Comments on: Publishers and the tangled Web: Guest Blog

By: Authonomy: Good Or Bad « Eoin Purcell’s Blog

Authonomy: Good Or Bad « Eoin Purcell’s Blog — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:05:33 +0000

[...] There has been some discussion, some of it on these pages (seems an odd yet apt expression) by guest-bloggers and much, much,more of it out in the wider blogosphere, about Authonomy. Given that much of the [...]

By: The Litopia Writers Podcast » Litopia After Dark: May be Hazardous to Your Health

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:30:53 +0000

[...] Eoin Purcell’s Blog… [...]

By: Bright Meadow » Blog Archive » Sunday Roast: he looks like a french impressionist

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:59:13 +0000

[...] time job keeps getting in the way of wasting time on the internet (annoyingly) so I am intrigued by Alexander McNabb’s experiences and thoughts on what Authonomy could have been, and actually [...]

By: Book Bizzo #4 Libraries celebrate book love, Dymocks sells sandwiches - Book Thingo

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:59:52 +0000

[...] on the evolution of publishing, check out this blog post by Alexander McNabb: Publishers and the tangled Web: Guest Blog. It starts off examining Authonomy, HarperCollins’s virtual slushpile, but goes on to some [...]

By: Litopia After Dark: May be Hazardous to Your Health « Peg Blog Test

Litopia After Dark: May be Hazardous to Your Health « Peg Blog Test — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:06:51 +0000

[...] Eoin Purcell’s Blog… [...]

By: Simon J. James

Simon J. James — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:50:44 +0000

C’mon guys, you’re sounding a bit like conspiracy theorists at the moment. Fair play to HC to join in the debate at least.

What do you actually want from Authonomy.com and HC?

Simon

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:53:48 +0000

Alexander, your points are good ones, much better than my own, in fact. Kate’s comments read like PR announcements – and I’ve written enough of those in my time!

By: alexander

alexander — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:43:10 +0000

Kate

‘We’re happy to feel pretty flexible about the whole thing’

‘just trying to get some good books out’

Why does the tone you’ve adopted unsettle me? Is it the fact that you answer none of the points raised by the post in your comment to it?

Is it that HC persists on talking about the ‘three authonomy authors’ when it’s now public knowledge that one was an agented MS and the other a self-published book that achieved independent popularity – and that has languished on authonomy since the pre-public phase of the site?

In fact only one ‘true’ authonomy book, whose author’s experience you have rushed to post on the authonomy blog in what I consider to be quite a cynical act so typical of HC’s deportment throughout this project, has been picked up by HC. And that book found at random and not as a result of the ranking system that authonomy was launched around (be clear, I am NOT complaining that my book wasn’t picked up).

At least you’re an HC editor and ‘real’. Why not take at least a few of my points on board and start letting HC participants – including the ‘crit’ editors – participate in the site as people not anonymous camp guards?

I don’t WANT you to fail. But I do want you to change.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:14:23 +0000

Kate, I’m at a loss how you interpreted my comment to mean trickery. Let’s just say I’m amused by the ploy of producing those three books from the proverbial hat as soon as the ruckus at Authonomy broke.

And luck may play a role in getting published, or making money at it, but writing itself involves hard work – lots and lots of hard work – with whatever measure of talent a writer may have.

By: Kate Hyde

Kate Hyde — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:14:45 +0000

Lee
Oh dear, I’m not sure why you think I’m trying to trick you! I’m in book publishing, just trying to get some good books out.

I wish you very best of luck with the book – glad to hear it’s going well.