I had a slight argument the other day on Facebook under one of the writing groups I was a part of. I hesitate to use the word “argument” because technically I can’t be bothered to argue with people on the internet, especially when there’s no getting through to them because they dislike it when anybody disagrees with them—their way is the right way. I don’t even know why I was a part of these groups—they serve no purpose, not for me, so I left each group. Just a bunch of authors, mostly self-published authors, passing fodder back and forth.
Nonetheless, I had a “disagreement”.
As it turns out, a writer had the misfortune of having some poetry he had written stolen or plagiarized (same difference), and he felt the need to broadcast this to the group. One of the responses he received was an individual pointing out that he shouldn’t despair; intellectual property is intellectual property, and therefore the original writer is the sole owner of any work that has been improperly taken from them.
This individual also brought up the act of copyrighting and how it was a complete waste of money, and that publishers find this “amateurish” and will not take a manuscript seriously, or will discard it should it include any copyright information. There may be a few publishers who do this, but they must be questioned. In any respect, I guess I had the nerve to disagree with her on this point. Not only was her statement arrogant in its absoluteness, but it was offensive. I happen to be one of those “amateurs” who exercised the responsibility of protecting her hard won work and stamped “Copyright" (along with the registration number) right across my submitted manuscripts. Plus, it really sticks in my craw when "writers" who haven't settled within the industry not only offer advice, but argue with those like myself who have credibility where publishing is concerned because we've been there.
Another point of contention here…I don’t think this individual was published, which means she was arguing with another author who won the appraisal of a publisher, despite touting my copyright protection. It’s worth it to say here that I run into a lot of non-published authors arguing with those who are having their works celebrated within the industry.
To make matters worse, her rebuttal included the fact that writers keep copies of their work and can mail it to themselves in order to have a post stamp, which in turn proves the correct owner of the written work. This “fact” is a fallacy. I have a dual degree in Criminal Justice and obtained it within four years all while maintaining an excellent GPA and graduating summa. Trust me, the art of copyrighting had its fair share of review on quite a few occasions in quite a few different classes. I point this out in order to preserve my credibility on the matter.
Now, I was on my Kindle, and unfortunately a Kindle is not conducive to maintaining a discussion (or argument) because of all the hunting and pecking and tapping that is going on. Then there’s that irritating auto-correct and quick-swiping nonsense to contend with—it just wasn’t suiting me to explain all that needed to be explained on my behalf. But her dangerous statement caused me enough concern to want to blog about it in an attempt to help keep other aspiring writers from believing this tripe. The burden of proof lies on the individual who claims their work has been stolen, so covering all of your bases as a writer when it comes to protecting your work should be considered and validated. Here are the points of common-sense one should keep in mind when deciding on how to protect their work.
1) It is true that, at least as far as contemporary writing is concerned, an e-signature is provided on any saved material, be it on a hard-drive or removable drive. Most contemporary writers do not have copies just lying around because, hey, paper and toner cost money, but they do have this nifty little item going for them—the e-signature. So this can be used in a court of law to provide proof of ownership. As for having copies—so what? Does keeping copies mean you couldn’t have possibly stolen someone else’s work in the event someone lies and accuses you of it? If I take a story idea from someone and write it down and make copies, does that really mean I didn’t steal it? No. Absolutely not. People steal written works all the time and they can easily print it out under the assumption that they’ll have proof of ownership. And that signature I mentioned earlier? The same applies for them when they save it to their electronic device. The difference with that is, however, if the person who stole your work shows an e-signature with a different time stamp that is of a later date, then the burden of proof is in your favor. But why rely on this convoluted aspect of proof?
2) Mailing a written work to yourself: The same things I mentioned in point No. 1 applies; you can steal someone’s idea/story and mail it to yourself, giving you that same postal stamp/time.
3) Publishers snubbing writers for being responsible and copyrighting their material? Not likely. Yes, this has been said and it circulates around the internet, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. Believe it as being on par with people who believe in internet hoaxes as real incidents and pass them around. Publishers are business people; they’re in the business of making money. If you have what they want, they will make you an offer to accept your manuscript. They should also be intelligent enough to understand that writers submit their works to several different publishing houses, etc., and so it should be understandable that a writer would spend a lousy $35 to copyright something they consider their brainchild. I’ll go as far as saying that maybe potential publishers smirk and roll their eyes at the fact that it appears you don’t trust them, but I doubt it because of course you don’t trust them! What rube puts faith in the public at large when it comes to something they essentially gave birth to? Your writing is as vital to you as an extremity, and I’ll wager that most people attempt to protect their extremities. Most publishers would probably assume that the writer was trying to take the cautious route, not that they are “amateurish”. On the contrary, they’re obviously of the intelligent sort. If a publisher tosses an excellent manuscript aside all because of a registration number, then you don’t want them. Publisher’s base potential relationships with writers on content, writing skill, and the author themselves—is the author going to prove difficult to work with? If so, the publisher will probably pass. Only an idiot would pass up a manuscript that has the potential to bring in monetary returns, and publishers are in the business of making money. Use your common sense: Can you imagine a publisher turning down a manuscript that could potentially bring in millions simply because the author had the gall to want to protect it? Would you want a publisher who's willing to throw a way a manuscript that could potentially bring them millions simply because the author had the gall to protect their work?
4) When you copyright your material, and if, God-forbid, some jerk accuses you of stealing their work, when you walk into a court situation with a legal precedent, odds are the judge is going to listen to you. Can a jerk who steals someone’s work also copyright? Sure—if they get to it first. But most writers tend to make it a point to get their work protected as soon as possible. And also, the thief may not be willing to pay the money to have the work registered or even think to do so—most people assume (if they consider it all) that having written work copyrighted costs a lot of money. It doesn’t. It costs $35, and I wrote another blog touching on the fact of copyrighting your work regardless of whether or not you are the true owner based on intellectual property. To most writers, their work means the world, and so $35 is a small price to pay. This particular individual who wanted to make her (invalid) point kept reiterating that copyrighting is a waste of money. Well, maybe in most cases, because in most cases writers don’t have the misfortune of having their work stolen. But is it worth it to just simply CYA? Absolutely. Pay the $35.
Now, you can listen to the individual who chose to take the lackadaisical point-of-view of merely relying on copies, or you can listen to the “amateur” who managed to get her work published in a mere month and a half. I submitted to the Top Five first, of course, but after I fulfilled that necessity, I submitted to the reputable publisher I wanted after making sure my manuscript and proposal was perfect and met all of their requirements; I had an acceptance letter in under two weeks. I have good business sense and knew how I should approach my novel and what it was about before I wrote the first word, and in my blog I try to pass on what I know to other aspiring writers. But unfortunately there are those out there who refuse to listen to reason or who have not been successful in their publishing endeavors (i.e., I have no idea who this individual is. Unless she maintains a pen name, she hadn’t any published work; another point of skepticism and contention regarding the idea of others listening to what she had to say).
Watch who you take your advice from. If a fellow author offers advice, question it and check up on them before you go believing them. My advice? Contact a legitimate author and run your questions by them.
