Anyway, the point is that her career isn’t typical – nor is 1632 at all typical of what Ms Wrede has been talking about. You should look at what you’re doing as following the _old_ career model: showing you can write publishable material by coming up through the magazines, then getting a book publisher to take a whirl.

AHHHH! I AM NOT ALONE!!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry. It’s just nice to have validation about one’s own style now and then.

(Also, I agree, J.P. Shove that bit of backbrain into a corner and tell it to stop being afraid of success. Also, CONGRATS!)

Tiana – Defining what’s “a better writer” is pretty tricky. I’ve worked with writers who were both more and less experienced than I am, and with writers who were significantly stronger or weaker in one particular area than I was in that area. It made a bit of difference in terms of the way the mechanics of the collaboration worked – if both writers were at the same level and we disagreed, the discussion about what to do was usually longer, whereas if one writer was stronger or more expeirienced in a particular area, the less-strong writer often (not always) accepted the stronger writer’s argument sooner – but there wasn’t really any difference in whether the collaboration worked at all. It’s more about trust than it is about ability.

J.P. – If you are a completely unpublished writer, you are not going to persuade a publisher to match you up with an established author. Publishers only do this for authors they’re already publishing, authors they want to give a boost to (and apart from Baen, most of them don’t do so very often). If you are good friends with a published writer and you come up with something that fits the “fun quotient,” it’s possible, but if you’re looking at it as a boost into publication, it’s unlikely to work (and you’re highly unlikely to persuade a published writer, even a good friend, to do this UNLESS they’re going to have big fun. As Louis said, the money isn’t very good, and besides the fun, there’s not much in it for the more experienced writer).

Louis – What you said. Which is why “is it fun?” is really the most important question about any collaboration.

Well, I paid no attention at all to Misty Lackey until she did The Elvenbane with Andre Norton. Baen routinely pairs newbies with front-list writers, and the junior partners generally say it’s more than worth it both for the recognition and the education. The pay, OTOH, isn’t wonderful, since the royalties are split between them, so it’s not something they want to do too much of. Also, when I did pick up on Misty, I realised that her name was also on the only one of the Brainship books that I’d actually enjoyed – but I had promptly forgotten her, so that one didn’t work out all that well for her.

So, I guess, the answer is, as always, ‘it depends’