Juiced On Writing

authonomy (note the italics and lower “a”) is a website from HarperCollins which promises some interesting dynamics. Part social network, part self-publishing (on the net), the site is setup to let authors publish their manuscripts onto the web, and have these rated by, commented on and read by the authonomy community.

There are over 100 books already published on authonomy, some with good ratings, others not. The books do not need to be complete to be published onsite, also. There is also a forum, where threads discuss everything from technical questions on using the website, to author questions, and basic Writing dicussions.

But what might be in it for the author contemplating publishing onto a website like this? Other than the feedback from other readers? HarperCollins suggest that community members can use the site to build profiles in championing the latest and best reads, by featuring your five favourites from the authonomy site on your virtual bookshelf. But for writers, they have another promise -

From the FAQ question asking How They might Make Money, HarpersCollings says this -

HarperCollins hopes to find new, talented writers we can sign up for our traditional book publishing programmes – once we’re fully launched we’ll be reading the most popular manuscripts each month as part of this search.

With NaNoWriMo shortly commencing for the year, I would suggest that many novels may find their way onto the authonomy website in the hope to secure popularity and possible publishing without having to navigate through the normal agent-publisher channels.

As an aside, NaNoWriMo this year has introduced a feature for participating members where they can put up mock coverart for their NoWri novel. authonomy books already have these cover images.

Link : authonomy

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