Who can blame you? Let’s be honest: Before you partner with someone, you want to be fairly confident that it will be a good, productive experience.

That confidence often comes from experience working with your collaborator on other projects or in other ways. For that reason, starting small might be the best way to approach teaming up with someone else.

3 reasons to collaborate

But why would you do any of this in the first place? What’s in it for you? Here are three reasons I love author collaborations:

1. You can help/entertain/educate/inform more readers when you partner with others who already reach the people you want to reach.
2. It’s an easy and affordable way to expand the audience for your work.
3. There’s potential for you to learn, grow, and improve when you partner with a colleague who could be in a position to teach you about something you need to learn.

And, honestly, it’s just plain fun to work with smart people you admire or respect.

4 easy author collaboration ideas

“Entry level” author collaborations can take many forms. You might . . .

• Ask another writer in your genre to share information about your new book with her e-mail list in exchange for sending details of her latest book to yours.
• Organize a virtual authors event with a bookstore or library.
• Include another author as a resource when pitching an article idea to a magazine or newspaper or a segment to a TV talk show.
• Form a blog circle with other authors targeting the same readers. Link to the blogs in your circle from your site, comment on their blog posts, agree to contribute content to theirs — and vice versa — on a regular basis.

(Get more ideas in “5 ways to collaborate with other authors.”)

I seem to be leaning more and more towards collaborations in my own businesses. Sometimes I do it simply for the pleasure of creating something new with a smart colleague. Other times, it’s because I know that our combined efforts will do more good than the solo approach.

Start small

Whether I’m doing a blog post swap or creating a course with a colleague, the collaboration is nearly always mutually beneficial.

The trick (for me, at least), is partnering with people who will deliver. We both have to do what we’ve committed to.

That’s why I recommend starting with a small collaboration before partnering on something bigger — co-writing a book or creating a Facebook group together. Beginning with something that involves less of a commitment will help both of you assess whether there’s potential for a positive and productive longer term partnership.

Give it a try

Finding someone to collaborate with might take time, but the rewards are worth the effort.

Do you have room for this in your author life? If so, start small. It could lead to something big.

How do you collaborate with others to reach your readers or achieve other goals?

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2013. It has been updated and expanded.)

Why not counter that by working with other authors to get the news out about your book and how it will entertain, educate, or otherwise help people?

This doesn’t mean that you should approach other authors and ask them to share information about your book with their fans, audiences, and followers. That won’t get you very far.

The golden rule

You want to work collaboratively, always following the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you want help from others, help them first.

With that in mind, here are 10 creative ideas for supporting other authors in ways that will encourage them to support you, too. You’ll be much more productive and far less lonely.

1. Create a blog network for your genre.

Identify a handful of other writers in your genre who will join with you to promote each other’s  blog posts. In addition to listing everyone/s blogs in a “blog roll” on your sites, commit to commenting on each other’s posts on a regular basis.

This will build traffic for each site and help generate greater awareness of the books involved.

2. Plan a “local authors night” at a bookstore or library.

The connections you make with other local authors will support you well beyond this fun night of book signings and sales.

Consider solidifying the connections by meeting in person on a regular basis to brainstorm or share information.

3. Form a book marketing group on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Groups built around a shared interest or challenge offer opportunities to get feedback, request opinions, or ask for help solving a problem. You might be surprised at the level of support you can get from a group of like-minded individuals.

Authors are talking about book marketing challenges and sharing their experiences in the Build Book Buzz Group on Facebook. Join that one, or form your own there or on LinkedIn, where there are lots of existing groups to join, too.

4. “Like” each other’s author Facebook pages.

It’s quick and easy. Will it change anyone’s world? Probably not, but it’s the least we can do for each other.

Make it a point to stop by the pages periodically and “like” and comment on the content, too.

5. Form a Meetup group.

Connect with local authors by organizing and promoting a regular Meetup.

Defining in advance what you hope to get from group meetings will help you be specific about the people you’d like in the group. You might want to meet only with novelists or with just nonfiction authors, for example.

Get started at Meetup.com.

6. Guest blog for each other.

This is such a win-win.

It’s one less post for you to write while you support another author. Plus, your blog will benefit from the exposure to your guest blogger’s fan base. Maybe you’ll find a few new fans in the crowd.

To be the best guest blogger ever, download the free Build Book Buzz Guest Blogging Cheat Sheet.

7. Get a little link love going.

Generate backlinks (links that connect one site to another) to author sites by sharing their blog posts and other content on your social networks.

This will help improve everyone’s SEO — search engine optimization.

8. Read and review each other’s books.

Arrange with your network to write honest reviews of each other’s books. Minimize problems by establishing rules in advance about how to handle books that members don’t like.

Also, if you give each other review copies, be sure to declare that fact in your Amazon review. You’re required to state when you receive a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

For a bonus boost, buy the books on Amazon so your reviews show up as verified purchases. These reviews show up first, ahead of those that aren’t verified as purchased on Amazon.

But always, always, always, write an honest review.

I’ve got two significant collaborations in the works already. In one case, I’ve teamed up with a colleague to create a training program for authors. In the other, I’m partnering with another writer on a ghostwriting project.

I’m focusing on collaborations this year for a pretty simple reason: This approach can help me go farther faster.

More specifically, collaborations help me:

• Work with a partner who has different skills.
• See situations, problems, and opportunities from someone else’s perspectives.
• Become involved with interesting projects I wouldn’t find on my own.
• Learn and grow.

How might you collaborate?

I’m collaborating to create things, but collaborations can serve many purposes. Authors can collaborate with other authors in a myriad of ways that help all parties move forward.

Here are five ways to work together with other authors to create a win-win situation.

1. Email book news to each other’s email lists.

Find another author in your genre and offer to send book announcements to each other’s mailing lists.

If you have at least 200 names on your list, take this “refer a book” process up a few notches by joining the Books Go Social “Army of Authors” mailing list program. After joining, you’ll occasionally be offered books in your genre to promote to your list. You can decide which ones you do or don’t promote – you have control over that. Participating authors are rewarded.

2. Share beta readers.

Why should two authors in the same genre have to look under rocks to find ready, willing, and able beta readers?

Give each other access to your beta reader networks. Better yet, partner to create a shared group of beta readers you can both turn to when you’re ready for feedback. Make it official with a group name, a sign-up page that details expectations, and a dedicated mailing list you use to share information and offer books.

3. Create and sell an e-book bundle or box set.

Bundles with books from multiple authors sell well on Amazon because they give genre or topic fans an opportunity to “sample” several new authors at a cost that’s less than buying each book individually.

Novelists can collaborate with others in their niche, while nonfiction authors should focus on topics. If you’ve got a collection of Instant Pot recipes, for example, look for other authors with Instant Pot cookbooks. The author of a book about how to write a book might look for authors who have written books on other aspects of publishing, such as self-publishing and marketing.

4. Support each other on social media.

Every once in awhile, one of my most favorite people who just happens to be an author will email me with a request to help her share special news related to one of her books.

It might be a milestone number of reader reviews, a pre-order campaign, or a particularly significant media hit.

I am more than happy to help spread the news in my social networks. I am also comfortable asking her to do the same when I’ve got something that’s bigger than usual to share.

Find a couple of author buddies you can count on to do this for you, too.

5. Review your marketing materials before they’re finalized.

An author friend does this for me. I can’t underestimate the value fresh eyes and a good brain bring to the project.

I often reach a point where I’ve looked at that book description, announcement press release, or landing page so many times that I can’t be objective. Another author can point out missing details, confusing language, or boring text.

Nothing is too small for this review. Swap services for proofreading business cards, evaluating bookmarks or postcards, even checking over Amazon keywords.

Don’t compete, collaborate!

Instead of seeing another author in your niche as a competitor, view that person as a potential collaborator.

Benefits of taking a collaborative, rather than competitive, approach include:

• Reaching more of the right readers than you can on your own.
• Potentially discovering a new way of looking at your topic or genre.
• Reducing author isolation.

These are all good things, right?

Be open to the possibilities that could come your way when you collaborate with other authors.

Looking for someone to partner with? Join the Build Book Buzz Facebook group and post your request there. You might find your ideal collaborator.

How are you collaborating with other authors? Tell us in a comment.