A copyright page is a section at the front of a published book that lists its publication, legal, copyright, and printing details. While it doesn't contribute to the reader's experience, it is a useful resource for anyone looking to find out technical information about the book.
The first thing to know is that you already own the copyright to your work the minute you create it. One more time for the people in the back: you already own the copyright to your work the minute you create it! If you're curious about the mechanics behind this, you can read up on your rights in this comprehensive guide to copyright.
This indicates that the copyright owner reserves all the formal rights that copyright protection grants. This includes the right to publish the work, distribute the work, and make derivative works out of it.
Asserting moral rights — separate from economic rights — is a way to declare the right to be attributed as the author of the work. You'll see this sentence most often in books that are published outside the United States, since the U.S. doesn't distinguish between moral and economic rights.
In a society where lawsuits are commonplace, it's really no wonder that disclaimers are popular among authors. Don't sweat, though! Before you start sweating over the idea of trips to the courtroom, there are a few copyright statements that will cover your bases. Here are some popular examples of disclaimers:
But it's fine to keep it straightforward. To get the best idea of the disclaimer that you should use, spend some time flipping through books in your specific genre.
Did someone else design your cover? (Hint: indie authors are strongly recommended to get professionally designed covers). If you want to credit your designer properly, this is the spot for you. Here are some examples of ways to do this:
In case you don't, ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It contains 13 digits, and you must acquire one if you want to sell print copies of your book or stock the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores. To find out more about this oft-misunderstood creature, read our ISBN guide.
The edition information is pretty straightforward. Confirm whether it's the first, second, or third edition of your self-published book — then put that intel right onto the page.