An organization called picture book summit had a series of small 10 min presentations to give people a taste of what their online conference would bike. These are notes from one of those presentations. she is not a lawyer this is just an opinion. The presentation was given by Julie Hedlund. Any inaccuracies are the fault of the note taker.

1. Copyright law: how to protect ideas?
– Ideas alone cannot be copyrighted. ie: child not wanting to go to bed.
– Once a first draft has been written it is covered by copyright.
– You don’t have to write copyright on your manuscript. If you put a copyright on your manuscript it shows an edit you are new without the experience of copyright law.
– Every idea has a version already written.
– It’s not your idea that will set your book apart it will be how you execute it and your characters.
2. Plagiarisms:
– Is a concept of ethics.
– Plagiarism is using someone else work without giving them credit.
– once you put things in your own words it’s no longer plagiarism.
3. Sharing their work with an agent/editor or critique groups.
– The probability of harm by sharing is very low.
– The probability of harm by not sharing is high > when you don’t get feedback for improvement.
– If an editor was found plagiarism> they could get fired.
– How to share ideas? Share with care.
– There is a high probability that someone else is writing on a book similar to yours.
– Q: if a publishing co. altar a manuscript. Not likely.
– Q: can you be accused of plagiarism because your book is similar. Keep all previous draft with their time stamps on it. If doing self-publishing do a search of what has been published already. If a book is similar, find ways to make yours different.
– Q: a safe place to share 99% of writers are good people. Find critique partners at SBWY or SBWI, children’s books insiders, ICL, 12×12 groups. There is a vetting process for members.
– Fair use: once it’s in the public domain i.e. Shakespeare. If use copyrighted material then maybe you can change the words. Many have inserted different words to wheel on the bus. Make sure your take is unique or different.
– Q: How stay on top? Visit children’s librarians ask for latest trends?
– The story structure of three try / fail cycles has been successful.
Want to add to the list? Please do so in the comment section of this blog.