Penguin’s online writing community Book Country has launched a new self-publishing platform. Self-publishing is the natural next step for the community that launched earlier this year. Authors can use the site to share their work and get some help polishing it off, while connecting to other authors, editors and agents. The site is designed to help guide writers from rough draft to published work.
According to the press release, BookCountry.com has seen more than 120,000 unique visitors since going into public beta in May. The site counts about 4,000 members and about 500 works of fiction.

Community members can read manuscripts, vote on them and share constructive criticism. Book Country president Molly Barton told eBookNewser about the site in an interview during BookExpo. She said that in order to keep it fair and avoid popularity contests, reviewers who review a lot of works will have the most powerful say. This is aimed at preventing an author’s friend who has never used the site from spiking the results with five stars on a work.

Last night, Digital Book World broke news that, “Barton has been promoted to global digital director at Penguin Group where she will be responsible for all of the major book publisher’s digital products and will liaise with parent company Pearson on digital strategy. She starts in her new position on December 1.”