Good news first: in the UK, your book is protected by copyright the moment you write it. There is no form to fill in, no fee and no official register.
What you do need is good evidence of ownership, a properly worded copyright page, and written agreements whenever anyone else contributes to your book. This guide explains each one, and how we handle them for our authors.
Protecting Your Work
Because UK copyright is automatic, the practical question is how you would show that the work is yours and when you wrote it, if anyone ever copied it.
Keep dated drafts, notes and emails, and store copies somewhere with a reliable date, such as cloud storage with version history. Some authors also lodge a copy with a solicitor or use a private evidence service. None of these create the right; they help you prove it.
A UK copyright page usually includes a © notice with the year and your name, the moral rights assertion, a "no reproduction without permission" statement, the ISBN for that edition, your imprint name and a disclaimer for works of fiction.
We write and typeset this page for every book we publish, with the correct ISBN for each format.
A correctly worded copyright page for each edition, including the moral rights assertion.
Our ghostwriting agreements assign the copyright in the finished manuscript to you, in writing.
Clear written terms for the artwork we create, so you can use it on every edition and in your marketing.
Advice on quoting song lyrics, poems, photographs and other people's work, which usually needs permission.
Guidance on sending your print edition to the British Library, as UK publishers are generally required to do.
If you sell in the US, we can help with US Copyright Office registration as well.
UK Author FAQ
No. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, copyright in an original literary work arises automatically when it is written down or recorded. There is no official UK copyright register and no fee to pay.
For a book, copyright generally lasts for the author's lifetime plus 70 years from the end of the year in which the author dies.
Some private companies offer to store a dated copy of your work for a fee. They are not a government register and do not give you any rights you do not already have. They can provide supporting evidence of when your work existed, which you can also create yourself by keeping dated drafts and emails.
It is not legally required in the UK, but it is standard practice. A copyright notice on the copyright page, with the year of publication and your name, tells readers who owns the work.
UK law gives authors moral rights, including the right to be identified as the author. That particular right has to be asserted, which is why UK books include a line such as: "The right of [Author Name] to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988."
The writer owns it unless it is transferred. A transfer (assignment) of copyright must be in writing and signed by the person assigning it. If you use a ghostwriter, make sure your agreement assigns the copyright to you.
No. An ISBN identifies an edition of your book for the book trade. It gives you no legal rights. See our UK ISBN guide.
No. This page explains general principles of UK copyright for authors. We are a publishing services company, not a law firm. For a dispute or a complex rights question, speak to a solicitor who specialises in intellectual property.
Tell us about your book and who contributed to it. We will explain what your copyright page needs and how we handle rights in our work for you.
