Authonomy (calling all budding authors)

Here's an interesting website for all the budding novelists out there.

http://www.authonomy.com

It's a website by HarperCollins.

You basically put up some sample chapters of your novel on your own page there and the community of writers, readers, agents, whoever, etc can rate your book, add comments, etc.

Don't worry. It's not like those crappy rating sites where the person with the most votes wins.

The people who rate your book (called Talent Spotters) also get ranked, depending on what books they rate. If a book they back does well (or gets published) they get ranked higher.
The homepage shows the top 5 Talent Spotters which in turn gives them mass exposure of their own books.

THE BEST BIT...
At the end of very month, HarperCollins' editors read the 5 most popular books, in the hope that some of them will be absolute gems. If so, they'll publish them properly.

Good thing is, they've put a cheat-stop in place. i.e. If an author gets to be high rated because of the most mates, but his manscript doesn't live up to the ranking, it'll be filed under B! (Bin)
So the most mates brigade never win here.

Hmmm. That does sound rather interesting.

I really thought it was going to cost money, but is free. Good.

Yep. Deffo free.

Best to read the FAQ to get all the info, but it does sound like publishers are looking to find talent online.

What's yours called Mikey, I couldn't spot it?

Cheers Mikey, forgot about this and was going to do it.

Will echo Mark's comment - what's yours called?

there was a bloke on radio manchester before who got a two book deal by self publishing and then posting it on this website. Cajn't remember his name but the book was called 'reaper'

What's yours called Mikey, I couldn't spot it?

You can take a peek here:

*** EDIT ********
Book taken down.

there was a bloke on radio manchester before who got a two book deal by self publishing and then posting it on this website. Cajn't remember his name but the book was called 'reaper'

That's right, yes. There's an aticle about him on the site.

I do believe he got noticed by HC even though his book failed to reach the top 5.

Has anyone else tried this yet?

"Occupied - Mikey Jackson

In a not too distant future, England is in turmoil.

The Government has fallen, the US Army has taken over control and terrorist attacks by pro-English activists on their own soil are rife.

Cain has kept his head down for so long, but when he is accused of a major bombing in Central London, he is forced to go on the run to hunt down the real perpetrators and clear his name.

He is led once again into the seedy underbelly of the city's Leisure Zone; State-owned bars, casinos and brothels, where he is reluctantly reunited with the militant group he tried so hard to keep away from.

And when a high-class prostitute is brutally murdered and all fingers point to him, Cain realises that somebody out there is toying with him, setting him up and tracking his every move."

Your book sounds awesome Mikey!

Wow, thank you.

There are sample chapters (the first 13) available to read there. You need to register with the website to view it though.

Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 15 2009, 6:12 PM BST

Has anyone else tried this yet?

View original

yes I tried and the site had problems, I'll try again.
I was just able to register but is it for books already published? You have to upload the cover of the book

Yeah, the site has had a lot of server problems of late.

Those "covers" are just for decoration purposes. It has to be an 80 x 120 pixel image.
I just knocked mine up in 10 minutes... and it shows.

I guess many of the books there are self-published. None of them are actually properly published.

Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 18 2009, 12:39 AM BST

Yeah, the site has had a lot of server problems of late.

Those "covers" are just for decoration purposes. It has to be an 80 x 120 pixel image.
I just knocked mine up in 10 minutes... and it shows.

I guess many of the books there are self-published. None of them are actually properly published.

View original

I'll have another try. Do people put up opening chapters or is it only the full monty.

There's a mininum of 10,000 words.

Some people only put up their first few chapters, while others put up a whole book.

It says on their book page whether or not it's complete, and the word count.

I've got my first 13 chapters up.... coz that's where I've got up to.
I probably won't put any more up.

To read a book, you simply click through to a book page and click on Read This Book.

And there's no issues with potential agents/publishers/blah worrying about looking at 'previously published' work? (as the whole book or a large partial will have been online.)