Questions about Copyrights

[Androxine Vortex]

I want to get very serious about getting published in the future but I want to be careful as well. Let's say for example I post an excerpt from my story or a synopsis, and someone takes the ideas and makes their own story and I can clearly see it is stolen from my works, is there anything you can do?

Technically you have the article of the webpage which you would have posted the original writting so that would prove it was your ideas. I just want to understand how much of my novels I should expose and how much should remain just with me.

I've heard that once you upload it onto the web you are instantly the "owner" and the rights are yours but I've also heard that once you upload it it's anyones game and publishers wont take any interest in publishing you if parts of your book are already uploaded on the web.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

By U.S. copyright law, everything you create is automatically under copyright from the instant you create it. Proving this can be somewhat more difficult.

What is more important is to realize that ideas are, frankly, a dime a dozen. Anyone with a penny's worth of imagination can come up with half a dozen cool ideas with very little time and effort. What makes them valuable is the discipline and effort undertaken to develop them into an interesting story, which (in the case of novels) runs into the hundreds or thousands of hours of work.

Until you have something that is actually worth stealing (and not having seen your work, I don't have any idea if you do or not), I wouldn't worry too much about what to do if someone steals it.

 

[Telcontar]

... and even if your work IS worth stealing, it probably won't happen. That fear is an old urban myth in authorship circles. I've never heard of it happening. Making money from writing is hard work - stealing some unknown author's story won't earn a thief anything.

Put up as much of your work as you think will benefit you from a publicity standpoint. Because, as pointed out above, your work is yours as soon as you create it, you are already protected in the comically outside chance of somebody trying to steal it.

 

[TWErvin2]

I want to get very serious about getting published in the future but I want to be careful as well. Let's say for example I post an excerpt from my story or a synopsis, and someone takes the ideas and makes their own story and I can clearly see it is stolen from my works, is there anything you can do?

Technically you have the article of the webpage which you would have posted the original writting so that would prove it was your ideas. I just want to understand how much of my novels I should expose and how much should remain just with me.

I've heard that once you upload it onto the web you are instantly the "owner" and the rights are yours but I've also heard that once you upload it it's anyones game and publishers wont take any interest in publishing you if parts of your book are already uploaded on the web.

You cannot copyright an idea.

If you post an except, such as a portion of several chapters, a publisher isn't going to be worried over that. The odds of someone stealing your work based on small portions posted is virtually impossible, even from a synopsis.

I could post a synopsis of my novels that are completed, and include several completed chapters. Could anybody write or recreate what I imagined and wrote? I find it very unlikely.

If you're in the USA, you can learn more about what's covered and when, and what isn't by visiting: U.S. Copyright Office

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Thanks for the help guys, and please don't think I was like, "Yeah my stories and ideas are sooooo good that everyone will want and take 'em." lol And yeah I agree that the chances of someone stealing my (or anyone's works) are slim; can't be too careful though haha

So you are saying that posting excerpts and parts from my stories for review is fine? And that publishers don't look down upon that? I can't remember where but i did read something that explained that it's not a good idea to put hardly any of your storyline online because publishers will reject it.

 

[Spring-Gem]

So you are saying that posting excerpts and parts from my stories for review is fine? And that publishers don't look down upon that? I can't remember where but i did read something that explained that it's not a good idea to put hardly any of your storyline online because publishers will reject it.

They were probably talking about publishing rights. A copyright holder sells the "right to publish" a story or novel to a publisher. There are different types of rights, such as, first North American rights, first world rights, reprint rights, movie rights, etc. Publishers are usually interested in buying "first" rights which means the story or novel hasn't been published before. If you post all of a work on your website that is open to the public, most publishers consider it to be published and no longer having any first rights to be sold.

Publishers do allow excepts up to around 10 percent (I think) of the total word count to be available to the public without losing first publishing rights. A writer can also post work on a password protected website for peer critique without losing first rights, but to be on the safe side, I wouldn't post my whole work.

I've heard about some self published writers being offered publishing contracts by traditional publishers if a work has become popular. This may or may not be a trend in the future.

Hope this helps.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

They were probably talking about publishing rights. A copyright holder sells the "right to publish" a story or novel to a publisher. There are different types of rights, such as, first North American rights, first world rights, reprint rights, movie rights, etc. Publishers are usually interested in buying "first" rights which means the story or novel hasn't been published before. If you post all of a work on your website that is open to the public, most publishers consider it to be published and no longer having any first rights to be sold.

Publishers do allow excepts up to around 10 percent (I think) of the total word count to be available to the public without losing first publishing rights. A writer can also post work on a password protected website for peer critique without losing first rights, but to be on the safe side, I wouldn't post my whole work.

I've heard about some self published writers being offered publishing contracts by traditional publishers if a work has become popular. This may or may not be a trend in the future.

Hope this helps.

yes this was great thank you

 

[Steerpike]

Just keep in mind that there is no magic number where all publishers will say "Yeah, that's been published." If you have specific publishers in mind, check their guidelines to see if the issue is addressed. From what I've read, some publishers don't make an exception for password-protected critiquing sites if they're sites that anyone can easily join.

 

[Philip Overby]

This is an irrational fear that can become rational. Openly sharing excerpts from incomplete works on an open forum could cause another writer to steal your ideas. Ideas only. And like Clayborne said, ideas are a dime a dozen. Even if you come up with a cool idea and someone steals it, it's unlikely that they would create the exact same vision as you would. I have dozens and dozens of ideas that I won't share with the public because I think they're good and I rather wait until the product is completely finished and published to then share it with the public.

So if you think you have a really, really awesome idea...don't share it. It will give you peace of mind anyway. But if you want to share it anyway, there is little likelihood that someone will completely jack your concept.

If someone is so lazy that they would completely rip off someone else's story, then wow, they have no life and/or no creativity of their own.

The best way to safeguard yourself in my opinion is just don't share things publicly. And if you do share things, only give a small taste. I'm of course not discouraging anyone from sharing their writing, just be careful what you show.

 

[Telcontar]

And if you do share things, only give a small taste.

This is a good maxim to hold to anyway. Regardless of fears about having your ideas stolen you should be practicing the ability to give people just enough of a sample of your work to, as the saying goes, 'keep them wanting more.' It is the mystery that draws people in, and if your main ideas are still a mystery when people read your work, then they can't be stolen.

You could also think of starting a blog to showcase some of your work. This is handy as there will be a record of your work and a date of posting.

 

[SeverinR]

Its a balancing act,
you want to get feedback on what you write for improvement,
but you don't want to post to much.

So far the stuff I have posted on sights had enough suggestions for improvement that the original posting won't look much like the final version. So I would suggest supply more rough draft, less finished product.

Side note: I have learned so much from frequenting these websights, that I am rewriting one of my finished books. Editing would have been alot tougher, I enjoyed writing the second time as much as the first. weird.

(The second finished work I believe can be edited, I wrote most of it after starting to learn from the writing websights.)