For The Forgetful- The Complete Writer's Guide

Copy Rights Explained

Copy rights, not Miranda rights.

A lot of people have asked about their copyrights, specifically in regard to their work on Wattpad, so here's a rundown of your rights.

Copyrights automatically apply to anything you create The moment you have physically manifested  your original  idea, for example in writing,  it is protected. However, if you think your work is likely to be stolen (it probably won't, people are too busy trying to sell their own work) then you can secure this copyright by mailing your manuscript to yourself through recorded delivery. This sounds silly but in a court of law you can hold up your proof of delivery receipt with a smirk.

But, really, you're already protected. Putting a copyright mark on your work is also not particularly necessary. And using the term 'All Rights Reserved' doesn't really mean a lot if you're just posting on Wattpad. Nevertheless, do what makes you feel safe.

Selling Rights

If you publish, then you'll be selling particular rights. If it's just in an anthology or online literary journal then they usually only ask for First Publishing Rights, which means if you publish the same work somewhere else, you have to list them as the first publishers of that work. You might get paid around $20/£15 for that.

If you're getting a whole novel published by a big-bucks publisher, you'll be selling them  your rights; giving them the ability to edit/sell/reconstitute your work. The way you make money is royalties. You receive about 15% of what's made from the sale of your books. Generally. If you sell well and your publisher likes you, you receive an advance payment to secure the rights to a manuscript you are yet to write. 

Wattpad Rights

In Wattpad's terms and conditions of use, regarding User Submissions(the work you upload) they say:

D. You agree to not engage in the use, copying, or distribution of any of the Content other than expressly permitted herein, including any use, copying, or distribution of User Submissions of third parties obtained through the Website for any commercial purposes.

So,  by using and/or visiting this website, everyone has agreed to this term. Anyone who visits this site has legally agreed that they will not steal your work. If they do, Wattpad will take them to court because it is Wattpad's terms they will have broken. You are protected by this.

However, if you're that worried about having your work stolen, then don't upload. It's as simple as that.

Now, as for giving rights to Wattpad. Here's what the T's & C's say:

C. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to Wattpad.com, you hereby grant Wattpad.com a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the Wattpad.com Website and its affiliates. You also hereby waive any moral rights you may have in your User Submissions and grant each user of the Wattpad.com Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website. You understand and agree, however, that Wattpad.com may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of User Submissions that have been removed or deleted.

In short, this is saying two things. 

1.You keep all of your rights. 

BUT

2. wattpad have the right to display your work (they need this right, obviously, so that people can read, vote and comment on anything you upload).

On a side note: Interestingly, fanfiction is techinically breaking the terms and conditions of Wattpad. By uploading something to which you do not own the rights or have permission to use, you are flouting this section:

D. In connection with User Submissions, you further agree that you will not submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner and the necessary consents from any individuals whose personally identifiable information is contained in such material to post the material and to grant Wattpad.com all of the license rights granted herein.

But, because you're not trying to make any money out of it, you can get away with it. Woohoo for plaigarism!