It’s always great to see an author’s debut to hit the top of bestselling rankings. Scott Allan Morrison’s Terms of Use made a dream start. The official release of the novel is set for January 1, but thanks to Kindle first program the story is already available for the readers.
We are happy to introduce at Land of Books our next guest Scott Allan Morrison, one of the best technology reporter in the past 20 years.

– Scott, what is your new book Terms of Use about?
– Terms of Use is a thriller about the dark side of social media, where large Internet corporations use our data to analyze and manipulate our thoughts and actions.

– How did you decide to write the story?
– Terms of Use began as a thought exercise. As a tech reporter, it was readily apparent that the Internet companies amassing, storing and analyzing our data have a huge amount of unchecked power. They insist it is not to their advantage to misuse this power (and perhaps they never will), but I began to wonder: if the wrong people gained control of our data, how bad could things get?
– What was the biggest challenge during the write up process?
– I spent many years at the Financial Times, which places a premium on clear, concise writing (in addition to great ideas and reporting, of course!). There was no room for color, adjectives, even quotes. So when I switched to fiction, it took some time to learn how to let my words flow freely.
– Tell us something more about your main characters Sergio and Malina? Are they close to someone from your real life?
– Sergio and Malina are composites of various people I know in real life, with a little fabrication thrown in.
– How much time did you need to finish the story and to publish it?
– The whole process took about four years. I wrote in batches, putting it aside at times (usually due to writers block). The hard part was knowing it wasn’t good enough but, as a first time writer, not understanding how to make it better. Then I joined a writers group. That was a huge help. I finished Terms of Use 18 months ago, but it took six months to sell and one year for Thomas & Merer to publish it.
– Would you tell the story how your manuscript went to Thomas & Mercer and how you joined forces to work together on the project?
– My agent reached out to T&M and secured the deal. Then their impressive machine went to work, arranging for a series of freelance editors to work with me to make Terms of Use a much better book.
– Who are you?
– News junkie, outdoors lover, traveler, hockey fan.
– What are your writing habits?
– Night owl.
– Are you satisfied by the interest and pre-sales of your book?
– I had no idea what to expect, but the reviews on Amazon suggest readers are really responding to it so I certainly can’t complain.
– What are you doing to promote your book by the best possible way?
– Everything I can think of. Social media, bookstore readings, contributed articles, bugging book reviewers, asking other authors to write blurbs, and shouting from mountaintops.
– When we will see your next novel and would you unveil something more about it?
– It’s a secret. 😉
– You worked for many years as financial reporter. Would you rate the three most important events in the past 25 years in the digital world?
– Oooph, there are too many key moments/events/trends to count, but I’ll go with:
1) The creation of the World Wide Web at CERN and the subsequent browser wars
2) The rise of user-generated content/social media
3) The day Google announced it was going to scan the contents of all our emails and we said, “uh, okay, I guess.”
– Writing is writing, but what are the differences between working daily on newspaper articles and plotting a story for a novel?
– In addition to the differences in writing style, the biggest challenge was summoning the perseverance to tackle such a long-term project. Newspaper articles are written in hours, books not so much.
– If you may ask yourself one question in the interview what it will be?
– Q: What’s your favorite book? A: Gary Larson’s The Far Side Gallery.

To learn more about Scott Allan Morrison check out his Website
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Take a look at his book
Terms of Use