[Guest]

A question:

Has anyone experienced problems (unsolicited phone calls, mail, email or stalking) since registering a book with the U.S. Copyright office?

I just noticed this page at their site: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-privacy.html

It states that the information you must provide them to register your book can end up being indexed by Google.

Since I have an ongoing stalking problem, I am very concerned about this.

Has anyone had any problems after registering their book with the U.S. Copyright office?

 

[Carradee]

I kept getting contacted by a vanity press. I ended up having to call and pitch a hissy fit about how I'd demanded to be removed from their listings and they were still ending me unsolicited material. Haven't gotten anything from them, since.

But with you having a stalker problem… Might want to consider registering your copyright under a penname or looking into the other options.

 

[Guest]

I kept getting contacted by a vanity press. I ended up having to call and pitch a hissy fit about how I'd demanded to be removed from their listings and they were still ending me unsolicited material. Haven't gotten anything from them, since.

But with you having a stalker problem… Might want to consider registering your copyright under a penname or looking into the other options.

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, I published my first few works under my real name. I think it's too late to change now. I now use pen names for everything.

 

[Guest]

Register copyright under your company name.

 

[Courtney Milan]

You can register your copyright pseudonymously. Just make sure you have a paper trail that establishes that you are your pseudonym if you ever need to prove it in court.

 

[Greer]

You can register your copyright pseudonymously. Just make sure you have a paper trail that establishes that you are your pseudonym if you ever need to prove it in court.

How does one go about doing that? Is it enough to own the domain name?

 

[Mathew Reuther]

How does one go about doing that? Is it enough to own the domain name?

Generally you'd want a DBA.

 

[Zelah Meyer]

I haven't had anything - but then I'm based in the UK.  I also registered my work including my publishing company for the contact details, so that probably deters the vanity press brigade as they can see that I already have a publisher.

I registered my work as a collection prior to publication, which allowed me to register more than one story for the same fee.  You only need to re-register if you add another chapter or something like that, line edits are OK.  After a story has been published, you have to register it individually (that is, if you want to register it and haven't done so before publishing).  I have the individual titles on the upload confirmation e-mail from them, as I made sure that the file names were the book titles.  However, the certificate just features the name of the collection.  If you want the names of each individual story to be on the certificate, make sure that you squeeze them into that field when you put the data in.

My understanding is, that if you register a work prior to publication, or within three months of publication, then you can potentially sue for extra damages on top of the actual loss of income.  

N.B. - I'm not a lawyer, or even an American, it's just a heck of a lot cheaper (and more official) for me to register copyright in the US than it is to do it through one of the UK companies.

 

[Guest]

I kept getting contacted by a vanity press. I ended up having to call and pitch a hissy fit about how I'd demanded to be removed from their listings and they were still ending me unsolicited material. Haven't gotten anything from them, since.

But with you having a stalker problem… Might want to consider registering your copyright under a penname or looking into the other options.

I get the same problem from registering Library of Congress numbers. Usually they don't call. I just get random nonsense in the mail. It goes in the recycling container.

I look at it this way, though. It gives me a chance to see the scams circulating so I can warn others.