Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When you submit your writings to a publisher or for a writing contest, how can you ensure they won't try to plagiarize your work?
They have better things to do - like publishing.
I mean, sure, it's possible. It's also possible that when you take your car to a repair shop, they'll chop it and part it out and claim they never saw you. But the odds of that are extremely long. They have better (and less criminally liable) things to do. Just like publishers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retriever
You should copyright it, prior to submission.
Any fixed document - a paper manuscript, a Word file on a hard drive - is automatically copyrighted at creation.
I mean, sure, it's possible. It's also possible that when you take your car to a repair shop, they'll chop it and part it out and claim they never saw you. But the odds of that are extremely long. They have better (and less criminally liable) things to do. Just like publishers.
Any fixed document - a paper manuscript, a Word file on a hard drive - is automatically copyrighted at creation.
I didn't realize this.
So would it be fairly safe for me to publish my short story on my linkedin profile? I am linked in with a lot of other creative writers.
So would it be fairly safe for me to publish my short story on my linkedin profile? I am linked in with a lot of other creative writers.
Safe? Sure.
Be advised that previous publication - even just throwing it out on the internet - will lessen your chances of ever selling it. While some publishers will consider previously-published material, a lot of them are only interested in original material.
Now, that doesn't mean some yahoo won't see it and try to submit it. But if it's something that can be sold. If you can do that, great. If you can't, someone else probably can't, either. Anyway, I would think most respectable publishers would at least do some simply google searches on unique word-strings to make sure a submission isn't out there in the electronic wild.
Be advised that previous publication - even just throwing it out on the internet - will lessen your chances of ever selling it. While some publishers will consider previously-published material, a lot of them are only interested in original material.
Now, that doesn't mean some yahoo won't see it and try to submit it. But if it's something that can be sold. If you can do that, great. If you can't, someone else probably can't, either. Anyway, I would think most respectable publishers would at least do some simply google searches on unique word-strings to make sure a submission isn't out there in the electronic wild.
^ Yup. Just like City-Data mods do when we suspect someone is trying to pass off copyrighted material as their own post.
As with this forum, it's a legal issue for the publisher.
So would it be fairly safe for me to publish my short story on my linkedin profile? I am linked in with a lot of other creative writers.
Linkedin is not a good place to publish your fiction. Unless you want to just allow your story to be read for free, that is.
Think. Who's going to pay for a story after it's been published in a spot where anyone can read it for free?
Allowing it to be read for free also means copyright protection doesn't matter enough to warrant copyrighting it.
If you want a critique from other creative writers, then copyright the story and contact some writers to see if they will give you a critique. Send it by email to them if they agree to read it.
When you submit your writings to a publisher or for a writing contest, how can you ensure they won't try to plagiarize your work?
You can't always. It happened to me. Albeit, a very, very long time ago. Perhaps this could not happen today. This was in the 1970s. I was a college student.
When one sends an article to a magazine, and it is rejected - and not returned, at least back then, there was a strong possibility of this.
It happened to me with an unsolicited article that I submitted to the legendary, "Rolling Stone" magazine. The practice at the time was to return the manuscript. I never received one from that periodical.
The article did land me a job as a staff writer at "New York Rocker". It was about the Ramones, and their manager at the time, Danny Fields, offered me a job as an assistant. That was also good.
While the late and legendary "Village Voice" Rock and Jazz editor, Robert Christgau read the piece, and responded with a letter of encouragement. I have it framed.
About six months later, I found an article in "Rolling Stone" that was basically a retooling of mine, with a thinly altered title.
I called Kurt Loder, who wrote "The Ramones Ain't Stupid" after reading my "The Ramones Are Not Dumb", "dumb" taken from a Ramone's song lyric.
When I called him, Mr. Loder lashed out with profamily and epithets while walning me not to go public with this. My parents wanted to sue. I was not in favor of it at the time.
In retrospect, I wish I had taken their help.
My mother suggested that I use a "poor man's copywrite", which was essentially, sending the letter to yourself, and not opening it, which proved when you wrote the submission.
This still haunts me to this day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
