Many authors have questions about copyrighting their works in the beginning phases of writing their books. When you initially publish a book, the publication date acts as a type of copyright on that information. You are the author and are taking claim to the information by publishing it.
For instance my first book, “10 Rules to Survive the Dating Jungle” was initially published on January 21ST, 2012. So if someone published the same book with same stories on the inside after I did, I obviously published it first. And they are my personal stories, unless someone else was married to a sociopath, it’s pretty obvious I own the copyright to this content.
However, if for some reason you ended up having to go to court, that publication date alone will probably not be enough evidence. You want to cover your basis and file an official copyright with the US Library of Congress. It’s very easy and simple to do. You want to take the steps to protect your literary works. After all, you put in the handwork to write & publish it, so you also need to protect it.
It is only $35 per literary work to file the copyright. Definitely worth the small investment. Just visit: https://eco.copyright.gov/eService_enu/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo=eco.copyright.gov
You need a finished manuscript before filling out the copyright paper work. So don’t file after only writing two chapters. Do it after you are completed or even after first book is published. Once the book is published it will be assigned an ISBN number, which is unique to each book. The ISBN number (International Standard Book Number) will be attached to your filing. Then you can mail in an actual copy of the book to the Library of Congress. This is how I’m registering all of my books.
Once you have the official “Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data” you can re-publish with that information.
Tara Richter – Author & Publisher – Richter Publishing, LLC
Richter Publishing 