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Q&A How should I calculate the rate for a book I am writing as a co-author?

I've faced this issue from both sides (as a writer and co-writer/editor) so hopefully I can offer some useful advice. First off, be clear as to what your role/status is: to be blunt, is it a partn...

posted 6y ago by David Lubich‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:05:26Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39921
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar David Lubich‭ · 2019-12-08T10:05:26Z (almost 5 years ago)
I've faced this issue from both sides (as a writer and co-writer/editor) so hopefully I can offer some useful advice.

First off, be clear as to what your role/status is: to be blunt, is it a partnership or are you more like an employee? If you're effectively working for your friend, then an hourly rate (as others have suggested). The upside: you definitely get paid; the downside: it's unlikely to be a lot. In the UK, a typical advance for fiction from an unknown author will be £5,000-£10,000, so your friend won't have a lot of money to play with.

If it's more collaborative, then you need to agree on what percentage contribution you're making to the book, and write that into a contract. So if you decide on one-third, you get 33% of the advance and 33% of future royalties.

It's not clear how much work you're doing - do you mean 2,000 words in total? If so, then that's a tiny proportion of the total, and the 'collaborator' aspect isn't appropriate.

Hope this helps.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-11-05T21:42:43Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 0