how can i get my poetry copyrighted?

Question

i have written a lot of poetry in the last 8 years and would love to get them copyrighted and published into a book for people to buy. But im not willing to pay anyone!!! and dont want to put them on my blogs as this is not the achievement i want.
So does anyone know how to get them copyrighted and of any publishers i can contact.
Many thanks

ive checked out poetry .com but its an american site and ideally i would rather have more than just one book.

ill give you the bigger picture as it may help.

i have probably more than 200 poems in total and ideally i would love to sell my books in shops. does that help? haha! probably not.

lamentas--
Im not saying its fantastic or rubbish. Its just something i do and i do it with ease.
and it cant be all that bad as this one peom was written on my best mates headstone when he passed away aged 16

A mintues thought,
A daily prayer,
A silent tear
Wishing you were near.

Another second,
Another minute,
Another hour too,
As every day passes us by
we try not to cry for you.

i want to get my work recognized but im not willing to pay hundreds of pounds to not gain anything from it as im still only researching the area and hence dont know who is just ripping me off.

Answer 1

you need to research what publishing houses would accept your kind of poetry and take it from there. regardless of what has been said there is a market, but it is saturated. However, this does not mean that it is a closed one, although it may take time for your work to be recognised.

poetry is a genre that encompasses many styles and sub-genres within...therefore poetry is NOT necessarily all about understanding meter

and

although teenage angst and roses are red type poems have been done and done, if there is a new angle on such topics why the hell not try to get it published?

do not get so disillusioned and narrow minded (like some) that the very art of poetry is curtailed. we are individuals and our work should reflect this.

poetic license - there are no rules whatever works, works.

Answer 2

Well from what i have been told, i have taken some creative writing courses at uni, getting your work copy righted and then stating so will offend potential publishers, they feel that people who do that have an over rated view of their own work.
If at all the publisher EVER looks at it.

There are so many other things you could be doing that would help you get published, and very few publishers want to steal work, and keep poems private from the public.

You would be better getting an agent, and this is never easy, get a writers Manuel that has a list of agents, then send them a manuscript, they will then liaise with publishers for publishing rights, they also make sure you don't get screwed over

But there are strict rules about what a publisher will even open, nice envelopes with a first class stamp, nice white paper, unstapled, spell checked, double spaced, set margins, page numbers, synopsis..........

The list goes on, it is hard and copy right won't help much in reality.

Answer 3

Somebody has already mentioned posting your work to yourself and not opening the envelope -- with a date-stamp on the package this proves the time before which the work was written. This is often done if writers are worried about other people stealing their work.

If you're interested in getting your poetry published, it can be quite difficult to submit this kind of work to publishers, especially if you have never had anything published before. A good route to start is entering your work into poetry contests (you can search for them on Google). Many contests offer publication of your poem as the prize (although often there are money prizes too), often in an anthology, and if you manage to win a few of these then you've got the published credits to then try submitting to publishers.

Good luck!

Answer 4

It is a little known fact that as long as you put the copyright symbol, the date, and your name on each of your writings that the laws pertaining to copyright protection apply. Adding the symbol/date/name shows INTENT to copyright- this has been court tested to have equal weight to a document officially registered at the copyright office. It might be important to note that once you have shown intent to copyright that the document can never be sold, assigned, donated, or given away, that it can only be licensed to those who might publish it or use it some other way.

Answer 5

Original artistic work is automatically the copyright of the author, all you need do is be able to prove that you wrote it, should there be a dispute.
One traditional way is to send poems to yourself through the post, and keep sealed.
Basically if you have your poems published, or distributed, you can put your claim of copyright with them.
A circle with a 'c' inside it, and your name to the right of the circle states that the poem/ poems are your copyright.
Regarding getting it published, find a list of suitable publishers in the current writers and artists handbook.

Answer 6

You don't have to do anything to copyright material. You wrote it, you can add the copyright symbol and your name to your material, but by virtue that you wrote it and it was your original work, it already holds a copyright.

now, getting it published for free? That's tricky. Unless you go through poetry.com and have them publish your work (along with a lot of works of other people) you will have to pay a publisher to publish your work, or at least pay a book binder to print it for you. No one is going to do that for free.

Answer 7

As soon as you write it, it's copy writed. Just date it to be extra sure. It doesn't have to be published, so long as you can prove you put it on paper first it's yours.

My dad has sued and won 2 different people for publishing his material without his consent, after they put there name on it.

Answer 8

In the first place, there is no reason to have your work copyrighted. And don't go tot he cheesy sites that claim to copyright it for you. If your work is selected by a LEGITIMATE publisher (I don't mean one of those ditzy on line publishers or another form of a vanity press), then THEY copyright it! They would not touch previously copyrighted material with a ten foot pole, dear! I am talking the REAL world of REAL publishing here. And, I have to be honest. There is virtually NO MARKET for poetry in today's literary world (and again, I am talking about legitimate publishers, not the on line cheesy stuff). In addition, most people who claim to write poetry usually don't understand it at all. Poetry is about IMAGERY. You need to understand meter. You need to understand that it isn't about teenage angst, or roses are red, violets are blue. And mailing it to yourself DOES NOT CONSTITUTE COPYRIGHT IN ANY WAY! Nor does emailing it to yourself! These people who tell you this DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, something that abounds on this site. Don't believe those who tell you it does! Also, don't trust any one who cannot seem to spell the word "company." Check out the one who spelled it "compeny." Good luck.

Answer 9

Put them in an envelope and mail them to yourself but dont open them. This will give you dated proof if you ever get ripped off and someon else publishes them. Thats about as good as you can do without writing to the liabrary of congress and requesting the forms you need to copyright your work.

Answer 10

You already own the copyright - it rests with the author see the link http://www.patent.gov.uk/

You can post the items to yourself - send via trackable post & keep the details.

Also check out this link regarding publishing
http://www.excaliburonlinepublishing.com/

Good luck