Hi, Ive written a couple of childrens books which i am interested in having published. When it comes to me sending them off to publishers, How do i make sure nobody copies them or gives my ideas to an author they already know? how do i go about copyrighting them? Thanks.
This:
"The simplest and cheapest form of copyright is by registered post to your home address"
is debatable.
It's commonly known as "Poor Man's Copyright", and only manages to prove you had a copy of the work before it was published - not the same thing as having written it yourself. It won't protect you against idea theft as you cannot copyright an idea. Poor Man's Copyright is also not legally valid in the US (where copyright *can* be officially registered, although it's an utter waste of time because a)it will be invalidated by any changes you make, like edits; and b) registering it is done by the publisher).
Services such as the one Adrian mentions also have the same problem - they are not proof you have created the work.
Keep notes, keep back-ups, keep earlier drafts. Essentially, be sure that if you went to court, you could explain your novel better than the thief could.
Many writers who are just beginning fear their ideas being stolen, but believe me on two things:
1) Your idea is nowhere near as original as you think it is. Really. The world is a big place and there are many ideas out there. Somebody, somewhere, has had the same idea as you.
2) An idea is only as good as its execution. The greatest idea in the world is nothing without sparkling prose, well developed characters, and immaculate grammar.
I'd like to thank too. I always knew how to do it in my country, but I didn't know how to copyright in UK
Thanks. I'm really new to this. still remember years ago when worked in tv someone was complaining their script had been ripped off after sending it to people just wanted to make sure my works protected.