Protecting Intellectual Property

Protecting Intellectual Property
Many people are worried about sending their ideas or manuscripts out to publishers, freelance editors, designers and others. They are concerned that their ideas could get into the hands of people who might take them and use them for their own gains.

Every service provider you work with should give you a contract to sign. As part of that contract you should see a confidentiality agreement and should also establish that you are the owner of this work.

But before you have a signed contract you might need to send all or part of your ideas, proposal or manuscript to give them an opportunity to assess the project and give you a cost estimate.

You might want to ask these service providers to sign confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements to protect yourself. You would not want to ask a publisher to do this. Established commercial publishers have long-established reputations of handling other people’s intellectual property appropriately and you should trust them to do the right thing.

However, a non-disclosure agreement is only as good as your ability to hire a lawyer and enforce it. It is more important that you be very selective about who you share your material with rather than having to fix the situation after the fact. The vast majority of editors, designers and other book professionals are trust-worthy. They would never work in this industry again if they violated a client’s confidence or shared the material. Find service providers who are recommended by other industry professionals and have a track record of good service to authors.

Tanyab 23:15, 7 November 2008 (UTC) Brought to you by | www.publishing-store.com