r/NewAuthor 1d ago

Question How have the new rules affected your experience of the sub?

7 Upvotes

A few weeks ago, this sub had a complete overhaul in terms of rules and moderation.

The moderation team would like to hear feedback from the community on how these changes have affected your experience.

If you can remember, this sub had become congested with spam, AI slop and users throwing around baseless AI accusations in the comments. Little meaningful discussion was taking place and the subreddit was firmly fixated on the.m AI debate—which of course is still important.

Please can you rate your experience based on:
- the quality and variety of posts you are seeing submitted to this subreddit
- the quality and variety of discussion taking place in posts and comments
- the responsiveness and decisiveness of moderation

Once again, thank you all for your patience.

Teners1 and the rest of the mod team

38 votes, 1d left
There has been a Significant improvement in my experience
There has been a noticeable improvement in my experience
There has been No difference in my experience
It has been a noticeably worse experience
It has been a significantly worse experience

r/NewAuthor 27d ago

Hello! Please Read The Rules

44 Upvotes

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post


r/NewAuthor 9h ago

Just Published. My first book is real and published!

Post image
233 Upvotes

Is this the only sub on reddit that allows shout outs about your own books? It seems so. After a year of writing and wrangling it into shape, I am finally holding my book Liminal Justice in my hands! 120k words!

Rolo the pomchi approves.

It is a sci fi exploration of the liminality of justice, stress testing the "who, why and how much" philosophy in criminology, but utilising liminal space horror, including the premise of the backrooms. Entirely character driven, with multiple narratives weaving and colliding.

12 sold already, and ARC readers are enjoying it so far.

Self published on my own isbn numbers in amazon and draft2digital. (ANTOS is the shady government organisation in the story)

I also hand coded a static html website with in-universe styling and free short stories on, to launch it! Www.antosarchive.co.uk

Have a look if you like! (I am not trying to sell the book here! I am just proud of the work that went into it all)


r/NewAuthor 14h ago

Meme :) Who can relate?

Post image
102 Upvotes

r/NewAuthor 15h ago

Milestone! 60,000 words into writing the second book

Thumbnail
gallery
36 Upvotes

I aim for 2,000 words a day. This really is for me, the secret to getting books completed. The writing flows for some strange, pulled from the ether, reason if you just keep the flow state going day after day.

I hope to have a 100,000 word first draft sometime at the end of September.


r/NewAuthor 8h ago

Self-Promo! Some Concept covers I designed recently

Post image
9 Upvotes

These are a few concept covers I designed in the month of August.

I’man editorial designer currently open for commissions. If you’re interested in a book cover
Fill out my project form


r/NewAuthor 12h ago

Venting I am locked into contract with a book I hate and I don't know what to do.

14 Upvotes

I am having my debut novel published next year, and I received a lot of praise for it, which is very exciting. However, my agent advised me that UK contracts are typically for two standalone books, and I was happy to take the money for both up front and have a guaranteed next publication, so I went with it. I told my publishers my next idea which I was already in the middle of writing at the time, and to my shock and upset, they didn't want it, and told me they wanted something more in line with the first book. The problem began here.

I came up with a new idea within the next few days, submitted it, and my editor accepted. However, I think because I now associate the new idea with my appeasement of publishing professionals and my disillusionment of the industry and my dreams in general, I have formed a deep loathing for the idea and the book itself. It wasn't fun to write, and I have a hard time imagining that it's fun to read. I have moments where I care so deeply about the story and the characters, but mostly thinking about it makes me feel panicky and sick. I am also under time pressure for this one and for the first time I was writing with a clear audience in mind and expectations to live up to, which further embittered the whole process for me.

My problem is I have already submitted the completed draft to my agent, and received some notable critiques (with very little praise compared to the first book). Part of me wants to try and salvage it based on her advice, and the other part of me wants to scrap the whole book. I don't really think that's an option though, because I have to submit it to my editor in the beginning of November, and with my schedule it's not enough time to write a whole new book. I don't want to put something out into the world that I have such negative feelings towards, but I can't buy myself out of the contract or ask for a significantly postponed deadline without seriously damaging my publishing relationships. I can't discuss it with my agent for another week because she's away, and I've approached her with anxieties about this book before but she told me not to worry about it until a later date. Well, the too-late date is here and I feel trapped and doomed and miserable about the whole thing.

I'm just so anxious that anyone who reads my first book and liked it will absolutely despise the second one and be disappointed in me as a writer. More than that, I worry that putting out something I hate will damage my integrity as an artist.

Anyone else in a two-book deal feeling similar or have any advice?


r/NewAuthor 4h ago

Milestone! I’ve done it

3 Upvotes

I’ve published my first ever book and haven’t been able to breath since, anyone else the first to buy there own book 😂😂😂


r/NewAuthor 32m ago

Can You Help? Trying to finish and publish my first book

Upvotes

I have had this idea in the back of my mind for a couple years. I just got a laptop so I'm transferring all my little notes and patches from my phone to the computer and I'm getting there!

My biggest worry is about knowing how to publish it once I finish it. How does one go about doing so? I've published short stories and pieces of poetry but that was locally and also years ago. I don't even care if nobody even reads my book, I just want to say that I have finally accomplished this goal.

Secondly, does anyone just completely write from start to finish? In my mind, I know the story from start to finish but some parts of it come to me stronger than the "fill-ins" so I go ahead and get that part down while I'm inspired. I'm just curious how others and their writing styles!


r/NewAuthor 4h ago

Question Is there anyone working on a Mystical Visionary Fiction Book?

2 Upvotes

The reason I ask is because I just discovered this may be where my initial passion lies as I have a very deeply rooted adoration for expressing myself-in-pen along these lines, so out of curiosity that's why I ask.

I'd love a writer buddy or buddies along these lines of writers so we can bounce off ideas from time to time to help each other figure this genre out as it's totally new to me, trully something I never even thought was a genre on it's own but just a desired way of expression.

Is there anyone that gets this? A spiritual novel...


r/NewAuthor 5h ago

Can You Help? Need opinions on method of publishing.

2 Upvotes

So this is a goofy situation. I wrote a few short stories, telling myself "these will be standalones, I can publish them on substack or something and build an audience." Nothing I write can stay a standalone, or short. A theme and connections emerged and they turned into multiple PoVs of a 300k word clunker... at the halfway mark.

I know enough to know that's a problem. I'm of the camp that a book needs to be one complete idea. Sequels are new ideas with overarching connections, but a single book should be a theme/idea in and of itself.

So, because I wrote this as 10-20k sequential short stories, I have a few options (it's quite cohesive for what it is despite how it sounds):

One: I could hire an artist to do fifty book covers and publish each as "installments" on amazon/kindle. It is already formatted this way (essentially 5-8 chapters from one PoV that covers one smaller idea within the story—think Sanderson doing a dozen Kaladin chapters and then a switch to another PoV for a while, but separated out as its own entry). This option is an issue because I don't know how appealing a "serial" urban fantasy is, and because I don't have the budget for that number of covers in a realistic timeframe. And I refuse to use AI for the covers.

Two: I could group them into roughly 80k short-ish volumes. I already have a sort of "break" installment baked in where I delve into a bunch of non-primary PoVs to foreshadow approaching conflicts and build story context. This would result in 9 or 10 short books by the end. My problem with this is that each one would not be completing a theme or main idea—it would end up looking like Mark of the Fool, where book 1 simply ends at a convenient point and book 2 picks up and keeps going. Perhaps this isn't as much of a problem in this day and age as I think?

Three: Publish it as two long parts. The midpoint turn in the story *does* more or less complete a theme/idea, and marks a major development for the story and main character. It doesn't complete the main theme of the story, but does bring things back to the beginning and creates both a significant change and a huge setback. It would be a massive cliffhanger. I don't like this option either, because it would be two absurdly long books, and again, the story is told over the whole thing, and I'm afraid for the themes I've chosen and the format, which does suit the themes, the installment approach and the length do make sense.

So given the intended approach and its obscene length, and the limitations I've identified what would you do to get this out? Is serial fiction of this kind a viable thing? I was once pointed at WebNovel or something like that, and I see a lot of rushed and poorly written content and people talking about their work being stolen. This leans more literary, while having some pretty specific genre-blending that suits the themes.

I'd appreciate any ideas regarding the potential of a longer serial story like this, and regarding the different options for how to publish/package the story I've given (and others if you have an idea). Should I combine? Is a serial story viable?


r/NewAuthor 2h ago

Just Published. My First Book Is Finally Out, and I'm Beyond Grateful

Post image
1 Upvotes

For me, this was a release just about six years in the making. I started writing this story in college, and in between drafts, got married. My wife (who edited the book and starred in the trailer, more on that in a second) fundamentally changed the way I viewed this story, and I'm so grateful to have done this with her.

Eclosion is the story of a serial killer capable of rewriting memory, hunting down a soon-to-be married couple, one of which can rewrite the will of anyone who hears their voice.

But more than that, it's a story that the most important people in my life have contributed to. In a literal sense, my wife's sister made the cover art, and my closest friends voiced the audio drama based on this novel that I'm still developing.

More than that, though, they're also the reason I didn't give up on writing after this book (and two others that I'm currently revising for self-publishing) didn't quite make the cut with traditional publishing. Without my friends and family, I'd never have made it this far, and I'm unbelievably grateful for them.

I made the trailer myself in two frantic weeks learning Adobe After Effects (forgive the slight amateur aspects, if you can) but I hope it's something cool for y'all to enjoy.

Trailer

All my best,

Jonah


r/NewAuthor 1d ago

Milestone! Proofs in hand! Really glad I chose glossy this time. Proud to finally be holding this beast of a novel.

Post image
105 Upvotes

When I set out to make this story I had no idea it would turn out to be so large. At 45 chapters and 80k words, it's my longest novel yet. I'm so proud to be able to hold this in my hands, especially having made the cover myself as well.

I hope it will grab people's attention when it releases later this year. Fingers crossed.


r/NewAuthor 3h ago

Self-Promo! Looking for ARC readers for my debut Sci-Fi. Would anyone be interested?

Post image
1 Upvotes

Blurb:

Cassian Holt was an astronaut, but when his space station was annihilated, everything was taken from him. Now, he is given a chance at redemption.

The Kessler Cascade—a catastrophic chain reaction of satellite collisions—has transformed low Earth orbit into a vast debris field. A booming space industry collapses overnight, and Earth turns to its best and brightest for a solution.

Cassian, racked by survivor’s guilt after the destruction of his station, is contacted. Earth’s leaders want him to work on the most ambitious project in human history: Project Gossamer, their only chance to clear the debris and return to the stars.

But while Earth's focus is on the debris, a greater threat lurks beyond. Can Cassian hold his team together, conquer his self-doubt, and reclaim the stars for mankind?

First 2 Chapters: https://files.catbox.moe/2chqhm.pdf 

Book releases on 30th October. ARC copies in or around the 7th of October. Total wordcount is around 50k

Reviews on Goodreads before the 30th of October would be great, and on Amazon on release day is even better.

Link to sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLhzP0zJOt8njmAw0ZRmo0cRb7dZrNQjPNcMknKqdzUBHKFA/viewform?usp=dialog


r/NewAuthor 4h ago

Feedback Please could I have some feedback on my query letter?

1 Upvotes

Huge thank you in advance!

Dear agent,

I am seeking representation for MR DEADBEAT, a 96,000-word psychological horror novel that combines the intergenerational trauma from 'The Only Good Indians' by Stephen Graham Jones with the relentless dread and family horror of Josh Malerman's 'Incidents Around the House'. It features a fresh take on stork mythology: storks don't deliver children, they take them away.

Ray Snarl was a broken father of two. Now, he’s a broken father of none.

Dragged down through his bed by a grey-skinned, dead-eyed entity calling itself a stork, Ray is offered the chance of a new life, one that can bring an end to his constant pain and suffering. The catch? He must willingly surrender his two young children, Alice and Nathan, to the mysterious stranger, never to be seen or heard from again. Grieving the tragic passing of his wife, fearful of the violent loan shark breathing down his neck and haunted by a grotesque, murderous phantasm in the guise of his abusive father, Ray is desperate enough to accept. All trace and memory of their existence, the stork assures him, will disappear. No memories. No guilt. No mourning. No consequences.

The stork removes Alice and Nathan from our world, which moves on, instantly forgetting all about them. Ray, however, left with a bulging sack of money, a sundered cot bed and his son’s severed fingers, remembers.

Consumed with guilt and desperate to be reunited with his children, Ray is forced to walk a path beyond his comprehension, with only the terror that is his ‘father’ for company. Confronted by unfathomable horrors and a bleak, terrifying reality, Ray must face truths he would rather have left to fester under the bed, where the ankle-snatching monsters from his childhood lurk. Failure will result in Ray losing himself, and fully succumbing to the deranged darkness trying desperately to consume him, as well as never seeing his children again.

Bio.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

my name


r/NewAuthor 11h ago

Can You Help? Brainstorming.

3 Upvotes

Would you guys agree with the brainstorming stage of starting the writing of your book or would you suggest that one just dives in to it with no brainstorming or an outlined map?


r/NewAuthor 16h ago

Hello! New to writing, saying hello

7 Upvotes

Greetings all,
Trying my hand at writing for the first time and it has definitely been a journey. I think it reveals weaknesses in yourself perhaps better left unrevealed!

I have been left with a newfound respect for authors that can consistently push out clean publish-ready prose keeping to timelines...and I believe those that write for the love of the game.

My largest struggles:

  • balancing a full work day with the mental bandwidth afterwards to put pen to paper.
  • writing out an absolute steaming pile of crap that might be beyond redemption and finding the motivation to continue, or scrap.
  • no formal education regarding writing / styles / taboos.
  • Being on the older side, limited time etc.
  • Letting down my own imagination and vision for a book through horrendous scenes.

Anyways, have any of you started on a book or concept perhaps beyond your abilities? Or have any of your thrown in the towel and later picked it back up to try again?


r/NewAuthor 11h ago

Self-Promo! Looking to bring your book cover to life!

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

r/NewAuthor 13h ago

A Friendly Advice Copyright and You - A Note on Copyright for Writers

3 Upvotes

Check the bottom of this post for helpful links, including a downloadable pdf of this post and links for downloading my templates.

Author's Notes and Acknowledgements: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. This is for educational purposes only.

Now that that's out of the way, let me warn you, this one's a long one and it's full of legal jargon. Hopefully I made it easy to understand. Because of the sensitive nature of my claims in this post I have meticulously tracked down every single law or statute I reference and cited them here to back up my claims.

Why do I know this crap? ADHD and a rabbit hole---what can I say?

So, most of us remember the recent strings of Google Play scraping and theft. I think you're going to want to read this, check my work, and look into it.

Prologue: Copyright

In the US, Canada, and the UK your work is protected by copyright law the moment you type or write it down. What you get out of that protection varies, though.

In Canada this is taken very literally. You can sue an infringer for statutory damages and legal fees without filing a copyright registration. However, having a copyright certificate gives you "presumption of ownership," making it even easier. Easiest mode, and so literally any writer in Canada should be looking into suing scrapers and infringers every time they so much as sneeze your way. Your statutory damages are $500-$20,000 CAD per commercial infringement.¹,²

In the UK---*as long as my rabbit hole meanderings weren't wrong---*it's my understanding that they don't really have much of a copyright registration system in the same way the US does. You cannot ever sue for statutory damages. You may only sue for actual damages.³,⁴

In the US however, you're required to file for a copyright either within 3 months of first publish, or prior to the infringement occurring, in order to be eligible for statutory damages and legal fees.

This doesn't mean your property is not protected. You can DMCA takedown requests and force them to take down your stolen property. You cannot sue for damages, legal fees, attorney fees, etc, without an approved-or refused-registration. You may begin a claim with the CCB, provided you have a pending registration, however that claim will be placed in abeyance until the Copyright Office grants the certificate. If the Office refuses, the CCB will dismiss the claim without prejudice.²⁴,²⁵,²⁶

Chapter One: Registering

So what do you do? Honestly, you don't need to do anything unless you just plain want to, or you're on Amazon, in which case you probably don't need this guide. For the sake of education though, you can file what is called a Group Registration of Short Online Literary Works. Form GRTX.

You can file from 2 to 50 chapters at a time, provided they were first published within 3 consecutive calendar months of each other. Not 90 days, if you publish on Jan 31, you only get to file items published through March, absolutely no April dates. Filing this GRTX results in listing each individual chapter as its own property. Well, that kind of sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?

Okay, then later on, you can do a standard filing for whatever chapters are in the volume you release on the compilation and changes between the RR/Patreon versions, and the finalized KDP version. This only covers the edits and the compilation (the book). While the prior GRTX still covers what it covered, it's never overwritten*.*

Do those extra fees from before really matter? Yes. Lawyers are expensive, the process can take years in federal court, and nobody is going to take a case where all they can sue for is $15 in potential lost Patreon dues and a couple bucks gross Play Books sales. So after filing the copyright and being eligible for these damages, suddenly your attorneys fees are paid by the infringer, the legal filings fees are paid by the infringer. Most lucratively, the statutory damages pay between $750-$30,000 per item, $150,000 if your lawyer can prove willful infringement.

In order to be eligible for statutory damages from an infringement event, you must either:

  • File the stolen property's copyright within 3 months of first publication. This means you can retroactively file a suit against copyright theft if you get the chapter registered within 3 months of first publication.

OR

  • Have filed the stolen property's copyright prior to the infringement event.

Look at that top bullet again. What happens when you do the annoying GTRX filing is: you get up to 50 individual properties. Valued at a standard minimum of $750 in statutory damages each, and it climbs to $150,000 per work in some instances.

You can take 50 .docx files, enter their file names and matching chapter names into an excel spreadsheet with the first publication date and the word count of each individual document. You can pay the copyright office $65 to make that legal today. Then you can sue anyone who touches your IP again. Like we just had that string of during the last couple months. The statute of limitations is 3 years for copyright claims.

Again I'm not a lawyer but that sounds to me like any one of us could have 50 chapters of a fiction up that got scraped and dropped onto Google Play Books for $0.99. At a full file minimum, that's $37,500 in statutory damages in the US, $7.5M in maximums.

Now the reality is, that should you sue the scrapers, and win. You probably won't manage to get that much. You'd be owed plenty, for sure, but you can't get blood from a stone, a fake ghost, or an offshore shell company.

So if we can't get blood out of a stone, why file and deal with the registration hassle?

Well, for starters, not every thief is a small time scraper. If a large scale operation steals from you and you sue, you actually get a pay day.

Remember that you do not sue the store, you sue the thief. Google did not steal your fictions, the "author" did.

Chapter Two: Civil Action

So we have our copyright, but what do we actually do?

You have 2 path's ahead of you: Federal Court, and CCB(Copyright Claims Board). Federal Court is a final destination and locks you out of CCB. CCB is a quicker and cheaper alternative to Federal Court, with a nuanced lockout, I'll get into below.

Federal Court: The Big Money.

You strap in, this process takes years. Oh and, don't expect a lawyer to actually jump at this. Mainly because suing a ghost isn't exactly profitable.

Make sure you have your approved copyright registration, call a lawyer, and setup a contingency agreement. This is where they agree to take your case on contingency, an agreement where they take no money up front. Think of this like getting published. The publisher takes on the financial risk and costs of your advance, editing, covers, narrators, ads, etc. You both get a cut once certain costs are covered (usually the advance). Same idea for your contingency lawyer.

Just make sure you CYA.

You make sure your agreement states that they will front the case costs and work "for free" until you get paid. In return, they take a large cut of your winnings, something like 30%-50% depending on you, your deal, and them. That % cut usually does not include case costs, just the lawyer's pay.

Make sure this agreement explicitly ties their payment to recovery, stating they only get paid if you get paid and that this includes all case costs. Remember, lawyers are sharks after all. You need to protect yourself from them just as much as the thief. So make sure all case costs, and attorney's fees are part of this recovery contingency. This is a "Full Contingency" contract.¹²

It'll say something like this:

  • The law firm will advance all case costs and expenses.
  • If there is no financial recovery, the client is not responsible for reimbursing the firm for advanced case costs.
  • You owe no attorney's fees if there is no recovery.
  • In the event of recovery client owes firm 33% of recovered monies in attorney's fees plus all accrued case costs.

Double check your contract to see what happens if the court awards fees separately, as that can impact final payouts.¹⁵

CCB: The Path of Least Resistance.

If you decide to go this route, things can resolve much quicker (sometimes within 6 months to a year), and with less headache. The trade-off is the final maximum payouts, and that the thief can opt out.¹³,¹⁴

Under this path, the maximum statutory penalty for individual works is $15,000, with a maximum of $30,000 per claim, no matter how many works.¹³

Doing this, you don't need a lawyer. You do it yourself with far more ease than navigating federal court.

You start by filing for a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) § 512(h) subpoena with federal district court local to the subpoenaed party. For Google, that's the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division for best proximity.

In order to file for the subpoena you need the following:

  • Form JS-44²³
  • (Application for Issuance) - You will write this yourself. It is not strictly required.
  • Exhibit A: The DMCA takedown request*
  • Exhibit B: A Sworn Declaration of Intent*²¹
  • Exhibit C: The proposed subpoena, form AO 88B*²²
  • Exhibit D: Your list of works xls file submitted to copyright registration. It is not strictly required.
  • Schedule A: Documents to be Produced. While not strictly required, it's technically part of the subpoena since you would need a font size less than 1 to fit everything

I will include templates of all of these documents at the end of the post.

You will merge everything down into 2 files, File A is your application, Exhibits A, B, and D. This is your supporting documentation to the court so they know what you are doing and why. As stated, the cover and Exhibit D are not strictly required. You can send the packet without them. File B is the subpoena and schedule A. This is what will be signed and stamped by the clerk and then sent to Google.

The DMCA takedown request is able to be your email thread with Google regarding the takedown when you did all their clicking. You likely did this several times. Pick the earliest email with the response that said "We've passed your request along to the appropriate team here at Google for further investigation." Print that entire email thread to PDF. If you had to send more stuff during that process, include it in the Exhibit A packet.

The proposed subpoena, form AO 88B, this is what will receive the stamp and be approved, to then be served to Google.

Sworn Declaration of Intent. This is a freeform document you draft up and sign. It tells the court that you are just requesting the information to protect your legal copyright.

You get the stamped and signed subpoena back and then hire a Process Server to actually go and serve Google with your subpoena. Expect to tell them where to go. You then wait 30 days to receive the requested information.

Next, you create an account and file the claim with the CCB on their portal.¹⁶ Provide all your copyright docs like your registration number, or even your pending application number. Yes, you can file while still waiting for the answer from the copyright office.¹⁷

Submit the required discovery information to prove your claim. Follow any and all instructions from the CCB as the process moves forward. Then you wait.

Eventually, you will receive a Final Determination. 3 Copyright Claims Officers will review all the evidence and documentation that was provided by you and the scraper, then issue a written Final Determination. This will state exactly how much the scraper is required to pay you in damages, up to that $30,000 cap.

Chapter Three: Payment

I won my federal suit, now what?

Since you have a lawyer, they'll be setting this up. They want to get paid after all. The money goes into a client trust account-an IOLTA,¹¹ and is then distributed based on the contract, usually looking like this.

  • Case costs are paid in full first. Whether you got a lump sum or have to wait for trickled garnishments or payments, nobody gets a dime until the case costs are paid. Just like a lot of publishing deals. The case costs were your advance.
  • The split. Once the case costs are paid off the firm will split the incoming money based on your contract. Just like royalties. The firm takes their 33%-50%, and you get your 50%-67%.

Just poke your lawyer every 10 to 20 years, as judgements do expire if you don't file a motion to renew. This varies based on the state the suit occurred in.⁹,¹⁰

So, the CCB gave me a piece of paper...

They did. Now you need to take that paper to your local District Court, have it filed and confirmed. This'll cost you some fees which vary by state, but these may be added to the scraper's debts.¹⁹,²⁰

Now the scraper has 90 days to pay your or file an appeal. In the federal court path, the lawyers handle all this, but in this solo world, you get to do it!

If, after 90 days, the scraper hasn't paid up, you then get to file for a Writ of Garnishment. You must do this within 1 year of the Final Determination. You hire a process server or the U.S. Marshals to serve the writ to the garnishee. The garnishee is the bank or employer who has the scraper's money, and you must file a separate Writ and serve each one individually to collect money from them. From here you start hopefully collecting your damages.

Chapter 4: The End

Thank you for reading my dissertation. I hope this has been an enlightening and educational journey for you.

I believe that, armed with the included information, independent authors and writers are shown the tools to carve out just a little bit more justice for themselves. The tools have been there; we just didn't know how to use them.

This information was compiled and presented in good faith with the intent to educate those eligible for copyright on their rights. It is not my intent to misinform, misguide or lead anyone astray in any way shape or form. (I'll save the misinformation for the fictions, right?)

Resources & Citations:

Cover images:
Scale of Justice (public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)
Flag Background (public domain image from publicdomainpictures)
Gavel (public domain image from publicdomainpictures)
Book (free use license w/ attribution. Designed by Magnific www.magnific.com)

Register Your Copyright! Remember published “Group of short online literary works.”
https://www.copyright.gov/eco/grtx/

CA.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/section-38.1.html 1
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright-infringement 2

UK.
https://www.gov.uk/copyright 3
https://emlaw.co.uk/a-guide-to-copyright/ 4

US.
https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/shortonline-literaryworks/ 5
https://www.copyright.gov/title37/202/37cfr202-4.html 6,7
https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html 8
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1962 9
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_69 10
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_15_safekeeping_property/ 11
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_5_fees/ 12
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1504 13
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1506 14
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/505 15
https://ccb.gov/ 16
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2024&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title17-section1505&num=0 17
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1508 18
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2024&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title28-section1920&num=0 19
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_69 20
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/221.1#:~:text=If%20the%20Copyright%20Claims%20Board%2C%20in%20its,certificate%20of%20registration%20or%20the%20registration%20number 24
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/411 25
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf 26
https://www.copyright.gov/eco/grtx/

Forms.
Public Copyright Subpoena Templates
https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ao088b.pdf 22
https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/js_044_-_civil_cover_sheet_1.pdf 23

Additional US sources not explicitly captioned.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412
https://www.cotmanip.com/articles/how-quick-should-you-register-copyrights

DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS A PDF FOR LATER
ZIP of the .docx templates

If those links don't work here is the free post on Patreon with the direct downloads at the bottom.
https://www.patreon.com/Sanzensekaiseries/posts/copyright-law-on-167989459?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

\I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice*


r/NewAuthor 1d ago

Just Published. Debut Novel Released

Post image
49 Upvotes

After tons of late nights writing, rewriting, and editing my debut novel drops on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited today! Excuse me while I go cry and hyperventilate… just kidding my toddler will keep me busy

Inferno Affair

Cozy urban fantasy

Rory just needed a job, any job.
Because having a degree in Mythology, Folklore, and Occult Science doesn't exactly pay the bills. So when she lands a job at Inferno Associates, an exclusive crisis management firm, she doesn't ask too many questions, despite a disastrous first impression.
She doesn't expect to become the executive assistant to the CEO, Sebastian Morrow, a man who goes through more assistants than most people go through toothbrushes.
Still, she needs a paycheck. So she ignores the odd clients, the strange office rules, and the fact that things about her new boss don't quite add up.
Until she stops into work one night and sees exactly why Morrow can't seem to keep assistants.


r/NewAuthor 19h ago

Hello! New author here :)

6 Upvotes

Hey everyone! New author here and New to reditt. Have been working on my firat official series, got 1 book done and editied, then copy and line edited.

Then it's time to try qurries.

Im excited and nervous and in the mean time been working on the second book :) bout halfway through.

Just wanted to join a group of other people doing the same thing and say hello


r/NewAuthor 10h ago

Can You Help? The agent query process

1 Upvotes

What's a reasonable amount of time for queries? Let's say I decided to query 10 agents a week for 6 months. If I don't get any bites then I'll go self-publishing. Is this reasonable or should I expect more like a year?


r/NewAuthor 12h ago

Feedback The Inscribed Blade, I wrote a fast-paced, coffee-break samurai fiction about the Mongol invasion of Japan. Here is the first page. What do you think?

1 Upvotes

CHAPTER 1: ESCAPE FROM THE MONGOLS

Takeshi and the girl flee from the slaughter of the Mongol Horde, seeking refuge in an abandoned ancient temple, and immediately slam the heavy wooden bar across the massive gates. Outside, the Mongol Horde attempts to splinter the strong great gate with battle-axes, determined to capture them, sentence them to torture, and sacrifice them, along with the survivors of a 500-resident village.

Meanwhile, two weeping, terrified little children hide in the shadows—the absolute sole survivors of the village, who left behind their slaughtered neighbors and the corpses of their own parents to seek sanctuary within the crumbling, ancient walls of the temple. Takeshi has absolutely no idea that these two children, disguised as mere peasant toddlers, are actually the son of the Shogun and the daughter of the Emperor—the Tenno.

The Shogun's samurai and the Emperor's elite bodyguards have already turned the entire province upside down searching for them, while brand new warships carrying reinforcement Mongol warriors dock along the coastline, aiming to conquer all of Japan and extend the Great Khan's dominion over the island nation.

However, the invaders did not reckon with the fighting spirit of the Japanese samurai, their self-sacrificing courage, and the supreme code of death-defying loyalty to their Lord: Bushido.

The Mongol warriors have now nearly breached the great wooden gate, but Takeshi and the girl discover the trembling children. Guided by an old abbot, they navigate a secret tunnel to abandon the ancient temple just as the ancient gates give way with a thunderous roar.

The bloodthirsty warriors storm the temple under the sub-commander's orders to capture the two fleeing adults, completely oblivious to the existence of the two shivering children.


r/NewAuthor 21h ago

Feedback Need feedback--is this worth writing?

3 Upvotes

I've always dreamt of writing a novel as a kid. Between adulting and never having time, I have never pulled the trigger on it. However, I decided recently that I would try to set aside a few hours every week to start the process.

With that, I have developed a plot, characters with full back-stories, and a fictional setting. I wanted to write a summary, like you'd find on the back cover of a novel, and see if it is something people would be interested in reading.

Please let me know your honest thoughts, as well as any critiques. Thank you!

------

"Robert “Bobby” Kidwell has always believed that control is just another word for preparation.

So when he and his four-person crew target a fading bank in Bellweather, Tennessee, Bobby accounts for everything: timing, security, staffing, escape routes, and every contingency he can imagine. The plan is clean. The crew is experienced. The payoff should be enough to change all of their lives.

Then one ordinary delay throws everything off.

Forced to improvise, the crew leaves the bank with far less than they expected—and something they were never supposed to have. Soon, money disappears, trust fractures, and someone proves they know exactly who the robbers are. As old secrets surface and the crew races toward one final score, Bobby becomes more determined than ever to regain control.

But some variables can’t be planned for.

And some exits come with a price."


r/NewAuthor 15h ago

Question Published Writers Query

1 Upvotes

Hi all,

This one is for those writers who went through the trials and tribulations of submitting your work to agencies before getting a publishing deal....

So, a little background, I'm in the UK and completed my manuscript (with multiple rounds of edits) back in June this year, and have submitted it to around 40-something agencies.
So far I've had 11 rejections, with every one of them being a bit of a hit to the old pride. I'm sure we all consider our work to be brilliant when we've finished it, right?

Anyway, taking that on board, I was wondering how many rejections you published authors had to wade through before someone took a chance on your manuscript?
I'm still pretty much at the beginning of my quest to see my book sitting pretty on the shelf in bookstores, but with every rejection I'm starting to question everything - as I'm sure we all have at times.