Plagiarism In The New Age QUESTIONS

It made the correction because it read 'unpublished' as a verb instead of a noun. All grammar programs have issues like that.

 

Do you think the anxieties of self-publishers are/ will be exploited, by 'protection packages' - available for only 99$... ...kind of a CCTV racket.

I can imagine the language of fear might be quite tempting.

Even that 'Atlantic' article was whipping it up somewhat - the poor woman had written 'Mormon romance' and the plagiarist interspersed her words with porno scenes, jazzed it right up.

I did not snigger. However, there appears a perfect storm of cash for someone with a marketing mind [down the pipe].

 

Thank you for your response. While I appreciate your advice I must warn you about the misinformation/misconception of the poor man's copyright, it's not protected and doesn't hold up in a court of law. (Even in the before publication stages) You see my husband worked for the post office for a very long time and had originally suggested I do this. He even thought it worked as an evidentiary copyright, but I did the research and found out that it is not in fact true. He had also decided to talk with the postal service team leaders on this matter as well as the lawyer teams on this and it is indeed confirmed this doesn't copyright your work. (Union Steward: having access to lawyers.) I know this may sound weird because it obtains federal stampings and time stamps but this is actually far from the case. The right way to protect your work is to always apply for a copyright registration. I hope this helps. https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2006/08/25/the-myth-of-poor-mans-copyright/

The trading work for beta reading would be a good idea. But I'll have to build rapport first.

 

I agree with your post as well. I was wondering why they didn't have a separate section for plagiarism copyright in the publishing section.

 

Thank you for your insight and response. I'll take this into consideration as well. I love the advice on doing it through email because it time stamps and creates evidence of back and forth that is traceable. As for the names and addresses, wow you must really have to talk to people and get to know them on a long term to have someone trust you with their information. This would be a good idea, and I'm not shooting it down by any means but one question. What would you do if someone sends you false information?

 

How so though? Since everyone here is interested in receiving help but also protecting their work then wouldn't there be a mutual understanding?

 

So you read the article I posted before, that mentions Nunes. I can imagine that that was devastating to her morals. LDS or not.

 

I think the mutual understanding is that we aren't thieves. Nobody needs to protect their work from me, because I have absolutely no interest in stealing anyone's work.

 

I'm not trying to imply that anyone is. I just want to be ultra careful since I've been burned in the art world. I've had friends in high school take my art and erase my name off it and put their's in, in order to gain attention.

 

I'm fairly certain the number of people who want to steal anyone's WIP can fit on the head of a pin. It's just not worth any of the sturm und drang that I see so many writers stressing about. IMO it takes too much time and energy away from the act of writing and seeking decent feedback.

Look, OP, I published my first novel online in a public forum (LiveJournal, entries not even Friends Locked) and you know how many times someone stole it as a WIP and published it under their own name? Zero. My second book was also posted online in its original form, and about 80% of my 3rd book was as well before I decided to stop posting WIPs for reasons entirely unrelated to plagiarism. No one stole any of those things. No one wanted my mostly terrible first drafts that hadn't even been beta'd yet, and with good reason.

I don't mean to be pissy, but this topic always makes me want to tear my hair out and scream STOP TRYING TO FIX A PROBLEM THAT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST

 

@Xboxlover , if you want feedback on your writing, and you can't yet get get over the fear of it being stolen, one option is to write things specifically for the purpose of getting feedback. I realize that eventually you'll want someone to look at the actual work that you want published, but it could be a start.

 

To be honest I don't even know what to say to this. I guess some people have luck with not having bad things happen. I, however, have had my work stolen in the art world so like I said to bay view above, It's the once (thrice for me) bitten that's making me incredibly gun shy about this.

 

Like dipping a toe. Okay (sighs) I am nervous as **** lol

 

Yep! Write a scene, maybe a scene like something you have concerns about (a fight scene if you're not sure about fight scenes, a glob of dialogue if you're not sure about that, etc.) and then you have feedback to perhaps then apply to the main work.

 

When your done with a thread how do you close the topic on here? Do I need to do this? I have to on another forum I'm on when a question is resolved. I work on a game modding site a lot so unless the forum is open you archive it.

 

I get that, but these people stole a finished work of your art to pass off as their own if I'm reading correctly. They didn't steal an outline and maybe a little shading here and there, then do the rest of the work on their own? Because that's what an WIP and/or unbeta'd manuscript is, and most of them bear little resemblance to the finished product that people actually are willing to pay for.

 

Nope, only a mod can close a thread here.

 

Okay sounds good. I guess I'm just expecting the scenario to play the same in a different ball game.

 

Threads stick around. As I understand it, the culture here essentially regards threads as being owned by the whole community, rather than the individual who opened them, and discussions aren't usually closed unless they're causing trouble. So this thread might sputter along for years. Or it might go to sleep today.

 

Well if anyone else has questions and wants to use it they can. I know with some topics on other forum anything goes and people usurp then from time to time. So Usurp away I say. LOL I know it helps keep topic posting down to a minimum when they do this.

 

I can get that, I really can. My frustration isn't directed at you personally, and I hope that anyone who stole your art and passed it off as their own has had karma come bite them in the ass several times at this point. At the very least I hope they step on many Legos in bare feet.

But I would encourage you to push past the fear of something that happened quite some time ago (you said the thievery happened in high school and your profile says you're 28 now) in a totally different medium.

 

I feel like saying that while I think that the worry of someone stealing your work is unrealistic, there is some realism in worrying about posting too much of it in too public a way, and thus potentially making that chunk of it "published". This is an area where I'm unreasonably nervous, so I'm not the one to give any advice on it.

 

Lmao about lego's. I'm doing that with my kid! It's a bombshell 20 minutes after I clean his room.

 

Agreed. I didn't have a problem getting previously posted works published accepted by a publisher, but mine specifically has a policy that doesn't require first publication rights. My advice is only in regards to plagiarism.

 

Yep, there is a well-established etiquette for beta reading and other forms of sharing work. One of the fundamentals is that you treat your reader with respect and don't imply they're going to steal from you. We're all taking time away from our own writing to read yours, and the only appropriate response to that is gratitude - not suspicion.