Should I Copyright My Manuscript?

You’ve just put the finishing touches on your book and are about to send it off to an editor, a literary agent, or maybe even a publishing house. Seemingly countless hours of thought and sweat went into your novel or nonfiction book, and it’s pretty good stuff, if you do say so yourself. But then a dreadful thought comes over you: “What if some slimeball tries to steal my work and pass it off as his own?”

Maybe it’ll be an editor reading it, maybe a literary agent who sees a lot of money potential in the storyline, maybe an unscrupulous publisher or Hollywood film producer who envisions really big bucks and doesn’t mind cutting you out. After a minute you tell yourself, “I’m probably just being paranoid, but…what if?”

You are right about one thing: A copyright is invaluable. It provides you and your offspring with intellectual property rights.

But you need not purchase a copyright. Under United States copyright law, anything you write is automatically copyrighted to you the moment you commit ink to paper or keystroke to computer screen. That copyright is good for 70 after you die. So if you’re 30 years old and die at 90, your copyright is good for a total of 130 years, or sometime into the 2140s. So it pays to live a long life – your copyright will last longer!

Because of this, you need not place the © symbol on your unpublished manuscripts either. In fact, most literary agents, publishers and editors view it as an indication that you’re an amateur. That can work to your detriment.

Once you publish the work, however, a © symbol should appear on the book’s title page. Simply use: © Your Name, Year (ex: © Rob Bignell, 2016).

In addition, you don’t need to register your copyright, though doing so can help make proving your claim easier in court should someone actually plagiarize your book. American citizens can register their book at the U.S. Copyright Office (Library of Congress).

Still, there is a very remote chance that someone might copy your work and claim it as their own. What then? Well, copyright symbol or not, you’ll have to prove it in court.

Finally, the rules listed here only apply in the United States. Even if you’re an American citizen, if you publish your book in another country (such as the United Kingdom or Australia), different copyright laws pertain.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:


No Closed Doors: Accessible vs. Assessable

If you want to get your foot into the publishing world’s door, you’ll want to know the difference between accessible and assessable. These two words often are confused because of their similar pronunciations and spellings. Accessible means easily entered, approached or obtained. For example: Our building is accessible by wheelchair. By the way, you don’t need to place “easily” before “accessible”; to be accessible implies ease. Assessable is a quality of something for which the value, significance or extent of can be estimated or determined. For example: Among the assessable elements of writing are diction and a consistent point of view. ______________ My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published. Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Five Great Quotations about Fiction

“Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.” – Mark Twain

“The good ended happily, the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” – Oscar Wilde

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” – Stephen King

“Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it guess work. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.” – Margaret Culkin Banning

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Writing Problem SOLVED: People Keep Interrupting Me while I’m Trying to Write

Every time you sit down to write, inevitably you end up saying, “If only no one were around!”

Distractions from emails to “Can I have a cookie?” and from phone calls to “Honey, could you help me with this?” always seems to keep you from spending your writing time actually writing.

Well, no more. If you ever plan to get better as a writer let alone finish that novel, you’ll need to make your writing time inviolable.

Fortunately, there are a lot of steps you can take to avoid writing time interruptions.

Set your boundaries
Politely make clear to those who interrupt you that you need to focus on your writing for x minutes each day and that you would appreciate their support. To emphasize your boundary, you may want to close the door if possible and even hang a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign if necessary.

Politely enforce your boundaries
Inevitably, some people will test your “no interruption” rule. Politely but assertively remind them that this is your writing time and that you will take care of what they need when the session is over. With young children, you may need to offer positive reinforcement, such as gold stars or stickers for each time you are not interrupted.

Get rid of the distractors
Sometimes the problem isn’t others but our own self-discipline. We allow ourselves to be distracted. To avoid that problem, turn off the Internet, turn off the cell phone, turn off the television, even turn off the radio. The only thing you should focus on is your notepad or computer screen as you write.

Soundproof yourself
Noise from outside – the kids playing in the backyard as they honor your boundary, the neighbor mowing lawn, the tomcat yowling from the alley, the traffic on the highway in the distance – all can drive you nuts when you’re trying to focus on being creative. The solution is simple: wear headphones…with no music coming through them, by the way.

Work away from home
Lastly, if you’re constantly interrupted at home by the teen kids and pesky (but well-intentioned) spouse, find a new place to write. A library is quiet, a coffee shop has great atmosphere, a bench at a city park offers great views. Just ensure your drive there doesn’t cut into your writing time.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Promote Your Book at Writing Conferences

Another way to promote your book is through a public appearance at a writing conference. Writing organizations, colleges and other groups offer a wide variety of such programs. Typically, they help writers develop their skills, learn the industry, and make connections.

There are number of ways you could make a public appearance at a writing conference:
• Workshop program – During the day, some conferences give attendees the opportunity to attend sessions about different elements of writing, from the craft itself to the business side of the industry. Find a niche that relates to what you’ve written and offer a session.
• Panelist – Sometimes conferences offer discussion programs on various writing topics for attendees. Perhaps you have a unique perspective on a topic that would fit panel discussions being offered.
• Keynote speaker – If well-known enough, you could be a speaker at the conference’s luncheon or dinner. Following the meal, you would present a speech to those attending.

You’ll have to pitch yourself to a conference organizers to become one of these speakers. A number of websites offer lists of upcoming conferences with contact information. Personally, I find the Writers’ Conferences & Centers website useful.

Likewise, if you’ve written a nonfiction book, consider speaking at trade conferences related to the subject matter you wrote about. After all, now that you’ve written a book about it, you’re a de facto expert on the subject.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my book marketing guidebooks:

Professional Book Editor in Pittsburgh

An affordable, professional editor for nearly 30 years, I’ll deliver a thorough edit of your manuscript. I’m the author of several published books as well as short stories, hold a Master’s degree in English and a Bachelor’s in journalism, am a long-time writing teacher, and am an award-winning publications editor and writer. Well over a hundred of my clients – many from the Pittsburgh area – have gone on to publish their books.

I handle:
• Fiction (novels, short stories; all genres; Chicago Manual of Style)
• Nonfiction (all topics; spiritual works particularly welcomed)
• Query letters and synopses for book proposals
• Dissertations and academic papers (broad range of subjects; APA, MLA styles)
• Admission essays
• Business plans, documents, brochures/fliers, catalogs
• Website text, blog posts
• Poetry collections, chapbooks

My editing services include:
• Proofreading – Editing for spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar
• Copy editing – Editing of mature manuscripts close to being published
• Substantive edit – Editing of an early draft of your manuscript
• Developmental editing – Guidance through the writing process
• Self-publishing – Formatting, uploading, writing back cover blurb/author bio
• I DO NOT GHOSTWRITE BOOKS OR ACADEMIC ESSAYS

Learn more about me and my writer-friendly rates at my website or email your manuscript’s word count for a price quote and estimate of turnaround time. Payment is accepted through safe and secure PayPal; references available upon request.

Many Famous Books First were Self-Published

All too often self-publishing gets a bad rap as a last resort of authors whose writing wasn’t good enough to be accepted by one of the Big Five publishers. Never mind the long explanation of how big corporate publishing actually is something new, a product of the past century that worked then because the economics of creating and distributing a book ensured its success and that new technology now makes big publishing an anomaly (and passing era) in the history of books.

Instead, let’s take the argument head-on by showing there are a lot of famous, successful authors who self-published because corporate publishing couldn’t recognize the book’s value…or just as bad, their business model for profits didn’t allow for quality books to be printed and distributed.

Here’s a list of famous authors and books that were self-published (and often later picked up by a corporate publisher):
• Alan Lawrence’s “The Hoopster”
• Ben Kaplan’s “How to Go College Almost for Free”
• Christopher Polini’s “Eragon”
• Henry Martyn Robert’s “Robert’s Rules of Order”
• Ken Blanchard’s “The One Minute Manager”
• Lisa Genova’s “Still Alice”
• James Joyce’s “Ulysses”
• James Redfield’s “The Celestine Prophecy”
• John Bartlett’s “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations”
• John Muir’s “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive”
• J. Patrick Wright’s “On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors”
• Michael Stradther’s “A Treasure’s Trove”
• Nancy Tillman’s “On the Night You Were Born”
• Peter McWilliams’ “How to Survive the Loss of a Love”
• Richard Nelson Bolles’ “What Color is Yor Parachute?”
• Richard Paul Evans’ “The Christmas Box”
• Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
• Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese?”
• Vicki Lansky’s “Feed Me! I’m Yours”
• Wess Roberts’ “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun”
• William C. Byham’s Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment”
• William Strunk, Jr.’s “The Elements of Style”
• Zane Grey’s “Betty Zane”

You’ve probably heard of at least most of the above titles. They (and there are many more) all went on to hit the bestseller’s list, sell hundreds of thousands (and sometimes even millions) of copies, and often after the book’s success the author was offered a major publishing deal.

Bottom line: Self-publishing isn’t a last resort. It’s a way to prove yourself when others doubt you.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

Writing Prompt: Take Your Story Forward

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine.

To that end, try this tip: Stories consist of many different bits: dialogue, the main character doing something, that character’s thought, another character doing something to the main character, a description of the setting, just to name only a few. Take a story you are stuck on and write a potential next line using each of these five approaches. Does one of them give you a good idea about how to take the story forward?

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Heart of the Matter: Core vs. Corps

A whole group of writers seem to misunderstand the significant difference between these two similar-sounding words.

A core is the central or most important part of something: The puppet government was corrupt to its core.

A corps, however, is a division of military personnel, usually those who have a specialized function: The Marine Corps landed on the beaches shortly before dawn.

A good way to remember this is that corps, because of its s, look like it’s plural, hence a group, while core has no s and so looks like it’s singular, hence a lone, single axis at the center of a larger thing.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Give Your Story Oomph! with Narrative Drive

Ever read a story before bed and find it so gripping that you stay up far later than you should just to find out what is going to happen? If so, you’ve been a “victim” of narrative drive.

Narrative drive is the force that makes a reader feel that something is about to happen. The more powerful your narrative drive, the less likely the reader is to put down the story.

All of the great works of literature have powerful narrative drives.

But creating a powerful narrative drive involves a lot more than devising interesting worlds as does Frank Herbert in “Dune,” an intriguing main character as does Orson Scott Card in “Ender’s Game” or a fascinating premise as does Isaac Asimov in “Foundation.” It is all of these things and more: good plotting, mesmerizing settings, captivating characters, proper point of view selection, an absorbing theme and an artists’ handling of stylistic issues. So, while we can discuss elements of a story in isolation, as occurs on this blog, always remember that a good story is the sum of these elements.

To obtain narrative drive then requires a full sense of a story’s various elements. Still, there are a couple of things to keep in mind to improve your story’s narrative drive:
• Link description with action – Whenever you opt to describe a landscape or character, ensure that it serves the dual purpose of moving forward the story’s plot.
• Avoid stiff writing by using repetitious and superfluous wording – Poor writing follows a “He did this then this happened” pattern while quality writing takes an “As he did this, this happened” approach.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks: