I love collaborating with bloggers and authors and have always wondered what it is like to co-author a book or a huge project with someone. That’s why I have invited Betsy Miller to the blog today to share her thoughts on collaborating and co-authoring with peers, no matter what kind of piece of writing it is. Betsy Miller is a technical writer and author of nonfiction children’s health books and picture books. Several of her books were joint projects that she co-wrote. She is also a co-founder of Thinking Ink Press, a small press located in Silicon Valley.
Collaborating and Co-authoring
Kriti, thanks for having me as a guest on Armed with a Book. Today I’d like to share my views about working in tandem with other authors and offer some tips for your readers who’d like to give this idea a try. In this article, I’m assuming that two writers want to create a work and then publish it. They haven’t been hired by a business or publisher to work as a team.
Writing partnerships can be wonderful, but they can also be tricky to establish because the writers might have different visions of what the project entails and what each person’s role will be. I’d encourage you to talk about roles before beginning a project and to have a written agreement in place before publishing a book that’s co-written with the aim of publication.
Things to consider:
- Are you going to jointly write a complete manuscript such as a novel, or write separate parts of the same work such as chapters in a nonfiction book or stories in an anthology?
If you’re sure you want to co-author a complete work, bear in mind that unless there’s a written agreement that says otherwise, you’ll be sharing the copyright when the work is completed and splitting any author advances and royalties if the book is published.
If you’re writing separate stories or chapters, then the pieces that you write may be published with your byline within the book and can be written in different styles. Your separate works are copyrighted to you individually.
- Is one person going to do most of the writing? If yes, what’s the other person’s role?
This sort of co-author arrangement can work well if you have complementary skills or areas of expertise. Technical writing projects often involve a writer who works with a subject-matter expert, sometimes called an SME. I co-wrote The Parents’ Guide to Perthes with Dr. Charles T. Price, who is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. I did more of the writing and he provided detailed medical knowledge about this rare disease. He also provided case studies that included x-rays.
- When co-writing stories that are either fiction or narrative nonfiction, whose writing style or voice will be most prominent in the work?
This can be hard to figure out in advance, because you might not know how you feel about this until you give it a try. I recommend writing a short piece together and evaluating the results before you commit to a big project. If things click and you’re happy working together, that’s great! If you’re uncomfortable, try not to take it personally. Your writing styles might be too different to weave together into a single work. Remember, it’s fine to write as an individual. You don’t have to collaborate if you don’t want to.
In the picture book Tiger Livy, my co-author Erin Garcia’s voice is more prominent, though I can see my contributions in story elements, pacing, and language mechanics.
In the picture book Hip, Hop, Hooray for Brooklynn!, which I co-wrote with Jill Harold, my writing voice is more prominent, but the idea for the book and the characters came from Jill. Jill also does more of the PR for this book.
- When approaching a writer about a joint project, give some thought about how participating in this project would benefit them. The larger the project, the more important this becomes. This is why publishers pay authors—because writing can involve a lot of work!
If you like to write about a specific area of interest, such as gardening, you may find that you’re connecting to other gardeners and bloggers who share your interest. A collaboration can grow out of an informal conversation about a topic you both would like to see developed. This might mean writing a guest blog post, interviewing someone who is an expert on soils, or co-writing an article about your experiences with the same plant in two different regions. If you both promote the article, then you’re likely to reach a wider group of readers than you would if you were working alone.
If you want to develop a blog with others, then discuss which topics will be general information about the blog, such as book review submission guidelines, and which topics will be published as blog posts with bylines. I’m not part of a group like that, but an example of a unique take on this sort of collaboration is The Quiet Pond. This fun book review website with a focus on diverse books features several bloggers and animal characters. Jane Friedman’s website focuses on writing and publishing. Jane has developed a lot of her own content, including books and classes. Her blog includes posts that she writes herself and guest posts from subject matter experts with real-world experience. Whether you prefer to write as an individual or as part of a team, I hope you enjoy your writing projects in the new year!
I hope you got some great ideas on collaborating and co-authoring with peers in the future, and are also able to take some of these ideas into your current projects right away.
Want to connect with Betsy and learn more from her?
Cover image: Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
A very interesting discussion, Kriti! I was fascinated to learn more about the collaborative process of two people writing a book, especially the question of different writing styles, so it was great to read her answers.
Glad you liked it, Stephen! It is quite interesting! 🙂 Do let us know if you apply some of these strategies at some point! Betsy would be thrilled.