We Are Not A Number...

As I mentioned in the last post, we joined the Authonomy site sponsored by HarperCollins (a major publisher for those not in the know). It's an interesting little site wherein writers jockey to climb up a ranking list. If you reach the top 5 by the end of the month (and they have a clock ticker just to make you sweat a little harder), your book will be reviewed by an HC editor, possibly leading to a publishing deal (although they do not guarantee publishing).

The difficulty is, to climb the list, other authors on the site must "back" you. They don't have to actually read your work or comment on it; they only have to back you. Fortunately, most people are there to actually read and learn, not just claw their way up the chart. But I have some concerns about this politicking, for an honest assessment of whether our book is worth backing is hard to figure.

Still, we're doing well. We started out somewhere in the neighborhood of 7000 on 5.6.2010 and as of today (5.14.2010) we are ranked at 684. Not bad for slightly more than a week. It hasn't come easy: I read the first 1-3 chapters of dozens of books each day, commenting on each. (J is back at work full-time and just doesn't have time for the critiquing bit.) Since I'm not there as a professional editor, I stick to the positive in each work, doing my best to show support for my fellow writers' dreams.

It's hard, though, not to become obsessed with our number, whose uptick is slowing down the higher we climb. I know that it shouldn't matter that much -- we joined as a distraction, a one-off, a possibility among other possibilities. So why do I check the site constantly, why do I care if someone we backed doesn't reciprocate?

I shouldn't, but I do.

Bride update: 242 pp