100 sites for fiction writers: #71 - authonomy

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

authonomy

Book publishers are always looking for new, talented writers. For decades, publishers have found new writers through introduction letters from the writers themselves, and sometimes at conventions and through literary agents. A fear years ago, the publishing company HarperCollins decided to try something a little different. Which birthed the site known as authonomy.

At its most basic level, authonomy is another online community for writers, but it is unlike any other such community of which I'm aware, and offers the potential for writers to become published authors.

Without going into all the details and rules, here are the basics: Writers can join the site and upload several chapters from their work in progress, then readers and other writers look at the writing and get to rank it. At the end of each month, the five sample writings that are ranked the highest of all those on the site are handed over to a HarperCollins editorial board. The board reads the available material, then posts comments on the author's personal authonomy page. That's it, really, though several authors' books have been picked from the authonomy site for publishing through HarperCollins. There are no guarantees, of course, but this is one more potential road to publication.

Most recently, it has been announced that in 2012 authonomy has plans to publish 12 digital editions, and looking ahead is planning to publish 12 each year. If any of those e-books sell well, then there will be print editions of them. So, this offers more potential for becoming published.

Like all online communities, one big key here is to become active on the site. Check out the Community and the Forum. Introduce yourself and spend some time getting to know others already there. Then when you feel comfortable, upload some of your writing and go for it.