Last week an announcement was made that the popular Harper Collins website for aspiring and upcoming authors – Authonomy – will be closing it’s doors and waving goodbye to thousands of hopeful members.
Authonomy began in 2008 and I, yet another aspiring author back in 2012, offered my original draft of “The Last Gift” to the website before considering publication. I was immediately impressed with the almost instant feedback received by many on the site, and it was not long before my book rushed up the charts to a high ranking position.
My experience on Authonomy taught me a few genuine things in the world of writing and in becoming a novelist. One important lesson I learned is this… after seeing so many fantastic writers gathered in one community, I quickly realised that I will never be the best writer in the world, but yet my voice was completely unique, and with that in mind, I could never be prevented from trying to be the best that I could be. The other important thing I took away from my experience there was that people can be (and often are) genuine, and their advice can be heartfelt and given with an honest lack of prejudice in order to help others improve their writing.
I will admit that there were a degree of disappointing setbacks during the year I spent on Authonomy, including some very unattractive actions performed by other selfish and/or competitive authors, but despite this, I found being a member in general to be hugely useful in terms of receiving genuine feedback, advice and promotion.
I have moved on from the days of being an authonomite, but in many ways I feel saddened by those who won’t get to experience the sweeping rush of happiness when a positive and helpful review hits their inbox, or wake up to find their book has hit a higher rank in the HC charts.
Farewell Authonomy and thank you for giving us lowly writers an opportunity to spread our work far and wide.
I for one am very sorry to see you go.
My Authonomy reviews – This page lists all the reviews I received on authonomy for my debut novel The Last Gift. https://www.carla-acheson.com/my-novel/
