Authonomy

www.authonomy.com

Authonomy is a website owned and operated by the publishers HarperCollins. The idea is that aspiring writers upload their books, complete or otherwise, for everyone to read and review. If you like a book then you can back it, this pushes the book up the rankings. If you show a talent for backing books that later climb high in the rankings, your talent spotter rating increases. The higher your talent spotter ranking, the more effect your support has. The books that finish in the top 5 every month get at least 10,000 words reviewed by HarperCollins editors.

I think this is a great idea and the site is well produced and managed. I put my book Hiding on the site and got some very kind and supportive comments. However the comments I got were very brief and the reviewers had obviously read only the first chapter. (Maybe my first chapter needs to be more engaging.) I got a hundred times more from my online writing group The Novel Writers. After a few weeks of obsessively watching Hiding crawl up the chart and doing my best to conscientiously review others’ work, supplying honest and constructive comments, I decided to take my book off. I was falling too far behind and the constant ‘back me and I’ll back you’ messages made me cynical. I also realised that the time and effort I’d have to put in to get to the top of the chart could be better spent writing new stuff. A review by professional editors isn't a big enough incentive for me.

I hope the person at HarperCollins who thought of this got a big bonus. It’s a good way to get a few thousand keen writers to submit their stuff to you, then have them all sort through the slush pile. The books that get to the top are either good, or have writers who are good at promoting their work.

Although I still visit the site and read the many helpful and interesting articles, I am now a silent member.