Over the past few months I’ve been pondering innovative marketing strategies in publishing. Why? Basically just because I love publishing and would love to see the industry jolted out it’s doldrums.

In September the UK Harper Collin’s announced a website “Authonomy” that functions like a pre-publication Amazon web site. Writers post 10,000 word chunks of their books and visitors review and rate the copy. The highest rated copy is then read by Harper Collin’s editors. Any one in any country can post their work.

I have no idea if Authonomy is proving profitable for Harper Collin’s. It’s still in beta testing. What do I think of it? I’m of two minds on the idea. On the one hand, anything that stimulates interest in writing or reading gets an A plus! But does this site really get a writer out of the slush pile as the site implies? I’m not sure about that. It seems to me the slush pile is simply moved online and gains enthusiastic, free (though untrained) reviewers. The theory is that these reviewers are the same people who might buy the book if sold so in effect, they receive an early preview and the author receives helpful comments.

The bottom line is I think Authonomy is a great marketing tool. But it is likely of dubious utility for career-oriented writers who have to essentially publish copyrighted material for free and hope they receive useful feedback.

A second innovative marketing tool in Europe is the new Faber Academy where published authors teach new authors. This is also a great marketing tool for the publishing company. It gives them publicity and makes money. Writers attending the workshops will receive the benefit of learning from well-known authors. If only they offered a class in the United States!

In my next post I’ll explore why European publishing is pushing the envelope on innovative marketing.

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