What interests readers?

reading_couchAuthors 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’sĀ  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. šŸ˜‰

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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