Comments on: The power of author collaborations

By: Terry Whalin

Terry Whalin — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 03:26:09 +0000

Sandy,

From my experience, publishers do not want to put their authors in the same virtual room and let them speak with each other. One author may get something another author didn’t get. Their system is set up for competition instead of cooperation.

Terry

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:58:29 +0000

In reply to Terry Whalin.

Thanks for the validation, Terry. Why do you say other publishers wouldn’t bring their authors together in a group like this? I’m curious because I don’t see any downsides to it.

Sandy

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:57:20 +0000

In reply to Larry Edwards.

Yikes! Doesn’t sound like much fun, and yet, it doesn’t surprise me, Larry. (Sigh.) Starting with a small project will help identify potential problems.

Sandy

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:56:23 +0000

In reply to Marcia Yudkin. Great advice to make an effort to look for those red flags, Marcia. This is exactly why I recommend starting with something small rather than with an undertaking like co-producing and hosting a podcast, for example. Testing the partnership on a small project gives you an opportunity to actively look for those red flags as you recommend. Sandy

By: Larry Edwards

Larry Edwards — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 17:36:38 +0000

I second what Marcia said. I have been involved with one attempted collaboration that would have ended up with me doing most of the work; mercifully, the other author decided to drop out of the project. As an editor I worked with two authors who collaborated on a non-fiction book that had problems from the start. They ended up with a good book, after multiple edits over a period of three years, but the marketing fizzled because they couldn’t agree on how to handle that aspect of it, and one of the authors got stuck with paying for all of the editing, layout, cover design and publishing. I doubt I would I ever try a collaboration again, and I doubt I would work with collaborators again as an editor.

By: Marcia Yudkin

Marcia Yudkin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:06:18 +0000

I had one highly successful book collaboration and two other book projects that crashed and burned most unpleasantly. If you don’t know the other person well, it’s hard to know ahead of time if the potential partner is responsible, reliable and mature. My advice is to do your due diligence and be honest about both people’s motivation to partner up. Consciously look for red flags – often they’re there and we ignore them out of hopeful optimism.

By: Terry Whalin

Terry Whalin — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:51:18 +0000

Sandy, Great post about an important concept for authors. At Morgan James we have a private Facebook group for our authors (something most publishers would never do) because we believe we are stronger as authors if we cooperate rather than compete. There are over 1,000 authors in this private group. This article has wonderful ideas that authors need to take action and use. Thank you, Terry author of 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed