Authors: Own It

Copyright Today

There is nothing simpler than copyright law. If you wrote it, you own it. You don’t have to declare ownership by putting that little “c” after your work. You don’t have to seek copyright protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an additional expense and silly endeavor. You don’t have to even publish. Just write. What could be simpler?

Still, authors are worried. What if someone steals and publishes my unpublished novel? The key word here is “unpublished”.

I say, let ‘em.

You’re now a published author! Something you couldn’t do yourself, but let’s leave that aside for now. Any money the thief makes is your money. I, for one, would cheer them on.

Not really. But the fact this happens so seldom is testament to the power of copyright. One of the bigger spats in recent years occurred between bestselling novelist Emma Cline and her boyfriend. You heard right. Boyfriend. There’s always an element of humor in plagiarism.

Cline was sued in 2017 for installing spyware on her boyfriend’s computer, then stealing his ideas. She counter-sued, saying yes, she did install spyware, but didn’t steal anything. Blah blah. Cline won, the judge noting similarities in Cline’s novel, “The Girls”, but nothing rising to copyright infringement.

Spying? Art, theft, love? Having just read Cline’s recent and lifeless “The Guest”, methinks they all missed the real story.

(By the way, what kind of titles are those? The Guest. The Girls. What’s next, The House? The Cat?) Anyway, the judge agreed Emma Cline did indeed steal “scenes and general plot ideas”. However, she was not guilty of copyright theft. Case dismissed.

Wait! you might shout. Whatever happened to copyright law? And are Cline and her boyfriend still together?

No, they are not.

And as for copyright law, herein lies the critical issue. Only your words, in the exact order you wrote them, are protected. Scenes and ideas are not protected. Interestingly, titles are also not protected. If someone steals your plot, scene, or title you have no claim whatsoever. These are merely ideas. I think it was F. Scott Fitzgerald who said ideas are like balloons. Whoever has the balloon owns the balloon.

That leaves a lot of intellectual property unprotected. The entertainment industry says don’t worry. The industry says intellectual theft of any kind is extremely rare. Which just about guarantees it happens all the time.

Here’s a dirty little secret. Publishers don’t need aspiring writers, or their books. Publishers, agents, producers already have writers, fellow pros who have books ready to go.

Or are working on books, and here’s the sinister part for the rest of us. What all these pros don’t have are ideas. They don’t have balloons, or rather plots, scenes, or titles. Let’s take a moment and observe: An agent sits down to lunch with one of their writers. What do you think they hear?

I’m a writer, the client groans. (He’s probably hung over, but we’ll leave that alone.) If only I had a story. If only I had a detailed plot summary, beginning to end, including turns and surprises. And a few scenes to get me going. Oh, and a really good title. Then I could write. Then I could give you a book.

Well, Mr. or Ms. Writer, the agent says. Listen to this.

Don’t think these conversations happen? Think again. When querying, writer beware. Because I’ve noticed some odd instructions lately. As one agent demands in their submission page:

“Send a detailed plot summary, beginning to end, including turns and surprises. Then submit through our dedicated portal, abandoning your work to us, people you don’t know and who know nothing about you, leaving no record whatsoever and no way to lay claim to your work.”

I made up the last bit, obviously. But you see what I mean. Fishy, to say the least.

And I think they’re fishing, all right. And the ocean is big, with hundreds of queries pouring in to this agent every week. That means hundreds of plots. Hundreds of characters and scenes. Hundreds of titles, all free for the taking.

My advice to querying novelists? Don’t do it. Don’t give away your ideas. Because a writer might struggle as a writer (sorry, writers) but they have excellent ideas, plots, surprises, and titles. Glorious ones, often intensely original. Oh, go ahead and query. But never through an uncontrolled portal. And never include anything specific. A hint or blurb, the kind you see on a book flap.

Hedging like this might go against the submission instructions. But so what? Agents don’t read submissions anyway. Except when they have that lunch appointment with their constipated client.

“Well, Mr. or Ms. Writer. Listen to this.”

It’s your balloon. If you let it go sailing away, hoping someone, somewhere, will bring it back, well, we were all children once. That ain’t gonna happen.