Important Copyright Information All Writers Should Know

Obtaining a copyright is the best way for a writer to protect his or her work. The advantage of a copyright is that one's original work is stored at the Library of Congress. Information showing that the writer is the author of the original work is stored in the copyrights office's information system and can be easily retrieved. So after completing a literary or dramatic work, such as a book or script, I strongly recommend that a writer apply for a copyright before attempting publican and soliciting movie producers. Following is some information concerning copyrights that writers should know.

Your Copyright Date
Due to the poor economy a record number of people are attempting to write books and scripts. They hope to create that literary or dramatic work that will make them rich or at least provide a sustaining income. Because of this record number of writers, the copyright office has been flooded with requests for copyright registrations, and there has been a backlog in processing. The processing time which was 3 to 5 months is now 16 months.

However, after submitting your work and registration form, contact the copyright office and inquire when your work was received. They will tell you the exact day the work was received and give you a file number. If your work is published or developed before a copyright certificate of registration comes use the date the work is received as your copyright date. This is legitimate because the copyright date in the certificate of registration is the date the work was received by the copyright office.

Copyright Submission and Fees
Works can be submitted to the copyright office two ways:
1. The original way of submitting a work is by snail mail. Simply mail together ones work, the registration form ( which can be downloaded from the copyright offices website), and the registration fee. The registration fee for works sent by way of postal mail is $45.00. However, as of August 1, 2009 the fee will increase to $50.00.

Click here for more details: www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html

2. An easier and less expensive way to submit works to the copyright office is through electronic filing. The copyright office provides a way to perform electronic filling through its website. The registration fee for electronic filling is only $35.00. I highly recommend electronic filling. It's easy, and snail mailing costs are avoided.

Click here for more details on electronic filing: www.copyright.gov/eco/

Proofread and Edit First
Before sending a completed book or script for a copyright, a writer should proofread and critique his work. This should be thoroughly done because if you make changes that are different from the original work the new work should be registered for a copyright. Unfortunately when a work is registered over again another registration fee has to be paid.

As a writer I have gone through the copyright process several times. So I hope this information will be helpful to aspiring writers. Following is the website to the U.S. copyright office.

Click on it to learn even more information: www.copyright.gov/

Query Letter Service
In the resources section of this article click on http://domainproofreadcritiquescreenplayblog.blogspot.com/ (this website can only be found if you use google) This is the website to a blog that provides editing and critique service for screenplays.

If you need help with righting a query letter for a book or screenplay/script this service offers to write the letter for you. The fees charged are very reasonable. You can directly contact the person be email who rights the query letters by click this email address: ahicks4298@msn.com