Sharing the Byline ( or: Writing with a Co-author)

Writing with a partner author can offer some great benefits, if you’re both willing to set aside your egos and truly cooperate.

My first two published books were done with a co-author.  They would not have happened without my partner.  Nor would they have happened without me.

My co-author was vice president for education for Florida Audubon Society, and I was on contract as editor of the Florida Audubon magazine. When I suggested we include something for young people in the magazine, she readily agreed.

Our writing technique was simple.  Whoever came up with the idea for the up-coming issue would write the first draft. Then we’d share, add ideas, move paragraphs as we added material, and make corrections, until we were both satisfied. I deferred to her on the science, she deferred to me on the editing. Neither of us had an ego that interfered, and we worked well together.

Maybe a Book?

We wrote these special sections for children together for several years, and I began wondering if a collection of our pieces would make a book.  I sent some samples to a Florida publisher and — they liked it! And when that was finished, they asked us to do another book!

Like your writing partner

Perhaps the most important thing about writing together is to like the person you’re working with. Are you friends? Do you get along? You need to trust that each of you will be committed to the project and will be putting your best effort into it. Be willing to go along with your partner if something is important to them. Be willing to use persuasion for your viewpoint if something is important to you. Enjoy your writing time together. Compliment each other.

Not the only way

The technique of partner-writing that my co-author and I used – one doing one chapter, the other doing another – works for many co-author arrangements, but it’s not the only way. Partnering can work for novelists as well as for non-fiction authors like us.

One author can start a novel, then pass the buck to the co-author who writes a bit more, then tosses the plot back with a cliff-hanger to the first partner. Oh, boy. What now? What fun!

Sometimes authors talk their way through the plot of a novel and share the writing back and forth, adding new material, taking off in new directions, sometimes surprising their co-author with a whole new outcome.

Some co-authors may choose their character, and each writes what their character does and says. Maybe the authors play the scene out together in person or by email, as if it were a drama in real time.

Benefits

Co-authoring provides impetus and encouragement and instant critiquing. It keeps writer’s block at bay. You can use each author’s strengths. Maybe one of you is super at ideating, or plotting, or outlining. Perhaps one of you is a super copy-editor, catching all mistakes and typos and wrong turns, so you can send clean copy to the publisher.  Maybe one of you has experience in writing a proposal, or dealing with an agent or editor or publisher, or even marketing after all is done.

Who’s Name Is First?

Uh, oh. Now the hard part. Who gets top billing on the cover of the book?  Flip a coin? Draw straws? In my case, I came up with the idea for the book and I pursued the publisher and wrote the proposal, so I was the principal author.

Academic publications often simply put the authors in alphabetical order by last name.

If one of you already has a reputation out there, your name is first. If one of you does most of the actual writing, your name is first. If one of you supplies expertise in some vital aspect of the material, perhaps your name should come first. If your egos get in the way, well, good luck.

And Now …

Now I have a request from my book publisher to do a second edition of one of my books, but I will not be adding new material. My new co-author will. She is my protégé. I mentored her for a couple of years on the subject, and she has taken it further, with much new information, new experiences, and original ideas. She even writes in much the same style as I do. She will share equal billing on the cover, but my name will be first.

If you’re good with some aspect of producing a novel or non-fiction material, but can’t get it together, you might try co-authoring with – whom? – your spouse or partner? Your best friend? Try it. You might like it.