What do I put on my copyright page when self-publishing?
The question is pretty much what the title is. I do know that all intellectual property is protected by copyright law from the moment of it's creation. I have backed up my work with several methods, some of which are fairly paranoid. On every book there is a copyright page and usually it says:
"Copyright C #### by blah blah blah inc."
Since I am self-publishing I need to know what I should put on my copyright page.
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If you're self-publishing and not doing it through a company, use your real name: "Copyright (C) 2015 John Doe". Under the Berne Convention (which applies in most countries), you own the copyright from the moment of creation until you assign it away. You have no need to assign it away, so you don't need a company there.
You could set up a sole-proprietorship corporation if you want something there that looks like a publishing company instead of a person, but that's a lot of work for little gain. Unless you're setting up such a company anyway for financial reasons, I suggest you just stick with your name. That way it's easier to prove that you're the copyright owner if you're ever involved in a dispute.
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Copyrights are something that is giving authors sleepless nights for a long time. The reason is simple; the authors know about their manuscripts and what all should be included in the material. But when it comes to the copyrights and legalities associated with the content, most of us are clueless. There are certain things that should be mentioned on the copyright page and they are:
- The Copyright Notice
- The year of the publication
- Name of the owner of the content, which is generally the author or if done traditionally, then the publication house
- Ordering Information
- Reservation of Rights
- Copyright Notice
- Book Editions
- Credits
- Disclaimer
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32156. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Legally, in the US that page is unnecessary.
Since April 1 1989 the copyright notice has become obsolete in the US and you no longer need to register your copyright. You automatically own the copyright in your work upon creation. Today, the sole purpose of the copyright notice is to tell anyone interested in using your content who they need to contact to ask for permission. Works without copyright notice are still copyrighted. The only difference is that you don't easily know by whom.
In the UK and German speaking countries, the publisher of the book must be given (so that that everyone knows whom to sue if the content is illegal). This "imprint" is not necessary in the US.
From a legal perspective, that page can be blank or contain whatever you please, without any disadvantage to you.
This is what I learned from reading legal advice on the net. It may be wrong. So ask a lawyer. Doing business without legal advice is not recommended.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18188. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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