Chuck Sambuchino advises against posting any part of your fiction WIP in the April 25 edition of Guide to Literary Agents blog. Guide to Literary Agents - Be (Slightly) Afraid of Posting Your Work Online
I've had two versions of the synopsis of my WIP posted for a few weeks. As soon as one of my critique partners shared this link with me, I immediately took them down. I had never considered the possibility of theft. The article scared me.
I'm curious now. How many of you post excerpts of your work? Have you considered the possibility that someone might pilfer your work? Or is it all worry about nothing?
10 comments:
I'm not so worried about it because my I only post little snippets and there's no way anyone can write my ideas like I want them to come out. They can't figure out my whole book from the first three paragraphs.
I agree with Aubrie about how the whole work would be hard to extrapolate from a snippet. And I'm inclined to believe that the industry is changing so much that free pieces of our books are going to be the way the world is going. That said, I don't have anything of mine posted. Mostly because I don't really know what purpose it would serve.
I post mine together with the ISBBN number, whether I've published it already or not. Usually have.
I'd post snippets, but probably not the synopsis. But not really out of fear, just because....um, I guess I"m not comfortable with it.
I saw this and felt my heart-rate quicken. I don't know - I guess I agree with Aubrie. Anyone can take a high-concept idea but it doesn't mean they're going to write it in the same way.
I just put my synopsis back up. It would be hard to write the same book I'm writing, I think. It's a good reality check, though.
Once I have it all hammered out, I'll put a blurb about my WIP up. I think that it's a great way to get interest.
I saw the article you referenced Kris, but I'm slightly nervous to read it. I don't want paranoia to kick in.
The article def scared me. But I've since calmed down a bit, I think.
I've got my synopsis back up again, at least for now.
Great article with some thoughts that got me thinking. I've posted very small sections of my book ( a few paragraphs here and there). I more often post stuff that I've cut out of my novel. I figure they need their chance to sign somewhere since they didn't make it into my book!
I have felt this way too but I try to only post things that would never give the main concept of my whole story. I have contemplated taking down past posts and I still might. I only post small snippits and nothing more.
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