Re: QUERY: Can reviewer/editor BECOME a CO-AUTHOR of a technical book?

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

> >In what situation (if ever) can an editor or reviewer (or all
> >in one) become a co-author of a technical book in progress???

Rarely, but it can happen if the reviewer/editor makes substantial
contributions of content to the book.  Normally the contract is between the
author and the publisher, or between the author and his/her agent, and the
agent and publisher have a separate contract.   (The latter happens much less
often.)  To add a co-author is a change to the original contract, so it's up to
both parties to agree to the change.  That said, however, most contracts with
publishers have enough loose language about meeting delivery dates and quality
standards that either party can pretty much force a change on the other.

Richard Mateosian wrote:

> This happened to me once -- not with a book, but with an article in
> an in-house technical journal. I was contracting with a computer
> company to help three authors with a series of articles on a new
> system. One of the authors dropped the ball. I did most of the work
> and became the "co-author."

I had a similar experience with a book publisher.  The lead author wrote
exactly one thing: his name on the contract. I wound up doing everything else
in the book.  But I'd been listed as a coauthor on the contract anyway, so what
showed up on the book cover didn't change.  What DID change was the amount of
advance and royalties I received.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

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