Anthony Horowitz’s diary: Keeping James Bond’s secrets for the Smersh of publishing

It was quite fun being named as the new writer of 007 — although actually I’d make a lousy spy. As my family knows, I’m hopeless at keeping secrets and I’ve found it almost impossible hanging on to this one for the past few months. Even now I’m forbidden to reveal the title, the story, the date it takes place or any of the characters… and I’ll probably get into trouble even for writing this. Believe me, Orion Books and their legal department are more sinister than Smersh. In fact I did quite well and only dropped one clue to someone who follows me on Twitter. He asked me what my big secret was and I told him the answer was oobvious. As I hoped, he thought it was a typing error.

Anyway, I must put Bond behind me as it doesn’t come out until next September and I’m launching my new book, Moriarty, at the end of the month. This is the worst time for a writer. Is the book any good? Will the critics like it? Will anyone guess the ending? Will anyone come to my signing (at Waterstones, Piccadilly, on Thursday 23rd, since you ask). It’s terrifying how much money a publisher has to throw at a book to get it noticed these days and I have to remind myself that the price of failure is not just my vanity but people’s jobs. And then there are the bestseller lists. They are the bear-pit into which authors are now thrown… any power or pleasure that your book may contain reduced to how many copies it has sold.