Meet the Wretched Scribbler

This month, we will be writing a series of blog posts on a subject that is close to our hearts. The subject of the series is authorship. To start us off, I would like to introduce you to our alter-ego: The Wretched Scribbler.

Who is the wretched scribbler? The wretched scribbler lives alone in the garret of a colonial home in Concord, Massachusetts. He is permanently perched at a desk that looks out over rolling hills and the Merrimack River, perhaps the gleam of Walden Pond. The wretched scribbler rubs his furrowed brow with ink-stained hands, tortured by his thoughts as he struggles to express himself on an eternally jammed Remington typewriter.

Often, when potential clients approach us, they come looking for a wretched scribbler. This is the character they think will help them transform their great ideas into the Next Great American Business Book.

Sorry to disappoint!

As it happens, we think the wretched scribbler is an urban legend. Authors have been working with co-authors, editors, and publishers for centuries. As bestseller James Patterson, who outlines his plots before passing them off to a team of co-writers, says, “almost all TV shows… are done by teams of writers. It’s not as unusual as people think it is.”

Just look at business writing. Jim Collins, as everyone knows, works with a team. Chip and Dan Heath write collaboratively. John Kotter published a book with Dan Cohen. Tom Peters wrote one with Robert Waterman. And even those authors who appear alone on their book covers explode with names when you turn to their acknowledgement page.

What surprises us is that, in the face of this mountain of evidence, people still imagine that authorship is a tortured and lonely business. And although collaboration is a known source of creative inspiration, writers are still expected to go it alone.

We are determined to change all that. At IPI, we are staunch believers in collaborative writing. And this month on our blog, we’re going to tell you why.