Invite an editor, co-author or reader

You can bring other people into a book—an editor to go over the draft, a co-author to write alongside you, or beta readers to read and leave notes. This page shows how to invite them, and how to change or end their access later.

Invite someone

1. Open the book and click Share at the top right of the editor.
2. Under Invite by email, type the person's email address.
3. Under As, choose their role: Co-author, Editor or Reader. The line underneath explains what that role can do. (There's more on the roles in What each role can do.)
4. Click Invite.

Screenshot: the Share this book window, with one collaborator listed and the Invite by email row at the bottom.

What happens next

Write emails them a link to sign in. If they've never used Author Tools, they don't need a Writing Wives membership or a subscription—the invitation sets up their Author Tools account for them.

Nobody is put on a book without saying yes. When they open Write, the invitation is waiting at the top of their Library under Shared with you, with your name, the book's title and their role. They click Accept and the book joins their Library, or Decline and it goes away. Until they accept, they can't open the book, and they're listed in your Share window as invited, with a dashed circle beside their name.

Screenshot: the top of the Library with a Shared with you box: "Owner invited you to A Book as an editor," with Decline and Accept buttons.

If someone has invited you

Look at the top of your Library. Each invitation shows who sent it, the book and the role you'd have. Accept opens the book to you; Decline turns it down, and the person who invited you sees it leave their list.

Change someone's role

In the Share window, use the role list beside their name. The change takes effect right away; they'll see it the next time they open the book.

Remove someone

Click Remove beside their name. They lose access to the book straight away. Nothing they wrote or suggested is lost—their comments and changes stay in the book, under their name.

To cancel an invitation that hasn't been accepted yet, click Withdraw beside it.

Who can invite whom

• You, as the book's owner, can invite co-authors, editors and readers, change anyone's role, and remove anyone.
• A co-author can invite editors and readers, and remove those.
• Editors and readers can see who's on the book, but can't invite anyone.

Nobody can be made the owner of your book; it stays yours.

Good to know

• Sharing is per book. To share a whole series, invite the person to each book.
• Up to 20 invitations a day. That covers any book, and it keeps the invitation email from being misused. If you hit it, try again the next day.
• Restoring a backup doesn't put your old collaborators straight back on the book. Each gets an invitation in their Library to accept, without an email.
• Fonts you've uploaded show for your collaborators while they're in your book, so the page looks the same to them as it does to you.
• An AI you've connected isn't a collaborator—it works as you. See Working with an AI.