No, it's not a typo. Authonomy, although HarperCollins spells it without the initial cap. What is it? It's a website where authors--published or un-pubbed--can showcase their work, and based on ratings by readers and other site members, can be selected for review by HarperCollins editors.
Sounds good. Right? Yippee. And please forgive my intrinsic suspicious nature, my half-empty attitude, my snickering skepticism... But doesn't it sound a bit too good? As in too good to be true?
Well. Maybe. But it's been up since Sept 2009 and it seems to be going strong. Besides, I'm a sucker for design, and the webpage is pretty cool. Kinda cluttered for some, maybe, but as you can see (look around *this* page), I like clutter. I took a quick traipse through the literary fiction titles, and some sound really enticing. The Poet, by Andrew Stevens. Dämon Ronion, by Brian Hatfield (I knew a Brian Hatfield, back in Cancun... But he sold timeshare. I don't think this is him). There are lots of titles that really caught my attention and which I'd like to read.
So content is not the problem with authonomy. What is, then? Well... I don't know. I find it strange that in this day and age of immediate gratification, of information readily available e v e r y w h e r e, this is the first time I hear of this site. But that may be my own shortcoming, my own fault for not following the blogs I should be, for not researching as thoroughly as I thought I had.
And my question to you today is: have YOU heard of authonomy? What's your gut feeling about a site like this? How come we're not ALL on there? Or are we (*ahem* as soon as I register)? Seriously thinking about posting the almost-ready version of Restoring Experience over there. Or should I do the normal query runabout dance first, take authonomy as a next-best option?
If you, my dear reader, are not a writer, do take a click-stroll over to the authonomy site and grace these authors with your fine reading skills. Lots of great books right there--no downloads, so you have to read online, but hey. It's free. Authors everywhere will kiss your foot for it. And you have the incredible opportunity to become a Top Talent Spotter if you spot talent before it's discovered by other people. Pretty cool, in my opinion.
Quiet Laughter. Musings and stories on blurred cultural boundaries.
I've heard of Authonomy, but I haven't checked it out. It seems what they've done is make the slushpile public. Which is clever, from their point of view, but I don't know how helpful it is to writers trying to get their work considered. Have there been any great success stories from Authonomy yet, do you know?
ReplyDeleteHey Jen :) Well, Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt) says:
ReplyDeleteTitles which have emerged from authonomy include Miranda Dickinson's Fairytale of New York, which reached number 9 in the Sunday Times bestseller lists, Steve Dunne[disambiguation needed ]'s The Reaper and Never Say Die, co-authored by Melanie Davis and Lynne Barrett-Lee. A number of agents and publishers have been circling authonomy and HarperCollins claim that 20 more books have been picked up by other publishers and agents.[3][6] On the other hand, another title that appeared on the site (David Kessler's Mercy) did not progress through the site's reader ratings but was subsequently picked up by the Avon division of HarperCollins UK after it was sent to them by an agent with no connection to authonomy.[7]
This is the link to the whole Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authonomy
Not sure how valuable that is... It's worth a try, I guess, since there's really no risk I can see right now. What do you think?
Hm, no, I haven't heard of it before. Doesn't seem to be very advertised. But maybe that's just my lack of good research showing...
ReplyDelete- Nick @ Whispers