To copyright or not?

One of the first things new authors ask is how to copyright their material. It is not necessary to register the copyright in order to have protection in Canada. The symbol, author name and year give protection. Many authors want to register their book because they want the certificate that is issued. Some authors think that you should do this as a matter of course. Others believe that if your work is available only in Canada or your province or just your local community, that the expenditure is not necessary. Like many aspects of self-publishing, this is a personal decision.

Copyright protection begins when the work is created and ends 50 years after the death of the creator. It last for the lifetime of the author. It can be sold or gifted, which is why it is important for authors to read the fine print in contracts to ensuer they are not giving away their copyright. Never assign your copyright to a publisher, whether it be trade or subsidy. Copyright can also we willed to your heirs. This means that authors need to make sure their will is updated every time they create a new work and register it.

To copyright or not is a personal and business decision. I will discuss it in further detail in future posts.

My updated website goes live on October 5

Tomorrow my updated website goes live. We have been working on it for some time and finally we have it completed. We want to change the focus from selling Self Publishing in Canada (ISBN 978-1-894208-00-0) to being a destination for self-publishers worldwide.

In my experience, most writers who either have self-published or plan to tend to work in solitude. We want to give you a place to go for help. We will be offering a Free Report on Getting Your Book Into Print and a monthly newsletter. We keep current on what is happening in the publishing industry because it affects the independents too.

Stop by www.selfpublishing.ca and check out the updated website.