How would you deal with this?

[Tiva Wallon]

A friend of mine is having this issue and asked me for advice. I thought, what better place to get suggestions than here?

She's an aspiring or want-to-be writer. She lacks in the self confidence department and thinks her writing isn't good enough to ever make it to print. She's afraid of joining a critique group or to let anyone read her work, other than family, because at a critique group once, she had some of her stuff stolen. The thief was identified but since she didn't have a copyright on her work, there was nothing she could do.

I told her that since the thief took her stuff and had it published, this this should prove to her that she does have the gift to write, that she is good enough to get into print. But she's still scared.

What would you say yo her to help her?

[Karina Kantas]

Of all the pieces the thief could have taken he/she picked your friends. Yes, that defiantly says something about her talent.
Unfortunately, there will always be problems with plagiarism on writers groups. The network I belong to has thousands of members. You can upload your work as reader only which means only members in your chosen group can read your work. It's free to join and one of the friendliest writers network on-line. http://www.editred.com

When I first started out, I knew I could write, but I didn't have any confidence until I got my first piece published. It's such a confidence boaster. From the moment nothing could stop me.

My advice, is for her to start sending her work out to E-zines. Once she's had a few pieces published, she'll find a lot more faith.

Wish her the best from me.

[Amy Hanek]

I wish I were as lucky... -jk. I think she should just look closer at the people she trusts her stuff with. I am a newbie and this situation has occurred to me. I haven't had to cross that bridge yet, but I think I am still leary. She shouldn't stop trusting people in general though. I hope she is able to share her talent with the reading community.

[Todd Caldwell]

Regret hurts more than fear and lasts a lot longer.

[Tiva Wallon]

Thanks for your imput Karina, Amy and Todd. I will pass your thoughts on to my friend. I keep telling her she can do it but I guess she has to do it at her own pace.

Thanks again.

Hugs
Tiva

[Jon F. Baxley]

Hi Tiva:

Here's an article I wrote for PRWeb some time ago. It deals directly with your friend's experience and may offer some encouragement for the scary process of submitting materials to publishers. I hope it helps.

THE WEB WOLVES OF PUBLISHING
Copyright 2007 Jon F. Baxley


Now that I’ve reached the 'exalted' ranks of published authors, I’m often asked by novice writers, “Hey, I have a terrific new concept that all my friends say is great and I’m wondering about getting it published.” Their heads filled with grandeur at the prospect of selling their works, most of these writers have expended an entire month in the process of creation and now they’re ready to take their baskets of goodies out where they can bring home bags full of gold for the effort. They haven’t really thought too much about rejection or worse—someone outright stealing their material—or have they?

The truth is, that’s the second most asked question by novice scribes—especially in regard to publishing something on the Internet. After all, publishing is a huge wilderness full of big bad web wolves looking for all those new Red Writing Hoods so they can steal their precious baskets of original material, right? Not really. Publishing is still a wilderness, granted, but only if writers are truly naïve—and only if they begin their trek toward publication without sufficient knowledge of the terrain and the backbone to see it through, no matter how rough the trail gets or how often they are turned back in their quest.

Entrusting written material to unknown editors is a time-honored tradition in publishing. Fortunately, that hasn’t changed much, even with the enormously enlarged wilderness of the Internet and ePublishing. Yes, there are still wolves out there—in fact, more than ever. Yes, there are still cliffs that writers can fall off of, if they’re not careful. But here’s the really good news. Instead of a few hundred viable prospects for their work, as was the case twenty years ago, now there are literally tens of thousands of prospective arenas where an author’s story, poem or article can find a home.

Why? Because the worldwide web is exactly what the name implies—worldwide. A web published piece can be read instantly in Boston, Botswana or Bolivia. An eBook can be downloaded in Cleveland, the Canary Islands or Katmandu with as much ease as clicking on a link—no bookstore, library or even a library card required. The product can be delivered in a few minutes to an Internet Café, a home computer or the International Space Station where a writer’s work might never have been heard of if not for the enormous worldwide web reading realm available today.

But wait a minute! Doesn’t that mean people have access to written material without paying for it? Doesn’t that imply that web wolves can steal from any basket of goodies a writer posts on the web? Certainly it does, but here’s the catch. Let’s say a writer has ten items in a basket that he or she takes to the mall to sell direct to the public. A few people browse, one couple buys something and while the author is busy collecting money, a thief strolls by and steals one of the ten items. That’s a big loss—ten percent, in fact, and no way to recoup the loss. Plus, the mall may be slow that day, so the number of prospects is limited. The author goes home with one sale and one stolen piece or a net wash in cash flow.

Now, let’s suppose that same author has a website offering those same ten items, except this time, they are ‘virtual’ publications. That is, they are not on paper, which means there is no concern about running out of a particular product no matter how large the market becomes, no mailing costs and no returns. Yes, those pesky web wolves (with the right knowledge and software) can cruise through a website and steal a few titles and there is really nothing an author can do about it.

(article cont'd on next post)

[Tiva Wallon]

Thank you Jon, this was an awesome article. May I copy it and paste it for my friend to read?

[Jon F. Baxley]

Hi Tiva....

Yes, you may do whatever you need with this article as long as the copyright is attached. As I have said, I don't fear the web. I've learned to embrace it and the results (in book sales) have justified my decision. I'm glad I could help.

JB

[Jon F. Baxley]

(cont'd from previous post)

However, how much of a loss does that represent? The cost of the website is fixed, the products are already produced, so there’s no increased cost of goods sold except for marketing and that’s probably already in place on the Internet. Has Red Writing Hood really lost much?

To the contrary, the fact that Red published material on the web actually improves the odds that the works will not be stolen en masse. Why? Because the very act of publicly displaying material (with a copyright notice) produces a kind of ‘don’t copy this’ mentality with most web users. It also establishes a first publication date (easily documented) that writers can fall back on if someone actually steals their work outright and attempts to publish it themselves.

This assumes the work is copyrighted and by law any document posted with a copyright is valid at the point of publication. Something posted on January 1st, 2007 cannot possibly be posted earlier by a web thief unless they have the ability to time warp or they had access to a story before it was posted on the web. Writers still have to file for copyright to gain the full benefits of the copyright laws but works ePublished in whatever Internet venue gain a degree of protection they did not have before posting to the worldwide web.

What about actual losses to web thievery? In monetary terms, authors will likely never know they’ve been ripped off. The most common way this happens is for one consumer to ‘lend’ a virtual copy of a publication to another person. Try as they might, ePublishers have never really come up with a solution to this problem, even with encrypted files and passwords and other copy protection schemes. Most don’t work and those that do only stop the honest lenders. Determined web wolves have tools to get around encryption.

So—do losses to virtual lenders or web wolves affect a writer’s bottom line? If a comparison is made to potential sales off the web versus sales on the web, with lost product factored into both equations, then web losses become almost miniscule compared to the sales potential the Internet represents versus brick and mortar bookstores (assuming an author can even GET into hardcopy in the first place). One look at the success of Amazon and other web retailers should put that argument to rest.

For any writer, querying to make a sale is a painful, time consuming and often frustrating process but most can’t get published without sending their material out for review to somebody in the business. It’s that simple. The question is, who should one trust? To succeed as a writer, scratch that concern off the list. Most articles, stories, poems or novels are bought because they are timely, well-edited and focused on the market for which they are submitted, not because they are the first piece ever written about that subject.

The bottom line for writers is, quit worrying about someone stealing ideas in the time-honored publishing venues and forget about outright plagiarism on the web. It’s the tone, pace, voice, slant and presentation of a piece that sells the work. The idea is almost secondary because publishers have already seen just about every concept imaginable. Professional editors are successful in the business because they are creative people with a gazillion ideas about what will sell and what won’t. Job one for writers is to give editors what they’re looking for and not spend all day worrying over plagiarism.

Remember, editors are looking for a new take on the human experience and someone who can flesh out those ideas in an original fashion. New writers are the unpolished gems of the publishing business, so editors need them or they are out of a job. Approach the industry with a great product, the right attitude and a basket full of properly crafted goodies and those nasty web wolves will never be a concern.

*****

Jon Baxley is an Internet author, editor, web entrepreneur and medieval historian. He brings all those talents to bear in his latest work of fiction—THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY—in hardcover from Thomson Gale and Five Star. Chock-full of colorful historical detail, this first episode in a multi-book epic is setting a new standard for fantasy readers who want more than mere monsters and magic to whet their imagination. Romance readers, too, will find plenty of the ‘spice’ they seek, as will the myriad of action/adventure readers looking for a cast of characters in the Conan vein. One Hollywood producer has already dubbed the book, “Braveheart meets The Lord of The Rings.”

Jon lives on a small ranch in the Hill Country of south Texas. Works in progress include THE REGENTS OF RHUM, the next episode in his medieval epic and RED FLAGS, a modern day action/spy/adventure tale that includes some of Jon’s Cold War experiences in Russia. The author can be reached via email at [e-mail].

[Schuyler Thorpe]

Doesn't your friend know that she could sue the guy who stole her work? Once you write it down, it's yours.

She can go to court with the proof in hand that she is in fact the author of her stolen works, and have the publisher retract the book and recoup the losses stemmed from the theft. It's hard and difficult, but she can have it done.

It's not too late to fight for what is hers.

The thing about her self-confidence is that it takes time to build up. Self-confidence comes from the experience and knowledge that she is a good writer, but she needs to hear this from people who are like her and have gone this route many a times. (I should know: I've been there and done that.)

I've joined many groups (240+), but I'm not worried about my stuff being stolen. Because of the nature of my books and their enormous lengths, it would be next to impossible to have them steal it and claim it as their own.

I'm not saying it won't happen at some point, but for right now it would be very foolish for them to even try.

However, the important thing, is that I am sharing myself and my works with the world. It's the only way I can build myself up and my fan base.

[Steven Torres]

Of course, your friend had the copyright to the work she wrote (though not to spoken ideas). She could have complained to the editor or publisher who published the work. Presumably they weren't intending to break the law wen they sent out their acceptance notice. Of course, I'd only advise this if there was real money at stake.

[Thomas Reed]

This is why people have pen names. Under an assumed name it gives a writer the freedom to say and do things they might not otherwise say and do under their own name. Not to mention if it is a flop you can look around and say. "Gee I am glad I didn't write that." The biggest problem a writer has is getting over what I like to call the "Mental strip tease." where you are exposing yourself to a large group of people you have never met before. Then I met a stripper (Actually we became very good friends.) and she told me stripping in front of a bunch of strangers is easy. It is not the strangers that makes her uncomfortable it is the relatives and the people she knows that makes her nervous. Even though her mother knew of supported and accepted her job as a stripper, she said. "The thought of my mother watching me strip on stage makes my stomach bunch up." She said. "I would be dancing for my mother, not the audience." If you write with the notion that the only people that will ever see it is your relatives, you may be cutting your writing ability's in half, worrying what your mother will think. Also as for having your material stolen? It can happen anywhere. Still pissed at my Comp and Ret, instructor.

[Matthew Ogborn]

What you've said to her, Tiva, is pretty much what I would say. One idea does not maketh a career anyway. I sense that she's got several inside her mind and this is just the start of a creative whirlwind. I had a feature film idea "stolen" in my youth by a Hollywood type that got sold as a pitch to a studio so I know how she feels. However, it just spurred me on to find even more ideas and stories that stood out from the crowd.

Regards, Matt