kev67
07-04-2017, 05:32 PM
Books are often collaborative efforts. The author writes it, but the editor may correct it the spelling and make suggestions. The author may select other people's poems to head each chapter. An illustrator may be chosen to illustrate it. Someone might write an introduction to it, if it ever becomes a classic. The publishers will bind it and find someone to make a nice cover for it from time to time. However, what I am thinking of it books with two or more authors. These are quite rare. The first time I came across one was Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell's The Mote in God's Eye, which is a science fiction novel. They have written several novels together and sometimes even collaborated with a third author. I have read Larry Niven's books and although they are quite entertaining and fairly scientific, they are often a bit flip and unlikely sounding. I have read one of Jerry Pournelle's solo books and I found it rather turgid. He used science fiction as a way of getting back to he past, just on another planet after civilization had broken down and partly rebuilt itself. Together, their books are much better. It must take quite some cooperation to be prepared to write together. Sit-com writers often write in partnerships, or in teams for American sitcoms. It's unusual for book writers.