SAN FRANCISCO, CA – According to numerous sources around the Internet and my Inbox, the popular site Authonomy has been attacked by what appears to be a flash mob led by someone codenamed Klazart, which is overwhelming Authonomy servers and distressing numerous Authonomy followers.
According to reader John Minichillo, Klzart is the author of the book LESSER SINS. The novel quickly rose to the top Authonomy’s rankings in only a few days, backed by the author’s legion of fans, who were spurred to log in and vote for it via a YouTube video.
Authonomy employs a user-generated method of ranking titles, and theoretically the ones who generate the most esteem from other members of the ardently passionate community rise to the top, where they are supposedly reviewed by Harper UK editors.
Blog commenter Trashy Cowgirl sums up thusly: “A group of gamers following a guy who calls himself Klazart, flashmobbed the site. He is backed by 880 people, and on 233 watchlists. He is now ranked ninth. Not bad considering he only posted his ms on the 19th. Of course the flood managed to jam the site and create an enormous uproar.”
Such a big uproar, apparently, that as of this writing I can’t even open the Authonomy website.
According to Minichillo, Klazart is popular in the Internet gaming community for “narrating videos of Starcraft tournaments and popular players.”
Further research conducted by your intrepid reporter shows that Startcraft is apparently a video game. Who knew!
Klazart’s actions apparently caused Authonomy’s zealous nongaming followers to go completely bananas in the forums.
Is this the future of user-generated aggregators or will this be a hiccup along the way? Should we begrudge Mr. Klazart his Starcraft-backed following?
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: “Klazart” weighed in in the comments section. His real name is Vineet and he’s a nice guy. It wasn’t a flash mob per se, and Authonomy’s shutdown doesn’t seem to be (or at least shouldn’t be) related to his followers joining the site. Authonomy posted a statement clarifying matters and confirming that Klazart/Vineet didn’t break any rules.
Chris Bates says
Man, is that site slow. My confidence in the traditional print book publishing model moves faster than that site!
I love this guy. A fine example how shaking the tree will get all the nuts (like us!) chattering.
Brilliant.
I think maybe the word you’re looking for is ‘owned’ – Vineet just purchased it through clever manipulation.
However, it does absolutely no good whatsoever for the site’s competition – nor will it likely do I think it will do anything positive for your book, Vineet, if only because the work probably isn’t ready for such exposure. This is the case with every author’s book prior to completion, rewrite and edit, so don’t feel I am personally taking you to task on this front. Discounting that, the action does illicit comment from a wider audience. Seth Godin suggests we do something ‘remarkable’ … and here we are ‘remarking’. Well done.
The challenge for newly published authors is to duplicate such publicity. Bearing in mind that just giving away an ebook will not get you noticed anymore. Personally I haven’t read a single free ebook in its entirety yet. That being said, I’d give anything to be able to grab an extra two or three ebook chapters of Bryan Gruley’s ‘Starvation Lake’, simply because it is slowly legitimizing itself as a worthy work of fiction – in my eyes.
@Bradley Robb: You’ve got the idea in one. Vineet is a activating his ‘social community ‘ – his sub-culture – to manipulate change. I also agree that he should have utilized this ability at a later stage. Like I mentioned earlier – after completion of book and after edit. Lesson for aspiring writers: be patient. Don’t query, don’t market, don’t distribute … until the manuscript is ready.
@DIMA: Don’t laugh at him. Embrace his efforts in guerilla marketing. Yes, Vineet is a little off-target but at least he’s shooting.
Vineet: don’t give up. The book needs some work at the moment but don’t feel disheartened. Finish the draft then polish, polish, polish.
T. Anne says
I agree with LC Grant. It has a high school feel to it, however I suppose it offers feedback of sorts. I wonder if the feedback is genuine or if they just want you to rate there novel favorably in return? I’d love it if an authonomite would explain the whole thing to me.
Kristi says
What unpublished author wouldn’t love to start out with 880 fans? Good for him. I do agree with Nathan and David’s use of the word “hilarious(ly)” to describe this incident. It’s way more hilarious than my current ranking in the NCAA challenge (I don’t even think I’m beating Nathan anymore…sigh).
Stephanie Faris says
I figured that would happen. I have around 5,000 readers on MySpace and I could have very easily posted a novel and told all 5,000 of them to go over there. Does that make my novel any better than anyone else? Heck no. To me, it seems like it’s cheating the system and, quite honestly, if I had to do that to get in with a publisher or agent, I wouldn’t want to get published in the first place. When it does happen, I want it to be solely on the work that editor/agent has read and nothing else.
Anonymous says
Klazart brought his entire platform to a publisher’s doorstep and dumped them onto the slush pile. Why shouldn’t he have done this? Can anyone else think of a better way he could have done this?
Bane of Anubis says
SF, regarding Authonomy, that’s what it primarily is anyway – a pandering popularity contest; if you have a quality manuscript and 5,000 devoted followers, HC would be happy to look at you – their primary concern is revenue and if you have a built in audience, they like that (which is part of authonomy’s metric – building up or incorporating audience)… it’s not cheating the system, it’s using it.
Get your foot in the door any way you can; don’t allow pride or prejudice to interfere w/ what ultimately comes down to a business decision for the power that be.
Marilyn Peake says
Vineet,
I agree with Chris Bates. Your marketing plan is brilliant. I checked out the summary of your book and some of the voters’ comments on Authonomy. It seems to me that you may be a great storyteller, but I noticed quite a few grammatical errors in your book summary and several comments from voters about grammatical errors in the first part of your book. Storytelling is the most difficult part of writing. If you can do that, you can learn how to edit, no problem. Most writers complete a few books before they overcome specific problems of their earlier writing. Most writers eventually learn to live by the rather harsh mantra: Edit, edit, edit; polish, polish, polish. Best of luck in your writing career!
jimnduncan says
You’d have thought they would have anticipated an issue like this and planned for it better. When they were making the site, nobody pondered the “what if’s”? What if someone posts something who has an outside fanbase that comes in and votes it up to the top? There’s actually nothing wrong with this per se, but it does perhaps show a bit if disrespect toward the spirit of the sight. No rules broken though, so people should be whining at those who run the site or maybe they have been. I checked the site out once, and realized I would not be able to devote time to read enough material there to make my efforts worthwhile, so I bailed. I certainly like the idea of authonomy, but they do need to put a better gatekeeper function in place to avoid what just happened.
other lisa says
Disclaimer: I am coming from a place of crankiness.
I get that writers need to adapt to the new world o’ publishing, that we need to build our networks and mobilize them, that we need to think of ourselves as a brand, all that. But this Authonomy thing…makes me cranky. I’m not sure what HC’s real intentions with this are, but these online popularity contests seem to me to be yet another example of short-term, quick buck thinking at the expense of quality and long-term profitability. I mean, why not publish a book, if the author can mobilize mobs to promote himself? Who cares if it’s good or bad? We can make some money from it, right?
I haven’t read Vineet’s book, so I’m not making any quality judgments on his work. Just that with such a system, a link between popularity and quality is entirely unnecessary.
/cranky rant.
Jan says
Stephanie Faris,
I agree. Just think if we all did what Klaz did. I like the way Klaz misleads what it actually says on the FAQ page. I believe it tells us to asked our friends and family to participate in the community and build up our TSR. Not one of his followers did that until members started pointing that out to them. I could care less if he is in the top 5, his planned method of getting there destroyed our hard earned TSR ranking and they just shrug it off, blaming the system. He knew what he was doing, he was a silent member for days watching and waiting. He’s not stupid thats for sure, but I don’t think I would trust him too far.
Kristin Laughtin says
I think this is probably a hiccup that will occur only occasionally, as most authors on that site are in the aspiring stage of their career and won't have a legion of fans to spur them on (with the exception of people with a following in another medium, like Klazart, or perhaps certain fanfic authors). It just shows that aggregators need to be prepared for these occasional cases.
As for anyone getting upset with it (re: the "uproar"), take heart: even if his book is the one that gets reviewed by the editors, they still have to *like it*. (I say this having no knowledge of the quality of Klazart's book.) It's just a shortcut to getting an editor to see your work. Theoretically, if your book is good enough, you'll have that same opportunity via another contest or the traditional agent–>editor route…it just might take longer.
RainSplats says
Hey – Ramit https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/my-new-book-is-out-today-im-giving-away-1-kindle-per-hour-and-5000/
giving away a free KINDLE every hour…for people who buy his $11 book.
He's also answering questions all day on streaming video.
He's #1 on Amazon and B&N. Publisher just ordered a reprint…and it came out today. What do you think of his launch?
Anonymous says
Don’t get sucked into the politics of this.
I read Klazart’s first chapter in one of the brief moments when the site was up, and thought it was a lot better than much of what I’ve read on the site. It had a very fresh plot line and the first chapter, after a few overwritten first paragraphs settled down and turned into what I thought might be the beginning of an excellent political thriller.
Annalee says
Kat Mayo, it’s hardly fair to lump gamers in with drug addicts just because they gamed a social networking system. A small percentage of gamers, like a small percentage of those who drink, are addicts. If a bunch of people logged onto Authonomy to vote up someone they knew from the pub, would you paint them all as alcoholics?
As for how Authonomy can prevent this kind of thing in the future, it would behoove them to have a look at how Digg and similar sites handle their voting. Social networking/ranking sites that have been around for a while understand the importance of developing systems to rank votes so that a brand-new user who signs on to vote for only one thing and never comes back is not weighted the same way as a regular with a solid voting record. It prevents both sockpuppetry and popularity waves like this one.
Anonymous says
Speaking of business, has anyone noticed the DOW went up nearly 500 points today, as a result of investors reacting to specific economic plans?
Vineet says
thanks to everyone for the encouragement and feedback
I agree that it needs some tightening and a bit more fine editing, which I’ll be getting to asap.
As to the synopsis, I had to seriously condense it down to make it fit 200 words, because my novel has two primary story lines, I struggled to keep it down to this while doing justice to both.
In the end I made a few sacrifices, such as letting the synopsis appear a little clunky. I’m hoping that people will like the idea enough to give the story a chance.
With query letters I think you can get away with 300 words or so, hopefully that should do the trick when I start querying!
Jan says
Klaz also fails to mention that he has been asked many times to repair our TSR by a simple means of making his book private for a few minutes. He will not lose his high ranking by doing this but it will restore our well deserved TSR’s. He refuses to do this. His friends are now holding the top talent spotter rankings on the site.
I went from 200 position to over 1100. He’s friend’s that have only read or I should say backed one book have a better ranking than the members who have put hours and hours into reading to earn those rankings. The site might be flawed, but for him to refuse this simple request (that will restore our rankings) is just selfish on his part.
And yes, members are backing his book now, beause his gamer friends have the high TSR and those votes count the most.
Scott says
Speaking of publishing of another sort, my former employer, the Ann Arbor News, announced today that it’s ceasing publication in July after 174 years on watch. It’s a sad, sad day.
The death of newspapers is not a good thing for our Democracy, folks.
Haste yee back ;-) says
What the Hell! Celebrities, with the blessings and contrivance of the Publishing Industry, have *gamed* consumers for years now! Doesn’t make a hoot if it’s worthy or good, just plaster Celeb’s name on it and open the cash register.
I personally don’t see a stitch of difference!
Haste yee back 😉
Up with the THIGH MASTER, I say!
pjd says
I do find it an interesting possible preview of the future. It will be chaotic until all of this is worked out.
Indeed.
I learned recently that many performers in Las Vegas get paid based in part on the number of people in the seats. In some cases, these performers take the unsold tickets and give them away for free to locals just to fill seats. This is known as “papering the house.”
The fundamental lesson here is twofold:
1) publishers are looking for meaningful ways to identify marketable material, and they believe (rightly) that popularity is one gauge of marketability.
2) if you create a reward, someone will be clever enough to find a way to exploit the loopholes and get the reward outside the preferred path.
And correlative to #2: everyone who follows the rules and does not achieve the reward will be righteously pissed at the one who exploited the loopholes.
What bothers me is not that an author can be rewarded for bringing an audience, but that we have not yet created the tools to differentiate between a meaningful audience (i.e. interested and paying) versus a meaningless audience (i.e. papering the house). The good news is that if the potential value is real, the tools will eventually be developed. In the meantime, chaotic is a good way to sum it up.
By the way, had the “flash mob” actually been at fault for bringing the site down, it would have been neither hacking nor hijacking. It would have been a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS), though only in result and not necessarily in intent.
Marilyn Peake says
Vineet,
I’d recommend editing your summary for grammar. I’m not an agent; but, based on my reading of agent blogs, the best agents usually reject queries and summaries in which the basic sentence structure contains numerous errors. Whether you submit now or later, though, good luck with everything.
Chris Bates says
@Scott:
Sadly it is just the beginning. The old newspaper model is broken and there ain’t no fixing it.
It’s the death of newspapers, but it won’t be the death of news reporting. It can be said that many newspapers were quite bias with political siding, so the democratic freedoms were not completely true. This is a re-birth … the model is changing but the content will still be out there in pundit blogs.
Unfortunately there will be a higher cost for most people … their jobs.
Marilyn Peake says
Scott said:
Speaking of publishing of another sort, my former employer, the Ann Arbor News, announced today that it’s ceasing publication in July after 174 years on watch. It’s a sad, sad day.
Wow, very sad. I’m very sorry, Scott.
Trashy Cowgirl says
I agree that Vineet did nothing wrong by the rules. And, HC did have a similar problem when England experienced a snow day. Sure, he had no way of knowing how extensive the effects would be. However, he is a gamer. I find it hard to believe that he had no idea that things would be flipped on their butts. His main goal was to get noticed. It was all part of it.
I resorted to starting threads for cat lovers (I’m not one), because 13 threads for one guy just seemed to fan the flames. I’m not really concerned with if his actions were wrong or not. I am just wondering about what the implications of his actions are. Wiley Merrick, for one, said they would not take on any new clients unless the author could mustre x ammount of reads for their ms on the net. And, HC does say bring over your fan base (though I don’t think they meant mobilize your entire team of gamers). It would seem that this is the sort of thing that is being encouraged.
I’d rather quit debating what’s right and what’s wrong and start looking at what this means for the future of publishing. Will a publisher go with book A that is well written, pushes bounds, but may be ahead of its time, or book B that has an enormous fan following of potential buyers? I think the answer is scarily obvious. I wouldn’t put my money on Dickens (if he were alive) getting a better book deal than Paris Hilton.
Will readers be more intrested in quality, or hype? Sure, many of us still want something good to read, but my local bookstore doesn’t carry Cormac McCarthy, Robertson Davies, or Mordecai Richler , and only had one Michael Ondaatje book on the shelf (book, not title)last time I was there. That brings writers back to the internet as their channel of distribution. But, I am sure most are like me. I don’t want to get crazy on the tech side. I need the time to write.
Anyway, my head hurts. I feel like I was hanging out in a laid back writer’s workshop that was invaded by a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons guys.
And, relatively speaking, for Authonomy 880 people in 24hrs is a flashmob, considering that nothing even slightly comparable had happened previously.
Scott says
Thank you, Marilyn.
Chris, you’re right, the newspaper model is broken. My hope is that new news organizations rise from the ashes. Blogs are fine and I enjoy many of them. But there’s a very large difference between a blog and a legitimate news gathering organization. If we have to soley rely on blogs and television news, we’re in trouble.
Leis says
I like to think of it as the Revolution of Authonomy: Vineet rode in on his equine gargoyle leading an army of Huns who probably last read a page of fiction in high school (because they had to); they performed a skillful circus act (‘backing’ his book) without a comment to their name, then stuck around for the victory orgy in the forums.
In a flash, TSR rankings were blown to the four winds (mine dropped from 43 to 650 overnight) and getting to the ED’s desk came to be widely known for what it really was all along: the click of a button, a vote — except no longer based on mutual back scratching.
This was the second such site I have frequented, and, alas, the last. I’d rather have my MS rot in the slush pile.
Oh-ho… the word verification… LOL (I can’t say what it is!! 😀 )
Chris Bates says
Scott:
I agree. Most blogs are simply opinion pieces … like a lot of newspapers nowadays too.
I think the industry is in the professional blogs, ie Huff Post et al. These sites obviously make good coin on the advertising side. They can be low-cost on the start-up front and can play a feature piece to death with little fear of stealing column inch space from advertising revenue.
But, of course, you gotta get paid. Investigative journalists need cash to unearth stories.
Sorry for highjacking/gaming/hacking your comments section, Nathan!!
Chris Bates says
Bransford, this NCAA basketball tournament thing … is it possible for a budding author to rig the outcome?!
Maybe you’re already outsourcing a group of hackers to manipulate the electronic scoreboard to your team’s advantage.
I’m telling you people: ya can’t trust literary agents. They’ll sell their souls for a 10-20% advantage.
kdrausin says
I agree with Nathan. Vineet sounds like a nice guy. He used his creativity to get his novel seen.
My teenage daughter was just telling me today how many of her guy friends go on Utube just to browse…for hours.
Artificial Wisdom says
There’s nothing wrong with using the system to the max advantage. That’s supposed to be what the US encourages.
If you don’t like the fact that he was able to bump up his book so quickly, then ask to change the ranking system.
Honestly, I hope people like Kat Mayo never get published, for who will be there to buy your books? Especially with that attitude.
TERI REES WANG says
Love it when some one has the power to stir up their own tornado!…
..practicing serious powers of persuasion. More power to’em.
Jen C says
What bothers me is not that an author can be rewarded for bringing an audience, but that we have not yet created the tools to differentiate between a meaningful audience (i.e. interested and paying) versus a meaningless audience (i.e. papering the house). The good news is that if the potential value is real, the tools will eventually be developed. In the meantime, chaotic is a good way to sum it up.
This is exactly what I was thinking.
I’ve only been to Authonomy once, and very very briefly at that, but from what I can tell it’s a bit pointless. Someone above commented that people will approach you to rank them, and they will rank you, without either having read the others work? How is that going to translate into a sale if one of those books gets published?
If I wanted to, I could certainly mobilise a few hundred people, between friends, Twitter, Facebook, forums etc, to go to a website and click a button to vote for me. Would ALL of them then go to a bookstore and pay $30 for my book, read it, and then recommend it to their friends? That would be lovely, but highly unlikely!
To Vineet, I don’t really blame you for what you did. I don’t see this as one person cheating the system, as that’s what other people seem to have been doing, albeit on a smaller scale. I just don’t see how the set up of the site relates to what they say it’s for. If people are voting without having read the work, that isn’t a fan base at all…
Betty Atkins Dominguez says
I didn’t invite friends and family to Authonomy. I made it up to number 13 on the 1st page of the book list, then couldn’t get back in for a couple of days and I was down to page 58! Oiy Ve… well, the site is actually great to hear other’s views on your writing.
Betty Atkins Dominguez says
sorry, make that #58, not page 58
Maria Zannini says
Vineet, you’re living proof of the power of networking. You worked by the rules and rose to the top of the heap.
I think that’s pretty awesome.
If you see this, contact me, there’s something I’d like to ask you offlist. mariazannini AT gmail DOT com
Karen says
I found out about this on a discussion thread at a different site and while I’ve never been on Authonomy, but my first thought was “Cool move! Great way to self-promote!” Say what you will, he caught people’s attention.
Mira says
Scott,
I’m sorry to hear about your newspaper too. I’m sorry for the jobs that will be lost.
That’s the hard thing in times of change. Some people’s lives are affected and made more difficult in the transition.
On the other hand, it’s interesting to see things change. It’s interesting to see history evolve – at least I think that’s what’s happening. The publishing industry is changing and we’re a part of it – like Vineet.
I guess I see Authonomy and other sites as experiments – we’re looking for the new publishing model that will work. The exciting thing about that is it causes us to reevaluate our values, our choices.
I’m sorry about what’s lost, but I think it’s rather exciting to see all the experimentation.
I think in the long run, it’s good for authors. I don’t care how popular they were, 100 years ago, it would have been very hard for any author to mobilize 900 people on their behalf. That’s kind of cool.
And I guess I’m not so worried that bad books will become popular. They may, but that’s okay. Cream floats to the top. A really good book is a really good book is a really good book.
macdibble says
HC love the publicity. They don’t care that their own ranking system has been made a mockery of, proving for once and for all that Authonomy is not for serious writers.
Any serious writers who held out the last few months, in the hope that Authonomy would get its act together, have taken this sign from Klazart the Almighty Gaming Dude and are now fleeing the sinking slush pile.
reader says
By some people’s comments, you’d think Vineet was the mastermind behind queryfail.
I hope you get published, Vineet!
Vineet says
I consider myself a serious writer. But I am not so confident that I feel I can ignore opportunities to promote my work.
Mercy Loomis says
I just have to say it. I don’t know anything about Authonomy, but I am hugely giggled by the fact that people complaining about a gamer are bemoaning the loss of their TSR.
(Yes, I am a hobby gamer. I bemoaned the loss of TSR too, but the folks over at Wizards of the Coast are actually pretty cool, and savvy as well.)
ryan field says
Scott said, “Speaking of publishing of another sort, my former employer, the Ann Arbor News, announced today that it’s ceasing publication in July after 174 years on watch. It’s a sad, sad day.”
I just lost one of my favorite newspapers too. It seems to be happening everywhere. Sad.
Scott says
Haven’t been by Authonomy in some time, but I have to think this kind of “raid” is easy enough to police. Anyone know how last month’s top five have fared?
clindsay says
Hey, kudos to the guy for ingenuity. He’s got a built-in street team, something he’ll be able to use to his advantage when marketing his book. I wish more authors thought outside the box like that. Good job! =)
Jen C says
clindsay said…
Hey, kudos to the guy for ingenuity. He’s got a built-in street team, something he’ll be able to use to his advantage when marketing his book. I wish more authors thought outside the box like that. Good job! =)
I don’t know that going onto a site and alienating the regulars is a very effective form of street teaming…
Mira says
Okay, this is driving me nuts. I’m a hobby gamer, and have even played the occasional dungeon. what’s a TSR and where did it go?
I have to say to the guy who posted that the popular kids won this round, not so. Most Gamers stem from the more imaginative, ‘geek’ faction.
I say this with pride.
Anonymous says
I heard the author of technothriller Daemon had the gaming/geek community behind him in a big way, too, which led to his self-pubbed novel going to the big leagues.
Just goes to show that besides the traditional publishing industry channels, authors should market their book to communities relating to the book’s subject matter as well.
Mira says
Never mind. I went to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge that is good and pure.
I know who TSR is.
All is good.
Marilyn Peake says
Vineet said:
I consider myself a serious writer. But I am not so confident that I feel I can ignore opportunities to promote my work.
I feel the same about myself; I’m sure a lot of other writers here feel the same way about their own work. Authonomy is definitely one way to get your work out there in the world, and see where it takes you. Before I learned how to use the Internet or email (can’t believe that was only six short years ago), I self-published my first novel, in order to get it out there, get reviews, submit to book award contests, etc. I learned a lot by just getting out there on the Internet. (I’ve now won a bunch of awards, received lots of great reviews, sold over 1,000 copies of all my books combined, and met many wonderful people in the publishing world…even though I would never recommend self-publishing for anyone who knows a better avenue on which to start out.) You’ll probably find lots of good things come your way, Vineet, no matter what happens on Authonomy itself. I clicked on your Bio over at Authonomy. Are you a medical doctor who wrote a non-fiction book? That’s impressive.
Oh, and I’m a beginning gamer, from a family of advanced gamers. Lots of fun!
Anonymous says
He gamed the system, pure and simple.
If he had been on Amazon and had 880 people buy the book at once–the spike in ratings would take him to the top of his category and he’d get reviewed, and then the agents would be calling him. (Unfortunate that he wasted this possibility on Authonomy instead of the real thing). Welcome to the new era in publishing.