We know from experience that the journey from having an idea for a book to the completion of your first full-length work is long, and arduous.
We have a program set up specifically to help authors who have not yet published their first full-length work. We call it our “co-author” program.
First, we will ask you to produce a small amount of text, 1,500 words approximately, to meet certain criteria. This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you can move from an idea to a finished objective in a relatively short amount of time. The point of the exercise is for you to show us that you have developed your skills to a professional level, and that you can work cooperatively with a team.
During the vetting stage, we will also ask you about your writing experience. The short list below is not exhaustive, but gives you an idea what kinds of things we are looking for.
- Have you ever completed a book? If so, how many? If not, what is the highest page count you have ever produced for a single project, even if it was not ultimately published?
- How many books have you started? Here we are not gauging the ability to finish, but rather, how many times have you been around the block in terms of conceiving an idea for a story, and making a serious attempt at developing it.
- Are there any short works that you have finished, such as articles, blog posts, short stories you would like to share with us?
- Why do you want to become a published author, and how long has this been a goal for you?
- How much time can you set aside for uninterrupted writing in a given day?
- Lastly, we will ask you if you have any specific education, experience or credentials that have prepared you for success as an author. Many successful authors do not have a background in literature. The question is, can you tell a good story?
If the vetting process goes well, if we like what we see, we will approach you about co-writing a title with us. We will provide the idea for the story, including a scene-by-scene outline. We will provide character sketches for the major characters, a target page count, and your job will be to develop each of the scenes, just as you did in your writing demonstration. You will be responsible for taking the detailed outline we provide and developing it into the first draft of the book.
You will turn in your writing as you complete each section, and be paid according to our agreement with you. We will review the sections as they come in, and may give some feedback. Once you have produced all of the scenes in the outline, your part of the project is complete. One of the members of our team will begin going through the story, refining it, and bringing it up to second draft quality. We will do multiple drafts before we have a completed book, but once the book is complete, we will publish it, listing you as a co-author.
If the process has been enjoyable and productive for all parties concerned, we may offer you an opportunity to co-write a second book, but even if that doesn’t happen, you will be a published author, with a book you can list on your Author’s page, and you will have been paid for your work.
If you are interested in hearing about how co-authors are compensated, you can read about that on our Author Compensation page.
If this sounds like something you would like to explore, feel free to contact us by e-mail, at information@multivalentpress.com with the words “Co-Author Query” as the subject line.
Whether we end up working together or not, we encourage you to take steps today to get your next book written. And we wish you all the best in your efforts.