Authonomy's 2nd Birthday

Apparently Authonomy has been around now for 2 years - isn't it amazing how fast they grow up ;)

A lot of people have left the website due to the unfavourable rating systems.  Currently, if you like someone you can watch the book or add it to your shelf.  The author only goes points if their book has featured on their shelf.  This causes the following problems:

• Shelf for Shelf trading i.e. an I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine culture.  Some people are only shelfing titles to pay someone back for shelfing theres.  It's nice and friendly but it doesn't prove the title is actually any good.
• Spam.  Some people send loads of people messages saying 'read my book' rather than letting the book talk for itself.  If the title and blurb is a good pitch, then people will read it and respond naturally.
• Popularity contest.  This when someone knows lots of people and gets everyone to log on and vote for them.  There book sits in solitary on a shelf and most people who backed it haven't even read it.

Authonomy promise to make some changes to fix the above.  They are going to amend the rating system.  I'm not sure how this will help.  I think they are going to make rules about how often you can update your shelf.  We'll just have to see....

To celebrate, Authonomy is going to offer prizes to their loyal supporters each week.  To be in with a chance you have to log in each month.  Winners get drawn each week and will win:

1. one-to-one time with a HarperCollins editor
2. free ticket to an authonomy workshop
3. a collection of some of the books to have been discovered on authonomy so far - by HarperCollins and others

The prize sounds very exciting so I logged myself.  At the moment the site is unchanged but if I notice anything different, I'll let you know.