Just because an eBook is intangible doesn’t mean it shouldn’t include some of the same elements that a print book has. A copyright notice is something your eBook should contain even when you are using digital rights management (DRM) for your ebooks. It is one of the most important protections you can have for your book. This notice empowers you to explicitly limit the ability of others to use or quote your work without permission, establishes how others can obtain permission to quote from your book and provides some peace of mind.
EditionGuard suggests something similar to this:
Except where otherwise provided in the text of this publication and except as provided by law, no portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form without the written permission of [author]. Copyright is claimed under the Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, or otherwise duplicated without prior permission of the author. Notwithstanding the forgoing, for purpose of scholarly use, business people, journalists, and students may quote passages from this book (giving full attribution to the author) without charge and without obtaining proper written permission, so long as the cumulative total of such quotations are less than 50 words in length in any single work, web site, or article. The permission granted does not permit any party to copy any forms, charts, or other parts of this book for the purpose of reproducing the same for resale, use in a business, or office, or for commercial exploitation. Other use of this book, its forms, or any other part hereof must be made only with the written permission from the author and publisher. Requests for permissions to use portions of this book should be emailed to: [email address].
Thanks to Shadra Bruce, ebook author of Stories from a StepMom, and owner of the parenting blog MomsGetReal, for contributing this copyright language.
