Easy Copyright: A Simple Guide

Dear Readers,

One of the questions I'm asked the most regards copyrighting. There's no mystery to copyrighting - One just needs to understand the legal requirements.  I'd recommend copyrighting manuscripts, drafts and synopses before sending to any commercial agent or publishing house.

Why bother copyrighting at all?

Because your manuscript's potentially worth a fortune. You also may have spent considerable time and effort re-drafting, proofing and finalizing.  If original work were valueless literary agents and publishing houses would not exist.

 The Simple Guide: Copyrighting

1. The basic proof a writer needs (in the rare event a challenge to authenticity is made)  comes down to dates. If the writer can prove (independently) that he or she wrote a document before the challenger, a ruling has to be made in favor of the author defending a copyright claim, unless the challenged author's document is obviously a direct copy of another author's work (a plagiarized document).

2. Dating Your Work Independently

The easiest way to do this is by sending a copy of your manuscript back to yourself. (Use a small font to print the manuscript to save on postage).

Use Recorded Delivery (in the United Kingdom) so a record is kept of the date and time the manuscript was sent back to you. (One could risk relying on a less expensive "post mark", but post marks can be partial, faint or subject to damage, so I wouldn't advise this method).

When the manuscript arrives, do not be tempted to open it. Keep it sealed and safe with your Recorded Delivery Receipt - That's it. You now have proof of date, should someone challenge your ownership of original material.

On The Manuscript Itself:

Once you have proof of date, further copies of your manuscript should include the following:

Author Name (C) Date Copyrighted  (Eg: Mr Scribbles (C) 2012)

If you prefer a more professional approach, ALT+0169 can be used instead of (C)

Press and hold ALT key, then type 0169 - When you release the ALT key this symbol >>>  ©  will appear.