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Legal Deposit
The 360-year-old law that still applies to UK self-published authors today
When it comes to the business of writing, it doesn’t get much better than seeing your book in print. And if you’ve chosen the self-publishing route, then chances are you’ve encountered many challenges along the way. But our responsibilities as an author-publisher don’t stop once our book is on sale.
There’s another important business responsibility we’re required to undertake.
All publishers have a legal duty to send a single copy of every book they publish to the British Library Legal Deposit Office within thirty days of publication. It’s the law. And even though this law has existed since 1662, it also applies to any writer who has self-published their book today. In fact, it applies to anyone publishing a book that will be available to the public. That includes writers’ groups that publish an anthology.
Changes to the legislation in 2013 extended this requirement to include electronic books as well as print books. Therefore, even if you only self-publish in ebook format on Amazon, you are still required by law to provide a digital copy of your book to the British Library Legal Deposit Office.
