A lot of people end up in a hold because they never cophyrighted their material. Maybe they didn't think they had to. Maybe they didn't have the time. Or maybe they didn't they had the money.
I know for myself, at fourteen years old, I don't have time or the money to copyright my work, but I would encourage all writers who don't currently have a copyright to do a Poor Man's Copyright. A Poor Man's Copyright is very simple and only cost 37cents:
1:Put what you've written in an envelope.
2:Put a stamp on the envelope.
3:Address the envelope to yourself.
4:Put it in the mailbox.
5:When the envelope gets back to you, DO NOT open it.
The reason for not opening the envelope is so that it would be pure proof, when someone tries to use your stuff without giving you credit or asking for your permission that you it belongs to you. The way that you will be able to prove that it's exactly yours is because any envelope that goes through the postal office is postmarked which means it has the date you put it on the mailbox on it. Meaning that you if you put in the mailbox July 9, 2004 and someone tries to use your work and claim it as their own December 2, 2005, you will be able to prove by the postmarked envelope that you had it was before December 2005.
I hope this information has been helpful!
~CAG77~
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