Thank you for this article. I am so frustrated with lit journals that do not understand the digital environment. Sharing a poem or an essay on Facebook or my own webpage should not be defined as previously published. I will look at the site you mention.
Having just read this post about publication rights, I noticed that your contributor has a few assumptions that I don't think are true. For instance, unless a writer specifically signs a contract surrendering rights (see the New Yorker), the writer retains all rights. Journals usually request the courtesy of an acknowledgement and the right to reprint the piece in some future form. So you might want to double check on the information you have presented. And even without a copyright symbol, the work is in copyright to its creator. And even in the digital world, journals like to be "the first" with something.
Mary Flinn
Founding Editor
Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts.
Makes sense. I assume most LJ's give you your right to publish back after a short period. Is that not so? ALSO, this model of - you can only submit here/ will not publish anything even if you published on your personal blog/page - seems so primitive from a land of old world agreements. Thankfully the digital landscape will render such conditions obsolete - not a minute too soon - because content should be and is increasingly king and these old models chain creators. Substack alone is increasingly showing that. Just like with publishing the old models will take time to change but it's coming...
Great timing on this piece. Lots to think about. After publishing a year ago, my book, Paper Bags, has been languishing. I've been scrambling trying to get into lit mags but have been starting to languish myself :-) Time to reassess. TY
My first reaction was to stop reading this piece. But I didn’t and I’m glad because the writer has a point. As with everything we would all figure out our own way of doing this, but I can imagine presenting stories for feedback or just to see what happens and I think it would demystify the process. I’ve published a dozen stories and gotten lots of encouragement about others but it’s still a slog, even with Becky’s help.
Copyright does not require a symbol. As soon as I create a work, be it text or image or music, it belongs to me. Do not get contracts and copyright mixed up. I deal with copyright everyday as a research librarian.
Thank you for this article. I am so frustrated with lit journals that do not understand the digital environment. Sharing a poem or an essay on Facebook or my own webpage should not be defined as previously published. I will look at the site you mention.
Agree.
Having just read this post about publication rights, I noticed that your contributor has a few assumptions that I don't think are true. For instance, unless a writer specifically signs a contract surrendering rights (see the New Yorker), the writer retains all rights. Journals usually request the courtesy of an acknowledgement and the right to reprint the piece in some future form. So you might want to double check on the information you have presented. And even without a copyright symbol, the work is in copyright to its creator. And even in the digital world, journals like to be "the first" with something.
Mary Flinn
Founding Editor
Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts.
blackbird.vcu.edu
Makes sense. I assume most LJ's give you your right to publish back after a short period. Is that not so? ALSO, this model of - you can only submit here/ will not publish anything even if you published on your personal blog/page - seems so primitive from a land of old world agreements. Thankfully the digital landscape will render such conditions obsolete - not a minute too soon - because content should be and is increasingly king and these old models chain creators. Substack alone is increasingly showing that. Just like with publishing the old models will take time to change but it's coming...
Thanks for this.
Great timing on this piece. Lots to think about. After publishing a year ago, my book, Paper Bags, has been languishing. I've been scrambling trying to get into lit mags but have been starting to languish myself :-) Time to reassess. TY
My first reaction was to stop reading this piece. But I didn’t and I’m glad because the writer has a point. As with everything we would all figure out our own way of doing this, but I can imagine presenting stories for feedback or just to see what happens and I think it would demystify the process. I’ve published a dozen stories and gotten lots of encouragement about others but it’s still a slog, even with Becky’s help.
Copyright does not require a symbol. As soon as I create a work, be it text or image or music, it belongs to me. Do not get contracts and copyright mixed up. I deal with copyright everyday as a research librarian.