How to choose a co-author for your book?

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A book can be written by a single author or a number of authors. Co-authoring means when a couple of you or a group of you, decide to write a book together. But when you co-author a book, you need to know if they are the right partners for you to write the book. As the saying goes, ‘Birds of a feather, flock together.’ You need to check if your thoughts, ideas and goals for the book are the same.

When choosing your co-author, do keep the following in mind:

1) Like-mindedness:

People who are described as like- minded share the same opinions, ideas or interests. They have the same turn of mind, are compatible, in harmony, in accord, of one mind. This helps a lot for forming the structure of the book and agreeing upon the content in the book. When you are co-authors, there is a lot of discussion between you. It is important that you both are on the same page when it comes to what to write in the book. Find someone who shares your interests, opinions or ideas as your co-author. It will make your journey of authoring a book delightful and smooth.

2) Communication:

Co-authoring a book is a team work. All the authors have to work as a team. They have to continually communicate with each other about how to express their ideas, thoughts and opinions on the page. Both will have to come to an agreement about what exactly you want to put in the content. You should have a good rapport with each other. You should be willing to listen to each other and also able to express your own opinion. Don’t let difference of opinion put a brake in your co-authoring. Try to find a middle-way. Something that will satisfy both. Sometimes you might have to give up on some of your ideas. Being head-strong doesn’t help here. Loose some battles, to win the war! You have to be swift to attend to each other’s mails, messages, phone calls or group calls. If you ignore each other’s messages, it shows you are not too serious about it. It can further delay your authoring project.

3) Discipline:

Your co-author should be disciplined. He or she can be very creative, highly intellectual, expert on the subject but if they can’t be disciplined about delivering the writing within a time-line then it becomes a mess. Sometimes we hang onto them because of their expertise, but both sides have to contribute. Both have to give their best. One can’t be diligent and another sloppy. All the co-authors have to be serious about their work towards the book. Co-authoring is co-labor. Everyone has to burn the midnight oil. Single individual can’t take the burden of the whole book when co-authors are involved.

‘Rome was not built in a day’. Authoring a book needs a lot of effort. It is important to have the right co-authors onboard. Co-authoring a book can be efficient, fun, satisfying but only with the right team!