Regarding question (2), here's a ChoralNet resources titled "What's the best way to get published?"

 

Your piece is protected by copyright from the moment it's composed. You may register your copyright with the US Copyright Office but it is not necessary; the only reason to do so would be if you needed to prove your copyright in court for some lawsuit, which is extremely unlikely. See the Copyright Office FAQ page for more info.

 

ChoralNet has a huge listing of more copyright resources.

 First of all, you probably shouldn't copyright your piece if you intend to submit it to a publisher for future publication. Most, or at least a lot, of publishers frown up that.

 

Secondly, there are lots of "good" publishing houses out there. However, many of them publish a particular type, style or genre of music. I suggest you either send an email or even better, invest in a phone call to some publishers to see if they might be interested in a piece such as yours. There are publishers out there that do not accept blind submissions (sending in a piece without having contacted them in advance).

 

Finally, when you do find some publishers who might be interested in looking at your composition, do not submit it to more than one publisher at a time. If you do, and you get multiple acceptances for publication, you're going to have to break the news to the publisher who has accepted your work that you don't want to publish. That's a great way to burn a bridge for the future.

A good source of information is Barbara Harlow's book

How to Get your Choral Composition Published.

If you go to my Website: www.smpjazz.com then click on What's New, on the left hand side you will find number 2, How To Submit Your Chart

We publish concert and jazz  choral literature. We specialize in vocal jazz but publish concert choral literature as well.

Our company has establish a number of important industry standards. As and example, we DO NOT copywrite, DO NOT OWN own your music. We do secure the license to publish your music. This is much different than most publishing houses. We just don't believe anyone can own your music. Secondly, we truly honor our writers.They are promoted and they are paid an appropriate percentage of the retail price of the music. And, the number of differences go on.

One of the reasons for these standards, we are composers and arrangers too, we know what the concerns are and we are doing everything possible to address them, first for the writer and secondly for our customers as well.

Cheers,

Frank