Why is copyrighting my work so important?

Why is copyrighting your work so important?

With the endless work that gets sold today on various ebook and audiobook publishing websites, many authors don't bother to protect their work, it's really remarkable.

It's very important to protect your work for a variety of reasons. The main reason is, if someone steals your story you have proof that that story is yours. Here is a description from Copyright.com giving you some insite as to why it's important.

Copyright.com

First, copyright protects original works of authorship, including literary works like books, essays, articles, blogs, and poetry. Generally, works that are considered “literary works” are intended to be read; they are not intended to be performed before an audience like plays, which are considered “works of the performing arts.” Copyright protection does not extend to names, titles, short phrases, ideas, methods, facts, or systems. It does, however, cover specific creative expression. For example, copyright does not protect the general idea of a group of friends who journey on a heroic quest to defeat evil. However, it will protect the creative expression of this idea, like the book A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. As a copyright owner, you have the right to make, sell, or otherwise distribute copies; adapt the work; and publicly recite or display your work.

Second, you should know that copyright protection exists from the moment an original work is “fixed” in a tangible medium. For writers, fixation occurs when your ideas are written down on paper or typed using a computer, for example. You don’t need to do anything else for your work to be protected by copyright.

LittleShopofRomance.com

One of the main reasons we highly suggest author's copyright their work before posting it to LittleShopofRomance.com, is if someone does steal your book and then publishes it under their own name, if you then complain that someone has a book exactly like your story and you complain to LittleShopofRomance.com, it makes it very difficult to figure out who is telling the truth. Is the book yours? Or, is it the other person. If you have the copyright, that ends the debate right there.

Copyrighting your book is simple to do and only takes 5 mintues to complete. Doing this helps protect your work and makes it much easier to figure out whose work it really is, should there be a dispute.

- Administration