Authonomy

[Lorna]

I've recently been doing some research into publishers and have come upon an interesting site set up by Harper Collins called Authonomy- authonomy writing community - Helping writers get published

The basis of it seems to be to provide an alternative to the usual 'slush pile' process to allow authors to post their novels- 25 word short pitch, 200 word long pitch and a minimum of 10,000 words on the site to be rated by fellow members. The books with the best ratings make the editor's desk.

Has anybody used this site? What are your opinions?

[Butterfly]

Never used them, and I've avoided them, because from what I've heard, they can be a tad bitchy in their critiques over there. It's supposed to be down to the competitive element. Some will try to boost their own ratings by deliberately giving unwarranted low ratings to others thereby pushing themselves closer to the 'prize.'

I'm not certain how true that is though.

I have been at http://www.youwriteon.com/ though. Sounds similar to what you describe but is by Random House and Orion, and also has a sister site to self-publish at http://www.feedaread.com/

You'll see members there who use both, and several complaints about the others. Also, at YWO the message boards are not moderated, so it means that arguments go on for weeks, and can get nasty.

You could try one or the other, or both. See which you prefer, but go in with a thick skin, and a large pinch of salt.

[Ghost]

It seems like a huge time commitment for little reward. I don't like the idea of playing games or begging to get ahead. It doesn't sound like they've published many authors through Authonomy.

[Rikilamaro]

I shy away from sties like that because deep down - people are jerks. I understand the drive to succeed, adn the desperation that can come from having your deam thwarted time and again. However, I am also of the opinion that you don't have to put down someone else's attempt at the same dream just to get ahead. So I would suggest you do as Butterfly suggested - try it if you wish, but be prepared for meanies.

[ALB2012]

I used it a few months past, when my book was in the planning. What can I say? It is a lot of "If you review mine I will review yours." Your site email is full of that and people obsessed by being number 1. Personally I would be unlikely to read or review a book in a genre I don't especially like just for someone I don't know to read mine.

It is useful to an extent with comments but there often quite a few that are harsh (deserved or otherwise). As with a lot of review forums they do like to flame.

I believe if you get the the "top ten" their publishers may look at you. I suppose that depends on how much time you want to spend spamming people to read it.

The thing I found most annoying is you can only keep 5 books on your shelf and they start accruing points after 24 hours on a shelf. People used to leave up a book for a day or so then drop it and pick the next one. Again that was "you back mine I back yours." I think a lot of it is ow pushy you are.

[Lorna]

Hmm, overall looks like a bad idea. I don't like the sound of the 'chumming up' aspect. I think alot of time and effort that could be spent writing / researching / reading could be wasted being involved with something like this.

[The Dark One]

From what I gather it's the standard publishing Darwinian struggle but without the literary merit.

Last man standing gets published, but who on earth is going to buy it?

[ALB2012]

There were some good books on there but there are better forums in my opinion. If you can ignore the "you review/back my book about peaches and I will back/review your book about plums" it is not horrendous but not great. I ended up going on everyday to see if my book had risen then decided it was too much hassle.

[MichaelSullivan]

I "tried" it early on, but like others found it just not worth the time and effort.