How to stop editors stealing your ideas

Write well enough that it would be simpler to buy the article from you than to give it to somebody else to write all over again?

I doubt if editors are sitting around, waiting to steal your ideas so that they can be pawned off to other writers.

Seriously. If you're that paranoid to send out queries, the only alternative is to submit completed articles.

But wait! What if editors decide to steal those as well?

You're screwed either way, so your best bet is to simply stop submitting altogether so that you can be certain your work will never be pilfered.

It does happen sometimes with magazines and newspapers, more often with newsletters, in my experience. I'd suggest writing your query/proposal in a way that emphasizes what you bring to the table; your contacts (but generally not by name) and expertise.

But if an editor does this--and your sure it's a swipe not a similar idea (remember ideas are cheap)--don't go back there.

I've been writing for nearly 25 years. In all that time, how often has an editor stolen my idea? Exactly once. I know it was stolen because the idea was so unusual. I worked at a cemetery with free-roaming swans, deer, peacocks, a llama, and a horse that led the funeral processions. I queried a tabloid, they said "not interested," and within a couple of weeks someone from the very same tabloid called for information to do a story...since I worked there, I was the one who answered the phone.

Other than that, I've never had any other idea theft. However, it can happen legitimately that you query for an idea that a magazine is already working on. I've had that happen a few times, and the magazines always alerted me to that fact, unlike the thieving tabloid that claimed no interest in the idea at all.

Sometimes that can still turn into a sale if they like your query. For example, my first-ever sale resulted from a query that got a response of, "Love the idea, but already bought a similar article. Please submit any other ideas you might have." I took them up on it and scored a sale.

I wouldn't call the industry "honest." Just practical. There's no point in an editor stealing someone's idea. They have to get someone to write it anyway. Or if they decide to do it themselves, they have to actually write, which always takes a bit of time.

Hi; A, I don't think you're being paranoid; I believe that my ideas are my stock in trade, and they are worth something! So, about the only way that I've figured out is to propose a subject that only I can really do -- until I trust the editor. And, yes, I have had my ideas stolen -- I pitched a pub re a certain conference, followed up, never rec'd response; went anyway, and who was standing next to me taking notes? Editor of the pub. Obviously, if they'd planned to cover it anyway, they would've said so initially. I think that many writers don't like to think that ideas get stolen, but they do all the time. I try to keep tabs on the publication to see what they publish subseq. to my query if they reject it. Easier said than done. Any other specific techniques?
Actually, I asked the same ? of a writer at a conf., who first said that things don't really get stolen, but then told us that when 1 pub did steal an idea, she never worked for them again. So, yes, things do get stolen.
Again, I really dispute the "c'est la vie" attitudes of many writers who would rather just not think about it. It does happen all the time; and, I think the more freelancers find specific strategies to deal w/it the better off we all are.

""Also, in the blurb on a book on freelancing the author says she includes what to write on a query to stop an editor using your idea""

A, what was it? Or what was the book? Do you remember anything about it? You see, smart freelancers do have strategies --

And, I know exactly what you mean re being a new freelancer. Ideas are our stock in trade. I used to work in the Entertainment industry, where writers would just never put up w/an idea of theirs, included in a pitch, "somehow" finding its way into someone else's major motion picture. Some of these lawsuits are famous - Avatar, anyone? It's all a continuum - it's just that movies make a ton more $.

So, I would love to know that freelancer's specific strategy.
The other thing I have done is to call editors on the phone 1st. Before the query.

If you work on a publication on a regular basis, editors will frequently assign "your" idea to some other writer.

Because ideas are worthless; knowledge, skill, and contacts, have value.

For a monthly magazine, if a writer queried an idea and was turned down and it appeared a few weeks later, that means it was in production way, way before the query. Magazines work months in advance, not weeks.

Abderian said:

Does this happen very often, and is there anything I can do/write to prevent it?

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It's vanishingly rare, and no.

I don't think this happens a lot. I once had a place offer me a finders fee because they liked my story. They wanted to pay me $100 and have one of their staff write it. They also gave me the option to still do it myself (for more money). I ended up writing it myself because I wanted the clip, but I thought it was pretty cool of them to offer a finders fee. So don't worry about it. Editors are not waiting around to steal ideas. You should be more worried about how good your idea.

You could always save everything you do, take photo copies and then bring the people you suspect of stealing your ideas to court and generally be a pain in the ass.

You would destroy your opportunities for anyone to want to cooperate with you, but as your plane is crashing down and exploding, you will take a few enemy soldiers with you.

It just doesn't happen often enough to even worry about, but if you insist on worrying, pitch the kind of ideas that can't simply be assigned to someone else. An article dealing with any particular expertise you have can't easily be written by a staff writer. Nor can an idea for an interview, when you have the contacts to get the interview. Nor can an article that involves travel to a place you can reach easily, but that would cost the magazine much more to send the staff writer.

Photos help, as well. If you have great photos, the worst that can happen is that the magazine will buy them, even if the article gets assigned to someone else.

Once you've built a name, an editor would much rather have your name on an article than the name of a staff writer, so if you worry about idea "theft" before you're established, choose your ideas carefully.

Sometimes, however, with just the right idea, one an editor believes can be handled much better by a staff writer, that's the way he'll go. It isn't because he wants to steal your idea, it's because he happens to know one of his staff writers has the particular experience, and the contacts. to do justice to the piece. He should, however, often you a "finder's fee" of sorts.

If you're really worried about it then stick your work in an envelope and certified mail it to yourself. As long as you don't open the envelope the postmark will prove that you came up with the writing first.

randi.lee said:

If you're really worried about it then stick your work in an envelope and certified mail it to yourself. As long as you don't open the envelope the postmark will prove that you came up with the writing first.

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*headdesk*

Poor man's copyright. It's meaningless.

It happened to me once mid 1980s. I submitted a finished article to a prestigeous technical magazine. The article described a software concept I had developed for the PC. Back in the day. As usual, the magazine sent it out to be technically reviewed. The reviewer trashed my article, got it rejected, wrote his own based on my idea, and got it published in the same magazine.

The story has a happy ending, but that's not the point. It can happen. But in fifteen years of writing for and editing tech magazines, that's the only time I saw it. Editors who do that kind of skullduggery don't last long.

Forget the bogus poor man's copyright. A genunine copyright won't help in this case, either. It was the idea that got appropriated, and you can't copyright ideas and concepts.

scarletpeaches said:

*headdesk*

Poor man's copyright. It's meaningless.

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Meaningless? Funny, it worked well enough for me.

randi.lee said:

Meaningless? Funny, it worked well enough for me.

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Really? Could you provide the name of the court and the docket number?

randi.lee said:

Meaningless? Funny, it worked well enough for me.

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Here's what the US government has to say about it.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html

I’ve heard about a “poor man’s copyright.” What is it?
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a “poor man’s copyright.” There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.

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