The bit at the front - Karen Bush






My e-book still isn't published yet - with a deadline looming for a paper book, I just haven't had any time to spare for it. But with the paper book now finally finished, I can get back to it at last: I started by reading through the stories checking for typos (amazing how many sneak in) and doing a little gentle tweaking, and then took another look at the 'other stuff' such as the contents page, author info and copyright details.
Before long I'd had to go and look at some other books: while I always read dedications (which fascinate me, especially when cryptic messages to the dedicatee are included) I usually skip straight past the rest, as I imagine most other people do. Looking at some e-books for further comparison, there seemed to be huge differences in what was included under the copyright info: some quite lengthy and others a single sentence. How much and what to include? Does it really matter?
I scratched my head a bit more and trawled around the internet. I discovered that you need to put both 'Copyright' and '©' next to the date and your name, rather than one or the other (and oh, the excitement - I also found out how to actually do that © thing too) ... and then happily found a website that provided a 'just fill in your name in the appropriate places' template to use. Can't say I'm any the wiser as to how much of it is really necessary: but although that's not really supposed to be the point of it, at least the bit at the front now looks suitably professional ...

Comments

Joan Lennon said…
Crumbs! I didn't know you needed both "copyright" and, er, how DO you do that sign?!
And a template?
I feel an edit coming on. Now all I have to do is figure out (once the book is out there) how you do THAT!
madwippitt said…
Type in 0169 (I think it was!) on the numeric pad while holding the Alt key down. There's a table somewhere in the interweb that tells you how to do all sorts of clever stuff like that ... I forgot to make a note of the address, but found it fairly easily by just doing a general search.
I think the template was on a Joel Friedlander page somewhere ... again, forgot to note the site down having got the template. Sorry!
Joan Lennon said…
Thanks! I'll look into these.
Debbie Bennett said…
Word does it all by itself if you type (c) - it's an autocorrect default setting.
madwippitt said…
ooo, so it does! Thank you! My old Word was too old a version to do it. Learning all the time!
Susan Price said…
Thank you all! I'm very glad to have learned from that!
I went to Google, entered 'how copyright symbol, Word 2010' and was told, click on 'insert' on the toolbar, click on 'symbol'. A little subtable of symbols comes up, including the copyright symbol. Click on it, job done.
To put the copyright symbol into books you've already published, go to the Amazon publishing site, take down your book, make the alteration, and republish it. The book won't be available for 24 hours. Same applies if you want to alter the price.
Dennis Hamley said…
Using 'Insert' and clicking on 'symbol' works on trusty old World Office, 2003 vintage, too. I can't seem to make 0169 work.
Hywela Lyn said…
I hadn't realised you need the © sign in addition to the copyright notice either, thanks so much, Susan!
Hywela Lyn said…
*Blush* sorry Karen - I've no idea why I called you Susan!

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