Many newbie writers don't understand that copyright registration does not keep people from stealing your work.

This is an aspect of authorship I've seen several clients struggle with as they prepare to publish their books. The following is the perspective I provide to help decrease some of the confusion and fear a newbie writer can experience regarding the role of copyright registration as it relates to piracy.

Copyright Registration and Car Insurance

It may help to think of a copyright like having car insurance.

Having coverage does not keep people from running into you, breaking into your car while it’s parked, or vandalizing your vehicle. It does give you an advantage when it’s time to attempt to hold the other party accountable for what they’ve done that resulted in harm to you or your car (texting and driving, stealing your groceries, keying your doors, etc.), and survive while you recover from any injuries you may have incurred or any loss of the use of your vehicle. 

In a similar manner, having submitted your copyright registration doesn’t prevent someone from pirating your work. Copyright merely gives you documentation so that you have a legal leg to stand on if someone decides to use your work without your permission, and you happen to catch them doing it, AND you’re able to clearly identify them in order to bring them to justice.

But copyright registration is a treatment for something that has already occurred. It's not a preventative measure that stops anyone from taking your work and doing whatever they want with it.

Publishing Means Sharing with the Public

Someone who purchased your ebook could download it and use it to create a new file, change a few details of the piece (including the author name), and publish it as an original book.

Someone could borrow your paperback from a library and retype every word into a new file and market and sell the work as if it were their original content.

The only way I know of to 100% guarantee that you prevent (meaning it never happens in the first place) someone from stealing your work is to never share it with anyone.

That means you don't submit portions of your piece to your critique group members to get feedback. You also won't be recruiting any alpha or beta readers for the piece. You would refrain from hiring professionals to help with enhancing the book (sensitivity readers, developmental editors, proofreaders, illustrators, book designers, etc.). You won't be submitting the book to your PR team or giving copies to ARC reviewers or submitting copies to award committees for consideration. And, of course, the last thing you would want to do if you don't want anyone to steal your work is publish it for the entire world to have access to in exchange for a few dollars.

Yet, these steps are an integral part of writing and publishing quality work that readers will love and that you can profit from selling. So if you don’t want to do any of these steps because you’re afraid of piracy, that’s fine. But if becoming a full-time author who can financially sustain themselves is your goal, that will be pretty hard to achieve without publishing books.

Identifying Pirates Can Be Grueling

Getting to the bottom of handling a copyright infringement claim can be rough in many cases.

With something like car insurance, knowing who is at fault is usually pretty straightforward, especially in the case of a collision. The person who was driving the other vehicle is the one who needs to be held accountable (pay for damages, get arrested, etc.).

However, when it comes to piracy, things aren’t always that simple. Thieves often hide behind shell accounts, profiles, and companies in order to steal in relative comfort. Even when you find someone to reach out to, there's no guarantee that they will respond at all (if they even exist and aren't just a fake name and headshot). After all, if they are so unethical as to steal, they likely aren't going to behave in a professional manner when someone tries to hold them accountable. 

And even on the off chance that you find out about the copyright infringement, find the person responsible, hold them legally accountable, and get your book taken down from their site / get their site shut down, that's not necessarily the end. There are still hundreds of other sites where your book (and those of other authors) could be offered for free without permission or be sold without the author getting their share of the revenue.

If an author really wanted to take the book piracy industry on, it’s something they may have to throw Bruce-Wayne-level money at and spend the majority of their time fighting. And between tending to physical and mental health needs, working a full-time job, eating, sleeping, and trying to maintain a solid authorship, that’s a lot to ask even if somebody actually wants to do it.

But there is another option. It may not sound as cool as being a "pirate hunter," but it’s what I and most of the career authors I know do.

Let it go.

There are many things in life that we have zero control over. There are also many things that we could attempt to control, but aren’t worth the amount of hours and energy we would have to put into it, even if we did get close to the results we were looking for.

If you really do find that you just love hunting pirates, go for it! I want you to do what makes you happy in life, after all. 

But if you love writing and publishing books and sharing your ideas with the world, I’m hoping you’ll consider paying less attention to the people who are trying to make a few dollars off of your pirated book and focus instead on serving the audience of people who you know are purchasing your work legally.

If N. K. Jemisin, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Lisa See, and other popular, famous authors can have their books pirated, you’re susceptible to it as well. Yet you’ll rarely, if ever, hear about them (or their estates) spending their hard-earned money and precious time hunting down the cons who are selling and sharing their work illegally.

Piracy comes with the territory of being a published author. Just like dealing with theft when you own a grocery store, piracy is just part of the cost of doing business in the publishing world. None of us like it. But, for most of us, by the time we spend the effort and cash to try to combat it, we’ve lost more money than we’ve gained (and still haven’t kept it from happening again at a later date), while simultaneously losing out on writing time. 

The Pirates are the Problem, Not You

I hope you won't beat yourself up because you find out your book has been pirated. That signals something going wrong with the thieves, not you.

Will registering your copyright prevent someone from stealing your book? 

Not at all.

Will registering your copyright help you defend your work against the criminal in court? 

Yes! That’s one of the major reasons I encourage you to do it!

Is chasing down the criminals stealing your work worth the time you’ll lose and funds you’ll spend trying to catch them? 

Each author has to answer that on their own. 

I’d assume that, if authors making millions of dollars every year from their work don’t hunt pirates, it’s probably not all that impactful and worthwhile for people who aren’t even earning five figures. For me and my author friends, the answer is "no."

Hopefully, this offers a little more clarity to help ease some of the anxiety you might feel regarding piracy. It happens to published authors at all levels (more so when you start gaining a large following and taking up significant space in the market), so it’s not like you’re at fault if it happens to you (that's like saying it's your fault a serial arsonist set your house on fire). Registering your copyright is a great way to document the ownership of your work and prepare to defend against piracy of your pieces IF you find out they’ve been pirated and IF you can pinpoint someone to blame it on and IF you’ve decided you want to pursue the culprit. Just remember to manage your expectations and understand that copyright registration is meant to treat a problem that has already occurred, not prevent it from happening.