3 Reasons You Should Consider Collaborative Authoring for Your Next Book

Allow me to set the stage: back in 2002, a study was conducted asking participants if they had ever wanted to write a book. 81% of respondents indicated that yes, they wanted to write a book someday. While it’s unclear what the exact percentage of the 81% is who go on to start their manuscript, it’s been estimated to be as low as 2–10%.

Even more disturbingly, for every 1000 writers who start their manuscript, only 30 will complete the first draft, and of those thirty, 80–90% never make it past the first draft. This leaves a minuscule SIX authors (from the original 1000) who will actually go on to publish their book (0.6%).

That means that 994 out of every 1000 writers never actually end up publishing their work — so don’t underestimate the enormous achievement that comes with taking the plunge and launching a book out into the world!

You might think, “Hey Trace, can’t I just whack a few words together and upload my PDF to Amazon KDP? Self-publishing should be easy and FREE!”

And sure, you can totally do that.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

If you have the right skill set you can bootstrap it, and you might even be lucky enough to sell a few copies. But the trade-off is the sheer amount of time you need to dedicate to learning all the different elements that are involved in the publishing process in order to make your book a success.

Less financial investment correlates to a higher time investment.

As someone who came into publishing with prior experience ghostwriting for entrepreneurs, the truth is that to produce a self-published book to a professional standard you still need professional editing, proofreading, layout and formatting, cover design, keyword and category selection — and the list goes on.

Back in 2020, one of my ghostwriting clients easily spent close to $15,000 just on the back-end pieces listed above — before he even got close to organising a bestseller campaign and launching his book!

This leads me to another thing: if you want to earn that coveted bestselling author title, it requires a launch strategy and campaign — which if you’re a solo author either requires a large audience and following or a hefty financial investment in ads and promotion.

As a solo author, this can all be quite daunting.

Photo by CoWomen on Unsplash

This is where collaborative book projects come in and shine. Here are 3 reasons why you should consider a collaborative project for your next book:

1. When one or more authors come together to create a book, the production costs can be spread amongst the collective. As they say, many hands make light work, and your investment to bring your vision to life ends up being a mere fraction of the cost of publishing your solo book.
2. In a collaborative project, you’re able to leverage each other’s networks and audiences to promote the launch, which means that you likely won’t need to invest in Facebook/Amazon/Google ads to make it onto the bestseller lists. You’re also exposed to the audiences of each contributor, which brings a higher level of awareness to your brand in a way that also positions you as an expert in the field.
3. An often overlooked benefit of multi-author collaborations is the opportunity to be surrounded by a team of like-minded contributors who share the same vision as you. Leverage and cost aside, the sense of community and support throughout the book birthing process is a complete game changer — just be aware that not all collaborative containers are the same, so make sure you do your due diligence when you choose a publisher to make sure their offering includes all the things you’re looking for.

Throughout my journey, I’ve been lucky enough to form some brilliant friendships, support networks, and collaborations with co-authors in previous book projects, including going live together on Instagram or Facebook, co-hosting Clubhouse rooms, recording podcast interviews, and facilitating shared moon circles.

Writing your story and sharing it with the world can be an intensely vulnerable, triggering, and healing experience. The beauty of collaborative publishing is that you don’t have to face that journey alone.

Want to find out more about participating in a collaborative book project with Gemini Moon Press? Check out our Upcoming Titles section for details.