Publishing Opportunities from Online Communities | Writing.ie

The quote from the piece below is a feature on Writing.ie this week. It’s a general overview about online publishing and communities and takes a look at three particular sites, Authonomy, Book Country and YouWriteOn. I’m not sure I’d agree with some of what is said, and there is a definite tendency to focus on the positive PR spin of three online publishing communities which have had their fair share of criticism from established and self-published authors. I’ve written quite a bit on Authonomy and Book Country here over the past two years and observed online discussions on YouWriteOn. In fact, a couple of years ago when I considered reviewing YouWriteOn, I decided against it after hearing of authors’ experiences and the wider debate. For me, all three set out with admirable aims, but all fall far short in addressing the publishing slush piles, bridging the vast ocean that exists between publisher and submitting authors, and providing a fair, worthwhile and economic community platform and self-publishing services.

Publishing Opportunities from Online Communities:

“Authonomy Editor Scott Pack told writing.ie “Authonomy had a good track record of finding new talent, with a number of Sunday Times bestsellers being discovered on the site, but we wanted to step things up a bit. So we have started an Authonomy imprint which will look to publish 10-12 digital originals a year through HarperCollins. Our first, The Qualities of Wood by Mary Vensel White, is coming out at the end of January and we have already announced a second, More Tea, Jesus? by James Lark, with more announcements imminent. Any title that performs particularly well as an ebook will be published in a print edition by HarperCollins.”

‘via Blog this’