Copyright process

FAQ has a sticky that pretty well covers these questions.

Can we alter a copyrighted work?

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Only if it's your own, but don't quote me on that.

Should we copyright just the title or the whole book?

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You can copyright your work.

Can't copyright a title.

What shouldn't we do?

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You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim

How do agents and editors react to copyrights?

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We make voodoo dolls and put them to savage, merciless use. Don't look. Seriously, don't.


And don't pay attention to me--been shopping, now brain dead. Need caffeine.

Seriously, don't worry about registering and don't put a copyright statement on submissions. You'll look naive, possibly incompetent, possibly stupid, and have a good chance of pissing off agents and editors.

Yes, yes, yes!-- I posted about this very thing not long ago!!

Pissing off editors!

YIKES!

Did someone say that this was a good thing to do?

Hey...we can protect you...Send the money to us lol!

Not disagreeing with any of the above, but registering your work can give you peace of mind.

From what I've seen, on this board and elsewhere, many writers can get just a tad paranoid about having their precious work stolen.

Knowing you have protection if the worst possible scenario happens (however unlikely) might let you get a good sleep o'nights.

You don't need to mention this on your query or cover letters. But you'll know. And that could be worth the cost.

If you're planning to publish/market your own book, so it doesn't have the "protection" of a publisher, I'd certainly consider registering with Library of Congress or one of the "online vault" services like WGA or ProtectRite. But that's just me, shrug.

Not trying to sidetrack the discussion, but in the screenwriting world, screenwriters are strongly advised to register their scripts with WGA (at least) before sending them anywhere. Different practices for different systems, I guess.

-Derek

There is an old saying that you shouldn't worry about people stealing your ideas or words. No matter how good they are, you'll still have to shove them down people's throats anyway.

Fullback said:

There is an old saying that you shouldn't worry about people stealing your ideas or words. No matter how good they are, you'll still have to shove them down people's throats anyway.

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I agree 100%.

There's no way someone's going to bang out a 300 page novel just because they like the idea of one you've done earlier...it just doesn't happen. Concepts with movies might be a different story, but if you have a finished movie script and you've registered it with WGA and US Copyright (I never bother with this for novels by the way) then it's great if a studio wants to nick it because you can sue them and they'll pay you a wad just to get rid of you. It's also extremely flattering.

Hey, stuff gets stolen even when it IS copyrighted.

If they want to take it, you can't protect yourself. Some people think if it's on the Net, then it's free. They never heard of copyright protection, and the rest simply ignore it.

All my books have been pirated and put on free download sites. I've put alerts in place so I know when it happens, then I have to go to each and ask to have them taken down. Those sites don't make it easy, either.

I have to prove I'm the copyright holder with disclosure of my name, addy, phone, and the ISBN number of each work, but the pirate is guaranteed full anonymity! Hardly fair!

We may joke about piracy, but it's not funny to a mid-list writer struggling for sales. When the publisher sees our sales are down they don't offer a new contract--or if they do, it's for much less advance money.

One writer I heard of estimates she's lost over 8000.00 in royalties last year because her loving fans helpfully posted her books for free on these sites. What's really griping her is she has short stories up for FREE on her website and they took those too. The stories are to promote her website and thus her books, but the pirates didn't bother to put in a link, defeating much of the purpose of having the stuff up.

I'm not hijacking this thread about how piracy helps or hurts a writer, only that you can put all the copyright symbols and warnings you like on a page and there will always be a thief who thinks it's okay to boost your stuff.

OTOH-- Joe Bob Briggs said:

You don’t get widely plagiarized until you’re widely published--and then it doesn’t matter. Trust me on this.

Of course he said that before the Internet made piracy such a "fun" hobby for some.

Put in whatever protections you like, but be aware that there's always going to be a selectively blind joker who won't respect it.

Chances are good it won't be a pro writer, though. Unless your name is Cassie Edwards, pros tend to respect the works of others!

dpaterso said:

Not trying to sidetrack the discussion, but in the screenwriting world, screenwriters are strongly advised to register their scripts with WGA (at least) before sending them anywhere. Different practices for different systems, I guess.

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While no longer a practicing screenscribe, I still register outlines and synopses with the WGA. Gives me 10 years of protection for very little money.

dpaterso said:

Not disagreeing with any of the above, but registering your work can give you peace of mind.

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In the US at least, it's simply not appropriate to register your own copyrights for a book manuscript that you're hoping will be published by someone else. It will only cause trouble for the publisher if you do.

Remember that registering a screenplay with the WGA means registering it with a professional organization, not the US Copyright Office. There is no parallel organization in the US for writers of prose or poetry.

Why in the hey are you thinking about doing pre-marketing on a work that hasn't even sold, far less been scheduled?

Waste of time, waste of money, waste of effort.

For those who asked I put in Google Alerts.

http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en

I've several with key phrases like the title of the work and/or my name + download and/or torrent.

Some are daily, others are weekly, you get to pick.

Fortunately I don't have a common name or I'd be flooded. As it is there's a singer and a sports player with the same name so I get alerts for their stuff, too. Easy to delete.

But the first week turned up six sites that had my stuff up, all posted by the same person.

I really wish that fan would get a life--or at least post a link to my website!

Generally speaking, only published stuff gets pirated.

Harry Potter gets pirated all over the place.

Harry Potter Fanfic ... not so much.

Indeed!

Sure wish I had oh, say, one half of one percent of Rowling's sales for my own books. I could stop thinking about playing the lottery.

I was one of the ones victimized by redneckghettotech the other month.

Thank you, Uncle Jim, for helping to shut that one down! I owe you a lot of beers.

Some of these pirates have NO freakin' CLUE.

You also might wish to prepare yourself for a potential law suit from the actor in question's representatives.

Jerry B. Flory said:

The piece of work I'm finishing involves a real life movie star and several of the characters he has portrayed over his career. It is a novel and they are the imaginary friends of the MC.

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You're writing a novel. Why do you need to use a real person and real movie characters? If you're going to invoke imaginary friends, why not make the entire thing imaginary? Invent a main character with the characteristics you want, and invent a career with imaginary movies, etc. Much less trouble. And probably more fun for a writer.

caw

Honestly, I'd recommend fictionalizing the whole thing. This sounds like it has more legal headaches than it might be worth. That's just my opinion, though.

ETA: blacbird beat me to it!