The lag time in publishing, from the time you get a contract with a publisher to the time the book hits the shelves, can easily be two or three years. Backing up a bit, it can EASILY take a couple years of marketing before you make a deal with a publisher. So, if you finish a book today and register the copyright, you have a copyright date of 2003. Let's say your experience is typical, and you find an agent by mid-2004. Then you go through the required rewrites, which takes another few months. Then the agent finally makes the sale to Random House for you in early 2005. Random House takes a look at their catalog, which is planned out well in advance, and decides to bring your book to market for the fall 2006 selling season. What happens? John Q. Customer is browsing at Borders and comes across your wonderful book. He opens the book and sees a copyright date of 2003. John assumes it's an old book, he wants something ultra-fresh, and slides it back into its slot. That's a long-winded explanation, but that is indeed the reasoning as to why publishers prefer that you let them handle the copyright registration for you.
It's also VERY bad form to submit work to agents or editors with a copyright notice stamped all over it. It screams PARANOID AMATEUR. (I've done it, LOL.) The chance of someone stealing an unpublished author's work is about nil. Let me qualify this by saying that many people do recommend registering Hollywood-bound material with WGA (Writers Guild of America) before submission, because apparently a lot more shenanigans go on in that fair city and the movie industry as opposed to publishing.
Shorts aren't my forte, but I do like what you're saying about yours. It sounds quirky, edgy, and that's often a huge plus in placing shorts or any other work in today's market IMHO. As for non-fiction, that is a whole different animal and the marketing process is handled very differently. In non-fic, you typically sell the book based on a proposal, before the book itself is even written.
I've written three thrillers thus far, all of them man vs. man. Am working on a screenplay right now that has some man vs. man elements, but is predominantly man vs. nature, a huge natural disaster kind of thingy.
MM
>It screams PARANOID AMATEUR
I suppose it does but I assumed the field was extremely cut throat, no honor, all thieves so I asked. Your comments, from knowledge and experience are most welcomed though and I'll heed your advise. The date bit seems critical - hadn't looked at it that way but knowing what I do of the human psyche that old CR date on a fresh release does seem like a suicidal move for an author.
> Shorts aren't my forte, but I do like what you're saying about yours.
You don't know how encouraging that comment is. You didn't have to say anything so it comes across as genuine. It could be easy for one to impress himself with a pet project. How others react is the acid test though. Yours is my first positive feedback - in fact the only feedback and it comes at a needed time.
It seems self evident that someone would write about things that interest them but your angle has the added bonus of being a genre conducive to book and film with the subject being popular in both fields. It is wise to think of commercial reward when one devotes so much time and effort to an activity. Nothing like making money doing something one loves. How many pages do your novels run?
Thanks again,