What is copyright?
Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary describes copyright as:
Noun
The exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)
How do I obtain copyright ownership of my work?
In Canada, you own the copyright to your work as soon as you create it. There is no legal requirement to register it.
How do I protect my copyright?
This is, perhaps, the real question writers are asking when they refer to the copyright of their books, and the answer is: by proving you are the true copyright owner of the work.
Protecting your copyright can be done in a very straightforward and cost-effective way. It's as simple as sealing a copy of your completed work in an envelope and mailing it to yourself via registered mail. When the date-stamped package is returned to you, keep it sealed and stored in a fireproof container. In the unlikely event that someone else ever tries to claim copyright ownership of your work after the fact, you will have the date-stamped proof of your ownership to fall back on.
Polished Publishing Group (PPG)
Calgary, AB
Comments
There's more to it than that. You've got first rights, second rights, reporgraphy rights, moral rights electronic rights. You have rights to your unsold manuscript but when you try to get it published you need to better understand what rights you are selling and what you are keeping.
As soon as you write a manuscript, you own all the rights to it. You're talking about how trade publishers divvy up rights if they agree to publish a writer’s manuscript. While you are correct that writers need to understand the publishing contracts they are entering into, that is way down the road. This article deals with the initial, original copyright ownership of the work. It belongs to the writer 100%.
Another point worth mentioning is that writers do not have to give up any rights to their books if they employ a supportive self-publisher like the Polished Publishing Group (PPG) to help them publish.
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