Confidentiality letter for editor

Very odd request.

1st of all, I assume you're paying someone to edit for you, which is a waste of money. Betas are free.

2nd, the idea's not as original as you think it is, only the execution is unique to you.

If the editor is a professional, he's not going to go blabbing anything, and even if he does, so what? Your book is finished, someone else would have to start from scratch. It's possible that an editor might show something he's working on to someone else.

This sounds a bit like the "poor man's copyright", which is also worthless, and it makes you sound exceptionally difficult to work with.

You're likely to have him tell you nevermind if you come up with another "legal" document. Unless he's a scammer, in which case he'll sign it because he has no intention of showing it to anyone, just going after as much money as he can get from you.

It is a slightly odd request; it's your dime, but I really don't think it's necessary. I think it's probably an extremely rare occurrence for an editor hired by an unpublished author to steal from his or her client.

(I have always longed for a popular author to reply to the where-do-you-get-your-ideas question with "I steal them from unpublished manuscripts".)

It's your choice, but I think hiring an editor is the worst possible thing you could do. Writers not only have to do their own writing, they have to be able to rewrite, revise, and edit thier own writing. If you can't, you're sunk.

And, yes, it's an odd request. I can pretty much guarantee you do not have an original idea, and even if you do, ideas are all completely worthless. No one makes money off an idea, and no idea is any better or any worse than the writer who turns it into something wonderful.

Whatever your idea is, give it to ten writers, and they'll come back with ten very different stories. . .nine of which will probably be bad.

I'd have to agree with fellow writers above. Ideas for plotlines etc are generally not as unique as you think.

If you are worried, check our your editor's terms and conditions. There is probably a note on their confidentiality practice in there saying that they agree when they take the work on not to disclose it to others and to delete all files from their computer once you're happy with the work undertaken.

Personally, I wouldn't hire an editor. As said above, you need to be able to write and rewrite yourself, really. And once you get an agent, they usually want to make their own editorial suggestions.

Confidentiality agreements are usually reserved for proprietary information such as software or lab research, projects where such information can be readily passed between sources and financial losses big. In the case of a novel or short story, as mentioned above, ideas aren't entirely original or new and it would be easier for an unscrupulous editor to make a client pay outrageous fees than to steal somebody's work.

As for the wisdom or otherwise of hiring an editor, there is a discussion ongoing on the topic here
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158735