I haven't completely finished my book yet, I am in the early stages of illustrating the pages but have written a few drafts of the story, and I am feeling quietly confident that it could potentially be sucessful.
I will be sending some work off to publishers in time but I just wondered how is the best way to go about this? Should I get my work copyrighted? How do I go about this?
Thanks in advance.
Frankie
Ha ha, Jimmy, I don't know the answer to your question but it makes me think of that bit on receipts where it says 'this does not affect your statutory rights.' I always imagine someone clutching their receipt and shouting 'what about my statutory rights!'
Anyway, I digress, and this isn't helpful to Frankie at all.
So with regards to copyright of your work, if you send out samples to a publisher and they steal your work, a) they're a very shonky operator and b) they are breaking the law, as the copyright for your creative work belongs to you. There are several sites on the web (such as Writers Beware) that detail issues people may have had with publishers and agents, so it is always worth doing some research before sending your work to anyone - I imagine you'd be doing this anyway, as you will want to make sure you are targeting the right people.
I know lots of those tricks like sending a sealed envelope with your ms to yourself and never opening it, etc.My question is: What do authors actually do to be able to have the following in their books?
"The moral right of the author has been asserted, according to the Copyright Law of 1988."
I want to assert my moral right!
I think your question about copyrighting has been answered well in the advice section:
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/159/after-publication/rights-and-legal-advice/copyright-can-someone-steal-my-idea
There's lots of other advice, too, to help you prepare work to send to a publisher or agent. Good luck.