Are Blog Posts Considered “Previously Published” Writing?
Monday, July 24th, 2006If you’ve written a great short story and have a blog, you might be tempted to post it and share your words immediately with your readers. You can always enter it into a short story contest later, right? Or get a collection published? Well maybe, but maybe not. If it’s appeared on your blog, it might be considered “previously published.”
I read recently that some short story contests may consider material posted on a blog to be “previously published” and, therefore, ineligible for entry. This categorization highlights the need for writers to be mindful of what they launch into the blogosphere.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m a huge fan of blogs for writers. They offer benefits such as experience in writing for an audience, interacting with readers, learning about self-promotion, and (perhaps most importantly) building a readership that you can point out to agents.
However, we all need to keep in mind that blogs are a new medium, and clear boundaries haven’t been established yet by either the the legal system or the publishing business. It’s a bit like the wild west right now: lots of opportunity, but you’d better sleep with one eye open.
Aside from worrying about how some contests and (possibly even publishers) might categorize your work, putting your masterpiece on your blog opens up the possibility of someone scraping it — it’d be awful to have another blogger steal your work and post it as his or her own (or worse yet, submit it to agents or publishers).
Overall, I do believe that it’s a great idea to post high-quality writing on your blog (to show readers what you’re made of); just don’t assume that you’ll be able to submit that same material elsewhere.
Interestingly, I noticed that Seth Godin’s upcoming book includes some of his blog entries. That’s proof that it is possible to publish postings — simply become a bestselling author and online promotion guru first.
RELATED ARTICLE: Go Boldly into the Blogosphere: A Wake-up Call for Writers
July 26th, 2006 at 1:31 am
Wow. That seems to be a bit unfair, both for the blogger and the blog readers.
Unfair for the blogger:
I can’t submit my best poetry/short story because it was already “self-published.”
Ergo: I’ll have to keep these stories to myself until I win the Pulitzer or Booker Prize or something…
Unfair for the reader:
Since, the blogger won’t post his/her best short story/poetry, the reader won’t be able to read them at all, thus robbing the reader of a possible life-changing experience.
But in my case, I’d rather post them. Having them out there in the open makes these stories and poetry live.
In some cases, they might outlive the writer, wherein if you just keep it locked up in a drawer somewhere, there’s a possibility it might be lost forever.
July 28th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Hi Taorist,
You offer some great insights! I especially like your point about a writer’s writing possibly being lost forever if it’s kept locked up in a drawer somewhere. Wow — that’s thought-provoking!
Also, I want to clarify what I’d been trying to say in the post: I’d read that SOME contests MAY consider posted material to be “previously published.” It’s not necessarily the norm at this time, so you’ll want to keep submitting your posted stories to contests, etc. In fact, there is no clear norm yet (which is why I’m waving a CAUTION flag).
It sounds like you have a clear sense of purpose for posting your stories and poetry. You clearly have an interest in reaching out and helping others — that’s great!
Thanks for sharing your analysis!
Cuileann
September 20th, 2006 at 8:27 am
[…] So do the same rules apply? Does that blog entry hurt my chances on submitting it to this anthology? I did some quick research on the net here and here, asked some friends of mine, and the general consensus seems to be: yes, I should treat it as a previously published article; however, if you substantially rewrite the article, it should be able to stand on its own as a new article. That’s basically the same with any nonfiction article you write–it can be written a number of different ways and each can be considered a new article. […]