Authors Den www.authorsden.com Review

Overall Rating

Authors den allows a space, i.e. web page for individuals to index their work, poetry, short stories and articles

Often the website is down for several hours on Mondays and Saturdays

I have been a member of the Authors Den website for several years, since 2001 - during its beginning. I am a lifetime member so I do not pay annual fees. I did pay for a subscription for two years, as a "gold" member, and during those two years I found their "services" and offers to publish; hard copy journal, individual author books and an anthology - to be false.

The problem with Authors Den is that it does not live up to its statement, "to bring authors and readers together". This website is closed to the public, which means the only readers the authors receive are "registered" with Authors Den. The only way an author can build readership is to send links to their contacts after posting work. The site offers nothing of value to the authors, which was the original "concept" - to provide a venue for authors, readers, critics, publishers, agents and editors to review works and establish relationships through networking. In this, Authors Den has failed. The idea that Authors Den is a site for professional writers is ridiculous! The writing and reading level of its core members is between 6.4 and 7.2. This is not a site which houses literary minds. It is a site for housewives and "prince and princesses" of poetry. There are exceptions to this generalization, and possibly as many as a dozen interesting writers, but all too often they do not stay on the website, as they recognize that there is no value in maintaining membership.

This is a vanity site, which is obvious by the number of asinine responses posted as reviews, to each of the core members. Critiques are few and far between. The only value to this site is to use it as an interchange between the author and his contacts, and as a filing system and index for personal use. There are questionable practices, some which may breech copyright laws, others which border on defamation and slander. Other concerns are the number of author's pages which directly link to questionable sites. The owner of the website is fully aware of these issues, that to date, remain unresolved.

Members' Comments onauthorauthor's Review

• ipbookreviewer on 2nd Jul 2008

  I found this review helpful because... it provides an in depth look at my major concern. As a professional book reviewer, I expected to become a "reader" that would become involved with authors. Instead the site offered nothing to me as a new member except sending me form letters that were addressed to me as an author...Then they started to request money...before I even had a chance to understand where I might fit there...
  
  I totally agree with this analysis...Readers do not randomly come and become members...I joined to respond to a client's needs and posted my reviews...I've done a few things, and will probably continue to check it out...but, frankly, unless readers are treated as well as the authors...what good can come for an author... I'd like to see some statistics that show that the readers have bought and discussed the books, etc., before I will be happy.