How to write a nonfiction book with a co-author

This guide is about writing the book together. It is general information, not legal advice: for the agreement itself, use the resources below and a lawyer.

Agree on the book before the work

Co-authors usually agree on the topic and quietly disagree on the book. One pictures a practical guide for clients; the other pictures an argument aimed at peers. Before you discuss roles, each of you should write down, separately, three things: the one reader, the promise to that reader, and what the book must do for each of you. Then compare. If the answers differ, settle that first, because every later decision depends on it. Our guide on defining the one reader works for two people as well as one.

Co-authored books published by Scribe Media show how varied the pairings are. Ashley Welch and Justin Jones, cofounders of a sales training firm, wrote Naked Sales; their story on scribemedia.com lists 400 "AT&T sellers trained using the book". Dr. Terence Tse and Dr. Mark Esposito, two professors who had collaborated for years from different continents, wrote Understanding How the Future Unfolds; their story lists 5x "more workshops and speeches than before the book". Xenia Kachur and Luke Starbuck wrote Mindfire, which their story describes as a Bestseller: "book became a bestseller". Each is one pair's result, not a typical outcome.

Step 1: decide who does what

Equal credit does not have to mean identical work. What matters is that both of you know the split and think it is fair. Most co-authored nonfiction uses one of these four arrangements:

The last arrangement is closer to how Welch and Jones worked. Their story describes outlining with an editor, then expanding on their teaching tools and success stories by phone with their editor, speaking their ideas rather than typing them.

Whatever you choose, also decide two things people skip: who has the final say on the manuscript when you disagree, and what happens to the work if one of you stops. Write both answers down. They are much easier to agree on before chapter one than after chapter six.

Step 2: one voice or two

The reader should always know who is talking. There are three workable options:

• One "we". The book speaks as a team throughout. The cleanest for a method you built together. Personal stories need a tag ("When Sam ran the first workshop...") because "we" cannot have one childhood.
• One "I", with the co-author named. One person narrates and the other appears by name, often as the source of research or cases. It suits books where one author is the public face.
• Two named voices. Sections or sidebars marked with each author's name, for example where you disagree or bring different experience. Use it sparingly; whole chapters in alternating voices are hard to read.

Whichever you pick, one person should do a final pass on the whole manuscript purely for voice, so the book reads as one book. Tse and Esposito's story describes Scribe's editors helping keep both of their voices intact through that process, which is the goal: one consistent book that both authors still recognize as theirs.

Step 3: put it in writing

The Authors Guild's Writer's Legal Guide chapter on collaboration agreements is direct: whatever your friendship or working relationship, "a written agreement is absolutely necessary". It recommends finalizing it "as soon as you decide that you will create an integrated work product together".

The same chapter lists the issues co-authors need to discuss and resolve, including ownership and control of the rights, editorial control over the final work, competition and confidentiality, how earnings will be shared, authorial credit and responsibility for legal liability, plus how disputes are handled and whether and when the agreement ends. Use that list as the agenda for your first serious conversation, and take your answers to a lawyer to draft the terms. We do not summarize what the terms should say, because that depends on your situation and the law where you live.

Where to get help:

• The Authors Guild. Its legal services page describes contract reviews and legal requests for members on matters relating to their work as authors (some membership levels are excluded). Its legal guide notes the Guild can supply a collaboration agreement template.
• A publishing lawyer. The Authors Guild's guide suggests hiring a knowledgeable attorney, especially if you do not know your collaborator well or have less negotiating leverage.

What a joint work is

The US Copyright Act defines a joint work as "a work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole."

The US Copyright Office's Circular 1, Copyright Basics, explains it this way: "When two or more authors create a single work with the intent of merging their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole, the authors are considered joint authors and have an indivisible interest in the work as a whole." The same circular says that for a joint work, the term of copyright "lasts for seventy years after the last surviving author's death."

The Authors Guild's chapter adds that no contract is required to create a joint work, and that co-authors can change the default rules by agreement. That is the practical reason to write your agreement early: if you do nothing, the law's defaults decide for you. Ask your lawyer what those defaults mean for your book.

Step 4: settle credit order

Credit is where friendly co-authors fall out, usually because nobody raised it until the cover proof arrived. The Authors Guild's chapter says co-authors should determine attribution protocols in their agreement. Decide:

• Order. Alphabetical, the lead author first, or whoever is better known to the reader first. Any is fine if you both agree.
• The joining word. "And" presents two authors. "With" or "and" plus a role presents a partnership of a different kind. Choose the wording that honestly describes the work.
• Size and placement. Same size on the cover, or not; and the same order on the title page, spine and every listing.
• Who speaks for the book. Interviews, talks and the book's own website are part of credit too.

On Amazon, the order is literal. KDP's metadata guidelines say that if you enter multiple author names in the author contributor fields, "they will appear in the Kindle Store in the same sequence." Scribe's guide to ebook metadata advises entering the co-author under contributors rather than putting both names in the primary author box, so each of you has your own author bio and is searchable separately. Each of you should write your own about the author entry; our guide to front and back matter covers bios and a shared acknowledgments page.

Step 5: set the workflow

1. Outline together, before anyone drafts. Agree on every chapter title and one-sentence thesis, and mark who drafts each. The printable outline worksheet gives you a box for each chapter. An outline both of you have signed off on is the best protection against two different books.
2. Keep one master manuscript. One shared document with version history, never two copies emailed back and forth. Agree on comment conventions, and leave the other person's text alone unless you are in an editing round.
3. Set a rhythm. A standing weekly check-in, a word target each, and a date for each chapter. The Authors Guild's chapter suggests laying out deadlines for each portion where feasible.
4. Edit in labeled rounds. Structure first, then voice, then line edits. Do not polish sentences in a chapter whose argument may still change.
5. Track sources and stories by owner. Note who supplied each story, client example and figure, so permissions and fact checks go to the right person.
6. Agree on the decider. When you cannot agree and the deadline is close, the person named in your agreement decides. Then move on.

What most co-authors get wrong

• Starting with chapters, not the agreement. Every hard conversation is easier before the work exists.
• Assuming equal credit means equal hours. It rarely does. Agree on what fair means to both of you.
• Two books in one cover. If you cannot agree on one reader, you may be writing two books.
• No final voice pass. Readers notice when chapter 4 sounds like a different person from chapter 3.
• Treating a template as advice. A model agreement is a checklist for your lawyer, not a substitute for one.

Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells book coaching, ghostwriting and publishing, and has worked with co-author teams like the ones above. If you want to talk through a co-authored book, Scribe offers a free call. The steps in this guide work just as well on your own.