Open up any professionally published book. On page 1 you’ll see the title. On the flipside, you’ll see a bunch of scary legal information – copyright symbols, disclaimers, ISBNs, Dewey numbers, publisher details and more. This is your book’s copyright page, or imprint page.

If your book is being published by a traditional publisher, or if you’re working with an end-to-end self-publishing company, it magically happens. You send off your content, they wave their magic wands and ‘poof!’ You have a completed book!

But what if you’re doing it yourself? What do you need to include on your copyright page to make your book look professional and, more importantly, to protect your intellectual property?

The good thing is that it doesn’t need to be that complicated – there are only a few elements that must be on your copyright page. Everything else is optional.

The first element that needs to be on your copyright page is the copyright (I know that statement is eye-roll worthy, but it had to be said).

Your copyright includes the copyright symbol, your name as the copyright holder, and your book’s year of publication. These elements are presented like this:

© Jacqui Pretty, 2021

The second element is a statement reserving your rights as the copyright holder to reproduce the work (in other words, no one can copy your stuff without your permission). This can be as simple as:

All rights reserved.

Other common elements on the copyright page include: