This question gets asked by readers a lot here at Indies Unlimited: How can I protect my manuscript from being taken by someone I let read it? And as common as the question is, it’s an easy answer: you can’t.
That’s not the answer most people want to hear, but Indies Unlimited is an “Alternative Facts Free Zone,” so only the truth appears here. And the truth is, you really can’t stop someone from doing unauthorized things with a document you give them.
The good news is that most people don’t do untoward things with your document. Most people do what was asked: read your manuscript and then either provide you feedback or write a review. However, occasionally, an unscrupulous person may share your book. Like I said, there’s really no way to stop someone who wants to do wrong with your file, if they have it.
While you can’t guarantee anything, there are some things that people do to try to prevent readers from sharing their work, taking credit for their work, or uploading it to pirated book sites. Here are a few: Continue reading “How Can Authors Protect Their Works in Progress?”
Guest Post
We’ve had articles about each of these three kinds of readers, the purpose of each, and where they fit in the overall book creation process. But we’ve seen some confusion among our readers and some thought a discussion comparing and contrasting all three in one place might be useful. 
In my years as an Indie publisher, there have been a number of schools of thought as to what it took to be successful. In the salad days of 2012, the advice was, “Do a free run, then sit down and wait for the Brinks truck to back up with your money.” Those were good days, almost certainly too good to last. Since then, the advice has ranged from “write in a series and make the first book free” to “drive sales through Facebook ads,” to “use keywords and sharpened metadata to drive traffic.” Through it all, though, one thing has been constant: you need a mailing list.