Expert: Cathy Clamp - 8/15/2007

Question
Hi Cathy..Angie here again......For protection, should we copyright the story my friend and I wrote BEFORE we give it to the editor to fix?  Or is that being too paranoid thinking an editor (who we don't know) will rip it off so we have to copyright it first unedited.....Would we have to RE-copyright it again, in it's edited version?  thanks.

Answer
Hi, Angie. You're actually protected by U.S. copyright laws from the moment you put pen to paper (or words to screen.) The best place to find out about what rights you have, and also learn about the registration process, is to visit the U.S. Copyright Office's Frequently Asked Questions page. It's a TERRIFIC resource.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq

Try to keep in mind that copyright registration is a "snapshot" like a PDF file. The words, in the order you submit them, are what's copyrighted. Not the idea. Not the character profiles or the plot. Just the actual text. So, if you edit, add a chapter, remove a chapter or rename a character, the original copyright doesn't follow the new text. So, no, you don't have to register it before you send it off. In fact, you never *have* to register it unless you want to file suit against someone and want to claim damages and expenses you incurred.

But that leads me to editing. I'll be blunt. You NEED to learn to edit your own work. A commercial publisher like Random House or Dell or Tor will require you to make your own edits from their instructions. So will magazines. There are a number of agencies who won't consider an author for representation if the manuscript has had paid editing done (meaning the EDITOR was actually the one to add or delete text or rearrange sentences.) See, there's no way to know if the author will be competent to put out a book on the timetable a publisher requires if they can't handle sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, changes to plot, characters and timeline "under the gun" of 2-3 months. You might be asked to rewrite entire chapters to bring it up to the editor's standards (that happens a LOT in this business) and they might only give you 3 weeks. If you need an editor to fix the work, you can't guarantee you can pull it off. Plus, what if the agent sells, or the publisher asks for another book and wants it in 6-9 months? Will you then have to spend more of your earnings to bring it to publishable quality? IMO, you'd be better off spending the money taking a basic grammar/composition class at your local community college. I know a LOT of writers who have done that, because they can then apply the knowledge to ALL of their books/stories.

Now, I don't really mind the concept of a "book doctor" who will evaluate the elements of a book and tell you where it needs work--from lackluster characters to impossible timelines--and then let you bring it up to snuff. Sometimes, that's what it takes to give you that "Oh! I get it now!" moment. But you need to make sure that the editor has actually worked in the fiction market and has had commercial publishers (either large or small press) either pay for his/her services, or has purchased books the editor has edited.

One editor that I have a great deal of respect for is our old editor at Tor, Anna Genoese. She decided to leave the company and start her own freelance editor service. At the very least, check out her rates to see how they compare to the person who's already quoted you a price and then check out both of their credentials.  Books Anna has edited are on the shelf and have made a profit for the publisher--which makes it likely that her advice (or others like her, since I don't have any vested interest in suggesting ONLY Anna--I just like her.) will actually help SELL your book. Make sure you check to see that the editor you've selected will do that too. Her site is:

http://www.aleuromancy.net/aleur_terms.html

Hope that helps, and good luck!