Collaboration Over Competition
by Xander Thomas
Hey there, you entrepreneur. Yes, you—the one trying to make it off the ground, working to build your brand, struggling to carve out a foothold in a market where you have to elbow your way in and shove aside the competition just to get a spotlight on yourself.
Stop it.
You might think you need to outperform everyone else in your niche to make a name for yourself, but I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. There's a better way.
I'm a children's author in partnership with Quill Hawk Publishing, based in Oklahoma. We have a growing community of authors, illustrators, editors, and helpers, from around the United States and beyond, and we choose to operate under a simple principle: collaboration over competition.
We aren't merely a loose cluster of businesspeople under one banner, jostling to get a leg up over each other. We're a family. We each come into this with our own ambitions, but we inevitably discover that the best way to help ourselves is by helping each other.
By pooling resources, we're able to afford the best events.
By sharing connections, we can forge the best networks.
By combining skills, we're able to achieve the best results.
Right now, I'm sharing a table at a wine and crafts festival with three other authors. One writes about spiritual warfare. Another shares her story of a fight with breast cancer. The man to my right has a vibrant display of local-interest stories. And I peddle my brightly-colored humor for young readers in the making. Each of us is pitching to the same audience; each of us is here to build our business. But like the beans that climb the corn stalk and the squash that covers the ground below, we lean on each other. We support each other. We feed from the same ground, and we drink the same water. And we are all the more resilient for it.
Why push one another down, when we can build one another up? The fact is, if someone likes your work, they will buy it. And if it's not their cup of tea, then they won't. There's no reason to struggle alone, to try and hoard more for yourself at the expense of others. You rise and fall on your own merit, yes—but who will be there to pick you up and cheer you on? Who will remind you of what you can be, of what you can do? Who will lift you out of the gutter, dust you off, and set you back on your feet? And who will celebrate with you when you are victorious?
Collaboration is the key not only to gaining access to the best this world has to offer but also to the best within yourself. Family will not abandon you when the times are hard. Friends will not desert you when they excel ahead of you; nor will they pull the ladder up behind them. They'll reach down with both hands to lift you up alongside them.
Even within your specific niche, you can find support. If I were at this table with three other children's authors, I would share illustrator contacts; I would get formatting tips; I would talk about what works and what does not, and we would all come out the stronger for it.
Working in close connection with your fellow authors has another benefit, too: inspiration.
Are you stagnating in your field? Do you wish you had a broader range of material? Being near others who share your passion but have their own voices can be a powerful spark for your career. The author at my table with locally relevant material is also a prolific science fiction writer—something I love to read and watch, and long to write. Now, thanks to the time we're spending together, I find myself building the confidence to step out of my children's literature comfort zone and to dare to dream that I, too, can make a go of it.
It's incredible the things we can accomplish when we open ourselves up to one another, instead of shutting them out or pitting ourselves against them. (This is true of life in general, but I won't bore you with social commentary.)
Just consider what you might be able to accomplish, the myriad ways you can grow, if you draw not only from your own talent but from the well of experience that surrounds you. Each person has their own contribution, their own lived truth, and each of us brings something to the table.
About Xander Thomas
Xander was born and raised in Oklahoma. Since then, he has traveled across the state, the nation, and the globe, learning and gaining life experience. He delights in seeing people, cultures, and ideas from fresh angles, and in looking for the good in himself and others. Authorship had long been a personal goal, but Xander finally found a calling in writing books for children and young adults, which helped him re-explore the silliness, wonder, tragedy, and hopefulness of youth. Xander's first book is titled "Please Pass the Lotion." He is currently working on a second book titled "Iggi."
About Please Pass the Lotion
How far would YOU go if your skin's feeling dry?
Would you take every remedy money can buy?
Is there ANY solution that you wouldn't try?
And what if it kept getting DRIER instead?!
If you ran out of options, would you just go to bed?
Is it the END of the WORLD...
... or is it all in your head?
