Copyright page

Copyright is “the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something” according to Merriam Webster. You may reference facts, sources or other generally known bits of information in your Blog to Book Project as long as you give credit where credit is due. This information would be included in your Appendix (remember we talked about that?)

Once your book is published, you own the copyright to everything in the book. That means you can:

• Reproduce the work in a book or other form, like an ecourse.
• Benefit financially from proceeds of the work.
• Create works that build upon your work (translations, sequels, adaptations, etc).
• Display or perform your work (plays, Youtube videos, podcasts).

You own those rights. If anyone else uses your content for his or her own purposes, then you have the right to file a copyright infringement claim.

So say that your book, Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Blog Posts into a Book, appears on Udemy as a course. The course uses your book’s instructions and even direct quotes. Only you didn’t make that course and someone else is receiving money by presenting your hard work in a different format. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT! In this case, you’ll contact the course creator and Udemy, since they are hosting the course, and insist that it be removed.

Your copyright page comes right after the title page and just before the table of contents. The copyright expires between 50 and 70 years after an author’s death, depending on the country, and the work then becomes public domain, so it can be distributed by anyone.

Your copyright page should include:

• © symbol or “copyright.”
• Publication year
• Your name
• All Rights Reserved.
• Copyright notice
• Book editions
• ISBN Number (We’ll discuss this in more detail on another day.)
• Your website
• Permissions Notice if you use copyrighted information in your book.
• Credits to the book (cover designer, editor)
• Disclaimer (We’ll talk about disclaimers tomorrow.)

Assignment:

Create the rough draft of your copyright page.