Copyright
Let’s start with the good news: you always hold the copyright to your work! The ownership of your intellectual property is protected by law and will remain in effect until 70 years after your death. This means others cannot copy or sell your books without your permission. We recommend stating this on your colophon page. It’s not necessary for the laws to apply, but it never hurts being clear about this stuff.
But wait, you might think, let’s rewind here: what’s a colophon page? The colophon page is the one at the beginning of the book, before the title page, with all the boring stuff on it. This usually includes information about the publisher, the names of the people who worked on the book (author, cover designer, etc.), and states who the copyright holder is.
Be sure to state whether you’re enforcing your copyright or not. In the case of the former, it’s always a good idea to combine the little © symbol with the year of publication. You should also include a text stating that it is prohibited to copy, share, or otherwise spread any of the contents of the work without your written permission. With that, your bases ought to be covered.
Rights to texts and images
Always make sure that you hold the rights to any content you use in your book. Always make sure that you have permission to use any images or text that you haven’t created yourself. Usually, this will be stated wherever you’re getting the content from, but if in doubt, ask the original creator. Better safe than sorry. If you’re quoting others in your work, always include the source!
No contracts here
At Bookmundo, we don’t work with contracts. We believe that creators should be able to do what they please with their content and that you know what’s best for your books. So, if you’re happy with Bookmundo: that’s great, we’re thrilled to have you! If not, or if you find a publishing solution that better meets your needs, we won’t take it personally. We will be sad to see you go, of course, but you do you!
Before you publish or print a book though, you should read our terms and conditions. Here you’ll find a clear and exhaustive description of what you can expect from Bookmundo and what we, in turn, expect from you. For example, when you publish a book with us, you grant us the right to make your book available via the sales channels you select. If you unpublish your book, that right expires.
Personal Data
We are very protective of our users’ privacy. We will never share your personal data with any third parties unless legal action forces us to do so. You can read more about this in our privacy policy.
Legal Disputes
While we hope it doesn’t happen, there is always the possibility of a legal dispute with a third party regarding your work. In the event that it does happen, Bookmundo does not mediate–that task falls to legal professionals. We do, however, initiate the ‘notice and takedown procedure’ when required. Practically speaking, this means we put you and the plaintiff in touch with each other so that you can sort out your differences. How you do this is up to you. During this process, we have the right to take the contested book out of publication, deactivate the associated account, and pause all royalty payments until the dispute is resolved.
Tips
-
- Always include a colophon page and state whether or not third parties have the right to use your work.
- Text and other content posted on social media are not copyright-free. In other words, you can’t just use such content without permission.
- Images are almost always protected by copyright. Be very careful when using pictures that you find online. Always ensure that you have the right to use them for commercial purposes!
- You can use websites like unsplash.com to find high-quality, copyright-free images.
- Always include the source when quoting others!
- The images we’ve included in our Cover Designer are all copyright-free, so don’t hesitate to use them.
- When in doubt: contact the copyright holder!