Co-authors

Invite a co-author

A co-author works in the same novella and the same editor as you: both of your edits go into one copy and show up for each other right away. Only the novella’s owner can invite.

Under the field you see how many team seats are taken, for example “2 / 6”. The owner takes one seat, an unanswered invitation takes one too, and a declined one frees it. When no seats are left, the field and the button go grey.

1. In the editor open the Novella tab on the left, then Collaboration inside it.
2. Type the person’s login into the “User login” field.
3. If they only need to look, tick “Read only”.
4. Click Invite or press Enter.

Accept an invitation

The invited person gets a notification: “You’ve been invited to co-author “…””. Clicking it leads to the library, to the Collaborations tab.

The row shows whose novella it is (“Owner: …”), your role and a read-only mark if there is one. Your own novellas are under All, while other people’s, where you are a co-author, live only here.

1. Open Novellas → the Collaborations tab.
2. On the invitation click Accept or Decline.
3. Open an accepted novella with the Open button — the same editor starts.

Credit role and read-only

An accepted co-author has a “Role and rights” gear in the Collaboration list. It holds two settings, and both save at once, with no button.

“Credit role” is the co-author’s label on the novella page, in the Full team block: Co-author, Writer, Artist, Musician, Voice actor, Beta and more — or “Custom credit…” up to 40 characters. Readers see the ready-made roles in their own language, and a custom credit exactly as you wrote it.

“Restrict editing” keeps the person in the team and in the credits, but their editor opens read-only: a “Read-only · the owner restricted editing” badge sits at the bottom of the screen, there’s no AI agent, and the co-author chat stays. The new rights apply the next time they open the editor.

1. Open Novella → Collaboration.
2. Click the gear on the co-author’s row.
3. Pick a credit role and, if needed, tick “Restrict editing”.

Working together

Who is in the editor right now shows in the top bar: participants’ avatars, and on hover “Now in the editor: …”. When the AI agent is working on the novella, it shows up there too.

A node another participant has selected gets a dashed outline and a lock with their login, and the lock’s tooltip says they are “editing this node now”. It’s a heads-up, not a block: you can still edit the node, but it’s better to agree so you don’t write in the same place at once.

The co-author chat is handy for that — it sits in a corner of the editor and appears as soon as the novella has an accepted co-author. A co-author’s files and generations go into the novella’s library, and they pay for their generations from their own wallet.

What stays with the owner

The novella stays in the owner’s account even when a whole team makes it. Only the owner invites and removes co-authors and changes their role and rights.

Publishing the novella and editing its card — cover, description, genres — is the owner’s job too. In History only the owner sees Releases and can roll the draft back to them; co-authors see just the Saved versions and can’t delete them.

The owner also keeps the novella AI agent’s memory list (co-authors can see it but not edit it) and deleting the novella itself.

Leaving a novella

A co-author can leave at any time. Your edits stay in the novella, and editing access is closed.

Inside the editor, the leave icon on your own row in Collaboration does the same — without a confirmation. The owner removes a co-author with the Delete cross on that row.

1. Open Novellas → Collaborations.
2. Click Leave on the novella.
3. Confirm in the “Leave the novella?” window.

FAQ

The invitation won’t send — what’s wrong? Check the login: an unknown one gives “User not found”, someone already on the team gives “The user is already a collaborator”. You can’t invite yourself.

Why can’t a co-author publish the novella? Publishing and the card belong to the owner. A co-author edits the draft, and the owner releases it.

Does a co-author pay for chapters of their own novella? No: the owner and accepted co-authors, read-only ones included, play the published novella with no waits and no paid choices.

Can a co-author see who else is on the team? A co-author who can edit sees the list in Collaboration; a read-only one doesn’t.

What happens to a co-author’s work if they leave or are removed? Everything they managed to do stays in the novella.