What is the easiest way to copyright and then publish a book?

Question

How do i find publishers etc.?

How do i get it copyrighted?

What needs to be done first?

Answer 1

I wasn't going to answer this question (because I answer the copyright ones so often) but you're getting so much misinformation I thought I'd better correct it.

First: LJK is right (and Irishrose is wrong), get "The Writer's Market" if you're in the USA, or "The Writer's Handbook" in the UK. They do contain useful information and should be read thoroughly.

Second: Copyright, here we go...

You have the copyright on your work, it's automatic. It's a basic human right in the International Declaration of Human Rights (#27, go to http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/ ).

Copyright exists the moment you create your work, as the words flow out of your fingers (as it were). No registration is required (not even in the USA -- though lots of people there think it is). The Government registration thing in the USA is a hang-over from before the International Declaration of Human Rights

I'll say it again: Copyright is automatic. You have it already, the moment you create the words, you own the copyright. You don't have to *do* anything and nobody "gives" you copyright, certainly not a publisher, it is *you* that gives *them* the "right to copy" your book.

It's a no-brainer really: You created it therefore you have the right to decide who is allowed to copy it. ("The right to copy" see.) The only exception is if you're being paid to create it by someone else, in which case it's theirs.

If you mean: "how do I protect my work from being ripped off?" that's a completely different question.

And the answer is (a) no one is going to rip you off; and (b) if by some strange quirk of fate they did, all you have to prove is development.

You need to show stages of development of the created work, earlier drafts, notes that you made and so on. (Which is why computers are actually damaging -- people forget to keep earlier versions.)

Then if someone rips you off you go to court and show them how you developed it.

This is also the reason why they won't rip you off -- because if they got caught they'd have to show development as well. And frankly it's easier just to pay *you* than fake it.

But no one will anyway.

The benefit of registration services, is that they provide an independent and timed "proof of development" but they don't guarantee proof of copyright despite what they might imply.

(By the way, "sending to self in sealed envelope" is an old wives tale, it's never been tested in court.)

Don't panic about copyright, professionals don't, so you don't need to either.

So what you do is this:

1. Write and finish your work, until you don't think it could be any better.

2. Select *agents* (not publishers) who deal in the genre that you have written. Find out how they like to be approached in a *recent* copy of the above-mentioned books.

3. Approach those agents in exactly the way they want -- if you do anything else it is automatic rejection. It is also true that many don't accept unsolicited submissions -- but they will accept a "query letter" and then tell you whether they want to see your manuscript or part of it -- then it's "solicited". Always send an SAE for their response, otherwise they won't respond at all.

4. Collect rejection slips.

Writing is the hardest profession to become a professional in, because so many people think they can do it the agents and publishers are deluged with submissions. Agents and publishers use *any* criteria to reject submissions and reduce their workload. If you want to be a professional then you must behave professionally.

You can send multiple submissions to agents (more than one agent at a time), but you can only send single submissions for the same book one at a time to publishers. Also agents (usually) reply faster than publishers. And there are a lot more agents than publishers. So it's far more efficient to send to agents.

But remember, rejection isn't personal.

A friend of mine spent 15 years writing 20 novels, he kept 300 of his most interesting rejection letters. Eventually he succeeded, and is now getting his sixth book published -- and working with people who rejected him earlier.


EDIT: What you don't do is put "Copyright" on your manuscript, or in your covering letter, because that shrieks "AMATEUR" and potential trouble-maker. They *know* it's your copyright, they expect you to be professional enough to know that they know. Writing "copyright" is irrelevant anyway, you don't have to write that for it to be your copyright as mentioned above.

Good luck.


Message for IrishRose: Stop ranting, you're not doing yourself any favours.
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Answer 2

The surest way to annoy a publisher or agent is to copyright your work before you send it to them. It says "I don't trust you." It is almost instant rejection.

Believe me. I say this about 50 times a day here. Publishers and agents have no interest nor time to steal your work. They get so many manuscripts a day why would they steal yours? If and when you sell a manuscript as a part of the standard authors' contract, your copyright will be obtained for you by the publisher. Until then, you legally own the rights to your work the minute you write it provided you don't post it on the internet anywhere for people to steal. If you do, all bets are off. Your work can and will be plagiarized and no publisher on earth will touch it. It is too expensive for them to have a legal team work on determining original ownership. Therefore, they will reject you rather than run into legal problems.

I suggest you go to my profile. I star all the Q and A here on writing and publishing for the sake of new authors. Go through them and print out ones that you think will help you. And if you know someone looking to buy you a good Christmas gift, tell them to buy you a Writers Market 2008. And read it cover to cover. You have to learn the world of traditional publishing before you can get anywhere.

There are no "easy" ways. Often publishing a book takes years. Gone With the Wind was rejected 50 times. Stephen King got so frustrated he threw Carrie out and his wife rescued it from the trash. You need to grow a hide tougher than a herd of elephants. Rejection is something we all have to learn to deal with.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 3

The best and easiest way to find out "what needs to be done first" is to get a copy of the most current book of "The Writer's Market."

Don't do any copyrighting or finding of publishers until you have studied this book thoroughly. There are steps to take as well-studied as the steps of a waltz, and you don't want to upset your partner (the work you've done on your book) by taking any step out of turn.

This book, though large and often rather expensive, is invaluable. I read mine frequently. If you can't afford one, go to the library. If they can't let you check it out (it may be deemed a reference book), then bring a notebook and pen with you and start with the notes, and keep going back.

Or ask someone to give you the book for the holidays coming up. (some answerers will tell you a search for a literary agent is next and they are right, but you also need to know how to go about doing that... and this book tells you.)
Good luck with all--

Answer 4

"Gone With the Wind" was NOT rejected 50 times as the misinformed poster above stated. At the time it was published (the 1930s), there were not even 50 publishers in business! This is misinformation from the poster who always signs her posts with the condescending little grammatical lesson and ominously (and rather peculiarly) warns that you might end up in her next novel. Scary, huh! Anyway, Margaret Mitchell was a newspaper writer, and a friend of hers suggested she show her manuscript (a work in progress at the time) of GWTW to an editor with whom both women were acquainted. Mitchell worked on the manuscript for over nine years. The manuscript was almost immediately accepted but hundreds of revisions had to be made. For instance, Scarlett O'Hara's name was originally Pansy O'Hara, and the title of GWTW was NOT the original title that Mitchell had envisioned. The story was really the tale of Mitchell's grandmother who had indeed lived through the Civil War and had many of the experiences that Mitchell's heroine Scarlett/Pansy had in the book. And remember, Mitchell wrote and published way back in the 1930s and the whole field was totally different back then. For instance, her "finished" manuscript was typed on an rather rickety typewriter and was an absolute mess! Back in those days, editors were willing to accept such sloppiness but NOT today! And as for Stephen King, his uncle was an editor and graciously published his first book. It was fairly awful and at one time King allegedly tried to buy up all copies of it so that no one would see it. Nothing against King per se, but in my opinion he's a hack writer. I am not arguing with his success, but the guy churns out books like a machine, and thus the quality and originality often suffers for it. In addition, these so-called tales of how an author tossed his or her manuscript out the window but then it was rescued and went on to become a best seller are usually just that, tales. It makes the whole thing sound more dramatic! You never hear about the manuscript that was tossed out, rescued, and was subsequently rejected and never saw publication. Think about it.

As far as publishing and copyright, you NEVER copyright anything before submitting it. If you want to be legitimately published (not the on-line, self publishing, vanity stuff), then you are in for a rude awakening. Publishers receive hundreds of thousands of manuscripts each year and all but a very small amount are rejected, most without ever being read. Most publishers do not even accept unsolicited work even though the virtually worthless Writer's Market tells you they do. Many publishers names end up in WM and those publishers DON'T want to be there, but WM puts them in anyway to fill up the pages of their book. This has been going on for years now. Believe me, the world of legitimate publishing is so difficult to get into (that is why the self-publishing sites have flourished) that most people never get their foot in the door. Like I said, publishers have hundreds of thousands of manuscripts sitting in slush piles. Most use only agents to acquire work (again, regardless of what WM states within their pages) and most agents only get their clients from referrals. It's as difficult to get an agent as it is to get a publisher. Sorry but the guy BELOW is ALSO giving MISINFORMATION. He claims to have been thirty years in the publishing field. Well, anyone can make whatever claim they care to here. Writer's Market is NOT always what they purport to be and though they are indeed a legitimate book, NOT ALL THE PUBLISHERS therein WANT to be in there and a great many have tried for years to have their names and addresses REMOVED! WM will have you believing that all you have to do is get a manuscript ready for publication and you will be on your way. Not so! This is NOT incorrect information and I resent the poster below stating that it is. I would never say his post was incorrect, but HE has repeated much of what I have already told you. What I have told you is the truth but if you choose to go the way of some other posters here (including the guy who claims I am incorrect) be my guest. Oh yes, and remember, opinions are like you know what's. Everyone has one! Hey Replybysteve, back at ya, you! Actually, you are not doing yourself or ANYONE else any favors by claiming others are giving incorrect information. Why not allow the poster who asked the question to choose instead of trying to constantly control everything? Rhetorical.

Answer 5

Your work is automatically copyrighted when you write it. However, for legal protection, you can register your work with the Library of Congress. Check out the site below.