HarperCollins YA Inkpop Community...Opinions Please.

 Earlier this week I was reading through Publisher's Weekly Daily when I noticed an article called Harper Debuts Writing Site for Teens. Having once been a teenage writer, my initial thought was "Where the hell was something like this when I was starting out?"

The article describes Inkpop as "an interactive writing platform and community for teenagers created by the HarperTeen imprint of HarperCollins children's books." The site had a soft (unadvertised) opening a few months ago and now boasts over 10,000 members aged 13 & up. 

The carrot they seem to be using to draw members is the possibility of editorial feedback on submitted (posted) work or even maybe, down the road, hey-you-never-know...PUBLICATION. 

According to the Inkpop FAQ page, here are the basics:

Inkpop invites unpublished, published, and self-published authors to create their own personal inkpop page and post their books, short stories, essays, and poetry for public viewing. There is no word-count minimum for short stories, essays, and poetry, but authors must upload books that are at least 10,000 words in order for them to be read and critiqued by the inkpop community.

Visitors can comment on submissions and choose their top five favorites. inkpop counts the number of times a project appears to be among the five favorites of community members and uses that information to rank the projects. inkpop also recognizes the visitors who consistently recommend the best projects and uses that info to rank the most influential Trendsetters, who play a critical role in selecting top authors.

In short, talent development is a collaborative process at inkpop. Readers are talent scouts and critics who become community leaders in their search for standout projects. In turn, writers get to load up on valuable feedback from a target audience and make their projects the very best they can be."

A few other details include:

*Inkpop is not just for teens. The lower age limit is 13, there is no upper age limit and they state that published authors are welcome. 

*You must upload a minimum of 10,000 words before your work becomes public. The reasons given for needing so much of the project is that they "want to attract serious writers who have completed or nearly completed their book projects." And that this number of words will show off the quality of the writer's work and attract the important "personal recommendations."

*Once your project goes public, anyone visiting the site can read it, although only registered members can comment on it. 

*You can keep your project private by keeping it under 10,000 words or hitting the button on during the Submit process. 

*Once a month the HarperCollins editorial board will read 5 projects from the Top Picks list and offer their feedback. HC also reserves the right to read other projects that are not part of the Top 5. 

*They say you will give up NO rights by submitting your work.

*They also say that posting your work on Inkpop does not affect your copyright.
And here's their direct quote answer to the question:

Does posting on Inkpop affect the value of my projects? 

"We really see no particular reason why a project that’s been showcased online should lose any of its value to an interested publisher. Indeed, it's central to the inkpop concept that a writer with a proven readership is often more valuable to a publisher, not less. Book companies now regularly snap up volumes from high-profile bloggers and promising self-publishers with existing readerships. It's a good thing to prove that you’ve got the enthusiasm and the skills to help make your project a success."

Okay all you writers, YA and otherwise...what say YOU? Is Inkpop something you would encourage your teen to participate in? Would YOU as a YA writer participate in it? Is this the new publishing paradigm? As writers do you find this brilliant or offensive or somewhere in the middle? Is it good business? Is it good for writers?

Comments

[Lynda]

Hey!

I think it's a great idea and could be a fantastic opportunity for some. However, I think many serious writers would really hesitate to post their work for countless strangers to see--even if some of those people are from HarperCollins. Unless the payoff is very likely, it would seem too much of a gamble. But that's just me. I'll be interested to see what others think!

Lynda

[Linda]

I wouldn't post anything that I thought had a serious potential for traditional publication. But this would be an interesting mega critique group for the new and younger writer

[Jan Kozlowski]

What would you tell your very talented teen writer daughter if she was thinking of posting her work to the Inkpop site?

[Jan Kozlowski]

Linda-Thanks so much for commenting! The idea of the Inkpop community being a good sounding board/critique group crossed my mind...but I wonder if, like some critique group experiences most of us have unfortunately had, I can easily imagine its potential to be more harmful than helpful, especially to a younger writer who is unsure of themselves. I keep thinking of how nasty people can be if theyre only communicating through email and if you add in the negative side of competition for notice by editors (not to mention the possibility of publication, no matter how vague or unlikely)...it COULD get ugly for some. Just thinking out loud here though.

[Erin Whalen]

Hi Girls! I just wanted to let you know that there is another site like this called authonomy - its from Harper Collins also. I think this is a great idea. When you join this site the most popular writing rises to the top and then the editors look at it. It's quite an interesting concept and I have been debating on posting some writing there myself. Check it out www.authonomy.com and let others know what you think!

Erin Whalen
www.erinssketchblog.blogspot.com

[Jan Kozlowski]

Erin-Thanks so much for sharing authonomy.com with us! I checked it out briefly and definitely want to poke around a little more. In fact, I got excited about the crime writers call, but then realized that it was for UK writers. I wonder how much being a UK based site matters in what manuscripts and books are posted, discussed and looked at?