Hi Tina,
Thanks for the email.
Copyright, as I know it. is yours immediately. you do not have to register anything. As soon as you put pen to paper you own the copyright, least that's how it works in the UK. That remains so for seventy years after the author's death - again, that's UK.
more

Hi Tina,
Thanks for the email.
Copyright, as I know it. is yours immediately. you do not have to register anything. As soon as you put pen to paper you own the copyright, least that's how it works in the UK. That remains so for seventy years after the author's death - again, that's UK.
As to how you present/send things to publishers - you need to look at their criteria. This could be on their website under submissions or by looking at a writers/illustrators guide - again, in the UK we have the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook. I'm not sure what you would have in the states.
Hope that's of some help.
Debbie