how do you copyright your work?

Question

I have created a visual bible. I want to copyright my work. How do you do that? Is anyone in the publishing business that can give me some advice on publishing my bible.

Answer 1

Hey Richard T,

First, put a simple statement of intent to copyright, with the date, and your name.

Second, Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following note.) There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration. See “Copyright Registration.”

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. “Copies” are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. “Phonorecords” are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the “work”) can be fixed in sheet music (“copies”) or in phonograph disks (“phonorecords”), or both. If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.

Answer 2

No they are not protected by copyright and they cannot be protected by copyright by you or anyone else. No one owns these symbols though their form and meaning is covered by international legal treaties. There is no such thing as 'copyrighting' something. It is a meaningless expression and shows a complete misunderstanding of the principles. Copyright (literally the right to copy) applies to all artistic and creative works (taken to include software code), regardless of its merit, from the moment the work is created. No additional action is required for the right to exist and there is no cost involved. The right belongs to the creator of the work though, as with any other property right, it can be sold, assigned or licensed. Copyright applies even if you don't use the copyright symbol or use the word 'copyright'. Despite that, it can be a good idea to use a formal copyright notice (in the form "Copyright, the name of the right holder and the year') as it serves to remind other people that they cannot copy your creative work .... though it doesn't seem to stop people copying music, software or videos.

Answer 3

In North America, your work is "copyrighted" the second you complete it, and you are protected by law. It is your intellectual property solely, unless you release that right to someone else.

You can, for a fee, submit a synopsis of your work to the government department responsible for intellectual property, along with a declaration that you personally own the rights to the work and that you personally created the work, and the work you have created will be catalogued by the government office and you will recieve a certificate identifitying that your work has been registered.

Do not believe the addage that a "poor man's copyright" exists by mailing the creation (artwork, play, book, computer code) to yourself and getting the postal imprint on the envelope. It is an urban myth and holds no basis in legal fact. Your best option, if you are concerned, is to call the appropriate government office, or find a modestly-priced lawyer experienced in intellectual property.

Answer 4

For copyrights, go to the Library of congress website, fill out the form and send in copies and a small registration fee. Sorry can't help with publishing. Good luck.

Answer 5

I have read that a written work has an automatic copyright and you can mark it with a c iniside a circle and date If have any reason to suspect a problem or challenge your best bet is to register your ciopyright whiiclh offers better protection in court. The net has several sights that explaiin the registration process.

Answer 6

You will find all you need to know from the link below. The people who work there are helpful over the phone, too! Good luck!
I tried emailing you this information but your email is not confirmed with Yahoo!
I just wanted to share a little about my self-publishing experience with you.
A couple years ago, I was going to self-publish one of my books but then I saw this wonderful ABC creation that my daughter did and decided to do that one instead. Rather than trying to peddle my goods to agents or publishers, I decided to put things into my own hands. Now there are a couple of downfalls to this and I will get to this later.
I searched online for self-publishers and decided to go with www.xlibris.com it had the BBB blessings and it seems like they have a lot of happy customers. However, because my (daughter's) book is in full color and it is 63 pages, the retail value for the softcover alone is 21.99! That is a bit steep for an ABC book!
So now, I am going to cut out the middle person and deal directly with a print-house. I found there is a print-house in China http://www.sunquest.com.cn/ and they have the best prices that I have found. I even emailed an author from the US who uses them and he is very happy with their work.
A couple problems with self-publishing 1) my book is too thin for Xlibris to put the title on the softcover spine. books the same with from other publishing houses can have titles on the spine. A lot of local bookstores will not carry it without the title 2) the price! How many parents want to buy a softcover ABC book for 21.99? even with the Author discount, it's 17.49! With sunquest, they'd be much less! My price would be 5.60 per copy (I'm going to buy 500) so I can sell them for much less. Plus I'm going to have part of the proceeds go toward some good causes locally. Make sure you hire an editor or bribe a local English professor or something to go over your manuscript. There are so many nice people out there willing to help.
I went to a Writer's conference and this one lecturer was telling us how he bought a self-published book and the author did not hire an editor and it was horrible script- lots of typos, bad grammar, etc...
Another suggestion- go to Writer's conferences! Google writers groups. Go to your local radio/tv stations, libraries, schools, churches once your book is ready for sale and I wish you well in your ventures!

Answer 7

Send 2 copies with $45. to the Patent and Copyrights Office in Washington DC. You set it up on line!

Answer 8

A cheap way to prove you had it before anyone else is to make a copy of it, and mail the copy to yourself. Do not open this copy unless you are in court, and the postmark will give proof of the date you had it. Certified mail would be best. This is not as effective as copyright, but it can prove you had it first.....

Answer 9

n old way is to send a sealed package to yourself in the post, with date stamps over the seals from the post office, keep the package unopenned. don't know if this is still legal proof. also do it registered mail. so there is a paper trail

Answer 10

a lawyer.