This week! The publishing!
The publishing business is in the doldrums, but there’s still gold in some of them thar hills. The New York Times examines the business of author websites, and Amazon’s sales rose 18%.
And speaking of booming business, this week’s “Self-publishing is the wave of the future” article is brought to you by, who else, the New York Times, who looks at the booming biz of POD. Motoko Rich begins with the ominous words, “The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them,” for which I hope she paid Sean Lindsay a royalty.
This week in celebrity publishing news: Molly Ringwald. Yup.
HarperCollins has built quite a following behind its new site Authonomy, whose devotees are so rabid they make English football fans look like well-behaved choir boys. Anyway, Harper announced that they had given three book deals to authors they found on Authonomy. Meanwhile, one of the devotees of the site, Alexander McNabb, posted a great rundown on his experiences and thoughts on its future. (thanks to C. Michael Hall for the link).
An aside: what’s most interesting to me about Authonomy is how thoroughly populated it is with people who grew tired of the “gatekeeping” system of publishing and networking. So they upload their manuscripts, then participate in a Darwinian system of elimination and calculated networking that would make Machiavelli blush, all in the hopes of making it to the editor’s desk and hopefully pleasing Harper’s…. gatekeepers. Also: just pointing this out will spawn a thousand e-mails, outraged anonymous comments, and message board threads. I’m telling you, these people are intense. (I kid, Authonomaniacs! I kid! I hear it’s fun and you get good feedback! Please don’t burn my virtual image in effigy!)
In depressing news: the Washington Post Book World will no longer be a standalone book section and layoffs at Publishers Weekly.
And finally, our first page contest ended a year ago now and…… people are still entering.
Have a great weekend!
Trashy Cowgirl says
Scott,
Will have to watch for you in the forums. I know the atmosphere is fairly British at times. I have a ms about rodeo, I am painfully aware of it.
As for giving crit, I struggle to find the time to do it, but I find that everytime I take apart someone else’s work, I learn more about my own. I read a sentence that sounds funny, then I have to try and figure out why. After I do that I discover a million places where I have done the same thing.
I never realized how awful my writing was, until I jumped into the slush on Autho.
Good luck with the queries.
Ink says
Trashy (that’s still fun to say… I admit it, I’m easily amused)
I can handle footnotes. Infinite Jest was a seminal book for me when I was eighteen. And them’s some footnotes, let me tell you. 🙂 I just couldn’t get into Barney’s Version. Just seemed dull and the voice didn’t engage me. But everyone tells me Richler is funny, so I may give him a try again some day…
As for Authonomy… it’s not for me, but I’m happy it works for some people. But, I did think I should mention that there’s lots of other good places online to get critical feedback. For example, I hang out at an online community called Forward Motion for Writers. It’s got eleven or twelve thousand members, an online mag on writing, dozens of forums and classes and writing prompts and challenges. Live chat rooms, crit areas, places to hook up for novel swaps (critques), and it hosts dozens (hundreds?) of different online writing groups. And it’s free, with no strings attached. No ulterior motives, just a supportive community that does without flamewars. No games to play, just honest writing comradeship.
So, if you love getting honest feedback from writers but get tired of the gamesmanship and infighting… there are other options, even if you’re somewhere isolated.
Whatever happens, best of luck!
Bryan Russell
BarbS. says
Erg, just what the industry needs: more layoffs. More people out of work–and probably staying connected to writing by blogging.
Depressing…the layoffs, not the blogging!
Sorry. I’ve just mucked out (again). Tough to do, when you’re allergic to hay, tee-hee…
Anne Lyken-Garner says
Well, my brain will ignite if I read all of these comments, (I suspect that you’ve probably stopped reading them yourself) so I’m sure someone else have said what I’m about to.
I’ve been on Authonomy since last May. Back then you had to be exclusively *invited* to be able to sign up – at least that’s what I was told.
I don’t think I’ll ever get on the Editor’s desk. I don’t spend enough time marketing my book AND I write non-fiction – not the kind of thing HC prefers to populate the earth with.
Besides, my writing-for-pay work, sometimes gets in the way of spending those hours on the Authonomy forums.
Authonomy has its values, and I’ve never regretted joining up. I may never be contacted by HC, but my book is a whole lot better *because* it’s been there. Fellow writers have put in hours of reading and suggesting edits – for free!
I will say to anyone who wants to join. If you’re there just to get on the desk and be read by HC, you’ll have to put your marketing hat on. However, if you just want to improve your book and make it the best it could be before sending it out to publishers, (and meet some very nice people) it’s the place to be.
Anne
Trashy Cowgirl says
Ink (Bryan),
I think Barney’s Version is much more enjoyable for the die-hard fans, because it was like watcing thesignature type characters come full circle, sort of put a cap on his body of work.
Thanks for the tip. I am always excited to learn about new places to improve my work.
And, I have a confession. I’m not really that trashy (don’t tell anyone) it was sort of a joke in response to Nathan’s “Trash” post. But, you may feel free to call me Trashy as you seem to enjoy it so much.
Good luck!
denese says
Have you been to Open Salon lately? (OpenSalon.com) It is a community of very prolific writers, many very good, and most very supportive of the attempts of the rest of us. A number of published authors have accounts there. And yes, posts are rated by other readers, and there are “Editor’s Pick” selections, and now pick of the day selections. As an added bonus, Joan Walsh is the Editor in Chief at Salon, and I think she’s a super talent.
other lisa says
I formed a small online writers’ group out of getting spammed to join some huge “writers’ workshop” – I was curious enough to see what it was, discovered it was an enterprising fellow’s come on to get you to sign up for fee-based classes and such, asked if anyone there was interested in novels and got a few hits. A lot of trial and error followed. Two current members found the group – it’s private but apparently listed in the Yahoo registry – and we recruited a few others.
I have another group of writer friends who found each other through a different social networking site.
So if you’re out in the wilderness, you can find critique groups. I imagine within Authonomy that you could find helpful critique partners. I’ve looked at the site a little and there are some good people there and some interesting stuff.
Me, I wouldn’t go that route because I would not be comfortable posting WIP in such a public forum, and the “game” aspect of it – having participated in one such online contest two years ago, I vowed I would never do it again.
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
Re: “But, you may feel free to call me Trashy as you seem to enjoy it so much.”
How about Trashi, with an “i” – sort of a mix of Tricia and Tracy. I think of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” – “A Girl Named Trashi.”
P.S. Just looking up on Google, “A Boy Named Sue” was written by none other than Shel Silverstein – children’s author.
Marilyn Peake says
I noticed that several Authonomy authors have received publishing contracts from Harper Collins, but I can’t find any information online about advances they might have received. Does anyone know the amount of their advances, or if they even received advances? I belong to several writers’ groups in which members have landed contracts with both literary agents and large publishing houses and have received significant advances. I was wondering how Authonomy might compare.
BarbS. says
I think my Mac has saved me from Authonomy. I was going to participate, hoping it would be a good exercise in focus, but I can’t upload the formats the site requires.
Oh well. If Auth. is really a thinly disquised HC (Avon) FanLit thing, I’ll gladly walk away and create my onster elsewhere, LOL. At least writing the short and long pitches was worth the effort. I think it solidified the story and gave me decent stuff for a query.
BarbS. says
DUH… make that Monster…
Wordver: nessepu. Why the Loch Ness Monster is so darned hard to housebreak.
Patty says
I have just written a blog post about my experience at Authonomy:
https://pattyjansen.blogspot.com/2009/02/authonomy-experience.html
Anonymous says
@Sandra- Realms of Fantasy closed? Nooooooo -> infinity ->! [unearthly howl] I LOVED that magazine! I don't even read fantasy that much anymore(save Terry Pratchett), but that was a piece of my youth. Dang it, I almost feel like a relative I'd been out of touch with died. I feel guilty, like maybe I should have written, sent flowers on its birthday and such. Grrrahhh rage. Thanks for letting us know, though. I have some weeping to do.
-Matt
Elyse says
I’ve read the work in question at Authonomy, I’ve read the review and I’ve read some of the comments generated by the review.
I can see the critique was badly worded. The impression given – and meant to be given, I believe – is that the author got to the top 5 by winning a popularity contest and now the editor resents having to read the work.
In other words, their system isn’t working the way they thought it would and they’re disappointed with what is ending up at the top.
(Aside: I wonder if the books signed were from the top rankings? And if not, why bother with Authonomy at all? If you’re not going to use the slush to weed the slush for you, then why develop such a system? Thoughts to ponder.)
One of the points I did want to make is that there seems to be a recurring theme of indignation in the commentary of supporters for this author along the lines of, ‘How dare HC comment on this work having lack of originality? How can they possibly expect us to bring anything new to this or any genre?’
Um, hello? We all should be working for originality. Of course we should be working to bring original concepts and ideas to life… that’s the point of writing.
If we can’t offer new concepts, ideas, storylines or insights, then how can we justify asking the reader to purchase our product? If they want to read what they’ve read before, they have only to visit the library.
To break out of the slush, you need a great voice and an original hook. You need to offer agents, editors and readers something fresh.
Absolutely, the tone of the review was harsh and brutal and it was badly worded… most definitely, the poor author got the thin edge of the whip of honesty. It should have been handled better.
But to my way of thinking, the point about originality and bringing something fresh to the genre sends an important message that I hope isn’t missed in the outpouring of shocked sympathy.
Since we have actually heard the unvarnished truth for a change -without the palatable smoothing of courtesy – maybe we could take the opportunity to learn from it?
Patty says
Elyse,
You got it.
My point: this is the face of a major corporation, a flagship project it is advertising worldwide.
They come the site, and what do they see? A faceless editor rudely hacking into an author, and mentioning things that are not relevant to the review and that make the author look ridiculous, whether that was intended or not.
BarbS. says
Patty,
Sounds like that reviewer has an advanced case of Simon Cowell Syndrome. People think rude is edgy; rude builds ratings.
Sigh. I guess it all comes down to Authonomy being just another clever exercise in hype. There are no winners–aside from HarperCollins.
Marilyn Peake says
Elyse,
Thanks for that information. It’s possible that the editor in question was told that editing submissions on Authonomy would be a new part of their job, and they had gotten to the point where they had experienced too many corporate changes to mince words. It’s also possible that Harper Collins has decided to publish only the type of books they usually publish anyway, to publicly validate their decision to reject certain projects by having editors write razor-sharp scathing reviews of those projects, to keep out literary agents as deal negotiators on all Authonomy projects, and to use Authonomy to bring in huge numbers of writers and readers. It sounds like the program is based on a business plan to bring in more customers as well as writers. It reminds me of the Amazon Shorts program, also announced as a way for writers to build a fan base; but, in the long run, only benefitted already well-known authors from the big publishing houses.
Julie Weathers says
I have a friend who is a web designer and was a little surprised at the importance of author websites. She was discussing a mutual acquaintance who had written a book that benefited greatly from the site. He writes about autopsies, SWAT team procedures and the like if I remember correctly. You wouldn’t think there would be that much demand.
As for the first page contest, it must be a sign. Time for another contest!
Julie
Julie Weathers says
“I have 1,200 NEW visitors per month on my blog…that means 14,400 people will look at my blog in 2009), and ten percent of them buy your book. That is over a thousand copies per year.”
That absolutely makes my head hurt. I have to be interesting and post fun stuff every day?
I think I have perhaps, let me get out the calculator and make sure of the numbers, yes, 1 new visitor a month…on a good month. I obviously need to work on this.
Marilyn Peake says
Julie,
With not too much work, e.g. getting interviews and reviews on popular book sites, you can gradually increase traffic to your own website. For the past few months, I’ve also been receiving 1,000 additional hits to my website each month – resulting in over 9,000 hits to my site during the month of January 2009. When I first started my website, I received 50 hits per month.
Adaora A. says
Is Molly going to pen a novel that is a cross between The Breakfast club (<3) and Sixteen Candles? Haha.
Are you sure I can't still enter that contest?!