Why Good Ideas (Often) Get Stolen . . . . Or At Least Copied

What I’m about to say might cause anxiety.

It’s normal to have your work stolen — or at least, copied. Often heavily.

A few weeks ago, Marian T. sent me a question that I receive a lot from entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses, audiences, and reach.

How do I market my solutions while maintaining privacy?

My first answer is . . . privacy for who? 

Many authors think that somehow, their ideas will be more protected in a book than online. 

But that’s not how intellectual property works. 

While a book does carry a copyright — typically in the author’s name — limiting how that material can be used, ideas are not copyright-able.

Meaning that ideas can be stolen and copied.

And solutions come from ideas so . . . you’ll see that the only way to keep your solutions and ideas private is to never share them at all.

But that’s not what authors do, is it? 

The whole point of being a writer and a creator and an entrepreneur is to share.

Not to mention that talking about your ideas is part of the journey to be successful — as an author, yes, but also as a leader in your niche or industry.

To me, sharing what you know has absolutely zero downside. For authors like yourself, sharing what you know and what you want to write a book about someday is crucial because it helps you build an audience and test your ideas. 

And even if your ideas DO get stolen or copied, it’s not the end of the world.

Recently, it was brought to my attention that two of my former clients were each offering retreats on how to get a book published. 

When I took a look at the websites for these retreats, the copy was remarkably similar to mine. 

Like, show it to a stranger and have their mouth drop open — similar.

But as someone who knows her way around intellectual property law, I also knew that these clients hadn’t done anything illegal enough* to justify legal action. 

Uncool? Sure. 

But worth my time and energy? No. 

After a few deep breaths, I was able to see the truth which was:

If someone steals your idea — or even copies it — that idea has to be good. 

Maybe even great. 

So: Share your ideas. Not just in your book, but every-friggin-where. 

*What these clients did WAS illegal. But I saw no reason to waste time and energy on legal action that would likely create more bills than wins. Which may have been their gamble, too — that the chance of repercussions were slim.