I'm glad I can help. It's hard to find information (reliable information, anyway) so I try to share as much as I can. This is a hard business, and the more information we can get, the better!

You can register the copyright electronically and later produce print versions - there's no difference in the registration. It's just that the copyright office doesn't force physical submission of copies to the copyright office if the work is initially published only electronically (you submit the sample in ebook format instead). There's not a difference in the protection you receive, however.

I'd say complete the registration the day the book releases, or within a week if you can.

Thanks Susan. So should the copyright come first before publication on Kindle? It appears I can do it either way but that it's safer to do "before" if I'm understanding you correctly. I want the full protection of course. 🙂 I'm thinking registering the normal way might be best so that if later I want to do print on demand, I'm covered.

Thanks so much Susan, so easy to get overwhelmed with everything we need to know. I'm sure grateful for people like you willing to guide us along the way 🙂

When you self-publish, your "contract" is with the platform(s) upon which you self publish. For example, if you publish on Kindle, your contract is the Amazon terms of use (and yes, to many people's surprise, that is a legally binding contract).

When you self-publish, there should be no mandatory term. You should be free to terminate the agreement at any time, at will, and with no obligation to the company producing or selling the books. Also, you want to be sure that agreement says, clearly, that you own the copyright - in exactly the same way you'd want it stated in a contract with a publisher.

Hopefully that clarifies!

A correction: that should have said "you do need to REGISTER copyright for books you release on Kindle." The copyright itself is created automatically when the work is created. The extra statutory damages and attorney fees come when you register the copyright with the copyright office.

Sharla - you do need to copyright books you release on Kindle. Releasing the book on Kindle is "publication," and unless a book is registered with the copyright office within the statutory time after initial publication, you won't be eligible for maximum attorney fees and other remedies available by law in the case of infringement. Also, you have to register copyright before you can file an infringement lawsuit.

If the book is published only in electronic format, you can register using an upload process and don't have to provide hard copies to the copyright office. It only costs $35 per work - so I tell people always to register copyrights.