William Hammett

No one can steal your work.

Many people each year are hesitant to share their work with me because they believe ghostwriters might steal their ideas. It's ludicrous since there's no way that I, William Hammett, could put my name on the stories of other people, such as a man who had traveled around the world in a hot air balloon.

The fastest way to have a literary agent refuse to look at your work is to ask him or her to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Collectively, agents receive millions of queries a year, and they don't have time to sign millions of NDAs. If you ask them to do so or inquire as to whether it's safe to share your work with them, they will discard your correspondence immediately.

Once you set down an idea on a piece of paper (even a matchbook cover or napkin) or a computer or electronic device, your work is automatically copyrighted without formal registration. This may be verified at the website of the U.S. Copyright Office by clicking on the link "When Is My Work Protected?".

I invite you to download your free copy of my book How to Hire a Ghostwriter from this site.