How to Protect your Published and Unpublished Writing

Recently, I found out about an indie writer who found herself on the receiving end of someone trying to sabotage her release of her latest work. I thought to myself, “If this can happen to an author who sells a lot of books, then it can happen to any indie author.” Which leads me to research on how to protect my unpublished or soon to be published works. To answer your first question, yes, she had obtained a copyright for her work. For some reason, it wasn’t enough proof for a certain on-line bookseller that shall remain nameless.

So how can you protect your works? I’ll break down each way and how having these safeguards can protect your unpublished books from being stolen, claimed by another, or pirated. With these methods, you can reduce the risks. Can it still happen? Unfortunately, yes. With the following, you will lessen the danger of it happening to you.

Use your own ISBN number. I know many authors who won’t agree. However, it is the first layer of protection against theft. Bowker is a great site in which you can purchase ISBN numbers. An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique identifier assigned to books and other publications. It's used globally to standardize the identification of books and manage inventory, sales, and distribution across the publishing industry. Each format would have a different ISBN number. Paperback differs from hardcover; both differ from e-book. To lessen the cost of purchasing your own ISBN number, you can buy the numbers in bulk and have them on standby for when you write and go to publish your book. www.myidentifyers.com is the site for Bowker.

The most important thing you need to do is to copyright your works. You need to copyright your works through the U.S. Copyright office. It offers protection, including the ability to sue for damages. Many countries have similar registration process.

NDAs are another line of defense. If you are sharing your manuscript with anyone, ask them to sign a NDA. A Non-disclosure Agreement ensures they understand they are legally bound to keep the content confidential and not to distribute it or claim it as their own. There are lots of sites where you can get a Non-disclosure Agreement template for free or paid. www.formstemplates.com have ones you can choose by state.

Watermarks. Add watermarks to your digital books. Bookfunnel, a popular site, has been doing this by default since 2016. According to Bookfunnel, if you don’t want invisible watermarks, you can opt in for visible ones. http://authors.bookfunnel.com . If you are sharing early drafts for Beta readers, you can include your name, the date, and “DRAFT” stamped across the page. I suggest keeping your Beta readers to a few close and personal or professional friends you can trust. Keep a detailed record of who has access to your unpublished manuscripts and which version they received. Number the versions you distribute.

Another layer of protection is to use secure digital sharing. Using an encrypted file sharing platform can protect against your works, ending up in the wrong hands. Again, Bookfunnel does a great job at this. Others include Google Drive and Dropbox. Don’t share on unsecured platforms.

Time-stamping your works is another defense. Although not legally binding, it can serve as evidence of when you produced your work. Self-mailing is time-stamping. Print out your manuscript and mail it to yourself. Another is to use an online time-stamping service such as www.freetsa.org. If you write in Microsoft Word, use the insert tab to add time and date. Google Docs has a timestamp as well.

Digital Rights Management or DRM for short, if you are publishing an e-book, enable the DRM which can prevent unauthorized copy or distribution of your e-books.

Another good idea is to maintain a log or a notebook. This is uber important for writers who are called pantsers. Include dates, ideas, notes, writing process, and so forth. This is something I’ve always done because it’s part of my process. I am grateful I always have. This documentation can support your claims.

Avoid sharing unpublished work on online platforms. If you do, make sure the platforms have crystal clear terms that protect your intellectual property.

With the above methods plus metadata, email logs, cloud backups, timestamps, and even activity on writing platforms (such as Wattpad) can serve as a timeline and provide proof of your work.

If your dispute becomes serious, consult a copyright attorney. They can resolve the issue quickly. There are also legal advice and services for those that belong to The Authors Guild or the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Please do not let any of this information scare you from achieving your dreams of being a writer. This is just more advice to ensure your success.

As I finish writing this, I have learned that the author I mentioned has won her case, and she will ensure the publication of her book on time. She will send out emails on what she did in order to secure her rights to her book. I am looking forward to learning more myself on how to protect my works now that I am back to writing full time again.