Q&A: How do you apply for copyright registration?

Q: How do you apply for copyright registration?

A: Lisa Moore, principal of The Moore Firm, LLC:

“It’s very easy to apply for a copyright registration. You can do it online. The Copyright Office’s website is actually an excellent resource.

The process is changing. Back in the day, you had to fill out the form depending on what you were registering. The Copyright Office changed that, and they’re now utilizing one common form that can be done online. It’s much cheaper that way, $35 and you get your registration back much more quickly. If you mail in the old paper forms it takes somewhere between a year and two years to get it back, but if you do it online it’s somewhere between three and six months. Copyright infringement matters have a very short statute of limitations, so it’s critically important that you register as soon as possible.

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How to make difficult concepts easier to understand

One of the most valuable attributes of a successful textbook author is their ability to present complex concepts in an effective and efficient format.

Mariëlle Hoefnagels, author of Biology: Concepts and Investigations, recommends textbook authors make listening to students a top priority when trying to explain a difficult concept. “Either listen in as students discuss difficult concepts with one another, or ask a student to explain the subject to you,” she said. “Pay close attention to the parts that confuse the students, then make sure the narrative and illustrations in your book confront those potential points of confusion.”

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7 Tips for creating your own website for networking and marketing your academic work

It has become increasingly important for academics to create an online presence as a means of networking and marketing your work. One way to do that is to create your own professional website.

To reap the most rewards from your website, John Soares, a freelance writer and author of the popular Productive Writers blog, offers the following advice for each step in the process:

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How a copy editor can help you polish your work

As a professional freelance copy editor, I have the pleasure and honor of working with publishers and authors of scholarly titles. I have known authors who resisted copy editing (or any kind of editing), and publishers who won’t pay for a thorough edit of a manuscript. Sadly, these occurrences generally result in inferior work being published.

You may wonder why you should work with an editor at any stage of your writing. Working with an editor that you hire can help prepare your book for a publisher by making it clearer, effective, and easier to read. Most reputable publishing houses will have copyediting done as part of the process of publishing to clean up your text and make sure it conforms to the publisher’s style.

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Create a collaboration agreement with your co-author

Collaborating with a co-author on producing a textbook can have many benefits, said Steve Gillen, an attorney with Wood Herron & Evans. “It can diffuse the burden of a large project; allow you to draw on each other’s strengths; create a broader appeal for the work; and give you access to a sounding board for ideas,” he said. “On the other hand, the most bitter troubles and disputes occur between co-authors. Of all disputes, those between collaborators are the worst–they almost never have a happy ending.”

One source of trouble is in the way the Copyright Act deals with co-authorship, said Gillen. “The default positions stated in the Copyright Act with regard to co-authorship are often not those that you would provide yourself,” he said. They include:

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Q&A: What percentage of sales are lost to the used book market over the life of an edition?

Q: “Does anyone know a “rule of thumb” about what percentage of sales are lost to the used book market over the life of an edition? In other words, if the adoption rate remains basically static, how do royalty returns typically decline after the edition has been on the market for one year/two years/three years?”

A: Robert Christopherson, author of Geosystems:

“Quick response on used-book impact. With my 3-year revision cycle we do not stay ahead of the used-book sales erosion. Fortunately in my field there is so much dynamic change that such a revision cycle is warranted.

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