(If you are looking for instructions on how to remove a co-author, please read this article.)
One of Leanpub's relatively unique features is that we make it easy to add co-authors to books, and to automatically split royalties with them!
(However, please note that you can't add a co-author if you're using our Browser writing mode, which is meant for authors who are writing books by themselves.)
Related Article: How do I remove a co-author from a book?
Here are the steps for adding a co-author to a Leanpub book:
1. Ask each co-author to sign up for a Leanpub account, if they do not already have one. It is free to sign up.
Here is a link to the sign up page:
On the sign up page, your co-author can enter their new account information, and choose a Leanpub username:
2. After they have created their Leanpub account, ask each co-author to provide you with their Leanpub username.
If they've forgotten their Leanpub username, they can find it on their Leanpub profile page here:
3. Once you have their Leanpub username, you can add each co-author on the "Authors" page for your book, by going here:
https://leanpub.com/YOUR_BOOK/authors
...making sure to replace YOUR_BOOK with your book's unique web address.
You can also find a link to the "Authors" page on your book's "Overview" page:
On the Authors page, t add a new co-author, click the blue "Add an Author" button:
If everything's working as described, please scroll past the following side note!
Side Note: If you are using Leanpub's Browser writing mode, you cannot add a co-author. This is because our auto-save feature currently doesn't support multiple authors writing at the same time, sorry about that. We may add support for co-authors in the Browser writing mode in the future, especially if enough people ask for it! The best place to ask for this (or any other feature you'd like us to build) is by posting on our Authors Forum here.
If you are in the Browser writing mode, you will instead see this:
Inviting a New Co-Author
This will take you to the "New Author" page:
On this page, enter the email address for your co-authors' Leanpub account, and assign them a royalty percentage (this is the share of royalties from the book that the co-author will receive). You can also optionally add a message to the invitation the co-author will receive:
Once you've entered this information, click the blue "Add a Co-Author" button at the bottom of the page:
On the "Authors" page, you will no see that your co-author invitation has been sent, and its status is "Invited":
4. Next, the co-author you add needs to accept your co-author invitation in their email.
The co-author will receive an email with a subject like this:
[Leanpub] You've been invited to be a co-author of AI for Beginners on Leanpub!
The email contents will look something like this:
Next, the co-author needs to click the "View Invitation link in the email:
This will take them to a page that looks like this:
Next, they need to click "Accept Invitation":
5. If this is the co-author's first Leanpub book, they will need to verify their email address.
If your co-author needs to verify their email address, they will now see a "Verify Account" page:
To verify their email address, they will need to to enter the verification code Leanpub has sent to them in an email.
If they check their email account, they will find an email from no-reply@leanpub.com with the subject "[Leanpub] Thanks for trying Leanpub! Here's an email verification code...".
The email with the verification code will look something like this:
Next, they will need to click "Accept My Invitation:
After they click the button, your new co-author will be taken to the "Overview" page for your book:
If you go back to the "Authors" page for your book, you will now see that the co-author's invitation has been accepted:
If you want to make your co-author the primary author of the book, click "Make Primary":
6. Next, your co-author will want to set up their Leanpub profile.
If you go to the landing page for your book, you will now see that the co-author has been added:
Your co-author can add an image and some biographical information on their Leanpub "Edit Profile" page here:
Here is what that page looks like:
After they have added their avatar image and their information on the "Edit Profile" page, they need to click the "Save Settings" button at the bottom of the page:
If you go back to the Leanpub landing page for your book, you will now see that the co-author's information has been updated.
7. Finally, you will want to create a new preview of your book, or publish a new version of your book, if it is already published.
The next time you generate a version of your book, you will now see that the co-author is included:
For some information about the rules regarding primary authors and co-authors, please search for those terms in our Terms of Service.
OK, that's it!
If you have any feedback or questions about this article, please email the Leanpub team about it at hello@leanpub.com!
If you have any questions or thoughts on writing and self-publishing with Leanpub, please join our global community of authors in our Authors Forum here!
Are you interested in self-publishing, and creating your first Leanpub book? Here are some quick tutorials for our most popular writing modes: http://help.leanpub.com/en/articles/3088382-quick-walkthroughs-for-getting-started-on-a-leanpub-book
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