIO is hitting New York’s subway.

Photo courtesy of Books on the Subway

I was very honoured when I was approached to contribute to the Books on the Subway program which looks as if it’s going to be as big as the London one.

I can’t wait to see INCEPTIO in a station and on a train!

Photo courtesy of Books on the Subway

STOP PRESS! INCEPTIO is riding on the E train! pic.twitter.com/Y3yRktT9Lt

What I did in Waterstones...

During my trip this month to the UK I spoke on the Geek Feminism panel and sold books at the NineWorlds conference and did a live interview on BBC Radio Kent. Always good fun!

But I couldn’t help popping into Waterstones Tunbridge Wells to talk about the launch date for the next book, PERFIDITAS.

Oh yes, book two is on its way…

In the meantime, I was thrilled to discover INCEPTIO still there on the shelf for everybody to find. Such a thriller for any author.

I couldn’t resist getting critique partner Denise Barnes, author of Seller Beware to take a few photos of INCEPTIO on the shelves.

Updated March 2023 for #10YearsINCEPTIO: Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.

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