I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been thinking about submitting City of Masks to a traditional publisher. I’ve discovered a way of doing this that is quite clever (of the publisher, not me). Harper-Collins has a site called Authonomy where unpublished or self-published authors like me can submit their books for the community of readers there to review, and the ones that are highest-rated get looked at for publication.
Why is this clever? Because it shows that Harper-Collins want to learn from the market rather than just guess what it wants (which is traditionally what publishers do), and they are invoking the “wisdom of crowds” in order to do so. Web 2.0, if you want to use a buzzword.
So I have put City of Masks on Authonomy. (Not the whole of it, about a third.)
Now, this next bit is important. If you’ve enjoyed City of Masks and would like to give something back at no cost to yourself, please go to the City of Masks page on Authonomy, get a login (it’s quick and easy), and click the “Back the Book” link for City of Masks. This adds it to your “bookshelf” on the site. The more people add it to their bookshelf, the higher its rank. Every month, the highest-ranked books get considered for publication.
Other ways you can help it rise in the rankings:
- Link to the City of Masks Authonomy page from your own blog or website.
- Become more active on Authonomy and become known as someone who is good at spotting quality books (preferably before too many other people have spotted them). This gives your recommendation more weight.
- Comment insightfully on City of Masks and other Authonomy books.
If all of that sounds too much, please, at a minimum, just sign up for Authonomy and add City of Masks to your bookshelf. That link again.
Thanks.
Mike Reeves-McMillan lives in Auckland, New Zealand, the setting of his Auckland Allies contemporary urban fantasy series; and also in his head, where the weather is more reliable, and there are a lot more wizards. He also writes the Gryphon Clerks series (steampunk/magepunk), the Hand of the Trickster series (sword-and-sorcery heist capers), and short stories which have appeared in venues such as Compelling Science Fiction and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.
