I have said this before and I am saying it again.
Be careful at sending your work out. Everyone is not honest and the copyright laws are crappy and pretty much useless.
The publishing world has a dark underbelly authors aren’t supposed to talk about but to save your work, sometimes you have to.
I suggest never send anyone your entire manuscript until they offer a contract. I know it always thrown in authors faces that they get so many manuscripts per year that yours don’t matter. But that’s malarkey. If it’s good enough it matter.
Most people aren’t aware that someone can take your idea, never mind it was you who dreamed it up and put it together. Someone else can use it however they please just so long they do not copy your work word for word. If your main character is named Bob I and they named theirs John there isn’t much you can do about it even if the premier are exactly the same and both characters are doing the same things.
I am aware there are no new writings up the sun. Everything you write has been written before but not exactly like your writings. It has not.
Right now, all the uproars are about pictures, covers and graphic. But that’s useless. It’s the contents of the book that matters. Without the contents then you have no book!
People need to start opening up more books more often, perusing them and seeing if their concept and story is being used. Recycled.
Like two summers ago someone kept decrying they had written the Fairy Tree Troll when the book was written in the early part of 2000’s and I wasn’t even online during that time because my own life was in uproar and the story came from very ancient mythology in several different cultures.
They finally let my publisher perused their book and it wasn’t even about evil Nephilim that are part immortal and part trees that should morph into a human form!
It was a freaking children books about trolls. Green Trolls who lived in trees. Our books were no way similar. My characters are supernatural while theirs were magical and they aren’t nice and trying to teach anyone anything. The books were in two totally different categories.
Yes, I was pissed off when I learned they wasted my time with a claim that had no bearing at all.
I made up those names. As far as I know there’s no creature named Elfwood. Just like I made up many names of the mythological creatures.
unholypursuit