So, I've written a manuscript. Actually, we've written a manuscript, and now my co-author and I are looking to start establishing a website and social media presence like good little not-yet-published authors, during our break before we roll up our sleeves and eviscerate our drafts.
We've been writing together for a long time, really enjoy working together, and have plans for plenty more collaboration in future. We've talked about it and neither of us is interested in working alone. It seems to us to be a bit redundant to try to each set up our own website.
Would it be very strange to set up a shared website? If we do, is it a better move to brand ourselves as AandB or to pick a singular pen-name to represent our duo act?
We've seen your post about having a collaboration agreement and of course any shared identity would have to fall under such an agreement - is there anything else you'd find reassuring to see covered when presented with our Tandem Hamster Wheels in a professional context?
The question you need to answer is how you want to present your author self: as one or two people. Neither is the better choice from my perspective, but I'm not the one to ask. Ask the people who do this. (The best source of information on a topic is someone actually doing the thing you're wondering about!)
To that end: find some writers working as a team and see what they say. Most likely it's a question they get asked in interviews all the time.
Here are some names to start you off:
Charles Todd
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Sparkle Abbey
Perri O'Shaughnessy
Philip Lawson
PJ Parrish
PJ Tracy
Renee Patrick
Once you decide if you're one or two people in the eyes of the world, you'll know if you need one or more websites etc. You'll know if you want one name or two.
None of this will make a difference to me when I read your query. The only thing I will insist on is knowing what you want me to call each of you, and that you both are on all the email/phone conversations about the business end of things.
You may want to set up a business name to handle the oodles of incoming cash that's sure to arrive, and pay the business expenses associated with this venture. Transparent bookkeeping is essential.
And just think, you'll always have someone to eat breakfast with at conferences and conventions!
12 comments:
Ooh, ooh, this one is me - well, half me, anyway, but I think there's quite a lot of that in my future. Thank you for taking the time to answer!
Since I emailed Janet to ask about this, we did put our researching boots on, and ended up deciding that a singular penname and website would suit our partnership best.
Mostly it is reassuring that any prospective agent isn't going to automatically assume we're likely to implode into a cloud of tears and/or backstabbing. There's some very odd advice out there in the wilds of the internet.
Good luck, LinnetQ, to you and your writing partner. What fun you'll have finding a pen name! (Check carefully, mine turned out to have also been the name of a murderer). May your dual writing journey be joyful and profitable.
Excellent, OP (LinnetQ) - best of luck. Sounds like this will be fun for you and partner. Fabulous.
This is helpful as I've been working on a project with another writer. We may even eventually finish our project!
Totally OT, I have another real world Reider meet up planned for this afternoon! Huzzah! It kinda feels like meeting pen pals (for those of us that are old enough to remember those.)
Might at least give passing consideration to Janus as a pen name. Or Janice is you want to play with your readers a little longer.
But I don't know your genre. Picture book readers might be a different story. Then maybe you'd have to go with Paige, so when you stand back-to-back at library readings you'd be two sides of the same Paige.
I'll let myself out.
Okay, I'm back. (You shouldn't leave the door unlocked.)
You know Dav Pilkey and Captain Underpants write together in a different genre under the name Sue Denim.
Did you catch that?
Yeah, now I'll be on my way...
Don't forget Jefferson Bass. I learned a lot about forensics from those Body Farm books.
LinnetQ: A lot depends on if you plan to continue doing it this way. If you worked well together, find a pen name and roll with it.
If one of you was dominant during the writing, the blank with blank might be better.
OT: I hope all of those affected by Florence can stay patient for a few more days. It is still a dangerous scene.
Excellent blog post. I was confused by the statement:
"You may want to set up a business name to handle the oodles of incoming cash that's sure to arrive"
"Oodles of incoming cash"? Is this still about writing, or did we veer off onto some other business?
Of course if OP is writing porcupine porn there ay be an oodle or two in it.
I'm half of a writing partnership: Waverly Curtis, composed of Waverly Fitzgerald and Curt Colbert. I think the biggest problem we had was at conferences where fans could not find us when we registered under our actual names because they were looking for Waverly Curtis.
I do think some agents have problems with collaborating writers for some obvious reasons: a greater chance of dissension, for instance. Our collaboration agreement covered what would happen if one of us wanted to back out and like Janet said, we always talked to our agent together.
I should point out the down side of collaboration. Our publisher gave us the same advance they would give a single author, which we then had to split. Also it takes us twice as long to write a book together as it would to write a book alone. I suppose those are other reasons an agent or publisher might not be as interested in collaborating authors.
That being said some of my favorite authors are collaborators: Renee Patrick and Sparkle Abbey.
Omg, I'm in the same situation but mine is just a little more complicated. My friend Garry and I wrote his memoir, he's a marginalized voice but because he's not a writer, I wrote his story. We're 50/50 on everything going forward but trying to convey it's an own voice and marginalized voice when I'm the one who wrote it is hard to get across. Any advice on verbiage for our query?
Some different examples:
LinnetQ
James S. A. Corey is one of the most successful scifi writers currently publishing. The name is a pseudonym for the team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. They have a website that is upfront about being a team effort, and keep separate identities on social media.
Unknown
An example of what you're talking about - preserving own voice, but mostly written by a journalist, would be The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer. I can't see where they've posted their query as an example of how to do it, but it does get done and publishers do understand this setup.
Waverly Fitzgerald: Oh, there are certainly downsides. It would be nice if we were in the same time zone. Or the same country.
On the other hand - two sets of eyes go over everything we do, two heads to plot with, and any creative disagreements so far have resulted in a stronger story - having to justify yourself works wonders, I think! Also, I don't have to learn how to use Facebook, and she doesn't have to learn how to use Twitter, for which we are both deeply grateful.
We already knew we wrote well as a team before we started the book - we'd been writing together in a play-by-post role-playing game for many years before we decided to try something new and different, so we were already quite familiar with one another's foibles on and off the page. That experience doesn't directly translate to writing a book, but it's been more fun than hard, learning to do it together.
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