No Good Thieves
A topic I’ve seen brought up with frequency in the writing community is, “How can I trust beta readers, critique partners, and/or editors not to steal my ideas and release my book under their name?” I personally think this fear is blown out of proportion, for a few reasons.
Firstly, the idea that this is something that happens at all is greatly exaggerated, mostly by films and TV shows (that might have something to do with Hollywood having a reputation for stealing people’s MOVIE and TV ideas, which are different from book ideas.) More often than not, the movie version of writing a book is that you create one draft and send it off to a publisher, and then a book materializes as if by magic. If writing a book were that easy, then idea theft might be more commonplace in the real world, but it isn’t.
Let’s assume that a critique partner or beta reader gets a hold of your book in the first or second draft stage, and they decide to steal your idea and pass off the manuscript as their own. Currently, they’ve got an unpolished mess on their hands, which they have to put a ton of work into in order to publish. Unless they have a vendetta against you for some reason, their motive for doing this would be to make money, right? But if they steal your book, they still have to pay someone to edit it professionally. They have to pay someone to design the cover. They have to likely pay for ISBNs, copyrights, and other miscellaneous book publishing costs that may come up. Or, they have to query agents, hope one likes the manuscript, and then wait for a publisher to bite, which could take months or even years. And this isn’t even with a guarantee that the book will make any sales.
Most unscrupulous folks want to make a quick buck, not sink thousands of dollars into a risky venture. That venture is even more risky if you’re still in the idea stage. So the scammer has your idea – now what? They still have to write a whole book, and they won’t be able to do it the same way you would. Genres exist in fiction because there are many different ways to tackle the same premise. If an editor were to try to steal your work, that would be even more risky and foolhardy. They can only do that trick once – obviously, their career would be ruined if they were just yoinking people’s work every time they did a job for someone. Of all the things that are not worth it, that’s not worth it the most.
Ultimately, the more experienced a writer is in the industry, the less I see them worry about these evil phantom beta readers who will steal their books. I’m 44, and I’m just publishing my first book this year. I’ve had hundreds of ideas that weren’t that good or were okay but ultimately didn’t get far. This is the first idea I’ve had that I felt was good enough to publish. My point is, ideas just aren’t that valuable on their own. They’re a dime a dozen, and there are far more lucrative ways for lazy people to get rich quick than by stealing your book premise and hoping they become rich and famous.
Does plagiarism in fiction happen? Sadly, yes. But 99% of the time, it’s lines, scenes, or characters lifted from an already published work. Fear of having your manuscript or ideas appropriated is not a good reason to forego the crucial beta-reading process or shun critique partners. You need these and editors, to make your book shine.
