Hello Inkshares Authors and Readers!
I have a question for Inkshares and the Inkshares community about co-authorship and how it’s represented/integrated into the Inkshares site. First off I have been really loving the updates to the Inkshares online platform, including these forums! Thanks so much
@Thad @Jeremy Thomas Inkshares is looking/feeling really great and the new additions have deeply enhanced the online experience! In that vein of improvement, I offer the following observation and question:
So far, (and please correct me if I am wrong) I seems that only one Inkshares account can be the "author" of a book project, but as we know many books have two or more authors. While
RUNE OF THE APPRENTICE only has one author (me!) I have co-written another book which am very excited to begin funding on Inkshares in the next month or so.
(I will spare you the details because promoting that book is not the purpose of this post.)
The briefest of backgrounds:
This book is a memoir of another’s life and we therefore want him to be the "primary" face of the book project here on Inkshares, with me listed as co-author. To serve this end, we will be hosting the book under his name and Inkshares account, but also very much would like my account to be officially associated with the project here within the integrated Inkshares site. Currently,
I have 553 followers on Inkshares and feel that it would best serve everyone involved to have all of my books (co-authored and otherwise) to be officially associated with my meta account.
It seems that due to the current framework of the Inkshares site, this is not directly possible and we will have to have this new book hosted under my co-author’s account solely, with the only connection that I am a co-author shown in the "About" section, again, without any official connection felt through the interconnected Inkshares site. Is this correct, or am I mistaken?
Current workarounds:
It seems that there are several ways other authors have dealt with this co-author disconnection:
While others have their book listed under a solo author’s account like
@Paul Inman and Patrick Ryerson (can’t link him because I can’t find his account),
@Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman (Again, cant link because I can’t find account.) @Richard Saunders and Mykle Walsh. I’m sure there are others here I am missing--I know of at least two, but can’t remember their names.
And others who have a brand associated with their book like
@HERB , @Papercuts J.P. and @Little Fiction | Big Truths The plot thickens:For me, one of the most exciting aspects of Inkshares is the interconnection of the community felt and performed through the meta Inkshares website. It saddens me that this new project will miss out, in part, on one of the most innovative aspects of publishing with Inkshares--the online interconnection and social community of our growing user base. While co-authored books are certainly a minority here, I feel that as Inkshares attracts new authors, there will be more and more experiencing a similar disconnection between their co-authored works.
My suggestion and question:
To solve this problem, I’d love to see a way where multiple accounts can be listed as an author so that there is continuity across the online system. Whether it be for co-authored books, short story anthologies, or even co-authored articles or journals, I feel it would greatly assist our community.
What are other’s thoughts on this? Please chime in, I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks, both on the "official Inkshares team" and users (authors/readers!)
TL;DR
Should Inkshares have an integrated co-author function for book projects?
I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Thanks!
Everyone, please please continue to chime in, your ongoing feedback will help the Inkshares team know what features are important to the community, so please keep the posts coming!