Australian Idol for authors

The world of book publishing is the latest sector to throw its fate to the hands of the masses. Springwise reports that publishing house Harper Collins has established a new site called Authonomy, which allows unpublished and self-published authors to

The world of book publishing is the latest sector to throw its fate to the hands of the masses.

Springwise reports that publishing house Harper Collins has established a new site called Authonomy, which allows unpublished and self-published authors to post at least 10,000 words of a fiction or non-fiction manuscript for visitors to read online.

Visitors can then review and recommend books, and even create a virtual bookshelf that shows off their five favourite submissions.

Writers are ranked according to the number of recommendations they receive and readers are ranked according to how many books they recommend make the top of Authonomy’s charts.

Once a month the top five books are sent to an editorial board made up of international Harper Collins commissioning editors, who will then decide whether the book should make it into print.

As well as finding new best-selling authors, Harper Collins hopes the site will help improve its marketing of new authors, who may be able to develop a following without actually getting published.