Lesson 12

Copyright. Lesson 12
 Welcome back. And so, how was your weekend? Eventful, I hope. With this health scare, I hope you have had time to pursue your passion, like I have.

I said we would discuss copyright. This is so simple now that I have done it wrong a few times. My professors handed out a paper and said it only cost forty-five dollars. I looked it up online and up popped a whole bunch of junk, and I chose the wrong one. It was a law company. $135 later and I had my very first copyright for my very first book. I then submitted it to a vanity publisher which included a copyright filing fee of $350. Being that it was included, there were no refunds or discounts. They said they would have to resubmit it once their own editor makes all the corrections.
I did my next set of books as a twenty-one book series. This I did myself even though the law company would give me a fifteen percent discount on the next. I found the true government website and all twenty-one books, being a series, submitted all at the same time, was one set price. A $95 setup fee, and a $65 filing fee.
I’m not going to argue over the cost that they said, because they are the government, the true agency, and it was 21 books for the price of one. I even called them and corresponded by email, and they were so nice and very helpful explaining how to send them a copy of the manuscript through the computer, which at the time I knew nothing about PDFs, or copy and paste, right click and control.
They have a form to fill out on their site with a help chat line. They also give you a phone number which is only available between 9 AM and 5 PM Eastern standard Time.
You might ask yourself, why should I? I wrote it, it’s mine. Who would steal my book? If the publishing houses provide a copyright, why should I pay twice? These are all excellent questions. To this I answer; “I Don’t Trust, Anyone.” I don’t even like to give out my work to beta readers and editors, but we all have to take some risks.
My professor copyrighted her idea and turned it into a screenplay for a show, being that she used to work in Hollywood. They rejected her idea and she walked away. Later, those same people tweaked her screenplay and basically stole her idea, and aired ‘Murder She Wrote.’ My professor didn’t even get a dime. As a matter of fact it cost her attorney’s fees to try.
Could you imagine, your book sitting down by mine in a pile of 5 million books. Someone pushes the pile over and grabs your book. They like it. They make a few changes, the characters names, rewrite a couple scenes, and claim it as their own. Then it turns up on TV. You see this guy on Oprah bragging about his new TV show which all started from his book, and you stop and say, “Hey, I wrote that!” But yours was never copyrighted, he went one step further and did.
You might say publishing companies have ethics and they will copyright for you, and why should I pay twice? I would say, Peace of Mind, I guess. Ninety-nine times out of the hundred, nobody wants your work, just your money. Publishing houses review 7000 manuscripts every month. They have in-house writers, best-selling authors that they financially back. What’s to stop them from taking your story that they found and liked, reject it, then give it to their in-house writers to tweak it, and promote it through a best-selling author? As I said before, I don’t trust anyone.
How about sending a signed copy to yourself through the mail, stamped, and dated, and never opened? That will prove when I wrote it. That used to work years ago. It was called the poor man’s copyright, but with lying, cheating lawyers who get paid big bucks by crooked people, put their spin on things, and call everything a fraud, or that’s just an old piece of paper, they will not hold up in today’s courts.
I haven’t had these problems that I have heard or read about, but never want to either. Another thing I have read was a headline, but didn’t read its content, because I had to go to work, was that even with the US copyright, you may still have problems if your content is released in other countries. It can be stolen and sold. It’s a big world out there, and if your book is on a shelf in Germany, how would you know? As I said, I didn’t read the article. I was too scared. Again, maybe, it only happens to one out of a thousand. So, I’ll cross that bridge if or when I get there. Then I’ll let you know. For now, that’s all I have. It’s up to you if you want to trust everyone who sees your work, or wait for a publishing company, but if you publish yourself, I highly advise you to also copyright it yourself.
Remember, if you have a series, they can all be put under one copyright. This will be at one set cost as though it was one book. If you add to that series later with another book or two, there will be an additional cost, but it should be at a lower rate, because you don’t have the filing fee.
I have spent money, and I have paid double on one book, three overpaid to vanity publishers, twenty-one books under one copyright, three added to a series, one added to a series, and a screenplay. All for my own peace of mind.
Next week we can talk about the things being said about ISBN, and why you should get your own. So enjoy your week wherever you are and
 
Happy Writing from rickkurtisbooks.com