The new HarperCollins list will look to publish one book a month, starting in January 2012. Preparations are well underway. In fact, we’ve already found our first book: Mary Vensel White’s The Qualities of Wood. Mary’s beautifully written novel tells the story of a young married couple who decide to take a break from city life to renovate his late grandmother’s country home, only to become enmeshed in the mysterious death of a young girl. Thanks to the overwhelming support of you, the authonomy community, Mary's novel reached the editor’s desk this February. You loved its well-crafted prose and vivid characters. Well, so did we!
You can read the first 5 chapters of Mary's novel, as backed by you guys, here. We’ll be following its journey to publication in early 2012 on the blog, so watch this space. So, now it's more important than ever to support the great books on the site, which, like Mary's, genuinely deserve to be published!!
-----------------------------------------------------
Bear with us – these changes might not be perfect straightaway, but rest assured we will keep going until we’ve whipped authonomy into tip-top form. We’d love to hear your thoughts as we go along and any ideas you may have to help us make authonomy.com the best possible platform for writers, readers and publishers.
Drop us an email at yourauthonomy@harpercollins.co.uk.
70 comments:
all I can say to that is WOW
Now we're talking!
Oh, and I'm glad there's hope that some will end up in print too... For some of us that is still the ultimate dream!
In print,Claire, but doesn't digital mean ebook?
You only need one sale of an ebook to make it a potential pirated copy don't you?
I think writers should be more worried about obscurity than piracy, as the saying goes.
Of course you think that...it's your job to isn't it?
You gotta hook them that worry about that stuff eh?
If you are genuinely that concerned about piracy then don't publish your books as ebooks.
Bit if anyone wants to read them digitally they will then be forced to seek out out pirated copies.
You are far more likely to be pirated if you don't make your ebooks available.
So there's an option to print if the eBooks sell well?
The fact that an eBook sells well is what makes it attractive to the pirates. The vast majority of eBooks out there at present are utter garbage. The thing about this sudden explosion is that the poor souls who are desperate to get published are buying the rose coloured spectacles that the likes of Amazon Kindle etc are pushing. People are flooding the market with crap and the ones who are making the money are the rose coloured spectacle sales teams and organisations.
I think a far better option would be to offer a substantial sample of a book for free and if it's going to be a success then this will be obvious by the downloads. The stats can then be used to gauge whether a printing is viable.
Until the industry comes up with a very secure method of distributing eBook files so that they can't be compromised then those who have any kind of common sense will be patient. Mp3 and video files are still easily available for free; despite all the work that has gone into protection so what makes eBook files any different?
Maybe using the sample method, coupled with the option to get, with the printed version, a cheap, full digital file for e readers, which has a unique fingerprint for the particular machine it is downloaded to will one day be an option that would see some level of protection, but the way things are at the moment, an author might as well just upload their material for it to be grabbed by anyone because the chances are, if it's any good, it will be.
An interesting turn of events. And also interesting debate (?) going on here.
Well done Mary. Congratulations!
As we speak, there is more than likely, someone developing a very secure way of downloading a book file so that it is unique to one e reader or machine and will be destroyed if any attempt to drag it off that reader is made, even to the point of the reader or machine being destroyed if any attempt is made to remove files.
Imagine missing that boat when it comes out and seeing your work as a freebie....Patience, people...lol
The younger generation will set the trends as always and the trend seems to be electronic. As the oldies die off, the younger generation will take over and paper books will be a thing of the past; of that there is no doubt. As the trends change, so does everything surrounding those changes and today's desperate, must get published at any cost authors are the lab rats that are being sacrificed, along with their work for those changes to take place. The question is: Are you a lab rat or a technician? Yuk yuk!
I hope that Authonomy will make it possible to post picture books. It's difficult right now to do so since the word count for some picture books come in well under 10,000 words.
I'm totally surprised that there aren't, by way of comment here, more supporters of the new and latest Authonomy idea.
Rose coloured spectacles are free btw.....
ps: the last post, above didn't get past moderastion for some reason. Another glitche maybe...lol
Huh - Bud Jazz has a technical know-how most readers lack, including me. I welcome the project of e-publishing with professional support, if only to improve the quality of manuscripts that presently flood the e-market. I was one of the people who proposed this a few months ago when authonomy asked what we would like to see happening. In the end, it will give more manuscripts a chance to make it out there, because publishers can take the interest of readers into account before gambling with book production costs. Seems reasonable to me. I can't speak for others, but I would rather have my story read than it never seeing the light.
But it would be read and rather than put it out there where it goes from one bottom drawer to another, why not put out a fair sized sample for free. If it's any good then the feedback would speak for itself. No feedback = it's crap and no one wants it or you can work further on it with the risk of there being loads of pirate copies floating about. The other thing is; if it's free then there's more chance of it being read and potentially wanted for purchase than if you offer it for sale without a decent taster.
This method would make those wanting full books to push eager to find a more secure method of distribution. Instead of being a lab rat, why not take some control of the ebook market by standing your ground instead of jumping into the lion's mouth?
People are desperate and one look at the slavering mouthed members on Authonomy proves it.
Lab rats....lol
The other thing to remember as well is that if your sample is pirated then all the better because it's a sample and can only help to generate sales of the full thing should people like it and want to read on. Use pirating to your advantage. As for tech know-how....most younger people today are very savvy, truth be known, so don't be too sure that the world is full of head scratchers along these lines.
As far as professional help goes: Wise up. The people who are pushing this stampede are business people, in it for the money and not the well-being of the author.
Ted Cross said: Getting professional editing, the name recognition of a big publisher backing, and some professional marketing makes it well worth it for many people. I want to see mine in true print, so I'd have to think long and hard before I'd agree to something like this, but that's me.
Posted: 12/10/2011 15:07:14
.........
Well, Ted. If your eBook did well enough to warrant a mainstream publish then it would be copied by pirates, make no mistake. Huge loss of sales into a market where paper is dying and e readers are becoming king along with the knowledge of how to use the readers and play around with their files would make you work pretty useless.
I say hang in until a decent form of protection is available...it's gotta be just around the corner.
Come on, supporters of DPP; Have your say and let's hear what's so great about this ground-breaking Authonomy move......
I'm very hopeful that this is a good thing.
Sign me up to be a lab rat please! If protections against eBook pirating are right around the corner, then that means my second book will be protected and many readers will already be fans of my work from the eBook version of my current novel, even if they read a pirated copy. The goal is to build a readership and brand yourself as a writer.
What a fantastic development!
Big thanks to Scott and Autho for the opportunity.
Okay, forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the option to be published (in whatever format) always the aim of Authonomy?
In any case, for those with fears of piracy (rofl) - you should hope that someone likes your book well enough to pirate it! PLEASE! As most traditional authors will tell you - its free publicity, and inevitable.
As for the e-book format, it's the fastest growing market in publishing. E-book readers (people not devices) also buy more books that those who don't read e-books, so that's a bonus.
For myself, if they can find a way to make it less of a popularity contest and more about quality, I'll post my books back up again.
Never confuse fear with caution and good homework...
There is no protection that is "right around the corner". And even if there was- EBooks are being created by the pirates themselves by just manually typing up the book into a PDF. Nothing is secure on the internet, and if you're holding out for the next public-key encryption for ebooks you're going to be waiting a long time. I think it's a great way for HC to test the market with some of the hand-picked and most-loved books on Auth.
There's always soemthing around the corner, anonymous.....lol. Once it's out, it's cracked the next day, but imagine a reader that self-destructs if you try to drag files off it onto something else.....
How do you know I haven't been working on such a project? The answer is...you don't, anonymous. Is it Mr or Mrs or Miss anonymous, anonymous? lol yuk yuk.
As for manually typing something up then ok, fair enough...if there's enough money to be made then it will happen, but there's too many other freebies out there to be wasting time on that isn't there, Anonymous?
I am so excited about The Qualities of Wood being the first. I really love that book and Mary is such a fine writer.
This is a great new happening. It will generate page hits to the site and help writers.
Thank you for this.
I have a ebook on the internet in three places and in 3 different formats. It's not the book that's here.
I don't worry about pirating because I can take legal action to get them. Usually a nasty reminder that they are stealing stops it.
It's fine to be negative, but most of us prefer to keep trying.
Strayer.
So how do you go about suing a server owner in the bowels of Russia or one that moves about or one that does a top job of covering its tracks etc?
I'm watching a pond full of fish. Some are wise and some just bite on any old hook....funny stuff.
Funny how people see other opinions as negative and assume that if someone doesn't follow the herd then they are not trying or quitters in some way. Funny and in some cases, very predictable....lol
Rachel Authonomy Administrator
first registered 03.05.11
Just to clarify, we'll be seeking out the best books on the site: whether they were on the desk 2 years ago, are on the desk now, or are never likely to reach the desk!
Posted: 13/10/2011 11:05:25
.....................
Who decides what best is and how do members know what your idea of best is in order to steer towards it?
Wow bud i do agree with you about the sample test thing i think it would be a fantastic idea but dude you need to learn when enough is enough. I can see why the blocked ya from the forums man whoah
Xx
S-j
What's up, Slayer? I only said a coupla things and was in no way nasty. I was enjoying gettin it on with that Epoxy Resin fool when poof! I go up in smoke. All attempts at re-entry failed and I'm not one for proxy shit. Maybe cos someone else has used my machine they got the heebie jeebies and their bum holes started twitching....yes! I think that's it! lol
I think my ideas are ok and I have an opinion that is valid on most subjects. I would be a good member of Authonomy, but thems be scared of me, me thinks out loud!
You only need one sale of an ebook to make it a potential pirated copy don't you?
Sounds like scaremongering to me.
It isn't as big a problem as you think. If you find a pirated copy of your book on sale there are are simple legal "Take down notices" that can be used to good effect.
In practical terms, indie aurhors tend to band together when they are (rarely) reported on forums and head over to the pirated book to list reviews that the book is pirated and to 1 star it prior to its removal.
The are also sites that appear to be pirate sites, that ask for a $5 subscription, when in fact they are trawling for bank details etc and don't have the actual books they advertise. You could type a search for the book title "Gobbledygook" or Harry Putter" and it will show up that they have it in all formats.
The effect of piracy is no different to say buying a paper book and then passing it on to your freinds or taking it to the local charity shop.
People who buy pirate copies of anything would never have bought your book anyway, so what have you lost.
A for supporting a Rupert Murdoch company ... so what.Many good and honest people work for him.I would have no problem working with those type of people.
Scaremongering? No just my opinion.
There's no shop fronts in underground cities, Declan...don't you get it? These people are thieves and also sharers, they don't give a billy-be-damned about warnings; get with it, boy!
As for Murdoch...it's all very fine working alongside people who work for him, but you have to remember where he gets and got his money from and how he got and gets it still. He's the boss and he's in charge and he's supposed to be on top of everything that goes on in his company.
Let me ask you this: A lot of legitimate businesses are funded by A category drug money...if you knew that, would you help to keep those businesses alive?
Btw, Declan. I think what you share freely by way of your knowledge of the writing game is splendid, old boy. Keep it up
Let's try it another way. Pro musicians are only too aware of the fact that CDs are pretty much crap at making money and given that the ipod or MP3 player is now firmly established, how many people do you think actually buy tracks as opposed to simply grabbing them for free?
Nursing Around
first registered 21.07.10
The two people who have taken over this site, both have really good reputations in UK literary circles. They are successful, hard working, and mean what they say. HC wouldn't have allocate two very talented people to supervise this site if the didn't think it could work.
Posted: 14/10/2011 11:18:10
.........................
And Mr Cameron wouldn't have taken on Mr Coulson if he thought he couldn't do a good enough job to make it work as well...lol
Actually, print books will never go away because there are FAR TOO MANY people who hate reading on a screen. I hate it. It hurts my eyes. Print books feel much better in my hands than a computer.
And if you do your homework, PIRACY HURTS AUTHORS. YOU ARE STEALING THEIR WORK!!!!! AND THEIR MONEY!!!! Some ebook authors have stopped publishing because they lost so much money on sales of ebooks due to piracy. It's a disgusting practice and it DOES HURT THE WRITER, and people who think it's nothing should read up on it.
But those who choose the ebook route, on authonomy or elsewhere, best of luck. There's nothing wrong with ebooks and it is now a staple in the publishing industry.
Maybe HC are taking a leaf out of their bosses book by acting like the current UK Government and brushing things (comments) under the carpet because they don't want the other side of the story to show.
That just confirms it then....lol
As this run of comments is not now a true reflection of what was originally posted because of the removal of comments, it is disjointed. So it would seem that HC only want you to see one side of the story with regards to digital publishing. You decide when my new blog post goes up....lol
Let's try again....
Bud Jazzman said...
Another disappointed writer
http://twochicksonbooks1.blogspot.com/
16 October 2011 10:55
Bud Jazzman said...
http://networkedblogs.com/owHoN
16 October 2011 10:57
Post a Comment
Obviously, there's been a change of heart because of my screen shots. People who have been ripped off by ebook pirating deserve to be heard as well.
Hi
I'm returning to authonomy after a break, and mainly becaus of the digital imprint news. I'm surprised at the tenor of most of these comments. there are two I would echo.
One from Mr. Pack himself: "I think writers should be more worried about obscurity than piracy, as the saying goes."and another from Valerie Douglas "if they can find a way to make it less of a popularity contest and more about quality, I'll post my books back up again". Well they have, and I am.
AliB
So you're hanging out your dirty underwear in the jungle then?
I'm sure a few animals willbe along any time now...lol
@ali B, welcome back. We agree with Valerie's sentiments too. It's going to be a challenge, but we're going to do all we can to ensure the best writing comes to light.
There's always an issue, as far as digital content is concerned, that piracy can occur. However, authors and publishers alike can't ignore progression just because it brings with it risks. It also brings a lot of benefits. And there are measures in place to make piracy as difficult as possible. Not to mention that we'll only be selecting books that are or have been on authonomy. So, they are already embracing the digital world.
Some people enjoy being guinea pigs whilst allowing others to make money from their little experiments. Others do their homework and have a little patience. No doubt there will be enhancements in security, but at the moment, the security is nil and once your work is out there for free then it's always going to be free.
I think, at present, the digital platform is brilliant for sampling and marketing, but that's about it.
I think by holding back whilst actively making it clear and voicing your opinion regarding ebook piracy and security, it'll make those who are at the cutting edge work that little bit faster in finding solutions to the problems. While people are jumping on the band wagon like lemmings over cliffs, those who are coining it in off them will simply sit back and relax.
What I would like to know is what is the business strategy behind only publishing one digital book and then waiting to see if it sinks or swims before commiting to publish a paper book?
On the scale of things it is hardly going to build a successful digital imprint.
In my time on Authonomy, there have been at least 1000 authors who have self published eBooks and many have gone on to earn decent royalties and a few have hit top ten ranking spots in the UK and top 100 spots in the US. A good number of Authonomy authors have been picked up by Night Publishing, an indie publishing company set up by a former Authonomite, who publishes both as digital digital book and as a POD book. They have been going around a year and now have a positive cash flow from royalty shares. Where Night score, is that Tim has a good handle on marketing on the internet and is well aware of what works and what doesn’t in the super information highway and the review sites that bring in sales. My question is -- What makes this new digital imprint think they have a handle on marketing eBooks that seems to elude most traditional publishers?
It seems to me that picking up only one book per month is not a business plan, but a carrot to re-motivate the site.Hopefully your answer will shed more light on the subject
@Declan, some fair comments. Though, it's worth noting that 12 books per year is actually a fairly reasonable output for a new imprint. As you say, many authors from authonomy go on to self-publish with reasonable success, and we hope that will continue. However, we're not offering a self-publishing platform. Books acquired by authonomy will go through all the editorial processes that any other HarperCollins book would. We'll be investing a lot in them, and we want them to be as successful as possible - naturally.
The benefit of digital originals is that it allows us to take risks on new authors. Today's book world is tough; it's harder than ever to break a debut author into the market.
We are aware of the work of Night Publishing, and wish it great success; however, I'd question why any author who does not rate HarperCollins' understanding of the market (even the relatively new market that is digital)would be on authonomy.
Naturally we also hope that this motion will have a positive effect on the site. Doesn't everyone?
IMHO, I think the demonstration of change, in and of itself, says we are moving in a positive direction as a community. Sometimes the 'stars' in one's eyes can cloud vision, making it harder to keep one's 'eyes on the prize' that is publication. Authonomy is making the kind of moves that should encourage everyone in the community. For those who might have concerns, Scott summed it up pretty well with his first one-line answer actually. We have a choice and those choices are being broadened a little by the recent changes.
Essentially, I'm out to improve my craft, as are most of those here. If we accomplish that and work hard enough, opportunities will come about eventually. The market is evolving rapidly, thereby enabling many to consider avenues never before available at any kind of promising ratio of prospective success.
Authonomy, with their recent addition of Scott Pack and the premise of pub'ing 12 works a year is encouraging as far as I can see. Way to go, folks...keep up the good work. It is nice to see the emphasis on change and I think it will serve to provide a lot of incentive to many here on the site.
E M Delaney
THE WRITE IN
ONE WRONG TURN
THE VIRUS
MIRACLE IN THE SWAMP
(All available to read on Authonomy)
I think people are begining to realise the truth about E publishing and are backing off as bit. Granted, there are still the noodles who are stumbling headlong into the fire through desperation in just having to be published at whatever cost. We must be thankful to those who sacrifice their years of work to show up the weaknesses in the current system.
This is Anon2 speaking: I'm reading all these comments for the first time and having a laugh. First, it seems every writer's community website has a heckler. 2nd, there are many ebook publishers out there, some with POD, and most are good if you a) do your homework of checking them out,and b)reading the contract. HC is just one of the first traditional publishers to catch on and want to get on & ride the train before it passes them by. 3rd, if piracy is a concern, put the ball in the publisher's court to go after them. They're losing money, aren't they? They should be peeved and do something to protect the work, while on the other hand, pirated or not, the more ebooks that sell(find a way to count the pirated ones, okay), the better the chance to get it in print and, hey, become a household word. Whoa, what a thought! My favorite comment is by Scott Pack, about how writer's should be more concerned about obscurity than piracy. Amen to that! I'm not only concerned about making sales, making a living, if possible, and having my work read, I'm also concerned about putting a book out there that is good enough to warrant a book award. Now that's something they could do extra that would please me. Every best seller, in every copyrighted field, and all award winners, no doubt has a pirated copy somewhere in some country, maybe all countries. I'm in the USA and I had someone in Scotland send an email to me requesting money to help my dear old aunt who was stranded over there. I spent a whole day investigating, on line, and found the house address it came from, then couldn't get any law enforcement agency in either country to act on it. I could call and make an overseas report to a fraud organization, but I didn't think it worth the cost if no one would run knock on the door with a warrant and search the place. Yeah, it could've been a false address, but my point is if nothing could be done about something that easy to find(the law enforcement agencies were the ones difficult to contact), then piracy is an illusive butterfly, in fact, an invisible one. It's something we have to live with until the universal consciousness changes and that probably won't happen on the winter solstice 2012, much as a lot of folks would like to think it will.
Okay, off the soapbox. Next...
Anonymous.....is your soap box anonymous as well? I love it when Anonymous turns up...it speaks volumes. lol.
What I'd like to know is this: If you're anonymous then how do you become a houshold word? This anonymous smacks of Zax.....lol
Anonymous is a tracker it would seem. Then why anonymous? The world is full of trackers so I guess there's someone out there who knows exactly who you are and where you live. lol. Once you're outed then your anonymous is gonna look a bit silly eh? lol
One thing that the desperate to be published author is gonna have to get used to is the fact that more and more indie authors are having their published Ebooks pinched. You only have to do a little search and you'll see.
The more it happens, the more acceptable it will become, just like MP3 downloads.
People need to realise that if they take a step back and don't rush into electronic publishing, the quicker those who are pushing the platforms will sort out a decent system.
PATIENCE!
It's two months later and we've heard nothing about any new books... and it's all gone quiet on the blog... anything you want to tell us?
I have a question.
Do we get paid if our ebook sells? If so how much? Where will this ebook be sold? Will it be seen at Amazon for example?
Bud, there may be a lot to criticize here. With e-books some of these authors might do better on their own, for a start. But Scott is dead on that obscurity is a bigger issue than piracy. Piracy is almost as easy these days on print books, which can be scanned. DRM at least makes it almost as difficult to copy e-books as print. There aren't many published authors left out there who aren't using e-books. Like it or not, the future is here.
I think anything that helps us get our work out there is great news, thanks!
What about the next little tidbit, that Scott decided that QOW didn't need a big introduction, that it was better for an e-book to start slowly, then pick up momentum....????
I thought the whole point of putting HC's imprint on a book was to try to gain immediate credibility for the book -- "Look, everyone, we (HC) discovered this great writer and her book. We guaranfukintee you will love it!"
This point, at least, was one that Scott was willing to address, briefly. He says his experience in publishing the highest selling ebook in 2011 should qualify him to know how to introduce an ebook.
It surely gives him the authority to try. Let's see how it works out.
As best I can tell, no March announcement for an HC imprint digital book was made. Perhaps Scott's absence is the reason for that, and Scott's absence is a personal situation, such as a family emergency, etc.
If so, the fact that Authonomy can not bring itself to announce that Scott is gone for personal reasons for a time is more evidence of how screwy this site has become, or, maybe, always was.
My opinion is that the HC digital initiative has failed, Scott reporting that the material available just doesn't match his aspirations, and asking for a chance to return to or be assigned to, some other publishing function.
In the odd case that anyone ever reads this, I'd like to know if anyone else shares or disputes this opinion.
Wow! No official response at all since the previous DOA prophecy. Are the writers of the blog even reading these posts?
I does say that if it does really well, it will see a print run. For me, print is still the dream, book on the shelf, you know, but in the end, be nice to be published somewhere that I didn't just do it myself but was chosen to be published by someone else. Even being picked for 'One to Watch was exciting.'
Cariad.
(Stones)
I couldn't see the screen properly typing that comment - I need an editor now!!!!
Cariad.
Post a Comment