Interview with Chuck Adams, editor

Five pages of advice, information and opinion from a very experienced editor, who counts Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants among his success stories.

An example:

What are you looking for in a piece of writing?
The first thing is the voice. If it's got a strong voice, I'm going to keep reading. And if a story sneaks in there, I'm going to keep reading. To me, those are the two most important things. I want a voice and I want to be hooked into a story. I believe very strongly that books are not about writers, and they're definitely not about editors—they're about readers. You've got to grab the reader right away with your voice and with the story you're telling. You can't just write down words that sound pretty. It's all about the reader. You've got to bring the reader into it right away.

Read it here .

Authonomy

What is authonomy?  


In one way, HarperCollins' slush pile, outsourced to readers.  You can submit your ms (you'll need at least 10,000 words) and/or do some talent-spotting (your notes on the work of others will help encourage them to read your irresistible prose...).  The five top rated mss each month are reviewed by real live HarperCollins editors.


This is how they describe it:

Get Read. Get Noticed. Get Published.

authonomy^TM is a brand new community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. We want to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around - we’re glad you stopped by.

If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face – and show off your work on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy community.

And if you’re a reader, blogger publisher or agent, authonomy is for you too. The book world is kept alive by those who search out, digest and spread the word about the best new books – authonomy invites you to join our community, champion the best new writing and build a personal profile that really reflects your tastes, opinions and talent-spotting skills.

Click here for the FAQs .