Suggestions for wording by lines in a book with primary and secondary authors

In My Humble Opinion
1

A lengthy explanation of my question begins in the third paragraph, for those of you who are so bored/such speedy and avid readers that you want to know details. But seriously, don’t bother. My question boils down to this and it is all you have to read: if there are two authors, but one is more central than the other (at least for marketing purposes), how can by lines be worded to graciously indicate “main credit” and “this person helped some”? This is not an “as told to” situation.

The only solution I can think of (if Anders is the main author and Barnabas is the helper) is “By Anders Allen, with Barnabas Brown.” Other ideas welcome.

In the “glutton for punishment” department, below is a fuller version of the story. (STOP RIGHT NOW. Why are you reading this? Go look at a sunset or pet your cat or something.)

An art book I’ve just edited has a section written by an author and art curator (Anders) who has brilliant ideas but difficulty expressing himself in English, which is not his native language. He might be convoluted in his native tongue, too, but we don’t know as no one involved in the effort speaks it.

Another artist and writer (Barnabas) helped clarify Anders’s language. The revisions by Barnabas reflected many of his own useful contributions. Anders is quite pleased with the result.

The book is a sumptuous coffee-table book that is primarily photographs of work by a recently deceased artist - the point of publishing the book is to cement the artist’s legacy. Anders tells the story of reviewing hundreds of the artist’s works after his death and coming to an appreciation of his themes and concepts. The result of the Anders/Barnabas effort is a lovely, intimate, and engaging piece of writing.

Those of us involved in the publication development, including Barnabas, feel that the story is best told as “by Anders.” It gives the text more immediacy and authenticity if it is presented as the experience and point of view of one person. Barnabas doesn’t care about getting credit; he just wants the book to be a success.

Anders really, really wants to give Barnabas credit, which is of course an honorable sentiment. The rest of us feel that from a marketing standpoint, it’s better to focus on Anders. Is there a way we can keep the focus on Anders while acknowledging his desire to credit Barnabas?

2

If I were in Barnabas’ position what I would like to see is, the book published with no reference to me on the cover. However, a charming thank you in the acknowledgements, explaining how I had helped Anders express his passion for the works would be nice. I guess that I would edit that too.

3

Yes, that ^
Even ghost writers who pretty much write a whole book don’t usually get a name
check on the cover.

4

In journalism, you sometimes see “by Tom, with contributions by Dick and Harry”

5

I’d be hoping to see Andrers on the cover, and for Anders to write a very heartfelt and grateful acknowledgement to Barnabas for all the help he’d provided. That seems the best of both worlds.

6

Is there a contract for the book? What does it say? Does Barnabas get royalties? If so, how much? How about how the advance, if any, was split.

Scientific papers often have multiple authors with wildly different levels of contribution, and the order of authorship reflects this.
In this case I’d do it the way Barnabas wants. You can put “with Barnabas” in small letters on the cover, or just a really big Acknowledgement, both in the usual place and in the introductory material. But it sounds like only Anders should be on the spine.

7

Excellent questions. None of those usual industry procedures and processes apply. The book is being privately published and all the agreements are totally informal among friends. The production costs were financed by sales of the artist’s work and the resulting book will only be distributed through major art museums, at least initially.

I think Barnabas is handling it like me, which is to say I told Anders, who is managing the production process, about what I would charge if I were contracted to edit the book with one of my clients. (Which would never happen, as this is an art book and 98% of the books and journals I edited were economics/development texts, but I digress.) He’s paying me that amount but I’m donating it in full to a local non-profit. I haven’t discussed it with Barnabas but knowing him, I am virtually certain he’s doing exactly the same thing.

8

Do you have a specific word that describes Barnabas’ involvement? Edited? Expanded? Arranged? Prepared? Revised? Massaged? Then something like “Written by Anders/Prepared for print by Barnabas” would work.

Otherwise “With” is perfectly acceptable, even if slightly misleading to the five people who know better.

9

Truthfully, “co-wrote” is probably the truest. “Massaged” isn’t bad either! If we were aiming for accuracy, “By Anders and Barnabas” would be the right answer. The problem is that the result would be something like “How I spent a summer in splendid isolation, immersed in my own thoughts by Carl Case and David Downs”.

10

Got it. Rereading the OP, it sounds like Barnabas is a partial ghost writer, and books of that sort are typically in first person like this one seems to be. It seems like “with Barnabas” would work on the cover, if they think a cover mention is warranted. In smaller letters less prominently placed, of course.

ETA: My wife, who has 18 books published, also says “with” is the way to go.

11

One of my best friends had the Barnabas role on a book written by her boss. I just looked it up on Amazon. The boss’s name is in large type under the title. Then there is a horizontal line and under that is “with [friend’s name]” in very small type. So it looks like “with” may be the way to go.

12

I also like “with”.

13

Barnabas also likes “with” so I am guessing we will use that.