Authonomy - Harper Collins' online network for unpublished writers, readers, editors, agents...

[Alexandra Page]

Hi everyone,

It may that I'm stating the bleeding obvious, this has been around for months and like somebody saying 'have you heard of Facebook?' I'm well behind the times, but I really have only just come across Harper Collins' new online network, Authonomy. I saw a reference to it on the York Writer's Weekend website and thought I'd take a look, and well, if like me you've never seen it, I'd recommend a visit: http://www.authonomy.com.

I've copied extracts from their FAQ, to give bit of background:

authonomy is a unique online community that connects readers, writers and publishing professionals.

authonomy invites unpublished and self published authors to post their manuscripts for visitors to read online. Authors create their own personal page on the site to host their project - and must make at least 10,000 words available for the public to read.

Visitors to authonomy can comment on these submissions – and can personally recommend their favourites to the community. authonomy counts the number of recommendations each book receives, and uses it to rank the books on the site. It also spots which visitors consistently recommend the best books – and uses that info to rank the most influential trend spotters.

We hope the authonomy community will guide publishers straight to the freshest writing talent – and will give passionate and thoughtful readers a real chance to influence what’s on our shelves.

I'd be interested to know what you think - is it a great opportunity for new writers to gain feedback and test the popularity of their work with the chance to reach an editorial board, or should it be approached with caution? I know I'm tempted...

Alex

[Nick Cross]

In a world where acquisition decisions are often made on gut feeling by an individual editor, Authonomy does seem to turn the process upside down. I'm not sure how I feel about it really - I'm a bit suspicious about crowd-sourcing in all of its various incarnations, as it seems like an excuse to get mediocre work done for next-to-no cost.

On the other hand, I'm starting to see how important "building a buzz" is for getting your work recognised. Authonomy certainly delivers that - if you're one of the lucky ones.

[Anna Bowles]

There's a detailed discussion of Authonomy here: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/eoin-purcells-blog/469f3410e29eb59057b03e180281ba71

I feel a blog post on the outsourcing of slush piles coming on.