Insights | Alison Morton Author

What did I learn from preparing Book 2?

Last Thursday, I finished the edits on the second Roma Nova book, PERFIDITAS. SilverWood Books’ editor made some excellent recommendations and sparked off other ideas that I incorporated in the final, final edition. Good books go through many revisions and edits, but at last it was done.

So how was it for me?

1. Strange […]

Not all self-published work is grey in the night

Not all self-published work is crap.

Not all mainstream books are good.

Many self-published works are excellent.

Many mainstream books are dire.

All true. But the demarcation between the two is blurring. A reader doesn’t give a toss who produced a book they love. The things they do notice are rubbishy covers, unintelligible blurb, coarse, […]

Telling people about your treasure

Having mixed with book people – writers, editors, agents, publishers, literary consultants and commentators – for three years before I published my first book, INCEPTIO, I knew it would be a slog to make it known to the reading public.

Amongst others, Catherine Ryan Howard’s excellent blog gave me wisdom, knowledge and tough love about […]

Take all the free help you can find

Monday mornings I spend a little time catching up on my favourite blogs. Even if I spend an hour of writing time, I always pick up at least three new tips.

Today, from Your Writer Platform I found out about the marvellous editorial calendar for WordPress which I promptly installed. On the Smashwords blog, I […]

What does reading do for you?

People nowadays have to work more and get less time to think. Thinking and learning is an important aspect of self development, it is also essential for professional success. Reading is a vital basic skill for life. Poor reading skills tend to go hand in hand with social exclusion (Guardian, 2007, Does Reading Matter?).

That’s […]