Quote:
Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda
WBW, you might want to browse the web sites of professional writing organisations in your genre. I'm not sure about Romance Writers of America or Mystery Writers of America, but I know the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has an entire section of the web site devoted to helping new writers get oriented.
Although it's definitely possible to go straight to e-publication and do well financially, I submit that the painful submission/rejection process of traditional publishing still has value. Traditional publishers are still the only reliable way to get books in bookstores, for example. And a (good) traditional publisher can provide much better publicity than a single author working alone.
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Actually, this is not the only way any more. Now, somewhere between traditional publishing and vanity publishing, there is a new niche. If you're an up-and-coming writer then they will publish your story in print and distribute through conventional channels all at their expense and e-publish your story as well.
They are a lot less pickier than most publishers since they have low costs, so if your story is moving a fair number of copies and getting good reviews and comments on forums, then you're likely to find an inroads with them.
I was contacted by one of them to suggest putting my story forward, but I still want to keep the ebook version free and they do require to have all publishing rights. That and the fact that they don't hire editors, so editing is still the writer's responsibility, which if you know of my story you'll know is a weakness of mine
But it is another avenue to getting into Pbooks. The link is
https://www.justfiction-edition.com/ in case anyone wanted to look into it. They certainly seem to have some books out in print.
Anyway to the OP -
If you want people to crit your book, the term used is "Trust". Simple as that, you need to trust them to not rip you off. I don't think books are ripped off too often. Most authors wouldn't want it to happen to them and so don't do it to other people either. If you don't trust anyone, then employ someone to review it and then you have some professional control over what happens.
But in any event, giving your unpublished work to someone else to review does not diminish your rights ( in particular, copyright ) at all.
A bigger concern would be that they spill the beans on what you're writing before you can publish, potentially leading to someone taking out an injunction against you - so the advice in an earlier post is well worth heeding.
I don't worry too much that someone might rip my idea off. The fear is always there, but most people are honest. But if you're really worried, consult a lawyer - they would be able to answer your question more accurately
Regards
David