Silly Question?

[Wake]

This might be a silly question, but I thought I'd just throw it out there. How ridiculous is it to want to write a story on here and ask for opinions and help with it and then wish to publish it?

[AxelVIII]

I basically did the same thing not too long ago, so I can't call it silly, but someone told me it was a little misplaced, but I got what I needed from it.

[† RazorDan]

it's not silly at all Wake! Go ahead and post and I'll definitely give it a read and do my best to help!

[† Emotional Outlet]

To be clear about what you're asking:

 

You want to post a story here on the forum.

You want to receive criticism and comments to help improve it.

You want to publish this story.

 

If I'm tracking, the first two points are totally cool and we absolutely encourage it! That's one of the reasons the subforum is here.

 

As far as publishing, however, that can be a bit trickier. Because all content in the Art & Lit section is publicly available to guests, it can be considered published and depending on the publisher, they may not like it! While it's not unheard of for publishers to take on previously published work, it isn't the norm.

 

It also depends what you mean by publish. If you self-publish, then it's no big deal--it's your IP, it's your copyright. You might still have some issue pitching it to bigger publishing houses if it's previously self-published, but, again, it's not unheard of. And as long as you're willing to do the work, self-publishing is a very viable course of action!

 

The problem isn't theft, it's just that most (American) publishers tend to want first publication rights. Other countries may be more flexible on the matter, so it really depends where you live.

 

All that said, I'd err on the safe side. It's fine to post excerpts, as long as it's on the short side (relative to the work itself--1,000 words is a lot if it's a 5,000 word work, but a drop in the barrel compared to 10,000). And you might be able to get away with just removing it from the forum, but traces of it might still exist online in a cached form, and publishers may think that's an unnecessarily underhanded move.

 

Anyway: it's not a silly question and it's not silly to want feedback on something you want to publish. o3o

[Wake]

Thanks everyone for your reply.

 

To be clear about what you're asking:

 

You want to post a story here on the forum.

You want to receive criticism and comments to help improve it.

You want to publish this story.

 

Yes, that was exactly what I was think/talking about, thank you very much for the info... I'd really just like to self publish something/things and kinda go from there, was my train of thought so that's fine.

[† Emotional Outlet]

I think self-publishing is a really good idea in this day and age, let me know how that works out for you. There are a lot of avenues that have been opening up for authors, not just in terms of ebooks but also print on demand, which means you won't end up ordering a bunch of books and then get stuck with them taking up space in your home. :3 Good luck!

[DuLake]

My suggestion (that's worked well in the past) is you pick one or two stories that you don't really expect to do anything with and pass them out to everyone you know -- throw them here, facebook, drop 'em on twitter 140 characters at a time if you have to -- and then, once you've figured out who will give you good critique, start sending it directly to the people you find most helpful. I have a bank of three or four people who I know will look at anything I give them and tear it to shreds. I heart them so much.