Category Archives: Authonomy Related

Posts related to Authonomy

A Post about Not Posting or Self-help or Saving Your own Life:

In the past few weeks (months), I haven’t posted. Much happened. Many stories exist, but I didn’t write them down. There are the usual excuses: depression, addiction (to authonomy), laziness, the need to retain paid employment, other obligations, life-maintenance, etc.
It’s amazing how much money we all spend on self-help — whether it’s books, classes, therapy, retreats or whatever, when generally we already know what will make us feel better.
Here are 10 things that I could accomplish today. If I do even 3 of them, it will be more than I’ve done lately and will make me feel that at least I’ve done something:
1. write a blog.
2. get the oil changed,
3. buy my mother something for mother’s day even though she’s not easy to shop for and the thought of it fills me with all sorts of ambivalence and many “feelings.” (When I asked what should I get her, one family member who will remain anonymous suggested: “A heart?”
4. clean just one small section of the apartment (start anywhere.)
5. unpack my bags from the trip I took last month.
6. unpack my bag from the overnight trip last weekend.
7. go through the large plastic bin in which the mail has been collecting.
8. change the cat litter.
9. make definite plans with a friend.
10. write something in addition to the blog.

Okay, so I managed to get one of these things done. Now the choice is mine. Rest on my uh laurels or get up off my butt. So hard to choose. Maybe I’ll have another cup of coffee.

The Old Post with a New Name (continued)

Update: I had to change the name of this post. The name had the word a d d i c t i o n in it and this seemed to attract so much spam for so long that I’m now afraid to ever write the word again. Let that be a warning to all!

Just a quick update on my internet addiction and second life as a writer on Authonomy.

I’ve got to get at least an abstract and synopsis of a proposal done by Monday morning, 8 am. I should have the draft done as it’s got to go out on Friday and others need to comment. By the way, this is for an afterschool program grant that would benefit hundreds of inner city children for years to come. This is real and important work.

Where am I on this?

Don’t even ask.

After realizing that this thing is bigger than I am, and not being much of a believer in a higher power (besides I really don’t want to quit, and even if I could find an appropriate meeting, I have too much work to do), I have asked my technical adviser and life partner to block me from the site.

I am now in his power, and it feels strangely liberating.

If I’m a good girl and get my chores done, maybe he’ll let me go on tonight.

Crack for the Unpublished

Why no recent posts? Why no emails to my friends? Why am I losing weight and why does my husband say he feels like he’s living with a ghost? The answer my friends, is Authonomy — crack for the unpublished novelist.

Authonomy was created by Harper-Collins UK in order to eliminate their slush pile. The deal is they won’t read anything unsolicited or unagented, but writers can post excerpts or entire manuscripts on this “social networking site.” None of the stigma of being self-published since you’re only “previewing” your work. Meantime you can upload a cover, work on your pitch, write your bio and do all of the stuff real writers do. You even get reviews from the other chumps on the site. When one of the top ranked authors gave me a glowing review the first day up, I was hooked. Soon, however, I came to understand the dark side.

Every member of Authonomy gets a bookshelf with space for 5 books. If you put a book you like on your shelf, then all your friends on the site will see it there and may decide to read it. If you “back” an up and coming book, then your “trend setting rank” will rise. This means that when you back a book the book’s ranking will rise more than if it was backed by a mere mortal.

Why is the book’s ranking important? Because every month the HC-overlords review the 5 top ranked books. This doesn’t mean that they will publish any of them, and some of their reviews have been painful to read, but it does mean that people believe that they have a shot if they can just get high enough in the rankings. (HC has also given contracts to some novels that they spotted on the site which didn’t rise to the top.) So between the personal trend-setter rank and the book ranks, there’s a lot of politicking going on with people swapping reads. You’re somehow ethically bound not to put books on your shelf unless you really “believe” in them, and yet…

I had a meteoric rise my first week, but this involved reading and commenting on many other books, accepting offers of “friendship” in return for reading swaps, soliciting the top ranked — who weren’t all that interested as they get tons of offers to swap and besides a newbie’s ranking isn’t going to help their books rise. Some of the books I read were better than a lot of what’s on non-virtual shelves, some not so much. But I often felt obliged to shelf those who shelved me. I began to wonder if I was getting a reputation for being “easy” — an Authonomy-whore. I began to question the sincerity of the reviews I received, even the decisions by others to put my book on the shelf. And yet seeing my virtual book with it’s virtual cover rising on the weekly “what’s hot” list, reaching number 6 in literary fiction after only 5 days on the site, kept me coming back for more.

I have become convinced that HC isn’t really involved in this at all. It’s all a Milgramesque experiment set up by deranged social scientists (Is there any other kind?) designed to show the level of depravity to which the desperate will sink when they have their eyes on the prize.

But still I cannot stop myself ….

And now that my book has reached the top 200, I’m seeing less “bump” (score change) each time I get shelved. The first few days, I moved hundreds of points within hours. Now nada. Like heroin you build a tolerance and need more just to get through.

So if I disappear, if you don’t see any new blogs, you’ll know where I am. Sweet Jesus, won’t someone save me?

Another Website for Writers

Authonomy is a site put up by Harper-Collins UK. It’s a place for writers trying to get published or working on revisions to network with each other and read and comment on their work. A lot of what’s up there is very good, much better than on CreateSpace which unlike Authonomy was set up for self-publishing. Authonomy isn’t a contest, but there’s a prize — several writers previewing their work on the site have been picked up by Harper Collins-UK.

I’ve put the site on my “favorites”. I’ve also put up my recently revised novel, Loisaida. You can read the pitch and/or the book by going here: http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=6745. If you take a look and you like the book, you can help by registering at the site, putting the book on your “bookshelf” and writing a comment. And of course if you’re putting your work up, let me know and I’d be happy to do the same.