Question about Queries and copyrights.

[Baitball Blogger]

Something stuck in my mind. It's about copyrighting your manuscript. Apparently the advantage in copyrighting is that it would open the award punitive damages in an infringement suit per the Writer's Market book.

However, this is the issue. I understand that we are copyrighted from the moment we put our story down on paper, but it says in the book that copyright does not protect titles, ideas and facts.

I can understand titles and facts, but sometimes an entire story is hanging on an idea. So, what if you pitch that idea in your query? You don't give the ending away, but you give enough to introduce something you've never seen before. Is it possible that someone can take that query and use it for their own purposes to come up with their own story? It might not be ethical, but is it possible?

[PoliticAverse]

1. Yes it is possible.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

[Baitball Blogger]

2. So, even when I submit my query for examination, I'm

taking the risk that it's being circulated around to the agents favorite writers?

I went to a writing class once where the teacher insisted that our manuscripts weren't copyrighted. In the same breath he said that he goes to writer's conferences where they hash up new ideas. Gave me a creepy feeling.

[PoliticAverse]

3. That's why you should only deal with reputable agents...

Is your 'idea' really that critical or is the rest of your story the important part ?

If they can take your idea and come up with a much better supporting story they can do that
once your book is released anyway.

[pnwmom]

11. Manuscripts are copyrighted, but ideas are not.

Please do not worry about having your idea stolen. Good writers are bursting with their own ideas; they don't need to steal yours. No one but you is capable of writing the story that is inside you.

(Do you think if someone told you about an idea for writing about a boy named Harry who went to Wizard School and conquered Lord Voltemort, you would have come up with anything resembling Harry Potter?)

[mainer]

4. An idea is not a book. Ideas are easy; writing books is hard.

It's my experience that those authors who are most paranoid about someone "stealing" their ideas are the ones least likely to be taken seriously by publishers and agents.

Publishing is not Hollywood. I've never heard of a single "idea" being swiped, and then assigned to a professional writer who must then devote the next year to writing an entire novel based on an idea that's not even his own. Most novelists have more book ideas than they have time to write; the last thing they want is to be "assigned" an idea made up by someone else.

When an agent/editor gets a manuscript with the "copyright" symbol on the front, they know from the get-go that the writer is a rank amateur.

[SheilaT]

5. I often say that ideas are a dime a dozen.

If I could sell ideas at that rate, I could make a good living.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Thanks mainer.

I'm hiding my concerns badly because I spent so much time coming up with a clever pitch. Well, I thought it was clever. But what is magnifying the problem is that the project I was hoping would only take a week, has now eaten up a second week.

I decided to drop everything and start on the queries this weekend. Once I get something in the mail I know I'll stop worrying.

Thanks again!

[yellerpup]

7. Ideas can't be copyrighted.

Your script or your book should be copyrighted after they are finished so you can have proof is someone wants to sue you in court for 'stealing' their idea. I know an author whose publisher spent $10s of thousands of dollars defending her/their copyright against a person who legally had her name changed to my friends name AFTER my friend's book came out! She claimed that she had written this best seller and the original author had stolen it. I don't know why it took so long and took so much money to get such a bogus case booted out of court, but the lesson I took from it is to protect your work early because you never know when you'll have to fight for it.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Sounds like copyrighting is the way to go.

Wonder why someone would think they could get away with that. In the end it must have been a costly ruse.

[yellerpup]

9. I think she must have been crazy.

That's a pretty insane thing to do.

You can copyright online if you make a pdf of your creation. You don't really need the piece of paper to prove it unless you go to court. Going to court is a rarity anyway, but if you ever, say, option your work to be made into a film they will want to see your proof of ownership. A copyright is accepted as proof of ownership in court; while a Writer's Guild registration is understood and accepted on the Left Coast and offers some protection, a WG registration has never been accepted as proof of ownership at trial. Copyright is cheaper, too. Good luck!

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Thanks!