As an author/writer, I automatically hold the copyright of my written work. I could just include "copyright by Susan Buffum" plus the date I self publish my work on a page in the book, but I wanted to go a little further to protect my work, so decided to apply for the copyright on my self-published books using the TX form to register my published work.
I have done this for every book I've self published, obtaining a registration number on a certificate with the date the book was registered. I've sent along two good copies of each book with the application which evidently go into the Library of Congress.
I have sent quite a few applications along with the $85 fee per book plus the two copies required...and have gotten my certificates in the mail anywhere from 6 to 10 months later (average is 8 months).
Today I received not one, but two separate emails from an examiner by the name of M. Day, Literary Division, Office of Registration Policy & Practices, United State Copyright Office.
The first was in regards to my application for The Hanging Man and Other Stories. This diligent examiner had been going over my application and looking through the copies of the book I'd sent with it. The examiner was writing "to clarify the extent of the copyright claim" after noticing that the artwork on the cover was drawn by me and credited to me inside in the text pages of the book. (Wicked observant examiner! I'm impressed!)
I was asked if my copyright claim actually extends to the cover artwork, and if so and the artwork had not been previously published or previously registered, asking me to authorize M. Day to add "2-D artwork" to my authorship statement.
I duly authorized M. Day to add the cover art to my claim. Sweet!
Email #2 was in regards to the self-published book Disturbing, which is an anthology with stories written by both me and my daughter Kelly. I really wasn't sure how to complete the form for this one with both of us jointly authoring the text portion.
I was asked to authorize the change of the word "stories" to "text" in the application, which I did.
M. Day then went on to explain we created a joint work. "A work is considered a joint work if the authors intended for their contributions to be merged into an inseparable whole. The authors of a joint work jointly own the copyright in each other's contributions and each owns an undivided interest in the work as a whole. This means that each author has a right to use or license the work. On the other hand, a work is not a 'joint work' if each author owns his/her contribution only."
I was surprised to hear from the copyright office, and happy I hadn't messed up my email address on the application as I sometimes do!
The emails were brief, courteous, helpful, and informative. They were easy to respond to. Issues were resolved quickly and satisfactorily.
So, yes, when you mail off the application, check, and copies of your book it does land in a real office where real people review your application and look through the printed pages of your book and take note of artwork and photographs on the covers.
It was a positive experience, and a learning experience today.
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