Hi everyone,

I am wondering if you might be able to assist with this. I have recently developed what I feel is an excellent idea for a book. This is not a piece requiring a great deal of development, more an almost fully-formed niche/novelty purchase that could have huge appeal globally.

Naturally, I would like to be getting wheels in motion with the goal of publishing the book and hopefully making some money into the bargain.

There are two things I could do with knowing. The first is how best I can protect my actual idea, so that it is safe and 'mine' allowing me to go into any meetings with confidence, and show the idea to its full potential. The second is how best to proceed, once the idea is secured, with pursuing a publishing deal.

I appreciate that there are perhaps many issues that need to be discussed in the course of answering these two points, but would really appreciate any help that anyone might be able to give.

Thanks.

H

I'm afraid you can't protect an idea, because it's not possible to have copyright in an idea, only in the way you express it - the form, words, structure, and so on.

The best way, I would have thought, would be to write the book, developing it to its fullest potential, then try to find an agent, who would (you hope) find a publisher. Then at least your expression of this idea would be safe, because you automatically have copyright in something as soon as you write it down.

The Society of Authors could advise you more, and they have very good booklets on such questions that you can buy:

http://www.societyofauthors.net/index.php4

Emma

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Another option would be to self-publish it, but you'd need to be very confident that you don't need (or can find) all the input that a publisher has on editing, design, marketing, publicity, sales and distribution. That's a tough call, and the vast majority of self-published books reveal only too clearly (if you can track them down at all) just how hard it is to do all those jobs as a non-specialist.

Emma,

Thank you for this - it seems like a reasonable course of action. I was wondering if anything might be covered by way of intellectual property law, but this always seems a very wooly concept to me.

Thanks again,

Harvey