Authonomy.com - HarperCollins finds a clever way to handle their slush pile
One of the tough things about being a publisher, so they say, is dealing with the slush pile. Countless would-be (or wanna-be) authors are constantly submitting manuscripts hoping to get their big break. This means that publishers end up with countless manuscripts which they must read, browse, consider, and/or throw out.
HarperCollins have come up with a clever way to lessen this workload. It’s called Authonomy. Authonomy is a website that allows unpublished or self-published authors to post their work online. Joe Average then has the chance to read the manuscript and vote for their favourites. This puts HarperCollins in the position of having the slush pile sorted into books that might be worth their editor’s time to read, and books that probably aren’t. They have also done a bit of a survey of reader reaction to the book before it is published.
Clever.
It also seems however, that other publishers can also take advantage of this. There is no signing over of rights to HarperCollins when you post a manuscript and nothing to stop you also sending it off to various other publishers as you would normally do.
So if you’re a budding author hoping to get published or looking for some feedback on your work, or a reader looking for something new to read, it might be worth your while to pop over and have a look.
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More great stuff over at Bookshelf
I was about to post about a couple of things I quite liked over Bookshelf, but then decided I should just give the whole blog a bit of a plug.
The blog Bookshelf as you might expect, features mainly bookshelves along with other assorted book related pieces. While some of them don’t appeal to me, I find many of them beautiful, clever, odd, or otherwise attention-grabbing.
The two that really caught my eye this week were the book clocks and the Pisa bookshelf. The Pisa bookshelf is one I was tempted to copy and make for myself but after consultation with Mrs BookBoy we decided it probably wouldn’t fit so well in our size house.
So pop over and have a look, of course I’ll keep posting the occasional link to the things that really grab me.
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Collapsible, recyclable bookshelves
Taking Ikea’s flat-pack philosophy to the next level, PLoP! is a shelving system that simply “plops” open after you open the packaging. When you move house. or no longer need it, you can “plop” it closed again, or recycle it as it’s made of corrugated board.
Oh, and you can keep your books on it in the mean time.
Vertical bookshelf
On the one hand, I think this may just end up looking like a messy pile of books that manages to stand taller than the average messy pile of books.
On the other hand, I really really like it.
See it here.
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Pack of dogs bookshelf
Here’s a cute little bookshelf I saw over at The Blog on the Bookshelf. It actually looks small enough that it could be a desktop shelf if you wanted.
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