Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for any advice I maybe able to get here. I wanted to know should I get my current novels' working title and plot copyrighted? I am around 3/4 into the novel and have shared two very small sections of it on this site. This book is very important to me as I have had this plot in my head (and certain edited sections of it on paper) for nearly 12 years but have not been able to complete it due to personal circumstances. At this moment in time my aim is to have my book published either by self publishing or going through a literary agent but I have been advised that by copyrighted my work in advance it would put me in a better/stronger position. If I was to do this how would I go about doing it and what kind of costs would I be looking at? Again thanks for any advice available, much appreciated :)
*Appreciate all replies to my query, no matter in which manner I've received them.
Aaliyah - you can't copyright the title of your book. Even if you could, there's no point. There are plenty of books out there with the same title.
You also can't copyright an idea, only your implementation of it.
The posting a copy to yourself thing - slightly pointless, although if you want to know more the term is "poor man's copyright". I believe it may have a legal basis in the UK, but not elsewhere. You can prove you wrote the book, yes? You've got notes and maybe files on your computer? That's your security.
Don't worry about your work being stolen. In the nicest possible way, nobody wants to do that and I bet you a dollar that somebody else has already had your idea and written their version of your book.
Thanks Emilie. Are there any particular websites that I could use to atleast Copyright the title of my book? As the websites I've been provided have atleast a minimum charge of £42 to copyright any kind of material. But I do like the idea of posting the manuscript to myself, very clever :)