Warning: this book is for your personal use only. You may NOT share it in any way.

[MineralMan]

45. I've taught many classes in writing for publication, starting in about 1976.

At every one of those classes, someone always asked how they could protect their writing from being stolen.

As a successful writer, who has made a living with my words since 1974, my answer was always the same: "It is not a matter of people stealing your writing. The real difficulty is in getting someone to pay for your writing. It's hard enough to get people to want to read what you have to say, that stealing someone's writing is almost vanishingly rare.

I'll put putting an e-book on the market sometime next year. I will be overjoyed if anyone pays for it. The ones who get it without paying for it are of no concern to me. If it's good enough, people will buy it in whatever quantity they buy it, and I'll make a little money. That'll be a good thing.

If you write, the problem is in finding readers of any kind. Getting paid is icing on the cake, and that comes from someone who has been well paid for his writing for a long time. Find readers. Don't worry about people stealing your "timeless prose."