Copyright page template for self-published books (with the exact wording)

The copyright page is the least glamorous page in your book and one of the few that has a correct form. It sits immediately after the title page, and it exists to state ownership, edition and permissions clearly enough that a librarian, a retailer and a lawyer can all read it.

The mandatory core is three lines: the copyright notice, the rights reservation, and the publisher identification. A notice reads: Copyright © 2026 by Author Name. The year is the year of first publication, not the year you started writing.

The rights reservation is conventionally: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Add an ISBN line for each format you publish. Paperback and ebook take different ISBNs. If you used a free KDP-assigned ISBN, note that it cannot be used with any other distributor.

Fiction should include a disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Non-fiction should include a limitation of liability appropriate to the subject, and health, legal or financial titles should say plainly that the book is not professional advice.

Credit your contributors: cover design, illustration, editing and photography. If you licensed an image, the licence often requires attribution here.

Optional but useful additions are the edition number, a first-printing line, your imprint name and website, and a Library of Congress control number if you obtained one.

Keep the whole page in a single style, left-aligned or centred consistently, at a size a point or two smaller than body text. Manucheck's structural review checks that your front matter is present, correctly ordered and complete before you upload.