Many writers consider themselves to be artists, placing the mastery of craft far above the desire for compensation of wealth. The humility of a writer's drive is often the very thing that makes the writer and most artists susceptible to harm.
Each writer, regardless of which stage of their career they are in, needs to begin taking the steps to protect themselves, their work and their money.
Prevention is the solution to all of the world's problems. Fortunately, it is not the only solution. Like identity theft, many times it is easier to prevent intellectual property theft than it is clean up the damage after it is done. With attention and dedication, it can be done.
There are seven things a writer must protect in order to avoid being taken advantage of: 1. Your Ideas, 2. Your Projects, 3. Your Internet Intellectual Property, 4. Your Originals, 5. Your Rights, 6. Your Money and 7. Your Brain.
First, Protect Your Ideas
Last spring, a prominent author wrote an article in his e-zine stating that ideas are not enough. Similarly, my brother - a writer and poet - explained to me that the world does not need any more good ideas. Many people will state over and over again that ideas alone are not enough.
While this has a bit of merit and a hint of truth, do not be confused or misled into undervaluing the power of ideas. A brief examination of the innovative leaders of any field will show that a bit of secrecy is necessary. From Apple to Google, from foreign automakers to individual scientists, one finds in science, technology and art alike, the execution of a great idea, as well as the idea itself, is worth a great deal.
The two hardest things for beginning writers and potential writers to learn is: 1. Drop the Discussion and 2. Learn What to Give and What to Take
1. Drop the Discussion
Stop talking to your friends, your coworkers and your family members about your work. Even if they write themselves, they cannot write your work for you. And to a great extent, their attempts to edit and provide feedback will be swamped with unintentional bias.
Writing workshops and writers groups may provide great support networks for writers. But keep in mind that they are primarily support groups. Writers workshops, writers conferences and writers groups cannot guarantee anything beyond a system of support.
Drop the discussion. Meet with people and other writers, but keep your work and dreams to yourself. Even people with good intentions, may hinder and prolong what needs to be done.
2. Learn What to Give and What to Take
Keeping a blog or newsletter is a healthy way to share your ideas with the world. It helps you to reach people who are interested in your interests. And it helps to inspire people who you may never see or meet in person.
Remember to divide your ideas into categories. Which ideas are best for free blog entries? Others you may want to keep for paid articles. Which ideas are best for ebooks or self-publication? Other ideas you may want to send to agents and major publishers. Poets often find that it is easier, lest they be famous, to self-publish and self-produce books and CDs while selling their materials at live performances. Since most novelists, lest they be famous, are not performing as frequently as poets, a self-published novel may be much harder to sell than self-published poetry.
Which ideas will take 2-10 years to produce? Which ideas can be executed within 1 week - 6 months? How many projects can you work on at one time? Can you keep a blog and work each day on your novel? Can you write a weekly newsletter and still query journals for the publication of your poems, stories or articles?
All writers must multi-task. All writers must determine what job will pay the bills, while working on their art. Even if writing does pay the bills, one must determine how much time to spend on freework (blogs, e-newsletters, correspondence), shortwork (poems, stories and articles) and longwork (nonfiction books and novels).
Remember to protect the ideas of your long work while still working diligently on the freework and shortwork.
Once a beginning writer learns to master two steps - "Drop the Discussion" and "Lean What to Give and What to Take", she will learn how to Protect her Ideas.
The next essential part of a Writer's Protection is to "Protect Your Projects".
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