How To Co-Author a Book and Maintain a Relationship With Your Co-Author
Don't let your book break your relationship with your co-author!
Writing a book with another person is a unique experience. It involves a lot of conversations about your motivations for writing, your goals, and the impact you want to make. There is also a lot of planning involved! When things go right, co-authors can create a wonderful book that blends their unique voices.
However, without having open communication and honest discussions with one another, things can break down surprisingly quickly. Projects can go untouched for months, or authors may disagree about what direction to take the book.
That's why we wanted to talk about steps co-authors can take to create a successful book and maintain a good relationship with their co-author!
Know what your goals are.
It's okay if two co-authors have different goals for the same book. However, it's important that one co-author doesn't have a drastically different goal for the book than their partner. For instance, if one co-author wants to create a funny, irreverent book and the other wants to write a more heartfelt, grounded book, they're likely to clash. Both authors should agree on the overall message and tone of the book as well as on the execution.
It's also helpful for co-authors to discuss their marketing goals with one another. If Author A wants to do interviews on podcasts, magazines, and TV shows, that doesn't necessarily mean Author B has to tag along or want the same things. Maybe Author B wants to use social media and avoid the spotlight to promote the book. That's okay! It's advisable for both authors to discuss how they'll discuss their book with the public, what they'll share about one another, etc., but overall, it's normal for two people to have different approaches to marketing.
Establish clear boundaries and roles early in the process.
Is there certain information you don't want your co-author to share about you or mention in marketing campaigns online and offline? Are there topics within the book that you feel uncomfortable writing about? Who's better at planning, and who is good at budgeting?
These questions, along with others related to your boundaries and the roles you and your co-author will fulfill, are going to come up throughout the writing and publishing process. Whether you know your co-author well or you're collaborating for the first time, it's beneficial to take time to consider what boundaries you want to set around the project. These boundaries could be around your availability, the information you want to be made public, deadlines, and more. Additionally, figuring out who is responsible for what role can make the publishing process smoother.
Iron out the financial details, create an agreement with your co-author, and know how intellectual property is allocated from the start.
Let's be honest, finances can be a tricky subject to approach no matter the context, but when you're working with a co-author, it's essential to talk about how the book will be funded and how compensation will be allocated long before the book is published. If you're paying an editor, designer, illustrator, etc., who will pay and when? Will you create a shared bank account, or will one author share compensation with the other? Will you allow readers to use alternative means of payment (such as PayPal, Venmo, etc.) at in-person events, and if so, who will create the account?
Before the book is published, we highly encourage co-authors to create a written agreement with one another that details everything related to finances. This can save you both a lot of time later down the line!
Additionally, it's important to know that, at least in the United States, co-authors are joint copyright owners. That means that the co-authors share intellectual property once a book is published. So, if things were to fall apart with you and your co-author after publication, you still couldn't claim the book solely as yours.*
*We're not lawyers, so if you have questions about intellectual property, we highly suggest talking to a lawyer!
Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Have a question? Talk to your co-author. Not sure how you feel about the tone of a chapter in your manuscript? Talk to your co-author. Want an opinion on how your writing sounds? Talk to your co-author.
Hopefully, you get the idea. Talk. To. Your. Co-author. Having an open line of communication makes it easy to solve so many issues and even prevent them from occurring. Remember that you're on the same team, and you share the goal of wanting to publish your amazing book! Also, be open to questions from your co-author. Everyone needs clarification sometimes, and you can both be a resource for each other.
If you're writing a book with another person, being able to start the process with clear goals, established boundaries, an understanding of finances, and open communication makes the process much easier.
Have you considered co-authoring a book, or have you previously co-authored a book?
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Write on!
Kim Eley
KWE Publishing
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Resources:
Here at KWE Publishing, we want to share a few of our favorite resources with our newsletter readers. Check back weekly to see what resources we recommend!
Recently, I came across an interesting post by author
about things debut novelists should know, and after reading even more of her posts, I wanted to share her Substack, !Anne-Sophie Juhanneau is an author who shares a fun combination of musings, craft talk, and discussions of favorite pieces of media on her Substack. Her posts are honest, conversational, and engaging, and if you’re an aspiring author or just someone who loves a good read, we highly recommend taking a look at Creative Encounters!
