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Authors have reacted with sadness to the news that HarperCollins is to close its online community for aspiring writers, Authonomy.
The site invited users to submit manuscripts online. Submissions were ranked by users, and the best-ranked were considered for publication by HarperCollins.
The publisher announced it was shutting the site at the end of September because the “community has become smaller” as it has opened other submissions channels. Among the authors found by HarperCollins through the Authonomy community are Steven Dunne and Miranda Dickinson.
Dunne, who was the first author picked up from the site, said he was surprised to see the site shutting because “the ethos seemed to be a good one”, and that when he was offered a deal "it was an opportunity I couldn't at that time have envisaged ever happening so, although the contract wasn't perfect, I jumped at the chance”.
“The site was unfairly described at the time as a cheap way of digitising Harper Collins' slush pile and although I can see that argument, it was a great way for undiscovered talent to get noticed and to commune with other undiscovered writers,” he continued.
Dunne said it was “obvious to me that [HarperCollins] weren’t confining themselves to those who topped the poll” when they chose whose work to read.
“It's a pity and I'm not really sure why they've abandoned the idea,” said Dunne. “I'm guessing it can't have been expensive to run so I assume they're not picking up the new talent that they did in the beginning.”
Dickinson told The Bookseller she was “really sad” to hear about Authonomy’s demise.
She added: “In many ways it was ahead of its time when it began and although other platforms have moved further in recent years, I still think the crowd-sourced writing community model is a great way for yet-to-be-published writers to showcase their work.”
Without Authonomy, Dickinson said she would not have had the “nerve to approach a publisher or agent” and it is because of the site that she has a full-time writing career.
“I think the community side to Authonomy was its strength and this side had much more to offer for the future,” Dickinson said. “Writers need support at all stages of their writing journeys and especially when they are in the process of submitting to agents and publishers. Peer-based communities are a vital resource in a pursuit that is often lonely. An important achievement I think Authonomy has made is to change major publishers' attitudes to writer submissions.
“I don't think we would be seeing open submission opportunities for publishers and agents now if Authonomy hadn't existed. It has also paved the way for sites like Wattpad that have enabled books such as Taran Matharu's brilliant The Novice to be taken up by publishers."
Scott Pack, formerly publisher of HarperCollins’ The Friday Project, said Authonomy was a “great concept that, when it worked at its best, was a fantastic way to source new talent and HarperCollins published many books that proved that point”.
But he said: “The big problem, though, was that users learned how to 'game' the site so that, after a year or two, the manuscripts rising to the top, and therefore being passed on to editors, were rarely the best and were often pretty poor. It is hard to keep editors engaged when that happens.
“Also, the internet changed, as it does. Some authors who weren't picked up by Authonomy went on to sell thousands as self-published authors. They no longer had to wait to be 'discovered' by an editor.
“In the end, Authonomy became a community for writers to support each other and comment on each others' work, and most of them appreciated that, but it was no longer a regular source of new books so I can understand why HarperCollins pulled the plug. It is a real shame, though, as the in-house team who worked on it were great and worked extremely hard.”
The publisher told site members: "HarperCollins remains committed to discovering new writers, and this is reflected in our dynamic, genre-focused, digital-first lists such as HarperImpulse, and our open submissions windows for innovative commercial imprints such as Voyager and The Borough Press. We would encourage the very talented members of the vibrant Authonomy community to continue to show us their work through these channels." HC c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne added: "Now in 2015, and thanks to the pioneering work of the Authonomy community and team, our commitment to the discovery of new writing talent runs through our entire business."