All the Best Have Help
A guest post from Liz Morrow
Last week, I shared my perspective on coauthoring: “Having a Coauthor is Awesome. More Writers Should Do It.” But I know that I’m just one voice, and there were probably things I missed or forgot to say. So what did I do? I took it to my fabulous coauthor, of course! And this week, I wanted to give her the floor so she can share her thoughts on coauthoring from her perspective. Enjoy!
Hi, Ariel’s Substack readers!
I’m her lucky business partner and co-author. I know last week she gave you the rundown of how we met and came to be partners. So I’ll start with my take on that story.
Coming up on three years ago, I was getting ready to have my second child, leave my stable job of four years, and start freelancing for the first time. I was excited, but also pretty dang scared. Though I have an amazing family and “real life” friends, none of them have any understanding of what I do. So I was desperate for a friend to walk down this writing freelance road with.
Then, like Ariel mentioned, we crossed paths because of Jeff Goins. She was kind of on her way in and I was on my way out. We had a few brief interactions, mostly about work, and I did a little cyberstalking of her website. For better or worse, I run mostly off vibes when it comes to friends, clients, and business partners, and Ariel was giving me good vibes. Because of our years moving around as a military family, I’m left with zero shame when it comes to making friends. So, sitting on my couch in the throes of postpartemhood and worried how I’d ever make a career out of this alone, somewhere in the middle of a 7-minute Voxer message I asked, “Wanna be friends?”
Of course, she did. Like Ariel said, we went on to discover that we had a lot of common interests when it comes to book-writing. We have enough in common that it makes our process and teaching smooth and cohesive. And we’re different enough that we complement each other in the right ways, strengthening parts of our book and business where they need it. Honestly, that part is probably just luck.
After experimenting and riffing about whether we wanted to do a course, a membership, webinars, a self-published book, etc. we eventually decided to traditionally publish. Fortunately, writing a book with someone else was nothing new to me. The bulk of my career had already been built around co-writing through ghostwriting. I’m a ghostwriter, collaborator, and thought partner for entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and industry experts. (And it only took me three years to nail that elevator pitch.) Ariel gave a great breakdown last week of the differences in collaborations. Ours is a true co-writership, neither hired by the other but sharing everything 50/50, unlike a ghostwriting arrangement. But there are great similarities, too.
The best thing about any collaboration with another writer is just that you get to do it together.
It’s hard to do anything alone. And writing is already such an isolating, lonely endeavor, no matter how rewarding in the end. There are no water cooler moments to chat about your projects or weekend plans. No meetings to goof around during. No office next door to peek your head in when you’re stuck or have a question. You’ll never find anyone who loves writing more than me and I’m here to tell you: doing it alone can suck.
The biggest advantage in having a co-author, even more than sharing the burden and workload, is that it’s just so much more fun. I live for an early morning Voxer message sharing a creative breakthrough or a text asking if we could jump on the phone to talk something through. If you've tried to write a book before, you know how emotionally and mentally taxing it can be. It’s such a relief to have a partner you can message on the hard days to say, “My writing sucked today” or “I don’t think this chapter works” or “Read this and tell me what you think.” The highs are so much higher and the lows are not nearly as low when you have someone to write, bemoan, complain, toil, and celebrate with.
You have someone to bounce your ideas off of and refine them. So much so that the thing (book) you’re creating becomes infinitely better than it would have been if just one of you wrote it. I still do some projects on my own, and so does Ariel, but it is my co-authored projects that always bring me the most joy.
Lastly, here’s a secret I’ve learned now being in the industry for enough years and writing for some high-profile clients: All the best have help. Even professionals. Most fantastic books are not written in the vacuum of only one mind. So if you’ve ever considered getting a co-writer, or even hiring help, there is absolutely no shame in it. On the contrary, it can often be much more rewarding and result in a better book when you collaborate with a trusted friend or professional. You don’t have to do it alone.
Liz Morrow is a traditionally-published ghostwriter for entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and business experts. She specializes in personal and professional development and memoir. Though she has experience in every piece of the pipeline—including book ideation, planning, positioning, editing, and marketing—writing has always been the part she loves most. She is proud to have worked with authors such as Grant Baldwin, Jeff Goins, Pat Flynn, and Whitney English and publishers such as Baker Books, Harper Horizon, Harper Leadership, and Hay House. She is also a coauthor of the forthcoming book, Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).
When she’s not writing, you can find Liz listening to long-form podcasts, rewatching The Office, and drinking margaritas with friends. She lives in Greenville, SC with her husband, two children, and goldendoodle.
Read an early copy of Hungry Authors for free!
We just found out that Hungry Authors is now available to read on Eidelweiss and Netgalley. These are early review sites designed to help authors get advance reviews of their books. Here’s how they work:
Create an account on either site.
Choose what book(s) you’d like to read. This is amazing because they haven’t published yet!
Read it, rate it, and leave a review in the app. When the book publishes, your review will automatically be posted to Amazon and Goodreads.
Pretty cool, huh? If you’re reading our book, let us know—we’d love to hear what you think!
Tips & Tidbits
Book Recommendation: Write Your Story by Allison Fallon
I just finished reading my friend Ally’s new book, Write Your Story: A Simple Framework to Understand Yourself, Your Story, and Your Purpose in the World. Ally is a genius at breaking down story structure—and convincing aspiring memoirists to put their healing into words as a way to continue processing and making sense of what happened to them. She was so convincing that it got me unstuck on a book idea I’ve been pondering! Highly recommend.
What’s the Key to the Success of Atomic Habits?
Atomic Habits features prominently as an example throughout our forthcoming book. We used it as an example because 1) it has sold gajillions of copies and most readers would be familiar with it, and 2) it’s really well written! This video on LinkedIn by Charlie Hoehn takes a different approach to analyzing the book, revealing some interesting insights and things you can mimic with your book, too.
My Favorite Character in Lord of the Rings
Substacker Tiffany Chu wrote a guest post for John Halbrooks helping us understand Eowyn’s character arc in LOTR. I’ve always related to Eowyn’s longing for a bigger world and admired her strength and power, of course, in vanquishing the Nazgul king. But Chu helps us understand that her transformation doesn’t stop there.
What are Gen Z & Millennials worried about?
I love looking at national surveys as a source of inspiration and data for nonfiction books! Deloitte just published this 2024 survey reflecting what Gen Z & millennials (a major audience) are worried about right now. If you’re interested in writing a book on one of these topics, this is a good resource!
The economy
Climate change
The effect of generative AI on careers/jobs
Work/life balance and finding purpose at work
Mental health at work
What’s Bringing Me Joy
The breakthrough I had reading Ally’s book has felt so empowering, not just for the book I want to write, but for my life as well. As Ally wrote in her first book, The Power of Writing It Down, getting unstuck in your writing is getting unstuck in your life. I feel energized and motivated. And isn’t that the best feeling?
Wishing you breakthroughs in your life and writing,
Ariel
We love a collab !!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Requested on NetGalley! I love getting early copies!