:: Cher Gorman :: Collaboration: Fair Weather or Foul?

Collaboration: Fair Weather or Foul?

By Cher Gorman

I'm one of those people who enjoy weather. I love watching a storm roar in over the mountains, feeling the nip of fall in the air or the bite of winter when the first snow falls. There's nothing better than seeing clouds scudding across the sky, hearing the rumble of thunder, watching hot fingers of lightning spread like white rivers. I also love beautiful, sunny days when the sky is so blue it hurts your eyes to look at it and the lazy, warm feeling you get when spring knocks at the door beckoning you out into the garden to set your first flowers of the season into the freshly turned soil.

So what does weather have to do with collaboration? Collaboration can be like the first kiss of spring or that bright, sunny day with intensely blue skies or it can be like a violent storm when dark clouds boil in the sky.

The following will help your collaboration bring fair weather and blue skies to you, the project, your partners and your feelings after the book is finished and on its way to the bookstores. Because when all is said and done, you and your partners should be smiling happily and celebrating together at a local bookstore the day your book is released congratulating each other on your collective brilliance, instead of ending the relationship with harsh words, hurt feelings and bitterness.

Make sure that you know your potential partners very, very well so that personality differences and personal goals don't conflict as you move forward with the project. Talk to other authors who have collaborated and ask for their opinion and guidance. This is business. Period.
Have a face to face meeting and discuss what each of you expects from the project and each other before you begin work. This should include the setting of deadlines for the group. Remember that everyone works at a different pace. Writers often have more than one project they are working on, they have deadlines with their publishers and they have family obligations as well. Discuss the possibility of the group teaching on-line workshops or conference workshops in regard to your project and how this would be set up. Make all the parameters involving the project crystal clear. All of these things should be considered during the meeting before work beings on the project-- not after.
This is critical: Put everything in writing so you don't end up in a “he said, she said” battle of words.
Talk over your feelings about the advance and royalties. Decide how much advance you want and how the advance and royalties are to be divided among you. Everybody is different. Some people have strong personalities, voice their opinions, their likes and dislikes freely, in other words, they have no problem steamrolling their way in. Whereas others are more withdrawn, have difficulty speaking out and avoid controversy at all costs. Whether you have a strong personality or you listen more than you speak out, don't allow any of your partners to take control, intimidate or manipulate you into agreeing to something involving the project or the money that you absolutely don't want to do. This is the time to speak up.
Discuss the project and how the work will be divided between each of you. Be specific as to each person's job in bringing your project to fruition. Decide what kind of software will be used, preferably one that all of the partners can easily use. If someone volunteers to input all of the data into the computer, I strongly advise against this. In my opinion for a collaboration to be fair to all parties involved, everything from the money to the work should be divided equally . Each of you should input the data, then get together to read, discuss and edit until all of you reach a unanimous decision on the final copy. Each of you should have a working copy of your project on your computer at any given time to compare to the final draft so there are no recriminations, no doubts, no inconsistencies. Label and date each version accordingly so you can easily keep up with each round of edits. This way all of the inputting of data doesn't fall to just one person and no one will feel as if they are overburdened with work therefore deserving a bigger slice of the advance and royalty pie.
Include a clause which states that should any partner not fulfill his/her part which has been set forth in the document or one of the partners does not wish to continue with the project, the other partners may deem the project null and void and all partners are free to go their separate ways. Make sure the document states that no partner can take the unfinished project, finish the project and sell it to a publisher without express written permission from the other partners involved. Also state that after the project is finished and on its way to the bookstore, no partner can take any part of the finished work and use it in a new project without express written permission from each of the partners.
Read the agreement through again to insure that everything within the document is exactly as it should be. If it isn't, this is the time not to be shy. Speak up, make the necessary changes, then have each partner sign it and have the document notarized.
Give each partner a copy.
Give the original to a neutral party for safe keeping. This neutral party should be someone you all agree on and trust. This neutral party can be a friend, a lawyer or bank safety deposit box. If you choose a lawyer or a safety deposit box, each of you should contribute to choosing the lawyer or bank and paying for their services. The same goes if you choose a friend to keep the original.
When querying a potential publisher, this should be a collective effort. Don't give this duty to just one partner. Don't allow one partner to decide which publishing houses will be queried. If you are interested in querying a particular house and one of the partners disagrees with your choice insist that they give you a solid, reasonable explanation then do your homework and decide for yourself. Once you have made your decision, whether you agree or disagree, discuss your decision with your partners and stick by it. Again, don't let any member of your collaborative team manipulate you into doing something you don't want to do.

When you find an interested publisher, each partner should be given a copy of any and all written correspondence to and from said publisher by any partner. Should any member of the collaborative team receive a phone call from a publisher expressing interest in publishing the project, this decision must be made by all of the team. When you receive a copy of the contract, take as much time as you need to thoroughly read through it before you sign it. If you have questions, now is the time to ask them--not after you've signed the contract. If there are points in the contract you feel strongly should be changed, speak up now. If the publisher or your partners refuses to make these changes, make a decision about whether or not you want to continue. I encourage you to not be afraid to say no and move on at any point in the process. There will be other projects and other publishers.

Monitoring phone calls to and from one partner to said publisher will be difficult to follow but it can be done. Make sure that any phone calls made to the publisher by one or more of the partners or any phone calls received from the publisher to any of the partners are recorded on paper. Write a brief summary of the conversation including the time and date of the call. Then make copies for each of the partners and bring them to your next meeting. This is where knowing your partners extremely well and forming a solid level of trust before work on the project begins is very important.

In closing, following the above tips and suggestions will help to alleviate any hard feelings or the “he said, she said” syndrome during the course of the project's completion. I wish each and every one of you fair weather in your collaborative efforts.