Authonomy, Twitter, and Going Through the Back Door of Publishing
A couple of weeks ago, a publishing friend sent me a note about an online manuscript competition called "Authonomy." Created by HarperCollins, www.authonomy.com is purportedly an opportunity to have a manuscript legitimately published. Writers can upload 10,000 words of a manuscript per month. Registered readers review the pages, give feedback, and vote on their favorites, which compete head to head as each new month's chapters are delivered online. Eventually, you might be picked up by HC.
Checking out the site, I discovered that S. Chris Shirley, a former student of mine, was winning by a nose with Jake's Dilemma, a young adult novel written in the first-person voice of the 17-year-old gay son of an evangelical Christian preacher. I gave him a call to congratulate him on his success and find out the inside scoop on Authonomy.
Here's some back-story on Chris. When I first met him, he was preparing a non-fiction book proposal on kitchen design and planning to leave a corporate job to go to film school. In 2008, as a project to demonstrate his screenwriting abilities, he shot a music video for Roger Kuhn's song "What's Your Name?" which they posted on the website for MTV's gay and lesbian channel, Logo, where it ended as a top ten video. It went through several rounds of voting. So the fan-voting phenomenon is not new to Chris. Neither is storytelling.
Jake's Dilemma began as a screenplay. People kept telling Chris it would make a great novel. He wrote it in the third-person voice and sent it out to a bunch of agents. They all declined to represent him, but he got excellent feedback on shifting the voice. According to Chris, "The silver bullet was that I added humor. Jake was whiney at the beginning." What's it about? "There's no big message," says Chris. "The theme is that you can only get approval from within yourself. As Jake struggles to reconcile his faith and sexuality, he goes from trying to get approval from God, his parents, and his church, to finding it within. That's what has given the novel broader appeal. Most readers seem to recognize the teenage angst associated with wanting to fit in."
After 14 months, HarperCollins is only just now publishing works by writers who have participated in Authonomy. But it isn't the winners! An editor mined the submissions lower down on the list and offered three writers contracts. So if winners are unlikely to get published, is there any other reason to submit? Yes. It is a great opportunity to get solid feedback from committed readers. A high ranking helps writers cultivate their following and raise awareness of their work. In the case of Chris, pride groups around the country befriended him. And agents-some who passed on his earlier submission-have been approaching him based on what they saw online. So Authonomy creates a buzz.
Is there a downside? Well, writer whose work is unpolished could earn a bad reputation among the fans. Being "dissed" in public online, where reality lasts FOREVER, might not be the best development. Most writers on Authonomy fall into the Fantasy/Sci Fi genre. Only 1 in 50 writes nonfiction. So there may be some opportunities on the site if you're willing to work for them.
What else is Chris doing that's been working for him lately? Twittering to connect with his loyal readership (www.twitter.com/JakesDilemma).
All hail Twitter! So many of my clients are using it to their advantage now that I've just signed up myself. Please connect with me: www.twitter.com/audaciouseditor.
Checking out the site, I discovered that S. Chris Shirley, a former student of mine, was winning by a nose with Jake's Dilemma, a young adult novel written in the first-person voice of the 17-year-old gay son of an evangelical Christian preacher. I gave him a call to congratulate him on his success and find out the inside scoop on Authonomy.
Here's some back-story on Chris. When I first met him, he was preparing a non-fiction book proposal on kitchen design and planning to leave a corporate job to go to film school. In 2008, as a project to demonstrate his screenwriting abilities, he shot a music video for Roger Kuhn's song "What's Your Name?" which they posted on the website for MTV's gay and lesbian channel, Logo, where it ended as a top ten video. It went through several rounds of voting. So the fan-voting phenomenon is not new to Chris. Neither is storytelling.
Jake's Dilemma began as a screenplay. People kept telling Chris it would make a great novel. He wrote it in the third-person voice and sent it out to a bunch of agents. They all declined to represent him, but he got excellent feedback on shifting the voice. According to Chris, "The silver bullet was that I added humor. Jake was whiney at the beginning." What's it about? "There's no big message," says Chris. "The theme is that you can only get approval from within yourself. As Jake struggles to reconcile his faith and sexuality, he goes from trying to get approval from God, his parents, and his church, to finding it within. That's what has given the novel broader appeal. Most readers seem to recognize the teenage angst associated with wanting to fit in."
After 14 months, HarperCollins is only just now publishing works by writers who have participated in Authonomy. But it isn't the winners! An editor mined the submissions lower down on the list and offered three writers contracts. So if winners are unlikely to get published, is there any other reason to submit? Yes. It is a great opportunity to get solid feedback from committed readers. A high ranking helps writers cultivate their following and raise awareness of their work. In the case of Chris, pride groups around the country befriended him. And agents-some who passed on his earlier submission-have been approaching him based on what they saw online. So Authonomy creates a buzz.
Is there a downside? Well, writer whose work is unpolished could earn a bad reputation among the fans. Being "dissed" in public online, where reality lasts FOREVER, might not be the best development. Most writers on Authonomy fall into the Fantasy/Sci Fi genre. Only 1 in 50 writes nonfiction. So there may be some opportunities on the site if you're willing to work for them.
What else is Chris doing that's been working for him lately? Twittering to connect with his loyal readership (www.twitter.com/JakesDilemma).
All hail Twitter! So many of my clients are using it to their advantage now that I've just signed up myself. Please connect with me: www.twitter.com/audaciouseditor.
posted by Unknown at 8:10 AM
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