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Sharing Unpublished Works on this Site Affect being Published?

Hi,

I am new to this site, and any kind of site like this. I wonder if you could help?

I am keen to read other people's work and offer honest comments etc but if I put a peice of my own work on here for comment which I later intend to send off to a magazine or compeition for publication, how would that affect the clause 'we only accept previously unpublished works'?. Would putting a short story on this site mean that I could not then send it to a magzine that doesn't accept unpublished works? Does putting work on here affectively mean that it is kind of published as it's in the public domain?

Thank you in advance

Asked by: Lisa Norris

  1. Louise Hughes on August 15, 2012

    If you publish a piece of work here then yes, it has been published (as in "made public"). That would mean you cannot sent it to any market which specifies only unpublished works. The reason for that is that in any contract they offer you there will be a clause saying they are purchasing "first time publishing rights" and if you have published the work here, those rights no longer exist to be sold.

    This applies even if you have made a few changes to the work - it is to all intents and purpose the same story.

    I would suggest finding a critique forum which is password protected if you want feedback on your work.

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  2. Lisa Norris on August 15, 2012

    Thanks very much Louise, very helpful!

    Do you know of any such critique forums that you could recommend?

  3. Victoria Whithear on August 16, 2012

    Chapter 79 used to have a closed area called Red Pen. I don't know if it is still running, but Chapter 79 is quite a good site in general. A lot of the More Writing crowd went there when the site closed and More Writing was opened after the closure of the BBCs Get Writing. Good Grief, I've been using these sites for some years!

    I did read somewhere that most agents and publishers these days accept that small parts of novels may have been shown on the internet and that wasn't too much of a problem. Short stories intended for magazines are different though. Fairly sure they still insist work is entirely unpublished.

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  4. Jonathan Hopkins on August 16, 2012

    I think Louise is wrong - this is a 'member' site, hence not PD. Otherwise, peer-review sites couldn't exist, either.

    If you're looking for one of those I'd recommend Youwriteon.com - IMHO far less backscratching goes on there than any other I've come across.

    Best of luck with your story :)

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  5. Louise Hughes on August 16, 2012

    Jonathan,

    This *is* in some ways a member site, but it is just as possible to view the works published here when you're logged out as it is when you're logged in (or at least it was last time I tried). That makes anything published here in the public domain. It isn't possible to comment on them, but that's not quite the same. Peer-review sites often have password-protected areas for members only. If they don't, then they're exactly the same as posting your work here.

    Good luck finding somewhere more suitable though, Lisa.
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