Addicted to authonomy

Well, I have now been on 'authonomy' for several months, though it seems like forever. It is definitely an addiction.

For those who don't know (though since I talk about nothing else these days, you all should) authonomy is the Harper Collins run website where authors post their books and critique each others. Your book (hopefully) goes up in the ranking as more people 'shelve' it and you end up (hopefully) in the top five, at which point HC will read your book and (hopefully) publish it! DaDa.

Now, you might think that sounds quite easy, but you're wrong. It's actually as demanding as suckling a voracious infant.

For a start, you have to spend at least five, headache inducing hours a day, reading endless books, some of which you might not choose to read, but have to, in hopes of getting shelved by the author.

Then you have to think of positive things to say, rather than the (sometimes) truth, which is, 'This book is crap. You have no future in writing whatsoever.' I have only actually felt this about 3 times. There is an awful lot of good stuff on here, some of it, very very good. (buggar)

Nice comments, sooth ones ego; negative ones destroy it. Luckily, most people are quite nice.

So, on my 'holiday' in Dubai, I spent a large portion of my time, logging onto authonomy, in hopes of keeping my book going up, which it has been doing, (though slower than watching paint dry).

Then, this morning, after only ONE day when I was unable to get onto it due to a long flight/bus ride home, panic set in.

The usual green arrow which indicates that it is still climbing, was replaced by an ominous yellow bar, which tells everyone that it is now staying put. This will shortly be followed by: the dreaded red (down) arrow.

This spells the end, because people tend to stop backing books which are going down, since it doesn't do their kudos as a 'critique' any good to back unpopular books. You are, officially, a 'loser'.

Since I only had very faint fantasies about ending up in the top five, I am not overly disappointed, though having only reached 150, I feel a bit deflated.

So, I am looking for the positives (most unlike me).

1. I have come out with a much better, tighter book. I have taken most of the editing advice and changed much of the narrative into dialogue and really tried to 'show', rather than 'tell' - a concept I found very difficult to get my head round, and don't think I have, entirely.
2. I have also made some 'friends', people I have clicked with, and seen some of them reach the top, which is very gratifying. Even though I do feel just a tiny pin prick of jealousy.
3. I have seen some stuff which makes my book look like the work of a genuis (though I know I shouldn't need to compare myself to anybody, because I should just have belief in my book for its own merits. But, I don't, and I can't help comparing it).

By the way, if you want to see my book (or others) you can look on www.authonomy.com and register to read. If you want to comment, I think you have to sign up and pay a small amount.

I'm tempted to pay people to comment on mine, but think that may be cheating.