• A first-time author and two editors trying to produce quality work on a shoestring budget
• Located in Ankara (Turkey), Istanbul (Turkey), and Los Angeles, California (USA)
• A ten-hour time difference and a project requiring extensive discussion
• A 94,000-word manuscript to edit, polish, produce, and market

Ren Diller is the author of debut novel The Fracture of a Dream, a literary-fiction work about life, death, and everything in between. As a first-time author, Diller has been navigating the world of publishing using trial-and-error, looking for time-saving ways to put together a professional product.

Knowing that the potential for failure was high, we searched the INTERNET for sites that had two criteria, 1. Produce real-time collaboration 2. Ease of use by users. We knew that there must have been something out there that would solve our problem. We found Clinked! Clinked offered the much needed resources to get the job done within the time frame we were looking for, due to the Real-Time collaboration and ease of use. Not completely convinced of Clinked’s ability to deliver, we developed a mock-up of the site and tested it on a few people in the group. To my surprise they all liked it and we have collaborating ever since. We are close to finishing up the project in record time and all issues and disagreements are being flushed out by way of the discussion groups. When someone wants to bring up a subject they are interested in discussing the option is there to open a new discussion group. This option is so important for the fact that everyone sees the discussion and knows what the issues are and what was the successful resolution of the problem(s), and the group moves on. This helps immensely when future discussions come up. No one can say that the issues were NOT addressed. Great conversation stopper!

Diller had enlisted the help of an editor friend to comment on the first draft of her manuscript. They started by editing within Microsoft Word and sending a flurry of e-mails back and forth, asking questions and responding with suggestions. It quickly became clear that this was not an efficient system—especially when Diller decided to bring on a second editor to read her next draft. The many e-mailed critiques and ideas were already becoming buried among discussions of book layouts, website design, marketing, and other writerly concerns.

Protection of the creative and intellectual property the group was developing, Diller wanted a secure and private space for the group to continue its work. She also needed a way to streamline the suggested edits she was receiving from both editors, to make the revision process more efficient. Clinked had everything they needed, including an online document editor, activity stream, task scheduler, and a dedicated area for threaded discussions (no more jumping from topic to topic!). Best of all, Clinked had a minimalist design that seemed engaging, rather than clinical and impersonal. Diller wanted to keep the workspace appealing and bright during the editors’ thankless task of scrutinizing 94,000 words—multiple times.

Ren Diller on Clinked:
“With Clinked at our fingertips, my collaborators and I can access the work files from any computer with Internet. With the group calendar, we can all monitor the timelines and stay motivated for each aspect of the novel. I can schedule due dates for my editors and focus on revising, not sending them reminders. Instead of an inbox full of lengthy e-mails about everything we want to discuss, the three of us are free to share and reply to tips, resources, and ideas within discussion threads. Clinked has been a lifesaver in what could have been a messy, time-consuming project!”