Literary Work Being Prepared for Publication in Book Form

Definition from the copyright law, 17 U.S.C. 101:

Literary works are works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia.

From Compendium of Copyright Office Practices, section 303:

A nondramatic literary work is one that explains, describes, or narrates a particular idea, theme or subject.

Eligibility: To be eligible for preregistration, it is required that:

• creation and fixation of the literary work must have already commenced;
• the claimant in the work can verify that he has a reasonable expectation that the work will be commercially distributed in the form of a book.