A New Way to Get Your Novel Noticed at HarperCollins
I've just placed my 19th-century historical novel Blind Man, Preacher Man on the HarperCollins authonomy website.
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The following quotes are taken from the authonomy Home Page and FAQs page:
authonomy is a brand new community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. We want to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around - we’re glad you stopped by.
If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face - and show off your work on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy community.
authonomy invites unpublished and self published authors to post their manuscripts for visitors to read online. Authors create their own personal page on the site to host their project - and must make at least 10,000 words available for the public to read.
Visitors to authonomy can comment on these submissions - and can personally recommend their favourites to the community. authonomy counts the number of recommendations each book receives, and uses it to rank the books on the site. It also spots which visitors consistently recommend the best books - and uses that info to rank the most influential trend spotters.
We hope the authonomy community will guide publishers straight to the freshest writing talent - and will give passionate and thoughtful readers a real chance to influence what’s on our shelves.
Will HarperCollins be reading my work?
Once a month we’ll be pulling out the top five books from the Editor’s Desk Chart, and passing them on to our Editorial Board. HC editors will read from the first 10,000 words of each manuscript, and will feed back their comments to the appropriate authors, who will be able to decide whether or not to make these comments available to the community at large.
Will HarperCollins be publishing books from authonomy?
We’ve set up authonomy in the hope of finding new authors for our various publishing lists, so we’ll certainly be looking for promising books - as will other publishing houses and agents.
We only buy books we really believe in - as such, we’re not guaranteeing to publish anything submitted to us. In this way, you can be sure that any books picked off authonomy will have been chosen because we really love them.
The terms of any publication deals arising from the site would be negotiated as and when such opportunities arise - there is no fixed ‘boiler-plate’ offer specifically for authors who come to our attention via the site.
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And this quote is taken from their blog:
WEDNESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2009
Here at authonomy, we always hoped that our site would help people get spotted and get published, and today we’re really pleased to pass on the news of several publishing contracts coming through.
We’re fit to bursting with pride: not one but three different authonomy authors have been signed up to HarperCollins. Each one has a very different story to tell of the journey to acquisition, which we hope is an encouraging sign. World rights have been acquired in all three cases.
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The logline for my book Blind Man, Preacher Man is:
In brawling, sprawling 19th-century America, a blind Wild West show trickshooter must square accounts with a resurrected traveling evangelist who swindled the woman he loved.
Should you care to take a look at it, just click here.
And should you decide to post your own book, do let me know in the comments to this post.
# # #
The following quotes are taken from the authonomy Home Page and FAQs page:
authonomy is a brand new community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. We want to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around - we’re glad you stopped by.
If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face - and show off your work on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy community.
authonomy invites unpublished and self published authors to post their manuscripts for visitors to read online. Authors create their own personal page on the site to host their project - and must make at least 10,000 words available for the public to read.
Visitors to authonomy can comment on these submissions - and can personally recommend their favourites to the community. authonomy counts the number of recommendations each book receives, and uses it to rank the books on the site. It also spots which visitors consistently recommend the best books - and uses that info to rank the most influential trend spotters.
We hope the authonomy community will guide publishers straight to the freshest writing talent - and will give passionate and thoughtful readers a real chance to influence what’s on our shelves.
Will HarperCollins be reading my work?
Once a month we’ll be pulling out the top five books from the Editor’s Desk Chart, and passing them on to our Editorial Board. HC editors will read from the first 10,000 words of each manuscript, and will feed back their comments to the appropriate authors, who will be able to decide whether or not to make these comments available to the community at large.
Will HarperCollins be publishing books from authonomy?
We’ve set up authonomy in the hope of finding new authors for our various publishing lists, so we’ll certainly be looking for promising books - as will other publishing houses and agents.
We only buy books we really believe in - as such, we’re not guaranteeing to publish anything submitted to us. In this way, you can be sure that any books picked off authonomy will have been chosen because we really love them.
The terms of any publication deals arising from the site would be negotiated as and when such opportunities arise - there is no fixed ‘boiler-plate’ offer specifically for authors who come to our attention via the site.
# # #
And this quote is taken from their blog:
WEDNESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2009
Here at authonomy, we always hoped that our site would help people get spotted and get published, and today we’re really pleased to pass on the news of several publishing contracts coming through.
We’re fit to bursting with pride: not one but three different authonomy authors have been signed up to HarperCollins. Each one has a very different story to tell of the journey to acquisition, which we hope is an encouraging sign. World rights have been acquired in all three cases.
# # #
The logline for my book Blind Man, Preacher Man is:
In brawling, sprawling 19th-century America, a blind Wild West show trickshooter must square accounts with a resurrected traveling evangelist who swindled the woman he loved.
Should you care to take a look at it, just click here.
And should you decide to post your own book, do let me know in the comments to this post.