Co-Authorship/Co-Creation

I'd recommend you either work as one writer and publish all your work on this co-created universe under a single name, like the authors behind Nikki French do, or you work on separate projects. This overlap would make it very difficult for you to work with separate agents or publishers, and might well kill off potential deals for you.

I was almost in this situation when a friend of mine (now deceased, unfortunately, so much for co-writing) and I were actually approached by an agent to turn our co-written short story into a manuscript.

One of the things she wanted to see was a personal "contract" drawn up by the pair of us, stating what percentage of any profits went to whom, who makes the final decision in terms of revisions, etc. before she started negotiations.

We never got that far, but it does exist.

I think there are a few pro-formas that can be downloaded from the 'net

There are plenty of pro-formas which can be downloaded from the 'net.

They are no substitute for proper legal advice, or a contract drawn up by a lawyer.

Definitely consult a lawyer on this one. You should have some sort of partnership agreement in place that addresses who gets what percentage of profits, who's responsible for what, who makes decisions (unanimous or one person), who gets what in the event of a dissolution of the partnership, etc.

Not giving individual legal advice, just general information.

Never co-author anything, under any circumstances, without a legal contract in place.

You MUST consult with a lawyer on this one. A publishing contract warranties clause requires you to say you are the SOLE author of the work. If you're not, you can't sign.

That said, this isn't a big problem. You just need it sorted out before you query.

J.Reid said:

You MUST consult with a lawyer on this one. A publishing contract warranties clause requires you to say you are the SOLE author of the work. If you're not, you can't sign.

That said, this isn't a big problem. You just need it sorted out before you query.

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This is of interest to me. I have two pals. They both created the "world" (including country names, some of the character names, deities, lore, etc), but only one of them writes IN that world. The other one has shown no motivation or interest. He's told his partner, "Go ahead and write in it. No biggie."

So, would that be different? In your experience?

I wouldn't wait. Get the contract sorted out right now. It would be awful if you each wrote a book or two and then couldn't agree: all of that work would be unpublishable.

AlexHurst said:

... I guess we're going to need that lawyer before we even try to publish the first books too, huh? (Glad I asked now!)

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No matter how much you think you can imagine and plan for what all can go wrong, trust me (I know from experience), you can't. Better to get it all sorted in writing and set down in a proper contract before anything can go sour. Hopefully, nothing ever will, but you just can't know for sure. You want -- nay, need -- to have all eventualities agreed in advance.

Now. Not later. And don't depend on "he doesn't show any interest" cause if there's a pot of money from film/something else, you'd be surprised how quickly everyone is much more interested.

The many, many years of litigation over characters in the comic SPAWN are a good argument for never doing handshake deals in this kind of situation. Always take advice and get everything in writing.

Just echoing what others said. "Now" is almost too late. Do it yesterday, if possible.

ETA: You probably won't find a local attorney with publishing contract expertise, unless you're in NYC. That's not what you need, anyway. You need someone with small business expertise, someone who has worked with partnership agreements. That's the key right now, getting the partnership structured. It would be nice if the attorney knew a bit about the publishing industry (how advances work, what "rights" are, and so on), but you can supply at least some of that information. What you need is an agreement that spells out who gets to write what, and who gets what money, and who pays for what and who gets to decide stuff when you have a disagreement. And what happens if one of you dies.

If you want to help your attorney out, give him/her this reference: Lindey on Entertainment, Publishing and the Arts. Few lawyers or local law libraries are likely to have it, but anyone with access to Westlaw can read it. It has a Westlaw citation of Lindey 3D. I believe there's a section on writing partnerships and the issues that need to be addressed.

Not giving individual legal advice, other than to seek a qualified legal professional in your jurisdiction.

CrastersBabies said:

The other one has shown no motivation or interest. He's told his partner, "Go ahead and write in it. No biggie."

So, would that be different? In your experience?

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If the book goes Harry-Potter the speed with which it would become a "biggie" would take your breath away.

James D. Macdonald said:

If the book goes Harry-Potter the speed with which it would become a "biggie" would take your breath away.

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Indeed - e.g. the endless nonsensical litigation over Potter on incredibly tenuous grounds like 'both books are about wizards'.

GinJones said:

ETA: You probably won't find a local attorney with publishing contract expertise, unless you're in NYC. That's not what you need, anyway. You need someone with small business expertise, someone who has worked with partnership agreements. That's the key right now, getting the partnership structured.

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I disagree with this. You DO need an attorney who understands the ins and outs of publishing. There are all kinds of issues surrounding intellectual property that have nothing to do with typical small business partnerships, and the primary thing here is intellectual property.

Believe me, I know. At a cost to me of between $50,000 and $100,000.

Thank you everyone for all your replies.

As far as getting an attorney, we will do so. Honestly, that's not my biggest concern. We've been writing together for almost 10 years and who has claim to what is pretty clear to the both of us. (Alex, if I die in an unforeseeable coffee accident, you may have Toby. I'm sure he would be happier in your mind. )

My biggest concern is how to attract an agent with a stand alone novel written in a co-authored universe.

Agent Steve Laube had a good piece on this topic today. Some of the information might be helpful:
http://stevelaube.com/and-with-or-ghost/