I realize the next step is to send it to a publisher, or to query agents, in any case I have to send it out eventually. If I find an agent who wants to represent it he/she will likely want to read the entire manuscript.
Has anyone else felt any kind of fear that someone else could easily steal all of your work and there is nothing you could do about it?
What I've heard is that an agent has much more to gain from a good book by representing it than stealing it. The same with editors.
My understanding is that part of US copyright law involves access to the work, and in the case of an agent or editor, access to the work is easy to prove.
I've also heard that the common tricks, like mailing the manuscript to yourself, copyright registration and so forth are next to useless if a problem does arise.
My sources on that, from memory, are John D. Macdonald, Evil Editor and I think one or two of the agent blogs I read. I can dig up some links if you'd like.
So the short answer is don't worry. The slightly longer answer is, don't worry, but do your research and send it to legit, good agents or editors.
You only have to worry if you send it to a shyster. Do your research, select only legitimate publishers/agents, and you'll be fine.
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/search?q=plagiarism
This isn't exactly on topic, but I thought it was an interesting take.
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2007/07/idea-versus-execution.html
I'll look for more later. I couldn't find any by Evil Editor, so I must have imagined it
First, this is what copyright law is for, and it's why as the originator of the work, in law, you own it. (BTW copyright law applies to technical writing and to software designs and code, which is why I went into this a long while ago.) I've read that you don't even have to write 'Copyright My Name (c) 2007' although I still do. As long as both you and the agent are in countries that have copyright law (most do, China's the only one I'm not sure about) you should be okay.
Second, agents rely on the fact that their contacts in publishing houses know and trust them. That's how they skip the slush pile and get the work read. It would only take one proven example of plagiarism to ruin an agent's reputation. He or she would never trade again as an agent. Why risk a reputation that has taken years to establish for a new, unknown writer that might or might not sell? -- Let's not forget that no matter how good the work, when the publisher decides to buy it there's no guarantee that the costs will be covered, let alone that there will be a profit.
Just 2c,
Pat
Ditto. It's kind of naive to even worry about this.
[This message has been edited by JamieFord (edited October 13, 2007).]
Agent and publisher make way more money selling works of myriad authors than it would be worth to sully their reputation by stealing one 1st-time author's work. It would also gain them a bad reputation, which is hard to live down (harder than making a good one).
[This message has been edited by Pyre Dynasty (edited October 13, 2007).]