I Wrote A Poem-Do I Have To Copyright It Before I Share It Online?

Question

I plan to enter a contest on http://www.poetry.com which is obviously official and it said this before I attempted to submit mine-

I hereby certify that the above poem is my original work and that all rights to this poem are mine. I am entering this poem as an honest and true effort of my personal creativity and unique artistic vision, and I understand that it will be published on the Internet as my original work and under my own copyright by The International Library of Poetry (poetry.com). The community of poets who use this forum for self-expression will also be able to view and share my poem, always as my original work and under my own copyright in the various ways described on this website.

Answer 1

i have sent in mypoems on poetry.com, they are only protected under copyright on poetry.com, if you wanted to put it on your own website or etc it is best to get it copyright on you own, theres nothing wrong with a double copyright to make sure no one stills it.

Answer 2

poetry.com is a scam. Don't waste your time with them. And don't worry about copyright. They're just making a big deal about that to make themselves look more official. Under United States law, you own the copyright to your work from the moment you write it.

Answer 3

DON'T send anything to poetry.com, they are scam artists who just want your money.

There are much better sites on the net to submit your work to, don't waste your time with that site.

Answer 4

As long as you can document you are the original author - this could be by mailing tor email them to them to your self - because the envelope/email will show a date; you can in some states have them notarized as originals - but the best way to have them registered - you can also send them to poetry contests or through poetry groups - who will publish -if they are good enough and there is the plus of winning some prizes