So, you now have your book and you're lacking a self publishing copyright page? Find out how exactly you can write a self publishing copyright page for your self-published book.
Today's question has three answers and the third answer is a secret as to why your copyright page doesn't matter. First, let's get right on into it.
The question of the day that was sent in is how to write a self publishing copyright page? That is something that everybody wonders when we open up any book that we're reading.
We will always notice we have a title page. We are going to have a copyright page. There may be a page for a disclaimer in the book.
Many pages are included in all books. And these are great things that we are going to need to complete if we are going to self-publish a book.
So, how exactly are we going to fill out this page? There are some things you are going to need to know exactly about this whole copyright page. Before we get into that, check out my free Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist to help you get started right away.
Check out this related article: Can You Sell Directly To Readers?
Let's get right on into it. When I first started self-publishing, I felt quite a bit overwhelm. I saw all of the different pages you needed to include in your book.
I didn't know exactly where to start. It seemed very confusing. Do I include this or include that? What are the consequences if I include it?
I looked on the web and I saw other books that I had been reading. I used some of their material, their copyright page. I also followed the samples that they had and used it for my own publishing.
Over some time, I began to understand that some things matter and some things that don't matter so much. And why they matter can be a little bit confusing.
So, let's get into the answers. The first thing is if we're going to do our self publishing copyright page, we are going to want to write 'Copyright' and then the 'C' symbol. Some countries don't recognize the copyright symbol so you may write out the word copyright.
You're In Control
In addition, you'll have the year and you'll also have the owner of the copyright. Then, you can also include all rights reserved, no part of this book may be reproduced or issued in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations.
In a book review, this can also be added to try to protect the document. Now, the secret is that all of this work doesn't matter that much. There is a couple of reasons why.
The first reason it's because when you publish the book out there, whenever it's put out into the public and connected with you, you already have control. You have a copyright on it.
People cannot just go ripping off your material. So, if you go and create a blog and you put out some content there, you have a claim.
Even if you don't have a copyright claim stated directly again on that particular writing that you've put out there. People are not allowed to go and rip off what you wrote. And then use it on their own websites and start making money and commercial value out of that.
So, you are already under protection the second you put your ideas into writing and put it out there. Then you have another issue. This is the other reason why it doesn't matter so much.
Check out this related article: What Is A Good Word Count?
It is because if somebody is going to steal from you and they are going to take your works and try to resell it or try to put it out on the internet for free, generally these people are not going to have a lot of money.
What are you going to do? Are you going to sue them? Is that what the plan is?
Then the question is how much will it cost you to use the lawyers that are necessary to bring about a lawsuit against those people? If in reality, they don't have much money in the first place.
The second thing is, how many sales are they undercutting? Getting your books to sell can be a challenge already even when you have ads and you're on the right website.
A Professional-Looking Book
Most people who want the book are not going to be trying to figure out illegal ways to go about getting your book. If you are a famous author, then of course it is useful and beneficial to protect your writing.
But by that point, you are already published by a major publishing house. They have a whole series of lawyers. And even then, those books are usually easily available by people who are posting those books.
It's impossible to figure out where they are in the world. Also, they have no money so there is no value in suing them. You might think that you would make an example out of them by suing them.
But the other people who would be ripping you off as well, they are not paying any attention to that. So the lesson would have to be learned all over again for each and every person.
Check out this related article: How To Get Rated By Renowned Authors?
Some people describe this entire situation as a Mac Wrecking Ball Effect. As one comes up and though you smash it down, another one comes up and then you go after that one. And eventually, you are just losing money in the process.
If your goal is to make money then you are going to want to be careful with this particular process. So, you are not going to want to be doing this at all.
The thing is, we should do it just because it's out of best practice. A good idea in general to do, to have the page in there. Just so that for some people they may look at it as a warning.
So that if they were unaware of the fact that it was protected, they wouldn't rip you off. Secondly, it makes the book look more professional to include the same pages that other major books include.
It makes it look like a professional book and your self-published book should be as professional as possible. But if you think that you are going to save money or stop people or something like that, it's going to have no impact, whatsoever.
Because the probability that it is worth your while to sue somebody who is stealing the content of your book, it is usually not the case, unless the people are stealing.
But if they are stealing from you, obviously they're not able to earn money in a way that would be a legal fashion. And secondly, only if you are a major author, does it pay off?
What about you, what have you found? Have you found it useful to include a copyright page? Has it been very tricky for you to come to figure out the different elements and parts that are necessary for writing self publishing copyright page?
Let me know below in the comments and check out my other blogs and videos that answer your self-publishing questions.