How to Copyright a Book: What’s Automatic and How to Register It

You don’t need anyone’s permission to own the copyright in your book, and you don’t need to register it to publish it. But if someone copies your book, registration is what lets you act. This guide covers what’s automatic, how to register in the US, which application and copy you need, what it costs, and what changes if any of the book was made with AI. It’s general information, not legal advice.

Is my book copyrighted automatically?

Yes. The US Copyright Office says copyright exists automatically in an original work once it’s fixed in a tangible form, such as a typed manuscript or a saved file. You own it from that moment, and for a book written by one person, it generally lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years (different terms apply to a work made for hire, or a book under a pen name unless your real name is in the Copyright Office’s records).

Registration isn’t required to have a copyright. But for a US work, the Copyright Office says registration (or a refusal) is necessary before you can enforce your rights in court.

What registration adds, and when to register

US copyright law ties three key benefits to registration, and two of them depend on timing:

1. Before you sueYou must register a US work (or be refused) before filing an infringement lawsuit (17 U.S.C. 411).
2. Before infringement or within 3 months of publicationYou can ask for statutory damages and attorney’s fees, not only proven losses (17 U.S.C. 412). For an unpublished book, only registering before the infringement counts.
3. Before or within 5 years after first publicationYour certificate counts as prima facie evidence that your copyright is valid and of the facts stated in it (17 U.S.C. 410(c)).

That’s why it pays to register before you publish or within three months after. You can register an unpublished manuscript too.

How to register a book with the US Copyright Office

As of October 2026, you register online through the Copyright Office’s online system, the electronic Copyright Office (eCO). The Office is building a new system, but eCO is still the one in use. To register, you send three things: an application, the fee, and a copy of the book. Online, it takes five steps:

1. Create an account on the Copyright Office’s online registration system.
2. Choose the application: the Single Application or the Standard Application (see the check below).
3. Fill in the form: title, author, the year you finished it, publication date if published, and what you’re claiming. Exclude anything you didn’t create.
4. Pay the fee online.
5. Send your copy (the deposit): upload a file or mail a printed copy, depending on how the book was published.

The Copyright Office’s average processing time was 4.1 months for all claims, and 3.4 months for online claims with an uploaded copy and no back-and-forth, for cases closed April to September 2026. If the Office accepts your claim, the registration takes effect on the day it received the last of your application, fee, and copy.

Which application do you need?

Answer five questions to see which application fits your book, what it costs, and what copy to send. Nothing is saved or sent.

The Copyright Office says a claim filed on the Single Application by mistake is refused. You then refile on the Standard Application with a new fee and a new copy, and your registration takes effect later. If you hired a ghostwriter, see who owns a ghostwritten book before you file.

What copy to send

The copy you send is called the deposit, and the Copyright Office’s rules depend on how the book was published:

• Published in print

  Mail a printed copy

  With or without an ebook: mail one physical copy of the best edition. If a hardcover and a paperback both exist when you file, send the hardcover. Since 2018, publishers can generally send one copy instead of two; the Office will contact you if it needs two.

• Published only as an ebook

  Upload

  Upload the file. The Office encourages uploads for works published only in electronic form.

• Not yet published

  Upload

  Upload one complete copy of the manuscript.

The Copyright Office says to send the physical format even if a digital version exists. In our reading, a print-on-demand paperback counts as a physical format, so check with the Office if you’re unsure.

How much it costs to copyright a book

The Copyright Office announced on 14 July 2026 that it had sent the proposed fees to Congress, and said it can bring them in from 11 November 2026 (120 days later) unless Congress objects, with a target of fall 2026. As of 27 October 2026, it hadn’t announced a start date, so check the fees page before you file. A printed copy for the deposit costs whatever you pay to print and mail it.

If your book includes AI-generated material

The Copyright Office protects only human authorship. Its 2023 guidance says you must disclose AI-generated content, briefly describe what you contributed, use the Standard Application, and should exclude AI-generated material that’s more than de minimis (more than a trivial amount) in the “Limitation of the Claim” section. Don’t list an AI tool as an author. Its January 2025 report adds that using AI as an assistant doesn’t stop the parts you wrote from being protected, but prompts alone don’t make you the author of the output. For what Amazon and the law allow, see can AI write a book.

Copyright outside the US

There’s no single international copyright. The US and 181 other countries belong to the Berne Convention, which, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, protects works from member countries automatically, without any formality, and gives them the same protection as local works. Whether you can register, and what it costs, depends on the country. As of October 2026:

• United StatesVoluntary register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  Voluntary (US Copyright Office)

  Fee

  $45 or $65 online

  Gives you

  Needed to sue for a US work; statutory damages if on time

• United KingdomNo register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  None: there’s no register of copyright works

  Fee

  No fee

  Gives you

  Not available

• CanadaVoluntary register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  Voluntary (Canadian Intellectual Property Office)

  Fee

  CAD $63 online, CAD $81 on paper

  Gives you

  A certificate that’s evidence you own the copyright (it can be challenged in court)

• AustraliaNo register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  None: no formal registration system

  Fee

  No fee

  Gives you

  Not available

• New ZealandNo register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  None: no copyright register

  Fee

  No fee

  Gives you

  Not available

• IrelandNo register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  None: no registration procedure

  Fee

  No fee

  Gives you

  Not available

• IndiaVoluntary register

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  Voluntary (Copyright Office, India)

  Fee

  INR 500 per literary work

  Gives you

  Prima facie evidence of the registered details

• European UnionVaries

  Automatic

  Yes

  Register

  Some national laws allow registration

  Fee

  Varies by country

  Gives you

  Varies

Where there’s no register, keep records that show when you created the work, such as copies of your dated files, as New Zealand’s IP office suggests. Australia’s Attorney-General’s Department warns that websites offering to “register” copyright for a fee have no authority to guarantee protection there.

Selling in the US from another country? You can register with the US Copyright Office at the same fees as US authors. If your book was first published outside the US and wasn’t released in the US at the same time, you don’t need US registration to sue there, because that rule applies to US works. A same-day worldwide release, including on Amazon.com, can make it a US work. Under 17 U.S.C. 412, statutory damages and attorney’s fees still depend on registering before the infringement or within three months of publication; without timely registration, a US court can award only the losses and infringer’s profits you can prove. Our registration service covers the US Copyright Office, and we give non-US authors free guidance on their own country’s rules.

Copyright myths

• Myth“Mailing myself a copy protects it.”

  FactThe Copyright Office says there’s no provision in the law for this “poor man’s copyright,” and it’s not a substitute for registration.

• Myth“I need the © symbol.”

  FactA copyright notice has been optional since 1 March 1989. It’s still worth adding to your copyright page, because it shows who owned the book when it was first published and stops an infringer claiming they didn’t know it was protected.

• Myth“An ISBN copyrights my book.”

  FactThe International ISBN Agency says an ISBN conveys no legal or copyright protection; it’s an ID number for one edition. See what is an ISBN.

• Myth“Publishing on Amazon registers my copyright.”

  FactIt doesn’t. KDP requires you to hold the publishing rights, and says a copyright page isn’t enough to prove them. KDP doesn’t register copyright for you; you file with the Copyright Office yourself.

Get it registered for you

If you’d rather not file it yourself, our copyright registration service registers your book with the US Copyright Office, with the certificate issued in your name, for $199 plus the Office’s fee. It works with any publishing tier, or on its own. To publish the book too, see our self-publishing services.

How to copyright a book: FAQ

Do I need to copyright my book before publishing?

No. Your book is protected from the moment you write it, and you can publish without registering. But registering before an infringement or within three months of publication is what lets you claim statutory damages and attorney’s fees in a US lawsuit. That’s why it pays to file before release or within three months after.

Can I copyright a book for free?

Copyright itself is free and automatic. Registering it in the US isn’t: as of October 2026, the Copyright Office charges $45 for a Single Application or $65 for a Standard Application, and the Office sent Congress a proposed new fee schedule in July 2026, planned for fall 2026, so check the fees page before filing. The UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland have no copyright register, so authors there have nothing to pay; Canada charges CAD $63 online.

How long does copyright registration take?

For cases closed April to September 2026, the Copyright Office’s average was 4.1 months for all claims and 3.4 months for online claims with an uploaded copy and no correspondence. Mailed copies and questions from the Office take longer. If the Office accepts your claim, the registration takes effect on the day it received the last of your application, fee, and copy, not the day it’s approved.

Does an ISBN copyright my book?

No. An ISBN is an ID number for one edition of your book, used by stores and libraries. The International ISBN Agency says it conveys no legal or copyright protection. Your copyright comes from writing the book, and US registration comes from the Copyright Office.

Related reading

• KDP Copyright Page Template
• Can AI Write a Book?
• What Is an ISBN?