writer collaboration

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‘Postbox in Cambridge’
Not my bike – but it could be!

I’m hosting this post on behalf of Paul Story, author of Dreamwords,who came up with an excellent suggestion on the Kindle Community forum today. His idea is that a community of talented independent writers should seek out books which will ‘twin’ with their own. The twin would be in the same genre, might have a similar theme, would appeal to similar readers, and would maintain the same high standard.

There’s been considerable interest – follow this link if you’d like to see the whole discussion.

We’ve agreed that we now need to discuss the details off-line – so today, A Real Writer takes on a new role – it’s a gleaming, freshly painted postbox. If you’re interested in the idea or you’d like to learn more, just post a response to this post. I’ll then pick up your email address and forward it to Paul.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I’ve been an advocate of indie writers learning to hunt in packs for some time – and Paul’s idea has the virtue of simplicity.

There must be something in the air. Paul wasn’t the only one talking about collaboration today. I’ve been talking to Ali Cooper, author of The Girl On The Swing, who’s also keen to cross-review with other literary fiction writers.

What unites Paul, Ali and myself is that we’re all disenchanted with the constant beating of the self-promotion drum that seems to afflict indie writers. Yes, of course we all want to draw attention to ‘the best book you’ve ever read’. As a reader – a fan of indie books – commented on Paul’s thread today: ‘…a lot of writers shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to promotion.’ Better than self-promotion, we think, is building a strong community of talented writers, and reviewing the work of those we most admire. If we do so fairly, intelligently and professionally, this is surely an important step on the road to indie credibility and a wider readership.