For someone who has never tried to publish before, what you can do with your writing and what it actually means can be confusing. In this post, I’m going to briefly cover what copyright is and what it means for you as a writer, and then explore publication rights. These are very important to know if you’re hoping to become a published author or a freelance writer. This article will be dealing primarily with U.S. copyright and publication law. Make sure to check out what the copyright laws are like in your country!
1. Copyright: I probably already know this, but what is copyright?
Copyright law, given by the U.S. Copyright Clause, is the power “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
What this means for writers is that we have exclusive rights to whatever we write. Basically everyone’s at least heard of copyright.
Got it—how do I copyright my work?
The moment you write or type a work, it’s already copyrighted. The Copyright Act of 1976 ensures that you do not have to register a work with the U.S. Copyright office in order for your work to be under your own copyright; it is, by default.
However, if you have fears of someone seriously stealing your work, then you should take the steps to file your work with the U.S. Copyright office at www.copyright.gov. It’s a $35 - $50 fee, but ensures that if someone does steal your work, you have hard-recorded proof of the date and nature of the piece that you wrote.
There is something known as a “poor man’s copyright” which involves sending yourself a manuscript of whatever you have written in an envelope that you do not open. Presumably, not breaking the seal, you can use it in court as a way to prove by the post stamp that you were the first person to receive it. However, I don’t know if this will stand up in court, as it doesn’t actually prove that you were the first person to write the work, and there are no protections provided in U.S. copyright law for this method.
Edit: Thanks, Jen! :
The “poor man’s ©” is a myth. At best all it does is prove that you created the doc. before the date on the postal cancellation, BUT you must have a registered © to file infringement suit in fed. court, be eligible for damages &/or injunctive relief.
2. Publication Rights: What are publication rights?
When you sell a work, you’re selling the use of the work or sometimes ownership of the work itself. Any time a publisher publishes your work, you are giving them the rights to use your work in a specific way. There’s a couple different types, and I’m going to cover the most common types of rights—note that they can and often combine to form a unique deal between yourself and the publisher.