Sharing your written work 101
I’ve been lurking around the sections for writers on Reddit and I’ve noticed that people don’t really pay much attention to protecting their work from plagiarism or misuse, and I thought I should try to give a little advice to the community there. I think the most important thing is to treat your work as valuable as the latest Stephen King novel. The rest of the world may not see it that way (yet!) but if you’re worried enough about it getting stolen, then you should spend the time to learn and do the legwork to protect it.
Now, I think I’m supposed to mention clearly that I’m not at expert at copyright law, I’m not a lawyer, and I may not even qualify as a writer. And the reason I’m not sure whether I have to write that is that I’m not an expert at copyright law, a lawyer, or someone who does this kind of thing for a living. I’m just a guy who was read like the titles of like ten articles about copyright. So, there it is. You’ve been disclaimed.
Now, onto the good stuff. I shall present this in the web’s favorite format: a list!
1.- You wrote it, you own it.
The moment you create some original content, it’s your own. You hold the copyright. You are the sole master of this piece of art. No lawyers, no government bodies, no forms to fill. It’s yours, universally and for all eternity. Since it’s part of your patrimony, you can decide who gets it in the case of your death if you put it in your will. It’s that simple. Congratulations, you’re a copyright holder!
2.- He who smelt it, dealt it (until proven otherwise.)
Just because you own it by the laws of gods, it doesn’t mean that you can’t lose it by the laws of men. If someone else has access to your work previous publication, then they can claim it’s theirs. And unless you have something to prove that you wrote it, you don’t stand a chance. Saying that your grandma read it last Christmass doesn’t count. Some people have suggested emailing a copy of it to yourself, but most courts would probably not accept it as proof because most judges are not über-hackers who can check Gmail’s logs with a flick of their gavel and confirm that the sheet of paper you printed at home is legit.
Having your first draft printed and notarized would be a great way to do it, I think, but it starts getting cumbersome, what with the physical aspect and human interaction and all.
3.- For the love of Thor, don’t Facebook it.
Do not, under any circumstances, copy/paste your work on Facebook, Reddit, or pretty much any other social website. Especially one that doesn’t have clear policies on user created content. Can you count how many times the Facebook policies have changed since it launched? Unless you have an extra set of hands in your alien/mutant body, you won’t be able to do it with your fingers. Even if you use another site that is more friendly to your stuff (I think tumblr is one of them) you still need to read the fine print. Flickr is a good example in the photography realm, sure, they promise you that you get to keep the copyright, and they’re great at making that clear, but I think their default is to publish everything under Creative Commons. That’s not a bad thing, but not necessarily what you want.
If you want to make it available for lots of people to read, get your own blog or server where you’re completely in control, or just send files over email. But before you send anything, finish reading this list!
4.- Don’t let random people edit your text.
Sure, Google Docs is great for letting people read your stuff as you’re working on it and suggest changes, but don’t post your document as public with write access to everyone! Think about it this way: if you let someone modify or add some lines, and then you sell your work and become famous, they can claim to be co-authors of the text! And if they have proof, you’re in for a real headache, not to mention that your new-found publishers won’t want anything to do with you in the future.
Sure, let people read your stuff, ask for their feedback, internalize their criticism. But unless you’re ready to give this person credit as a co-author or editor, don’t let them change your text directly.
5.- Atomicity!
I just wanted to use a word that made me sound smart. I’m not even sure it’s the right word to use, but what I mean to say is that you should always send your work to someone else in a bubble that makes it obvious where it begins and where it ends. If you were to send a manuscript to an editor you’d have to send your work in an envelope, any notes or comments you want to send to the editor in a letter in a separate envelope, and then put all that in a big envelope or box and send it. Do the same with your virtual works. Export your text to PDF or ePub or whatever the cool kids are using these days, and attach that to an email that contains any notes you want to send that person. That way it is clear what “The Work” is, even to a lawyer.
6.- Learn to love Creative Commons.
Creative Commons is a set of licenses that allow you to clearly express to the other party what you’re allowing them to do with your work. This way you can protect yourself from people copying, modifying, or reselling your work without your permission. Include a copy of the short version of the license and a link to the full license in every copy you send. Every copy, every time. I don’t care if you’re sure Mandy, the old lady from the hair salon, would never steal from you. This isn’t about trust, it’s about the legal ramifications of having a copy with no restrictions floating around.
Learn more about it at http://creativecommons.org/
6.1.- Creative Commons doesn’t make your work unsellable.
This is a common misconception of open-source and copy-left systems like Creative Commons. Since CC gives people the right to copy your stuff and passing around like a joint, it’s already public domain, no?
That’s totally false. You are still the copyright owner. You only gave the other person a license to your work, you didn’t give up the copyright. You can still sell the rights to a publisher for the paper version of your work. Or for the audio version. Or for the tramp-stamp version. And if you don’t believe that that’s possible, just ask Cory Doctorow.
One thing you may have lost (here’s a point where my knowledge fails me) is the electronic version of your book. So, for that reason, never distribute a copy of your final draft with a CC license unless you’re OK with losing the ability to sell the electronic rights, or if your publisher has given you the green light. But a first draft should be ok. If you make it big and manage to sell it, chances are that you’ll have to revise it enough that it’s technically not the same work and you’ll be ok.
I think that’s it, for the most part. again, I’m not an expert, but it pains me when I see links to writable Google Docs documents and hopefully I’ve been able to help you traverse the weird world of copyright with a little more ease. But most importantly, have fun!
