A new author database site has hit the web in a public beta and already it’s not without controversy. FiledByAuthor claims to be “the most comprehensive directory of author pages anywhere. It’s also a place for authors to showcase themselves and their work, a place for readers to search and discover new works and a place for everyone to connect and discuss our favorite subject – authors and books, of course.”
So, basically, it’s Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari meets IMDB — but with a few hitches, all of which are discussed in this Los Angeles Times blog post. One of the biggest issues surrounding this site’s release is the fact that it seems like a not-very-well-disguised cash grab. The FiledByAuthor site has catalogued information for approximately 1.8 million authors so far, with each page including a bio, a list of works, and links to purchase the books online. Once these pages are created, the site then invites authors to “claim” their pages. And while the claiming process is free, if the author wants to gain anything more than minimal control over the content on their page they’ll be paying a fee of either $99 or $399 (!) per year. A full breakdown of the different membership options can be found here.