Hi everyone apologies if the answer is available somewhere obvious on the site! When should one do the above? Before submission to an agent/publisher or only if there is a publishing deal agreed? Also, ahem, how does one do this? Thanks.
Hi everyone apologies if the answer is available somewhere obvious on the site! When should one do the above? Before submission to an agent/publisher or only if there is a publishing deal agreed? Also, ahem, how does one do this? Thanks.
Thanks everyone. really helpful.
It's also suggested that you can email to yourself, or in theory to anyone else, a copy of your work; this sets date and time, with the same result as posting it to yourself. Store it unopened to avoid accusations of tampering.
There have been cases of not just plagiarism, but the theft of entire works which have then been marginally altered and passed off by someone else as their own. In the world of e-publishing this is all too easy to do, and if you want to have any redress you do need to be able to prove your timeline, and the keeping of notes, previous drafts, or anything to do with the creation of that work would come in handy here. hard copy, unless it is posted as Louise says, is almost impossible to date.
The short answer is you don't need to do this. The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 gives you copyright in your own original work for a limited period of time (for a literary work that's life of the author plus seventy years from the end of the year in which the author died). You might wish to mark your work with a copyright symbol (the c in a circle; sorry, can't see how to do it on iPad), your name and the year in which you created it but you absolutely do not need to.
The longer answer, if you have concerns about whether your copyright might ever be challenged, is how you would go about proving it in that situation. There are companies which offer to "register" your copyright in return for a fee. They are not in any way official and have no legal force. Some will charge a one-off fee and some will charge you annually. Generally the payment will cover you only for "registration" but a few companies may offer help with legal costs should you ever need to assert copyright ie if someone infringes it or someone claims that they are the author.
You could equally send yourself a copy of your work by special delivery, which will have a date stamp on the envelope (make sure you leave the envelope unopened) or lodge a copy with your solicitor. This doesn't "prove" your copyright; it proves the work was in your possession at a particular date, which would go towards proving that you are the author. In my opinion, keeping drafts and copies, especially on your computer, would be just as effective and a lot cheaper.