How can a writer protect their copyright when publishing work online?

How can a writer protect their copyright when publishing work online?

Derek Johns (Managing Director - AP Watt Literary Agency) gives expert video advice on: What's the next 'big thing' in publishing?; Is it a good idea to post my writing online?; What do you predict for the publishing industry in the next couple of years? and more...

Copyright is one of the big questions that the Net has posed, and we've seen this in music, we see it in illegal downloads, and so on. If you post material on the web, you simply cannot protect it, unless you are prepared to hire lawyers, in the case of piracy. The question is, who is going to pirate your work, and how? And it's unlikely to be pirated--unless, of course, it's a success, in which case it will be published by a large publisher who will protect the copyright.