Copyright

The copyright page, line by line

Seven lines that belong there, three that don't, and the notice format courts recognize

Most advice on this page is copied from traditionally published books, which is why so many self-published copyright pages carry lines that mean nothing for the book they are printed in. Here is what each line actually does, which ones you need, and which ones you can drop.

Start with the fact that surprises most authors: a copyright page is not required. Your copyright exists the moment the book is written, and since 1 March 1989 US law has said a notice “may be placed” on published copies, not must be. The page is a convention, not a legal obligation.

That does not make it pointless. The notice has one specific legal effect, covered further down, and it is worth getting the format right for that reason alone.

The notice format courts recognize

If you include a notice, federal law defines exactly what it consists of. Section 401(b) of the Copyright Act lists three elements:

1. The symbol ©, or the word "Copyright", or the abbreviation "Copr."
2. The year of first publication
3. The name of the copyright owner

So: © 2026 Jane Author

That is the whole requirement. The statute also says the notice must be positioned to give "reasonable notice of the claim of copyright," which in book form means the back of the title page, the page immediately following it, or either side of the cover.

Here is the part almost every other guide leaves out. Section 401(d) says that when a properly formed notice appears on a copy the defendant had access to, a court gives no weight to an innocent infringement defence when deciding damages. That matters in money terms: the statutory damages floor for innocent infringement is $200, well below the ordinary minimum. A correctly formatted notice closes that escape hatch.

That is the real argument for the copyright page. Not that it creates your rights, because it does not, but that it removes a specific defence from anyone who copies your book and claims they did not know.

Seven lines that belong

1. The copyright notice. As above. Use your legal name or the imprint that actually holds the rights, and keep it consistent with what you filed if you registered.

2. A rights reserved statement. "All rights reserved" plus a sentence on reproduction. No legal force in the US, but it sets expectations and is universally expected.

3. Your ISBNs, one per format. Paperback, hardcover, and ebook each carry a different number, so list each with its format in brackets. If you are unsure whether you need your own, see our guide on what the $125 ISBN fee actually gets you.

4. The publisher or imprint name. Whatever appears as publisher of record. If you used a free platform ISBN, the platform is the publisher of record, not you, and the page should not claim otherwise.

5. An edition statement. "First edition" or "Second edition, 2026". This matters most for nonfiction, where a reader needs to know whether they have the version with the current facts in it.

6. A disclaimer, if the genre calls for it. Fiction gets the standard line about names and incidents being products of the imagination. Nonfiction in health, legal, or financial territory usually gets a line saying the book is not professional advice.

7. Credits. Cover designer, editor, interior designer. Optional, but the people who did the work generally expect it, and some contracts require it.

Three lines that do not belong

The printer's key. That descending row of numbers (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1) exists to track which print run a physical copy came from, by deleting a digit with each new run. Print on demand has no runs. Every copy is printed when it is ordered. The number line is decoration on a POD book, and a knowledgeable reader will spot it as copied from somewhere else.

A CIP data block. Cataloguing in Publication data comes from the Library of Congress CIP Program, and self-publishers are explicitly ineligible for it. Some third-party services sell a similar block, but a self-published book cannot carry genuine LoC CIP data, and printing something that resembles it is worse than printing nothing.

"Printed in the United States of America." With POD, the book is printed wherever the order is fulfilled, which for a US author selling internationally is frequently not the United States. The line is inherited from books with a single known print location. Leave it off unless you genuinely know where every copy was printed.

Where the page goes

Print books: the verso, meaning the back of the title page. Ebooks: directly after the title page, kept short, because front matter eats into the sample a reader sees before buying.

A working example

Nine lines. That is a complete, correct copyright page for most self-published books.

This guide describes what US copyright law says. It is not legal advice, and a lawyer is the right person to ask about your specific situation.