Adieu Authonomy
For those not familiar with Authonomy here's the run-down- it was the brainchild of HarperCollins, where authors could showcase their work in return for a critique at the end of the month. The catch was you had to somehow race to the top 5.
Needless to say in order to get there authors had to rate each other's books. When I started with Authonomy which was maybe four or five years ago (Wow my fledgling writing career is 5 years old - yay)- okay to the point. Authonomy in the beginning was a lot about what it said it was. They did the critique work well, members gave feedback, the authors were all interested in reading and reviewing work.
Somewhere down the years things changed. The authors started flooding the message box with a 'you scratch my back- I'll scratch yours' attitude in a race to the top. Everybody's goal was to reach the top 5. It brought out the worst I've seen in writers. I won't comment on the ranking system, because I didn't pay much attention to it. Taking note of the chaos, Scott Pack arrived on the scene in 2009. He did some great things with the site. The blog material was fantastic and well planned. It was educative, the authors that came there were hand-picked and I remember reading Rachel Lucas' interview about her book Sealed with a kiss.
Meanwhile they published a few books, I distinctly remember The Qualities of Wood
In a couple of years time they redid the website, the deadwood of members was removed. The site itself had undergone a revamp which was fab. The behind the scenes staff was awesome. Despite rumours, I have no idea what the endgame was supposed to be, because there were great stories on the site. HC didn't pick them up or even them into ebooks. Gradually The quality of the slush-pile diminIshed. Original members started leaving and in the end this year the site shut down for good.
For what its worth, the site could have done well, with social marketing, advertising partners, ridding the ranking system and opening it up so agents and editors, had they made that possible and weekly reviews. After all they wanted the world to discover new writers. People love reading and their moods influence their choice, who knows what an editor or agent might like- as it happened for David Kessler. All in all when they did shut shop, they had some vague reason to do so. No skilled explanation, nothing. I feel sorry for Scott Pack, because he was very passionate about it during his blog posts. Authonomy could have even become an Amazon of ebooks- but alas......
For now let me just share my gratitude for the site that helped thousands of writers and giving new authors like me an opportunity to learn and hone the craft. Adieu Authonomy!
Needless to say in order to get there authors had to rate each other's books. When I started with Authonomy which was maybe four or five years ago (Wow my fledgling writing career is 5 years old - yay)- okay to the point. Authonomy in the beginning was a lot about what it said it was. They did the critique work well, members gave feedback, the authors were all interested in reading and reviewing work.
Somewhere down the years things changed. The authors started flooding the message box with a 'you scratch my back- I'll scratch yours' attitude in a race to the top. Everybody's goal was to reach the top 5. It brought out the worst I've seen in writers. I won't comment on the ranking system, because I didn't pay much attention to it. Taking note of the chaos, Scott Pack arrived on the scene in 2009. He did some great things with the site. The blog material was fantastic and well planned. It was educative, the authors that came there were hand-picked and I remember reading Rachel Lucas' interview about her book Sealed with a kiss.
Meanwhile they published a few books, I distinctly remember The Qualities of Wood
In a couple of years time they redid the website, the deadwood of members was removed. The site itself had undergone a revamp which was fab. The behind the scenes staff was awesome. Despite rumours, I have no idea what the endgame was supposed to be, because there were great stories on the site. HC didn't pick them up or even them into ebooks. Gradually The quality of the slush-pile diminIshed. Original members started leaving and in the end this year the site shut down for good.
For what its worth, the site could have done well, with social marketing, advertising partners, ridding the ranking system and opening it up so agents and editors, had they made that possible and weekly reviews. After all they wanted the world to discover new writers. People love reading and their moods influence their choice, who knows what an editor or agent might like- as it happened for David Kessler. All in all when they did shut shop, they had some vague reason to do so. No skilled explanation, nothing. I feel sorry for Scott Pack, because he was very passionate about it during his blog posts. Authonomy could have even become an Amazon of ebooks- but alas......
For now let me just share my gratitude for the site that helped thousands of writers and giving new authors like me an opportunity to learn and hone the craft. Adieu Authonomy!
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