Copyright your work?

[Thomas Grant Bruso]

Do you think it is necessary to copyright your short stories, novels or batch of poems before you shop it around to publishers?

[Jack Getze]

Nope. If you're worried, go to the post office and mail yourself a registered copy of the manuscript. Unopened, that copy can prove your ownership at a particular date.

Publishers handle the copyright for you.

[Angela Zeman]

Depends. The unopened envelope mailed to yourself is not ironclad as you might think if you find yourself needing to take somebody to court.

I'd look at it as a long term step. If you're aiming for the writing business as a serious career, an official copyright is a tool of professionals, almost in the category of buying an ergonomic chair (because writing is a physically destructive activity, trust me on that one.)

If you're uncertain whether you want to go long term, or are writing as a hobby, mailing your work to yourself is fair enough protection until and unless you change your goals. If your goal is to establish a solid professional career, it's a bargain and easy to do. Even if you change your mind later you haven't lost anything. Some publishers will copyright your work, that's true.

[I. J. Parker]

No.

[Pepper Smith]

Your work is copyrighted the moment you put pen to paper. Registering your copyright runs you around $40 or so per item, such as a manuscript for a novel or a collection of short stories. Registering copyright gives you legal grounds to sue if someone infringes your copyright...

However, the copyright only covers that particular draft of your manuscript. If you make sufficient changes to the work, you'll be paying another $40 or so to register the newly reworked manuscript. If you do this often enough, it's going to get very expensive.

The reality, according to most of the agents' blogs out there, is that you don't need to register your copyright on unpublished work. (In fact, a copyright notice on the manuscript is considered the sign of a clueless amateur.) Agents get so much stuff pushed at them on a daily basis that they don't have time to deal with material that isn't up to snuff. They don't take manuscripts with interesting ideas and give them to other authors to rewrite. If the idea is good enough and your writing is good enough, they'd rather work with you to polish and sell it. If the idea is good but your writing is not quite good enough, they may encourage you to rewrite and resubmit. If the writing is bad, it doesn't matter how good the idea is. They'll pass and move on to the next query, looking for something that's ready to sell. You don't have to worry about agents stealing your work.

Scam agents, on the other hand, aren't interested in your manuscript anyway, just in the money you pay them, so you don't have to worry about them stealing your work either. It'll be piled up in a stack somewhere, probably still in the envelope, with a bunch of other writers' manuscripts, untouched.

"Poor Man's Copyright", sending yourself a copy of the manuscript by mail, is apparently not admissible in court as proof of ownership.

[Jon Loomis]

Short stories and poems generally have no commercial value (you don't get paid much, if anything, if you "sell" one), so there's no incentive for anybody to steal them. A novel may be worth something, but I've never heard of a single case in which a previously reputable agent or editor has been accused of ripping off someone's work and claiming it as their own. More often authors plagiarize each other, or, once in a while, some smarmy film or TV writer/producer lifts characters or plotlines from submitted work without giving the author credit (or paying for rights). Unless they're incredibly flagrant, the latter instances seem to be pretty hard to prove, even when copyright is clearly established. So no, I wouldn't bother.

[Dan Coleman]

This whole idea about stealing copyrighted works reminds me of a buddy of mine in the Marine Corps who, after returning from Viet Nam, went to a lawyer for guidance in securing a patent for this great idea he discovered at Chu Lai that was going to make him a millionaire. He was already at the beach house, with the yacht tied up out front, and the babes hanging all over him, while he sipped his drinks. The very brief meeting, with Fred clutching his bag closely to his chest, went something like this:

Lawyer: So what can I do for you today?
Fred: I have something here that's going to be very big. It'll make a fortune.
Lawyer: Great. What is it?
Fred: I've been hiding it in my seabag.
Lawyer: So, let's see it.
Fred: I just have to find somebody I can trust, who won't steal it from me.
Lawyer: Well, nobody's going to steal it if they can't find it.
Fred: You're the first person I've come to about it.
Lawyer: Thank you. Now let's have a peek.
Fred: What's your fee?
Lawyer: Nothing, if you're not my client.
Fred: And what if you are?
Lawyer: Well, we can talk specifics if it's something I think I can help you with. It won't cost you
anything to find out.
Fred: This is going to revolutionize footwear. People all over the world will be wearing this
thing.
Lawyer: They won't if you don't show it to'em.

Fred and the lawyer stare at one another for a long moment, then my buddy cracks.

Fred: Okay. Here it is. (He pulls out a pair of sandals made from tire treads).
Lawyer: What else you got in the bag?
Fred: Whadda you mean?
Lawyer: There are at least a hundred and fifty million Orientals walking around on these things.
You can't get a patent on something someone else has invented and used already. And
this is public domain, belongs to everybody.

Long silence.

Fred: Oh.(Grip on the bag loosens).
Lawyer: Anything else in the bag?

I think we tend to think that our own creations are something others covet. Well, if you can't sell it, it's not worth stealing. Only on publicly published copies are the notices ever required. And when was the last time you heard of a poem being stolen?

[Jack Getze]

You do not have to worry about professionals stealing your work. The hard part is getting them to read it.

[Dan Coleman]

Amen to that, Jack. Heck, it's like the painter who prays for his painting to be stolen.

[Kris Neri]

I consider it a very bad move to register your copyright before a book has been accepted for publication. You'd have to use that copyright registration in your book. Since it sometimes takes longer than we would like to have a book accepted and published, the old date announces how long it's taken you. And readers often check copyright dates to decide the order of books they intend to buy. An old date makes a book look like a reprint, instead of a more recent publication. Use the "Poor Man's Copyright."

[Jack Getze]

Good point, Kris. That early copyright date could also eliminate the book from all awards competition in the year it's finally published.

[I. J. Parker]

Awards committees are supposed to check this. I know we did in a case for the Shamus award.

[DJ Alling]

I had a very well thought out comment planned, then I skimmed down and saw that Pepper Smith had said everything I planned to say. And she said it better than I would have. So, I will just post this to "second" her thoughts on the subject. :)