Protecting Your Book Copyright
Protecting your book:
how copyright works in the UK
An important issue when you’ve put your time and energy into writing a book is protecting it from plagiarism. When you’ve written your book, it’s crucial to protect your intellectual property to avoid having someone else claim your work. Keep reading to discover how copyright works in the UK.
Congratulations – you’ve finished writing your book! The next step is to ensure that nobody other than you can claim it as their own.
The good news is that there’s nothing you have to do to copyright an original work. As soon as you commit your work to paper – or whatever medium you’re using – you have ownership over that work.
In countries such as the US, there’s a registration process whereby authors pay to have their book entered into a register, which formally recognises that work as their own. In the UK, it’s a little different and there’s no need to do this; in fact, no such register exists. Instead, copyright is automatically assigned to your book.
This means that authors in the UK don’t have to pay to register copyright. Nor do you have to worry about your rights when sending your book over to be reviewed by an editor or publisher.
So, how do you prove that your work is your own?
These days, it is much easier to prove that you authored a piece of work. With most work being carried out electronically, we naturally leave a digital footprint, making it easy to trace the origins of your writing in the event that ownership of your work is contested.
Formerly, in order to prove copyright to a piece of work, authors would send a copy of their manuscript to themselves through the post. Through the postal system, the envelope would be date stamped; the envelope would remain unopened once it was delivered, thus proving that you’re the copyright holder. This rudimentary method served as a cheap and easy way to prove that you authored your book, although it’s not infallible and may not hold up in a court of law.
Nowadays there’s a similar way to protect your work by sending it digitally (by email) to yourself, providing a record of when the work was created.
These steps are not necessary though; they may simply give you an extra layer of protection if your copyright were to be infringed.
What does copyright mean?
Copyright is the legal protection of your book from being copied or having someone else claim authorship. It falls under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
It gives you, the author, control of how your book is used. However, you may grant a license of that work to a third party, such as a traditional publisher – transferring over to the publisher the rights that you have as copyright holder, and therefore limiting the rights that you, the author, has over the book for the duration of your contract with them. To all intents and purposes, the publisher becomes the copyright holder and can sell or use your book as they see fit. This is the pay-off for enjoying all the benefits that come with publishing a book the traditional way.
Similarly, when you publish a book on Amazon Kindle, you’re licensing the platform to publish and distribute your book. However, when you publish through Kindle, as soon as you unpublish the book, any rights they had to sell it are removed.
Copyright means that your book can’t be copied, printed, sold, performed or passed off as somebody else’s work. Importantly, it also means that you keep all rights to royalties from the sale of your book.
Additionally, under the moral rights conferred by the copyright law, your work can’t be subjected to ridicule – although there are exceptions, such as the use of parody, and this doesn’t exclude reviews of, or reporting on, your book. Teaching, study and non-commercial research are also allowable under copyright law.
In the UK, copyright usually lasts for the lifetime of an author and for 70 years following their death. After this time, the work goes into the public domain.
Copyright works both ways. It also applies to other people’s work; so, if you’re hoping to include a quote from another author in your book, you’ll have to obtain permission from the copyright holder. This could be a publisher or the author of the work. And, likewise, if you’re using somebody else’s illustration or photograph in your book or for the cover, you’ll have to obtain permission first, and this could mean paying a fee. Don’t get caught out by copyright laws!
International copyright
In most countries – with only a few exceptions, such as Iran and Iraq – your work is copyright protected by an international agreement which preserves your rights abroad. One such agreement is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
As mentioned previously, authors in the U.S., usually prove copyright by way of a centrally-held, government-based register, for which a fee applies. Even though you, as the author, are automatically copyright holder of an original piece of work, if you’re planning to market your book in the U.S. it’s advisable to register it on this database, otherwise you won’t be allowed to exercise your rights to sue for infringement.
What about co-authored books?
It is possible for a book to have multiple copyright holders. When writing a book with a co-author, it’s important to have a discussion about each individual’s contribution to the book and if the book is licensed to a third party, both authors should be in agreement.
If you decide to apply formally for copyright ownership, both parties must be involved.
It’s sensible to seek further advice if you’re the co-author of a book. A good place to start is the Society of Authors.
The copyright page inside your book
Pick up a book and you’ll notice that inside it is a copyright page. It is standard practice, and recommended, to include this in your book as a statement of intent rather than to confer copyright on the work. Having a copyright page notifies people that you are aware of your rights as the original author of the work, and that you’re prepared, if necessary, to pursue legal action against someone who’s infringed the copyright.
The copyright page should contain the © symbol, with the statement, “All Rights Reserved.” You can also add your contact details so that people who wish to use your work, or parts of it, can write to you to obtain permission.
When you publish with Wellness Books, you retain all rights to your work; we’re simply here to facilitate the publishing process. There’s no contract and you can select which services you want, from proofreading and editing to cover design and typesetting – or you can leave the entire process in our hands.
Want to find out more about publishing your book? Contact Wellness Books by emailing info@wellnessbooks.co.uk for more help and assistance.