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What is considered "previously published"?
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Does anyone know, if I submit poetry or other writings to a publisher and their guidelines state that they will accept simultaneous submissions but not previously published work, is my work "previously published" if it has appeared on a website?
Posted at 9:14AM, 5 June 2005 PDT
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It depends on the website. Is the website an online literary journal? If so, then yes, definitely. Is the website your personal journal to which you occasionally post your original prose or poetry? I'd still say yes, it's been previously published (by you), but some folks would say no.
Posted 85 months ago.
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Yea, most people even consider works on a personal website published. If it's on your own website, take it off!
If a publisher will accept simultaneous submissions, that just means you can send your works to several publishers at the same time. Becuase it usually takes so long to usually end up getting rejected by one publisher, many people send out the same poem to many publishers, even if they don't accept simultaneous submissions. That's risky though.
Posted 85 months ago.
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In my experience, "previously published" means that someone else had bought or obtained "first rights" to publish your work. After publication, those rights usually revert back to you.
So, if you sold something or signed for (for example) First North American Rights and it was published--either online or in print--then your work is previously published.
Posted 85 months ago.
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So without "selling" or "signing for" then it probably isn't considered published?
Posted 85 months ago.
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From my experience, unless you have something in writing that says that someone has claimed "first rights" to publish the piece or manuscript, then you still own "first rights" and can sell it at that. If someone has claimed first rights, then you can sell it as a reprint, as the rights have probably been reverted back to you upon publication.
Now, the issue of something that is published on your own website is something else. I'm not sure of what implications that might have, or if the potential publisher considers that published or not. If you are submitting something that was on a website (like your own), I would certainly bring it to their attention and be upfront about it. They may see that as a first rights situation or they may not. I think you will find that opinion on that will vary from publisher to publisher.
I hope this is clear. This stuff can get so confusing and a lawyer I am not :)
Posted 85 months ago.
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I'd say to check with the publisher. In the case of state and national poetry contests (e.g., the National Federation of State Poetry Societies), anything that's appeared on a website is considered previously published.
Posted 81 months ago.
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I kind of got bitten by this one. I belong to a writers' online community, where there are critique boards and such. These boards are publicly viewable, but you must sign in with a (free) username to post anything.
I submitted a short story to an online (paying) market. They replied that they didn't accept anything that had been previously published. They had done a Google search on some relatively unique phrases in my story, and lo and behold, found it on the community's site. (Actually, my post had disappeared from the site itself, but it still showed up in the Google cache. Which just goes to show: even if it's not actually online anymore, don't mean it's gone.)
So: check with the publisher. Most of my writing still appears on one of my websites, but behind a password so it's not picked up by the search engines.
Posted 81 months ago.
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Thanks for that info, patrick! Good to know.
Posted 81 months ago.
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