What would be the best way to copyright a work in progress and other short stories?

[Mike742]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Chicago Cook county Illinois USA

Thank you very much for looking at my inquiry.
Question: What would be the best way to copyright a work in progress and other short stories I created?
I'm working on a novel and wanted to start posting a few of the chapters periodically every week or so as i finish and edit the work to my own website.

I also have tons of short stories, poems and essays that I'd want protected and would like to be posted on the site as well.

So the meat of the issue is my unknowing if I should group all these works into one large epic and call it my websites name or something of get different copyrights for all the aforementioned stories, and chapters.

My plan was to post the chapters along with other short stories not related to the work in question to a website I own outright and host through godaddy.com.

I just want to lucid answer to my inquiry, could I potentially copyright my website and all works within my website are grandfathered into this copyright?

Thank you again for your time and advice,
Michael Johnson

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Chicago Cook county Illinois USA

Thank you very much for looking at my inquiry.
Question: What would be the best way to copyright a work in progress and other short stories I created?
I'm working on a novel and wanted to start posting a few of the chapters periodically every week or so as i finish and edit the work to my own website.

I also have tons of short stories, poems and essays that I'd want protected and would like to be posted on the site as well.

So the meat of the issue is my unknowing if I should group all these works into one large epic and call it my websites name or something of get different copyrights for all the aforementioned stories, and chapters.

My plan was to post the chapters along with other short stories not related to the work in question to a website I own outright and host through godaddy.com.

I just want to lucid answer to my inquiry, could I potentially copyright my website and all works within my website are grandfathered into this copyright?

Thank you again for your time and advice,
Michael Johnson

Your work in progress is automatically copyrighted once the words are fixed in a tangible form (e.g., on paper, recorded, printed online).

You can file for registration of your copyrighted works at any time but they already have copyright protection. Registration prior to publication or within 3 months of first publication, however, makes you eligible for statutory damages should your works be infringed and is desirable for that reason.

The cost of registration is $35 per application. It is generally financially smartest to wait until you have a completed work and register the work at that time before publication - but it is up to you. I would think that registering your website would be smart, at any rate.

You might want to personally review your wants and needs with an attorney in your area, however, to go over your website plans and your copyrighted works, to help you determine what is best for you.