Finding a Publisher

A reader posted a comment about finding a publisher for her novel in progress. I suggest going to my online course Write a Novel, specifically section 16: Researching Publishers and Agents.

Comments

[Darren A.]

Hi, just curious; I haven't come across anything saying that once a novel is completed, it needs to be patent..is this safe to assume that a novel does not need to be patent? What happens if an agent / publishers steals the idea, is this possible this could happen? Thank you.

[Crawford Kilian]

Hi, Darren--

Copyright laws vary a bit from country to country, but in general, you copyright your work by the very act of writing it. You can't copyright the idea, or the title, but the actual text you create is all yours.

I tell my fiction-writing students not to worry--their work isn't worth stealing. That's not because it's bad, but because the rewards of such theft are so small.

(In the movies, where the rewards are far greater, plagiarism can be a real problem--that's why producers and directors will never read a script that hasn't come through an agent.)

So get on with your novel, and don't worry too much about copyright.

[Reecey S.]

Hi,
I'm a young writer of 15 in a couple of weeks i should be finished with a novel i have been writing. But i have no clue what to do next. Should i look for an agent first or a publisher? Are they the same thing? I found one group and they were talking about when you send in your manuscript and then had a whole bunch of names like PUFFIN, PHILOMEL, and GROSSET & DUNLAP/PSS! What are those?

Much Appreciation

[Mary Ann]

Help! If I want to mention a title of a book or an old song, or include the lyrics of a song in a book I am writing, do I have to get permission? And if so, how do I go about in doing that? I have been given different answers.

[Crawford Kilian]

Mary Ann, you can mention a title with no problem. Using the lyrics of a song (or lines of verse, or a passage from a book) will probably require obtaining written permission from whoever owns the rights to the work.

I haven't had to do much of that, so I can't give you much help. You might try googling the title of the song + "rights" and see what you get. Good luck!