They Stole Your Book
Now What?
Ruth Ann Nordin
They Stole Your Book Now What? - Smashwords Edition
Published by Ruth Ann Nordin at Smashwords
Copyright © 2011 by Ruth Ann Nordin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Photo © Copyright 2011 Shutterstock Images LLC, All rights reserved-used with permission.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Purpose of this Book
Chapter Three: My Story as a Victim of Copyright Infringement
Chapter Four: US Copyright FAQs (Knowing Your Rights)
Chapter Five: Steps to Take if Your Book Gets Stolen: The Easy Way
Chapter Six: A Note on Pirated Sites, Amazon and Smashwords
Chapter Seven: Getting the Stolen Book Removed: The Hard Way
Chapter Eight: How to Register a Copyright in the United States
Chapter One
The Purpose of this Book
I recently went through a situation where someone stole three of my books and put them on Amazon to sell. I know firsthand the frustration and anger that goes into being a victim of copyright infringement. It drains all creativity, and if you’re like me, it’ll make you sick to your stomach. When someone steals your book, they are violating you.
A book is much more than words on paper; it’s a part of us. We put our heart and soul into our books because books stem from us. Without us, our books wouldn’t exist. This is what makes the creative arts so meaningful and personal. Unless we put an aspect of ourselves into our work, it falls apart. As each painting is unique when the painter does his/her job, our books are unique because they are our words with our vision. So yes, when someone steals your book, they are violating a part of you.
I wrote this book so that others who might find themselves in the same situation I was in can have information they can use to get their stolen books removed from the site they’re on. I’ve gone through the easy way of getting a book removed and the hard way (and when I say hard, I mean that I had to get a copyright lawyer because Amazon wasn’t listening to me).
In order to make this information easily accessible, I’m making this book free. Some things are more important than money, and protecting our books from crooks is one of them. Ideally, no one will need the information in here, but in case you do, I hope you find this resource helpful and that you get that stolen book removed as soon as possible.
Chapter Two
Why You Should Keep Your Books For Sale on Amazon and Smashwords (and Smashwords’ Distribution Channels)
Since I’ve gotten a few recommendations to take down my books from Amazon and Smashwords in order to prevent someone from stealing my books in the future, I thought I’d answer this before I continue with the content of this book.
First, the only way to prevent copyright infringement completely is to never put your book up on the Internet. When you publish a book on any site, you run the risk of it getting stolen because there are people out there looking for an easy way to make money off of the hard work of others. So, you have to weigh the pros and cons on whether or not to publish your book at all.
Second, I’ve been told to stop pricing any of my books at “free”. So, should you put a price tag on everything you write? This is up to you, of course, but I won’t let fear of a book being stolen stop me from using the most powerful marketing tool I’ve got. Free has worked better for me than anything else I’ve done to promote my books. I get emails about twice a month where people say they downloaded one of my free books and liked it so much, they bought all of my other books. Yes, free can work to your advantage, and I find people respond better to a free book than a sample of a book.
Now, I’ll add the disclaimer that it’s best to keep the free books you use for marketing purposes to a minimum. Why? Because I’ve also gotten enough emails and reviews complaining that I dare price a book at $2.99 or $3.99, as if I am the reason these people can’t buy groceries this month. There is a group of people out there who forget that authors have bills to pay. They assume writing is a hobby and shouldn’t be rewarded with monetary payment. I’m fine with giving out a couple free books as a way to let readers take a risk-free chance on me, but all free books….that’s a huge mistake that will bite authors in the butt in the long run. (Hence why I still get these reviews and emails with the “pricing” complaints.)
Third, I will still use Amazon and Smashwords (and using Smashwords’ distribution channels). Why? Distribution. If I limited myself to just one sales channel, I’d greatly limit my income. It took me three years of heavy book promotion to get to the point where I’m earning a living wage, and I’m not backing out now. Since you risk a theft as soon as you put your story up on the Internet, I see no reason to limit your sales potential. While some authors rise to the top quickly (like Amanda Hocking), others take longer. I sat on my books at Amazon and Smashwords for some time before anything happened. Now that something is happening, why would I let fear hold me back? I now have the number of a good copyright lawyer, and I’m registering my copyright with everything I put on the Internet. Those are layers of protection that I’ve decided to employ.
Final note:
You can’t stop every bad thing from happening, but that’s no reason to stop taking risks and enjoying life. It’s better to try and fail than to never try at all. If you have a passion for writing and wish to publish your books, then don’t let fear of what might happen stop you from pursuing your dream.
Chapter Three
My Story as a Victim of Copyright Infringement
In early June 2011, I decided to make a price change on Smaswords and Amazon. I changed most of my full-length novels from $0.99 to $2.99. Note: Amazon makes the change when it feels like it, so I went through the Amazon site to see if the price change took effect yet.
I noticed Falling In Love With Her Husband was already priced at $2.99. I thought that was weird since the other books I put to $2.99 were still showing at $0.99. I checked the sales rank and saw it was at #51,000 in the Kindle store and thought, “Seriously? I just priced it at $2.99 and it’s already that bad?” Usually, that book is around #6900 in the Kindle store as a $0.99 book. (For anyone who doesn’t know, the sales rank is a lot like golf; the lower your “score,” the better.)
You see, the thief who stole Falling In Love With Her Husband used my name, my cover, my description, and the same title, so it was hard to tell it was a stolen book. But then I noticed the cover was blurry. Then I scrolled down and noticed it was published on June 6, 2011. Now, I knew this wasn’t my doing because that wasn’t when I published it.
From there I typed variations of my name into the Amazon search engine. I typed “r nordin,” “ann nordin”, “r a nordin”, etc. I noticed two other stolen books on Amazon. One was renamed “Best time” (which is my book titled “A Chance In Time”). The thief used “ruth ann nordin” (lower case on the name intentional) as the author and priced it at $3.65. The thief used the first paragraph of my book as the description instead of using my description.
The third stolen book I noticed was “The Path to Christmas” which only a nine-page story (including the title page, Smashwords copyright notice, and the explanation that it was originally featured in my book An Inconvenient Marriage). The stolen copy had this information still in it. The person used “ruth nordin” as the author. The thief was asking $21.99 for it.
Quick side note: I think Amazon didn’t take “The Path to Christmas” down when I notified them of the copyright infringement because I only published it at Smashwords. They removed the other two books within two days of being notified. My suggestion is to make sure all of your books are also on Amazon.
You can see the screen shots of the stolen books compared to my legitimate books at this link: http://selfpubauthors.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/overview-of-my-experience-with-copyright-infringement-including-how-i-finally-got-the-third-book-removed/
I figured the worst thing I could do was sit by and do nothing. One thing was glaringly obvious to me. Whoever stole those books had plans to steal more. “The Path to Christmas” was published on June 3, Falling In Love With Her Husband was published on June 6, and “Best time” was published on June 12. I have about twenty-five books in my back list, so you can imagine if I sat around and did nothing about this, I could end up with a lot of stolen books I needed to get Amazon to remove.
Something I’ve learned in life is that if you want something done, you have to act. I will tell you what I did to get the three stolen books removed. Amazon took down two of my books immediately, but I had to get a copyright lawyer to contact them in order to get the third one removed. So I’ll approach this from the angle of the “easy” way to get books removed and the “harder” way, just in case you have to do more than notify a place like Amazon that your book was stolen.
Chapter Four
US Copyright FAQs
(Knowing Your Rights)
This is not a complete list of United States Copyright information, but I figure it’s a good foundation. If you need to contact a copyright lawyer, you’ll be better off if you’ve done your homework first. The best source comes directly from the government website regarding copyright in your country. Plus, you never know when a law will change, so you want to keep current. At the time I am writing this (July 2011), these are the US copyright laws.
Please note: I am not familiar with copyright laws outside the United States.
This information is taken from the US Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/.
1. Your work is protected as soon as you write it. So as soon as you put words on paper, it’s protected.
2. You do not have to register your copyright to be protected. So why register it? In case you need to bring a lawsuit for infringement, you’ll need to register.
3. If you register your copyright up to five years after publication, it is prima facie evidence in court.
4. Poor man’s copyright won’t protect you in court. This is where you mail yourself the manuscript but never open it. If you have a lawsuit, this won’t help you.
5. You cannot copyright a name, title, slogan, or short phrase. In some cases, you can get those trademarked.
6. You can register an unpublished work.
7. You can register your blog. Just make sure you don’t delete any posts. Make sure the date and time is on each post in case you need proof you wrote the post.
8. You can preregister a work, and this is especially useful if you have something like a first draft blog. But as mentioned in #7, you can register the blog and have your work protected that way instead.
9. If you wrote the book and made the cover or other illustrations that went into it, you can copyright those while you register your book.
10. You do not need to register your book again if you made minor changes to the book, like typos or other editorial fixes.
11. If your work has been stolen, the first thing you should do is register your copyright, unless you’ve already done it. The US Copyright Office does not handle legal matters. You will have to contact a copyright lawyer. When I contacted law enforcement about the stolen books, I was told to go to a lawyer first. So if your work wasn’t registered, do it immediately. The first lawyer I talked to told me to give Amazon one week to remove the books before contacting her again, at which time she said she would contact Amazon for me. So give Amazon (or the other site the stolen book might be on) one week before contacting a lawyer.
To further explain the situation, I am taking this directly off the US Copyright website:
If a work is registered prior to infringement or within three months of publication, statutory damages will be available as an option for monetary relief, and the recovery for attorney’s fees may be available. In addition, a registration made before or within five years of publication of the work provides a presumption of the validity of the copyright and the facts stated within the registration certificate. A certificate of registration (or a rejection of an application for copyright) is a prerequisite for U.S. authors seeking to initiate a suit for copyright infringement in federal district court. See Circular 1 Copyright Basics, and sections 410, 411, and 412 of the copyright law.
Here’s the link: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-infringement.html. (It’s under Enforcement)
Further down the same page, there is a recommendation to go to the FBI. When I contacted my local FBI office, they said to go to a lawyer first. So I would go to a copyright lawyer before contacting the FBI.
Chapter Five
Steps to Take if Your Book Gets Stolen: The Easy Way
The first thing I recommend is sending a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take down notice to the site where the stolen book is at. Here’s how it looks:
Attn: Administrator, _____________
Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A), this communication serves as a statement that:
(1). I am the exclusive rights holder for ___________: _________, _________, ___________; (put title of your book, the ISBN or ASIN, the publisher name, date of publication in those lines)
(2). These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon your site at the following URL: ___________ (this is a direct link) (use the link where the stolen book is at in that line)
(3) I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion is not authorized by the copyright holder, the copyright holder’s agent, or the law;
(4) Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the information contained in this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on the behalf of the exclusive rights holder for the material in question;
(5) I may be contacted by the following methods: __________ ; _________; or e-mail at __________; (use your mailing address, your phone number and email in those lines)
I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible. Thank you for your kind cooperation.
Regards,
_________, author and copyright holder (in the line, put your name)
__________ (your name, address, phone number and email address)
_________ (your website; if you don’t have a website then a blog where you post links to your books at should suffice)
****
Here’s what I used for “The Path to Christmas”. This is an example of how you might fill out this form (and the copyright lawyer I gave a copy to said it had everything in it).
Attn: Copyright Agent; Amazon.com Legal Department
Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A), this communication serves as a statement that:
(1). I am the exclusive rights holder for The Path to Christmas: 978-1-4581-1959-9, Smashwords, ; December 1, 2010; http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31912 (this is a direct link). I have notified Mark Coker, the founder and CEO of Smashwords about the stolen book that is on Amazon, which I mention in point (2) below so he is aware of the issue. I also never published this title at Amazon because it’s only 1227 words long and is too short, in my opinion, to put a price tag on.
(2). These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon your site at the following URLs:
This is a direct link to the US store: http://www.amazon.com/the-path-to-christmas-pdf-ebook/dp/B0054DW3GW/ref=sr_1_41?ie=UTF8&qid=1308927139&sr=8-41
This is a direct link to the UK store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/the-path-to-christmas-pdf-ebook/dp/B0054DW3GW/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1308926942&sr=8-21
This is a direct link to the DE store: http://www.amazon.de/the-path-to-christmas-pdf-ebook/dp/B0054DW3GW/ref=sr_1_33?ie=UTF8&qid=1308927052&sr=8-33
The ASIN of the stolen book is B0054DW3GW.
(3) I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion is not authorized by the copyright holder, the copyright holder's agent, or the law;
(4) Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the information contained in this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on the behalf of the exclusive rights holder for the material in question;
(5) I may be contacted by the following methods: Ruth’s address; Ruth’s phone; or e-mail at Ruth’s email;
I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible. Thank you for your kind cooperation.
Regards,
Ruth Ann Nordin, author and copyright holder
my address
my phone number
my email that I use when I publish with Amazon
~*~*~
After you send the DMCA take down notice, tell everyone you can about the stolen books. The point of doing this is to notify your readers and potential readers to avoid buying the stolen book. You don’t want to make life easy for the thief because if you do, he/she will feel at liberty to steal more of your books, if possible. My experience with Amazon taught me that it’s up to us, the authors of our work, to care enough about our books to protect them. It shouldn’t be that way, but sadly, it is. I don’t know what it’ll take for Amazon to set up a system of checks and balances.
To be fair to Amazon, there are so many books being uploaded a day that this might be a daunting problem. Thieves understand this and use it to their advantage. Also keep in mind that your thief might be outside the United States, and some countries don’t have copyright laws similar to those in the United States.
Let’s not make the thief’s life any easier than we have to. Make blog posts, share it on Twitter and Facebook, leave a 1-star review on the stolen book warning people it’s stolen, try to get other authors and your readers to help spread the information. I was very fortunate to have a huge support of authors and readers who spoke up on my behalf, and I’m grateful to them.
Besides Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, share your story on Kindleboards.com and the Amazon Meet Our Authors forum (http://www.amazon.com/forum/meet%20our%20authors/ref=cm_cd_topf_t?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2UYC1FC06SU8S). It was at these places that I learned about the DMCA Take Down Notice, got input on copyright laws in the United States (in addition to my own research), and found some people willing to leave a review on the stolen books where they reported them as stolen.
Blogging, Twitter, and Facebook are great tools for sharing information about the stolen book. There was a blogger who started a campaign on my behalf, which I am grateful for. It’s amazing how wonderfully authors will help each other out. The blogger who set up the campaign got some people to leave 1-star reviews on “The Path to Christmas” at Amazon and got the word out in a bigger way than I could. So utilize all of the social networking tools you can.
Chapter Six
A Note on Pirated Sites, Amazon and Smashwords
There are pirated copies of books on torrent sites being given away for free. Traditionally published books and indie published books show up on them. I don’t know if the time and energy is worth going after all of them because they are like weeds. Just when you think you have one plucked up, another springs up. I’m not for piracy. I’ve heard mixed reviews on people getting stolen books down and not getting those books down. In my opinion, since there are so many of these sites that exist, keeping after them can be a full-time job. Keep in mind you’re working with criminals who know they’re allowing stolen books on their sites without caring about it. I’ve decided not to worry about them.
But I do worry about sites like Amazon because that is where the thief is looking to make a profit off of authors’ work. You can’t stop everything that happens. You need to pick which battles you’ll fight, and I’ve decided to fight the battles that involve a paycheck. Amazon has a name to protect and this allows legal pressure to twist on their arm, should you need a copyright lawyer.
The reason I’m pointing out Amazon as much as I am is because according to the research I’ve done, Amazon is the one with the biggest problem of selling stolen books. I’m not saying it’s the only site that sells stolen books, but Amazon is huge and attracts a lot of thieves’ attention.
Some people think if they avoid Smashwords, they’ll be safe from theft. The truth is, as soon as you allow your book to be on the Internet, you are vulnerable to theft. The only surefire way to prevent theft is to never publish a book. I know I’ve said this before, but I feel it’s important enough to mention again.
Smashwords is a viable and attractive way to publish. For one, they distribute to multiple online bookstores on your behalf. Two, they have a process where they approve books. Three, I’ve heard authors give glowing reports on their interaction with the staff at Smashwords. Smashwords seems to have an “A” for caring about authors, and after what I went through, I see why. You see, I had two first draft blogs up with two books ready to publish in June. You can imagine my fear when I realized the thief who stole my books might publish what I had on my first draft blogs before I could. I contacted Smashwords to let them know what was going on and to let them know I had two books I planned to publish. Mark Coker, the CEO and founder of Smashwords, made sure no one was able to get those two books up on Smashwords and rushed through approving the two books for premium distribution. This helped to prevent theft on Smashwords, just in case the thief had followed my first draft blogs. I can say that I felt like I was being heard by Smashwords.
I felt like I was being heard the first time I contacted Amazon about Falling In Love With Her Husband and “Best time” since Amazon got back to me in two days and removed the books. However, for the third stolen book, “The Path to Christmas,” I didn’t feel like Amazon cared either way. Remember, I didn’t have “The Path to Christmas” on Amazon; I only had it published through Smashwords. I suspect that had something to do with Amazon ignoring me on that particular book. And this is where I had to push to get the stolen book removed from Amazon.
Chapter Seven
Getting the Stolen Book Removed: The Hard Way
In a nutshell, this is Amazon’s policy on reporting stolen books. This is taken from an email by KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) over at Amazon.
Hello,
If you believe your work has been used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our copyright agent the written information specified below. This procedure is exclusively for notifying Amazon that your copyrighted material has been infringed.
-An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
-A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;
-A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site, including the auction ID number, if applicable;
-Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
-A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
-A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
Amazon’s Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:
Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108
phone: (206) 266-4064
fax: (206) 266-7010
e-mail: copyright@amazon.com
Courier address:
Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109-5210
USA
If you believe your work is being violated on the Amazon.co.uk site, please follow the instructions here and submit a completed Notice Form:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1040616#infringement
So, what if you did what they asked, and Amazon didn’t take the book down? I first emailed Amazon about the third stolen book, “The Path to Christmas,” on June 21 when I noticed it. However, I failed to give the DMCA take down notice, so I did that on June 24. I still received no response. On June 28, I send the second email (forwarding the DMCA taken down notice I already sent) and said I’d be contacting a copyright lawyer on July 1 if they didn’t remove the stolen book. My aim was to be professional but firm.
This is what I wrote:
Dear Sir or Madam:
I emailed you last week regarding a stolen book at http://www.amazon.com/the-path-to-christmas-pdf-ebook/dp/B0054DW3GW/ref=sr_1_40?ie=UTF8&qid=1309293802&sr=8-40. Below is the email with the DMCA take down notice for you to remove the book from the Amazon US, UK, and DE sites. In the email below, I have all the necessary links that you should need to remove this book from your system.
This is a stolen book, and the person who put this up is in violation of Amazon's KDP's terms of agreement. They do not hold the necessary copyright and they don't have my permission to publish it. I want this book removed. On July 1, I will contact my copyright lawyer about this matter if this book is still available for sale on Amazon.
Please contact me as soon as you remove it.
Then I ended with my name, address, phone number and email. After that was the DMCA take down notice email I sent them on June 24, so they could see the paper trail I started.
Well, July 1 came and went. I did call a copyright lawyer who was out of the office for the July 4th weekend. I called the lawyer again on Tuesday (since July 4 was Monday), but I got no response. I waited another day before finding another lawyer. I made an appointment to meet with him that Friday, July 8.
For the record, the first lawyer never did call back, so if you end up contacting a lawyer who shows no interest in calling you back (which I find very unprofessional), drop that lawyer and find one who will take you seriously. You are the author of the book, and you have every right to be treated with respect. I wouldn’t recommend that first lawyer to anyone, but I’d recommend the second one in a heartbeat.
Anyway, I prepared for my meeting with the second copyright lawyer on July 8. I went in at 10am with everything I could think of. I took in Internet snapshots of the legitimate version on Smashwords and the stolen copy on Amazon. I took in the emails I sent to Amazon with the DMCA take down notice. I took in the actual nine-page ebook which I printed out. I took in An Inconvenient Marriage which was registered with the US Copyright Office back in 2008 and had parts of “The Path to Christmas” in it. I took in the US Copyright registration which is in the process of being registered. I took in my Kindle with a sample of the stolen copy where it had the Smashwords copyright information in it. I also studied up on US copyright laws, so I’d know my rights.
As it turned out, all the lawyer needed was my emails to Amazon with all of my information on the DMCA take down notice, and he took the snapshot of the legitimate copy on Smashwords. He didn’t ask for the copyright registration. However, I suspect if Amazon was going to fight him on it, he might have required the copyright registration at that point for further proof to Amazon it was stolen and I owned the rights to the book. (This is speculation, but I know I was asked if I registered the book when I called the first lawyer and when I made the appointment with the second one, so I suggest registering the book if you’re in the US for extra measure. It doesn’t hurt and only costs $35.)
The meeting with the lawyer took ten minutes, and he said he’d call Amazon later that morning. When I checked Amazon at 2:30 pm, the book was removed from Amazon.
If you’re having trouble getting Amazon to remove a stolen book, my suggestion is to get a copyright lawyer to call them on your behalf. Ideally, Amazon would have a system set in place to make theft as difficult as possible. Since they don’t, Amazon should remove the stolen book when they’re notified. With the access they have into our accounts (they have our bank information and social security numbers of US citizens–not sure what they do for those overseas), it should be easy enough to see whether we are “legit” or not. They should be able to go into the thief’s dashboard and inspect their personal information, too. Unless there’s some technicality I’m missing, this doesn’t seem like a complicated issue to me. But if you have a stolen book out there and it’s been a week or two since you contacted Amazon with the DMCA take down notice, I suggest visiting a copyright lawyer. It cost me $40 for thirty minutes to meet with him. I might have only used ten minutes of the thirty given to me, but that was the best $40 I ever spent because it got Amazon to remove the book.
Chapter Eight
How to Register a Copyright in the United States
Registering a copyright might not prevent someone from stealing your work, but if you have to talk to a lawyer, it helps to have it on hand. It, however, is not needed to go to a place like Amazon and give them the DCMA take down notice. You do own the copyright to your work when you write it. But after going through three stolen books, it’s nice to have the added proof that those books belong to you. Whether or not you register your book is up to you. In case you decide to, here are the steps I use to register my books. I file electronically, and the total price is $35.
1. Go to http://www.copyright.gov/eco/. This is the electronic filing url.
2. Click on this option: Login to eCO. The direct link should take you to http://www.copyright.gov/eco/notice.html.
3. Here you are warned to not give away private information, such as your social security number or driver’s license number since what you put on the registration will be public. Click on “continue to eCO.”
4. This will take you to the log in page. If you haven’t signed up at the US Copyright Office, you’ll have to do so in order to continue.
5. Once you log in, you will come to a dashboard where it shows your registration history. To the left are several options. You can check the status of your copyright registration, register a new work, and ask questions. For the purpose of this book, we want to “register a new claim” (which is under the blue ”Copyright Services” tab).
6. This is where you click “Start Registration” at the top. (If you click on Step 1, 2, or 3, it pulls up an FAQ explaining the process.)
7. This page is where you choose “literary work”(since we’re dealing with books) in the pull down menu at the bottom where it says “Type of Work.”
8. Press “Continue” and then you’ll come to the page where you’ll give your title. Click on “New*.”
A page will pop up where you will give the “Title Type” (which is “title of work being registered”) and then you’ll give the title of the book below it.
Then click “save” at the top which will take you back to the previous page. Then click “continue.”
9. Then you’ll come a “Has this work been published?” question. I typically register the same day I publish, so I click yes. From there, another screen will pop up which will ask you the year you completed the work, the date you published it, and the nation of first publication. That is all I fill out because I live in the US. There’s something for an international standard type and number, but that doesn’t apply to me so I’ve never used it. Click “continue.”
10. This is where you list the author of the work. There’s an “Add Me” button to the left. When you click this, you’ll notice that your name is filled in. If you have a pen name, here’s the place to put it. I do have a couple of pen names, so I put them in the “Pseudonym:” spot. Or you might want to be anonymous with your work but still register it, so here’s where you do that, too. I also add that I’m a US citizen and that I am living in the US. I don’t put in anything else. Click “save.”
On the next page, you’ll have to specify what you created. I only create the book, so I put “text.” Select whatever options apply to you. For example, if you also created your cover (as in took the picture, drew the picture, etc), you might want to click the artwork box as well. You can also copyright any illustrations that went into the book if you made those. Now click on “continue.”
11. This is where you claim the copyright. I use the “Add Me” button. If you do this, your name and address will appear. I don’t add anything else to this page. I click ”save” and then “continue.”
12. Here’s the limitation of claim page. I leave it blank. It looks like you’ll need to fill it out if this work has been registered already. Other than that, I know very little about this part. So leaving this page blank, I press “continue” and move on.
13. Rights and Permission information. This page is optional to fill in. Basically, it gives someone your contact information in case they want permission to use your work. I go ahead and choose “Add Me.” My name, phone number and address pop up. You can choose to add one or more things in this page for others to contact you. For example, if you only want to be contacted via email, you can leave everything else blank. Note that this page is optional. Click “continue.”
14. The next page is where you give your contact information in case the US Copyright Office needs to contact you. You can click “Add Me.” Click “continue.”
15. This page is where they will mail your registration certificate, so you’ll want to choose “Add Me.” Click “continue.”
16. This page is the “Special Handling” page. Leave it blank! If you fill it out, you’ll owe $760 in addition to the $35 copyright fee. You don’t want to pay any more than you have to.
17. The next page is the Certification page where you verify you are who you say you are.
18. Next, you can review everything you entered to make sure you filled out what you wanted to. If everything checks out, click on “Add to Cart.”
19. After that, check everything again to make sure it looks right before you click “Checkout.”
20. You can pay through a Deposit Account or a ACH/Credit Card. I choose the ACH/Credit Card option.
21. Click “OK” if you want to continue.
22. I pay with my credit card, but you can also pay from your bank account. The first option is to pay from your bank account. The second option is to pay with a credit card.
23. Once your payment goes through, you’ll get a message saying your payment was successful. From here, click “continue.”
24. You’ll want to electronically upload your book (I’m assuming), so click on “upload deposit” under the “Electronic Deposit Upload” box. This will take you to a pop up window where you download your book. You can upload a variety of formats of your book.
.doc (Microsoft Word Document)
.docx (Microsoft Word Open XML Document)*
.htm, .html (HyperText Markup Language)
.pdf (Portable Document Format)
.rtf (Rich Text Document)
.txt (Text File)
.wpd (WordPerfect Document)
.wps (Microsoft Works Word Processor Document)
25. Look for your book with the “Browse” option. Type the title of the book in the line under the “Browse” option. Then upload your book. If your upload is successful, you’ll get a message saying so.
26. When you go to the “Home” tab at the top right corner of the site, you should see the newly uploaded book in your dashboard. You should also get an email with your registration number and a receipt for your payment.
That’s all there is to it.
Chapter Nine
I wish you luck in getting the stolen book removed. I know it’s a painful experience to go through, and the feeling of vulnerability doesn’t truly go away. Once you have a book stolen, you become aware of how susceptible the Internet is to theft. Like I wrote earlier, don’t let fear hold you back from pursuing your dreams. The best weapon we have is knowledge, and it is my hope this book will serve as a foundation from which you can move forward.
Added August 3, 2011:
Why You Might Want to Register Your Copyright
After I finished writing this book, I learned of an author who posted his short stories on a blog but didn’t register the copyright. A thief decided to take his stories and registered the copyright as if he wrote them. Then this thief published the stories to get money. I’m sure a lawyer can assist in this scenario since the stories would be dated on a blog, but the author decided he didn’t want the legal battle.
My opinion is that it’s better to spend the $35 to register your work as soon as it goes public (or even before, if you’re led). It’s just $35. I’ve heard the argument on how expensive $35 is, but when you think of the alternative, it’s worth digging up the cash to get it done. You might still have a legal battle on your hands, but if you got that email with the date you registered your copyright, it will help. It might also help you press criminal charges, depending on which country the thief lives in.