HarperCollins has started a website called authonomy.com that I thought everyone here would be interested in. Here's what they have to say about it:
authonomy invites unpublished and self published authors to post their manuscripts for visitors to read online.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.
For every reader who puts your novel on their "Bookshelf," your rank goes up. And the top five novels each month will be sent to the editors at HarperCollins for review. Check out my novel, The Broken Places , here:
http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=2454
And if you like what you read, sign up and put me on your bookshelf! Thanks!
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Write hard and clear about what hurts.
-Ernest Hemingway
50,421 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2008 - 16 51
I am going to check your's out when I have time.
http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=2690
my book which I have been hawking to agents for a while, title 'The Transit'
83,847 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2008 - 18 17
This is great! Thanks for sharing. I'll be reading both of your selections, and perhaps posting my own once I get something edited and presentable... :)
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2006: Untitled YA novel unfinished at 16,368
2007: Afterwords Cafe ended at 53,643.
2008: Discovering Eleanor... Still trucking.
50,421 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2008 - 12 34
I sure hope mine is presentable. At least so far, agents have not be saying bad things about it, other then one saying she felt my sample had a bad balance between action and dialogue, but I was able to learn from that and reapply it to my editing.
5,799 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2008 - 19 27
I've put you on my watchlist to read when I have time. Good luck, Coryashire!
----------Write hard and clear about what hurts.
-Ernest Hemingway
50,421 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2008 - 20 19
returned the favor... I think this will help wile away the hours, reading nano'rs writings as we still are what, 23 days to nano?
69,835 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2008 - 14 38
That's awesome! I didn't know Harper Collins had that, I will definately have to sign up for an account there. I put your book on my watch list. Thanks for putting the link up!
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Nano 2005-Coloring Outside The Lines...WON!
Nano 2006-Paper Hearts Have Strings...WON!
Nano 2007-The Elite...WON!
Nano 2008-Secrets...0/50,000
50,013 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2008 - 12 40
This sounds like a cool idea and all, but one question. Does posting your novel there hurt your chances in any way of getting that novel published? In other words, does posting it there give Authonomy any kind of rights? If it doesn't then I'm in.
5,799 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 21 11
padfoot7726,
Here's what the authonomy FAQ says:
What rights do I give up by submitting to authonomy? None. You will have to grant us a very specific licence to display the book on the authonomy site, but that’s it. We won’t ask for a ‘first option’ to publish or take away any of your rights of ownership, and you can continue to submit to publishers and agents by other methods.
Good luck on your book if you decide to sign up. :)
----------Write hard and clear about what hurts.
-Ernest Hemingway
50,116 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 06 42
Neat! Thanks for the link!
----------http://indyhermit.blogspot.com
http://tracesofgeek.blogspot.com
39,700 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 18 22
Here's an opinion on Authonomy from Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/09/victoria-strauss-authonomy-slushki...
3,012 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2008 - 03 21
sounds very cool. thanks for the link.
1,510 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2008 - 16 21
I'm on authonomy and it's a good place for critiques, a great online writers' group. I don't expect to be published, but it's good to get feedback and chat with other people. There is a thread on nanowrite in forum
Myself: http://www.authonomy.com/Profile.aspx
Nanowrimo http://www.authonomy.com/Forum/Posts.aspx?threadId=5715
41,315 / 50,000
Nov 19, 2008 - 19 41
Interesting. I might upload one of my books and see how it goes. Can't see that it would hurt.
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Blog
50,144 / 50,000
Nov 21, 2008 - 09 41
Yeah, just want an author wants....a website where his stuff can be read for free which anyone can then download and do with what they want.
Yeah, that's a wonderful idea.
If you have anything you want to get published you should guard that thing like the Ark of the Covenant. It's not wise to splash it all over the internet, in fact most publishers would tell you specifically not do this...funny that Harper wants you to.
52,909 / 50,000
Nov 22, 2008 - 00 39
Yeah, that's a wonderful idea.
If you have anything you want to get published you should guard that thing like the Ark of the Covenant. It's not wise to splash it all over the internet, in fact most publishers would tell you specifically not do this...funny that Harper wants you to.
You'll note that they don't insist on you revealing the whole book, just 10,000 words minimum.
This is more than enough to reveal the incompetents.
Anyway, this isn't a new idea. Other publishers have tried. Either damn few of us are good enough to attract a publisher (always a strong possibility) or this approach doesn't do a good job of picking out the publishable work.
And I might be in another group: a decent writer who isn't writing something that's popular enough to be worth publishing.
This is being watched with some wariness. But not because you risk losing the rights to your work.