It's obvious that Esther is a big part of any hiking and children's books written by Dan Colgate, but she is listed as editor of his hiking books - at best. I think that's harsh since they both lived the same 6 years of hiking and they both contributed to the book. They should have been equal co-authors of all books - in my opinion. Instead, they appear competitive. They released a couple of children's books about their dogs. With Esther gone, is that the end of future books for children? Is Dan Colgate listed as a co-author for the children's books?
I recall that when I first looked at their book releases, I was surprised that Esther was not named as a co-author of the hiking books. That omission could be something that would not feel good for her.
rsabbm
So maybe ED was trying to prove something.
As an author, I am surprised and saddened and angry that ED was not considered a co-author of the travel and hiking books.
Talk about being diminished and minimized.
I don’t care who thought what or what rationale was given for the choice to put only DC’s name as author, it isn’t right. ED walked/hiked/traveled the same miles he did, and I find it extremely hard to believe she had absolutely no contribution to the writing aspect of their endeavors.
Actually, even if she had no input as a writer, the mere fact of the shared experiences SHOULD have been enough for her to get author credit.
I also don’t care to hear that she “agreed” to the single author designation. Because I know how some such “agreements” are reached.
The books were self-published, so there is really no excuse for ED to have not been given credit as an author. ED and DC had full control over how the books look and are presented. (Or was it just DC who had control?)
As a member of the writing and publishing communities for over thirty years, I’ve met many co-authors, and the successful teams were ones who didn’t care how much or what work either did on their projects, they were full partnerships. Partners got full billing as authors, regardless if one did more draft writing and one did more editing and one took on more of the business end of things.
Maybe ED felt DC was dismissive of her contributions to their lifestyle documentation. It feels that way to me with just his name as author on the books. (And in a very large font, too.) Even when the subtitles reflect a “we” making the trips, still, just his name as author.
The normal protocol for book cover is also not followed with the pet books. The illustrator KP is not noted separately, as such, but as an author, along with DC and ED. Which, maybe she was. But that would be unusual, and my research didn’t allude to her helping to write the books.
My apologies for the long post about the books, but I’ve been bothered for a while now about that aspect of their relationship.
