New to self-publishing? Then it\u2019s important to tick all the legal boxes related to releasing your work, so you don\u2019t run into trouble. It\u2019s particularly worth noting for hybrid authors, whose traditional publishers have previously done all this work for them.<\/p>\n
Listed below are some of the legal requirements for self-publishing in Australia, and a few tips to set you straight.<\/p>\n
Copyright<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t get scammed: there is no \u2018fee\u2019 for retaining your copyright in Australia, and you don\u2019t have to register\u2014copyright protection is automatic upon creation of your manuscript.<\/p>\n But you do need to include a copyright page (or imprint page) in the front of your book to assert your copyright\u2014this is also the first page checked by librarians, booksellers and distributors, so it\u2019s pretty important. Your copyright page displays your copyright notice, ISBN, reservation of rights, and any Prepublication Data Service (formerly known as Cataloguing in Publication<\/a>) or edition information. It\u2019s also the place to attach any disclaimers, or contributor credits (such as acknowledgement of cover designers etc.). A short primer on the copyright page, and a template to create one, is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright lasts for the life of the author until 70 years after their death. You can find out more about copyright in Australia at the Arts Law Centre here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For issues of copyright, the Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) is a genuine non-profit organisation that protects author copyright, collects licence fees and distributes royalties. Membership is free, and you can claim payment for use of your work\u2014particularly handy for authors who have books distributed in government or educational settings. You can join CAL here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cover image\/font usage<\/strong><\/p>\n You can\u2019t just grab a cool image or font off the internet and stick it on your self-published book\u2019s cover\u2014a photographer or artist\u2019s image, or a typographer\u2019s font, is copyright protected. You can only use them by paying a licensing fee, or obtaining permission from the copyright holder.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re creating your own book cover, or providing images to a cover designer, it\u2019s up to you, as the publisher, to ensure those images are legally obtained and paid for, or are available through a royalty-free site (like Shutterstock).<\/p>\n Using quotes<\/strong><\/p>\n In Australia, quoting a single line from another book may be considered a copyright infringement if the part you\u2019re quoting \u2018distils the essence of the work\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to use a quote in your book, even as an epigraph, you need to obtain permission from the copyright holder\u2014the author and the publisher\u2014and attribute the quote, and you might have to pay a licensing fee.<\/p>\n Some texts are considered \u2018public domain\u2019\u2014works published in the US before 1923, for instance\u2014but you need to check Australian law carefully before using any quotes.<\/p>\n Using song lyrics<\/strong><\/p>\n Again, you have to obtain permission and pay a licensing fee. Song lyric permissions are notoriously expensive and hard to acquire\u2014but if you know the musician or composer personally, you might get lucky.<\/p>\n Legal deposit<\/strong><\/p>\n Every book published in Australia, or published by Australian authors or organisations, for free or for sale, must be deposited with the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the relevant State library.<\/p>\n Even if your book is printed overseas, if you\u2019re an Aussie author, you\u2019re obliged to deposit. One copy should go to the NLA, and one copy should go to the State\/Territory library in which you reside. You are obliged to cover the cost of the books and postage yourself. If you\u2019re working with a self-publishing service, it is you, not the service, who is responsible for deposit\u2014but check with your service, so there\u2019s no doubling-up. ISBNs are not a requirement for books to be eligible for deposit.<\/p>\n Ebooks: With improvements in digital technology and storage, the NLA is now requesting that self-publishers who only release in ebook deposit an electronic copy of their book via their new edeposit<\/a> service.<\/p>\n Print: Find out where to deposit here<\/a>. If you publish in both print and ebook, you only need to deposit one format.<\/p>\n Legal deposit isn\u2019t really a chore: it\u2019s a way to be confident that your work will always be accessible over time. Contact the NLA<\/a> if you have any queries about legal deposit.<\/p>\n Still confused about legal requirements of self-publishing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact the Arts Law Centre of Australia<\/a> for a great info sheet<\/a> covering most of the basic issues for self-publishers. They also offer legal advice to subscribers at radically reduced rates.<\/p>\n New to self-publishing? Then it\u2019s important to tick all the legal boxes related to releasing your work, so you don\u2019t run into trouble. It\u2019s particularly worth noting for hybrid authors, whose traditional publishers have previously done all this work for them. Listed below are some of the legal requirements for self-publishing in Australia, and a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,20,41],"tags":[51],"class_list":{"0":"post-1066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-newsletter","9":"category-newsletter-features","10":"tag-ellie"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Ellie Marney is a teacher and hybrid YA author. She lives in Victoria with her family, and her latest book,\u00a0<\/em>White Night\u00a0(Allen & Unwin), was published in March 2018. Find her at\u00a0www.elliemarney.com<\/a>\u00a0or on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"