Author R.N. Morris Serializes His Novel on Twitter

Posted on March 20, 2009

R.N. Morris is serializing his mystery novel A Gentle Axe (Faber) in tweet form. Morris updates his Twitter a few times a day with short tweets (140 characters maximum) from his novel. The Bookseller reports that Morris's publisher says the author's intention is to publish the whole book on Twitter.

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.

It's a novel idea and it probably will garner Morris some new readers. You can follow him on Twitter, @rnmorris.

There have been a few novels serialized on Twitter before. You can read about a few of them on ReadWrite. The article says they have not been big success stories so far.

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