My new Authonomy addiction

Have you heard of Authonomy? It’s a website created by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom. Authors can post 10,000 words or more of works in progress or completed books. I decided to try it, and am in the early stages of addiction.

There are books of every genre, both fiction and non-fiction. You can search by keyword, and there are sub-categories of listings organized by genre that you can browse.

How it works

There are bookshelves on each member’s page. If you “back” an author’s book, it goes on your bookshelf (members call it “shelving”), and he/she gets a credit that can raise their book in the rankings. Rankings have a payoff—possible publication.

At the end of each month, the top 5 books on the site’s collective bookshelves have their first 10,000 words reviewed by HarperCollins editors. And a few publishing contracts have been awarded. This is not a quick process—it can take several months to reach the top 5.

There’s good writing on Authonomy, so it can be fun, and you can comment on the books you sample (if you’re registered). From what I’ve seen, comments are generally positive and/or helpful. It’s a great way to get fresh eyes for your novel. To be honest, there’s also writing you can feel superior to. But give those writers credit—they’re putting it out there, and working on their craft.

In addition to the writing, there’s a social side. You can “friend” writers, which may ultimately help your book rise in the ratings because friends see the activity of friends. If yours back your book, their friends learn about it, and word can spread virally. You can also leave messages for authors, too.

There are those who are working the system to try to increase their book’s ranking. One that I think of as a butterfly is a woman who “shelved” my kitty-cat. She adds several books a day to her shelf, which can hold only 5, so hers come and go at a rapid rate. I’m not interested in doing that, and hope my book will rise on its merits.

You have to pitch your book

It’s good practice on the marketing side of being a novelist, too. You have to make up a “short pitch” using no more than 25 words, and a 200-word full pitch. This takes discipline. Here’s my short pitch for The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles:

In this chuckle-out-loud satire/fantasy for cat lovers and vampire novel for people who dislike vampire novels, a newly undead tomcat struggles to find a life.

And then my full pitch:

It's never pleasant when a vampire sucks out most of your life and leaves you for dead. It's even more unpleasant when you don't die and you learn that you're now a vampire.

So what does a new vampire do, especially if you are a calico tomcat who was just on the way to hook up with a seductive Siamese when a starving vampire turned you into breakfast? You decide on revenge, and you’re plunged into the vampire underground of Bloomburg, Illinois.

But your attacker is a victim too, and she becomes your new associate. She runs for city council to fight for vampire rights, with you as her running mate.

In the process, you are almost skewered with a wooden stake by a mob with blazing torches, tried for murder, nearly crunched by a seven-foot undead guy, almost shotgunned into undead pieces, come inches from having your tail cut off and seconds from being fried by the sun, and kidnapped twice.

Oh, yeah, and almost turned into a (shudder) politician. And you’ve just gotten started.

As it turns out, life doesn't get any easier when you're dead.

If you have the skills, you can create a cover for your book. Tip: make sure the title is readable small. This is mine, at the size you have to work with.

The addiction

Here’s where the addiction part comes in: when a person comments on your book, you get an email. My book soon started getting comments, and suddenly I was checking my email every couple of hours, hoping for yet another one, and then going to the website to see if my book had risen in the ranks. It rose very rapidly in the first week (over 1500 rankings), perhaps due to comments like these (although it has slowed this week):

“Had to wait until I stopped laughing before I could make these comments. Pure comic genius. . .”

“I so enjoy this, I think I'll be reading it to my German shepherd tonight at bedtime. It could give him nightmares, though.”

“Bwahahaha! This is great! I'll be picking this up and reading it often. Sometimes a person needs a little laughter.”

“How much fun is this? Just the right balance of... well... everything. Love it. If I could write like this I'd be rich. Or perhaps changing my name to Terry Pratchett. Or Ray.”

I confess that I had to look Terry Pratchett up. Turns out this is high praise: Sir Terence David John Pratchett is a contemporary British author known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre.
Things I hope will come of your reading this post

1. You check Authonomy out. Interesting, and entertaining. http://authonomy.com/
2. Check out my novel—you can just do a search for my last name, Rhamey, and you’ll find a link.
3. If you like what you see, please register and then back my book—after all, I’d like to end up in that top 5 for an editorial review. I’d consider it a great favor.
4. Post your work and see what happens. If you do, look me up and let me know so I can check out your stuff.
   

Caution: there may not be a cure.

For what it’s worth.

Ray

ARCHIVES

Comments

[Sheila]

Curse you, Ray! What I don't need is another distraction, so I'm going right over.

Thanks for sharing.

[Kami]

I hope that works for you! I'm interested to see how you do.

Victoria Strauss had this to say about it: http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/09/victoria-strauss-authonomy-slushkiller.html

Nothing bad, just curious like me, and cautious.

[Jess]

I've shied away from it because I've heard the authors there can be cult-like, and I don't need that sort of atmostphere.

However, I want to caution you, Ray - a tomcat shouldn't be a calico. While it can happen, it's extremely rare - unless that's what you're going for and play off it, but reading your blurb it raised a red flag for me.

[Alan Hutcheson]

Ray,

I was one of the early Authonomy members and I agree, it is easy to get caught up in the whole thing. The positives you mention are certainly there but you do have to be willing to accept that the ranking part of the place has become very much an American Idol type of competition in which the contestants are the ones doing the voting. And making the "Editors' Desk" is no guarantee of anything, either for the writer or his/her audience. Some books have risen strictly on skillful networking. The very few writers who have been signed by H/C did it without seeing their work rise to the top rankings.

If H/C ever figures out how to attract disinterested readers (like American Idol attracts viewers who are not all related to or beholden to the contestants) to the site the ranking function may have more validity. Until then it is a good place to chat with other writers, benefit from the occasional well-informed critique, and sharpen your own skills by honestly examining the works of others.

Is it worth the time required to make a splash there? That's the question.

Alan

[Kathy]

I've read that posting your work on a public site like this could be interpreted as publishing it.

[Ray Rhamey]

Kathy,that's not really a worry. Go to the post Kami recommends above or past this link in to go: http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/09/victoria-strauss-authonomy-slushkiller.html

Thanks for the note, though.

Ray

[Lexi Revellian]

Ray, when the site has recovered from Vineet's attempt to climb to the top without the nuisance of getting anyone to read his book, I will check out The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles.

Vampires AND cats, how can it fail?

[L.C. Gant]

Ray,
I don't know if you've heard about this yet, but literary agent Nathan Bransford posted on his blog today about a gamer named Klazart who has been overloading the site with all of his/her followers. Here's the link: http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/03/authonomy-possibly-hilariously-hacked.html

Any thoughts on this? Do you think this is the beginning of a trend, and if so, will it discourage you from using the site in the future?

Just curious. Love your blog. Keep up the great work!

[Ray Rhamey]

I checked out the guy's video that started the whole thing, and I don't believe that there was any malicious intent. He did a version of what I did, which was to announce that he had work posted there. He was more focused in asking people to go there and back his book, but he has a much larger audience than I do. Sure, it could happen again, but then that's the Internet for you. I was told by someone that the writers who have gotten contracts weren't discovered by making it to the top of the list. Editors probably visit the site and check out newcomers.

[Haarlson Phillipps]

Good post, though surprised you did not know who Terry Pratchett is - his Discworld series is a phenomenon in the UK. Glad too you likened Klazart's YouTubing to your own plug. He really has rocked the boat - but no bad thing IMO. Anyway, I thought you might be interested to read my post about Flogging the Quill at cluelessink.blogspot.com/2009/03/flogometer.html
Regards

[David Wisehart]

Thanks for letting us know about this. I checked out the sight. Very interesting. I am seriously thinking about posting my novel there in the next few days. I'll give yours a read soon, too.