How and When to Register

Copyright registration is easy and inexpensive and may be done at any time during the life of the copyright (normally, the author's lifetime plus 70 years). If an unpublished work is registered, it isn't necessary to register a later, published edition, although it is permissible.

If you're only going to send your manuscript to reputable publishers and agents, and even if you share it with a small critique group, you're probably safe not registering your copyright. However, if you choose to showcase your work on your web site or post excerpts to an open forum, then I strongly recommend registering beforehand.

To register a copyright, package the following three elements:

• A completed application "Form TX" (available as a fillable PDF at www.copyright.gov)
• A nonrefundable filing fee of $30, in the form of a check or money order
• A non-returnable deposit of one copy of the unpublished work being registered (for published works, two copies of the best edition are required)

And mail them to:

Library of Congress Copyright Office 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

When your work is published by a conventional press, the publisher generally will handle copyright registration for you, if you haven't already registered. Authors who choose to go the self-publishing route, however, can save a little money by registering their own copyrights and foregoing that aspect of the vanity press's service.

Short story writers and poets can copyright a collection of unpublished stories or poems as one unit and for one fee, as long as the following conditions are met:

• The elements of the collection are assembled in an orderly form, under a single title (i.e., "Kelly Hess's Poetry 2004" or "Kelly Hess's Ghost Stories")
• The person claiming copyright is the same in all the elements