Wednesday, March 18, 2009

TWITTERING ON

Sent to Bookman Beattie by Allen & Unwin who represent Faber & Faber in New Zealand and Australia:
Faber author R.N. Morris is serialising a slightly abridged version of
his 2007 crime novel A Gentle Axe in bite-sized chunks via regular
updates on Twitter.
Morris recently began work on the "Twitterisation" of his book,
and his Twitter ( http://twitter.com/rnmorris )has around 200
followers.
Alex Holroyd, press officer at Faber, said: His intention is to do
the whole thing online, although it will depend on feedback and
interest. It's a bit of an experiment. He is already a keen blogger
and has quite a presence on the net, so we are hoping it will transfer
over.
Morris updates his Twitter account a few times a day and followers can send him questions about the book, which he then responds to. Twitter allows followers to receive updates either online or on their mobile phone.

Holroyd said it was a useful method of keeping his fans happy until the next book in the series, entitled A Razor Wrapped in Silk, comes out in March 2010.
Hopefully he'll get some new [fans] in the process, she added.

Although there is no target number of followers, Holroyd said Faber was
keeping an eye on the experiment, and would consider using Twitter to
build pre-publication word-of-mouth interest in future books.

It very much depends on the author's time and willingness, but I don't see why not, she added.

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