Writing for Children? Will Someone Steal your Work? 12/29/2012 4:13:54 PM
Imagine that you’ve written a story that makes you proud. It has conflict, good, humorous, dialogue and an exciting plot. What if someone steals your idea? The only way that you can be positive that no one has stolen your idea is not to publish your work. There are probably hundreds of stories with some similarities to yours. But remember that once you publish your story, there are copyright laws to protect it. But there are no such laws to guard your ideas. You would need to publish your story so that the laws will protect it. Let’s explore the copyright laws so you understand more about them.
Is your work protected when you discuss it with your friends? No, when you talk about your ideas, or your story, it doesn’t have copyright protection. But once your work is in print, it belongs exclusively to you and no one else can publish it without your permission. In the United States, and most western countries, the same rule would apply. Should you register it yourself? You may do so by visiting this website: http://www.copyright.gov/ If someone publishes your work illegally, you can take them to court. If you are preparing to take legal action against someone, you should be sure to register your work before you proceed with the lawsuit. If you decide to publish your own work, you must register it yourself.
What happens if you publish with a small publisher? Even small publishers will usually register your work for you before it’s published. It is generally part of the publishing familiar with what is covered. Usually, the publisher registers your book in your name so that you have the rights to it.
What are the rules if you publish an article in a magazine? If a magazine is publishing an article for you, they would have registered the entire magazine so it would be protected by copyright laws. The exception would be that you would need to register your own article, if you were preparing to go to court.
Do you need to worry about publishers stealing your work? It would be very rare for a reputable publisher to steal your work. The one exception would be if you were dealing with a shady company that wants “samples” of your writing and they hire you to provide those pieces every week. You may find one of your short writing samples were published without permission. This is one legitimate reason to avoid these types of establishments. In some cases, the publisher may be so inexperienced that he/she doesn’t realize that you must register an article or story before it’s printed. It’s even possible that a new publisher could pay your for your work, without letting you know that it was published until after it was released to the public. You could receive a letter stating that your article or story has been published. In this case, they’re not intentionally stealing your work, but you may have also submitted it to another company, so this can be quite an embarrassing situation for you. This is an unpleasant surprise, to be sure so the best way to avoid it is to work with established publishers who are well informed about copyright laws.
What about online publications? In this instance, it’s possible that someone will see something in on online publication or on Facebook without realizing that copyright laws apply. They could see your work, like it and copy it to their website or their Facebook page. Generally, if you email them and tell them they used your work without permission, they will delete it quickly.
What is pirating? This happens when someone actually does steal your work, usually seen online. Someone can scan it and place it on their own website. But it only happens with very well known books and the person responsible wants to display your work without paying for it.
If you remember some of these tips, you could save yourself quite a bit of stress. Always submit your very best work to a publisher and don’t discuss it until it’s been forwarded to a reliable publisher.
Some important things to remember:
1. It’s most important to remember that writers often have similar ideas, but it’s the way the ideas are presented that matter. Also, keep in mind that there are no copyright laws for ideas, only actual printed work.
2. The safest way to prevent any stealing of your work is to deal with a reputable publisher who knows copyright laws well.
3. Once your work is in print, it’s uniquely your own creation and protected by
the laws.
fee. If you’re not sure about this, be certain to ask what services are included in the fee. It’s most important that you check your contract so that you are
