Does posting work here harm our chances of being published?

I wouldn't risk it. If you work for years on a book and then get a publishing offer, you won't want "will they find out?" gnawing at you.

 

it's easier and wiser to simply post only brief excerpts of anything you hope to have published some day...

 

True. Only my worry is: what if you kept posting that excerpt over and over again in various writing forums, had discussions with others in various writing forums about your characters. Doesn't that really hurt your chances?

 

no... as long as it's only a brief excerpt, no matter how many times you posted it, how could it hurt the chances of the entire book being published?

 

Well, imagine this:

Say you posted a story about a woman named Yvette who goes on an exciting, daring journey across the globe. They're only brief excerpts about her, you've talked about her; the point is, she's now online. Anyone can look up your character, the posts you've made about your characters and even the excerpts.

So not only could publishers potentially see the character Yvette online (and potentially) see your excerpts, but other people would see your character and ago, "Hey, she sounds interesting...I'll take her for my own story."

That's what I've pretty much done with my Colonial mystery story (as well as my fantasy and sci-fi, but we're focusing on the first part for now.) I posted it everywhere, talked about the characters with various people. What I think killed its chances of being published are the fact that it's now online and anyone can look it up. Not only that, but someone is probably already using my characters in a story of their own.

So I've pretty much abandoned the idea of them ever being published (am working on other stories, though), and use them as cautionary tales for why you can't show everything you've created online.

 

That sounds fairly disturbing.

Couldn't you stop people from stealing your character by only revealing a few of their traits, though?

 

I'm not sure, but I've moved past beating myself up. I can still write them all for pleasure, no? I just won't be able to publish them. And it's not like I can't create entirely different stories for the publishing business to look at. Who says everything is a one-way street where this is all that shall ever be unto the end of time?

That said, I do use my ignorance then as a cautionary tale for new writers if they start talking about putting their stories online left and right.

 

you're worrying about non-issues...

publishers don't care if you post a brief excerpt of your book online... if anything, it would be a plus, drumming up interest in the book before it's published...

other people can't possibly duplicate the whole plot and subplots of your book, from a brief excerpt and can't possibly develop it/her, or write the same book the same way you did...

how much of the book did you post?... unless it was as much as several key chapters, there's no way that could even hamper, much less kill its chances of being published...

see above...

and shot down the books chances yourself, completely unnecessarily...

how many agents did you query and how many have rejected it?... if you queried publishers directly, how many did you query and how many of them rejected it?

the only valid cautionary tale here is how/why one should not give up trying to get a book published for reasons that make no sense... if you truly believe in the marketable quality of your book, link, why give up so easily?

 

I do that a lot, that is true.

I could see this happen, that is true, however shouldn't it also be understood that they'll be slightly disappointed that they didn't get first publishing dibs on a work if they can find it online?

True, true. Their Amos would be different from my Amos. After all, there are stories out there who have 'Harry' as their protagonists, and they're not ripping off of Harry Potter. (At least, not to my knowledge...)

It was mostly Chapter One of Amos and his friend washing the dishes in the basement of a tavern, and one random scene where Amos is leaving someone's house, that was it. Also, Chapter One from a Western and a Sci-fi that I did, but that was it. The rest were my characters partaking in 'character development' games around this forum.

But no, I don't recall ever revealing important plot twists or key clues/moments.

...Oh.

Now that you mentioned it, yeah, that was illogical on my part.

I didn't even finish the stories.

...Wow, now I feel stupid.

You're right. You're right. I still want to write those stories. I still want to write about Amos.

Come to think of it, I need to actually have it written and finished before I even begin to worry about publishing it/whether it's publishable or not.

I'll get right on it. Thanks for setting me straight.

 

I'm thinking of making a blog-like thing and putting setting details in it. Provided I do a reasonably good job and don't post anything I want to sell, do you think that would help or hurt me?

 

...no, because the 'work' isn't online, if all you posted was a brief excerpt from it...

...yup!...

 

Yes,it can affect your chances.

 

I did something like you, but then in the form of a computer animation on Youtube that everyone can see... I created the animation because I wanted to know the reactions of the people. Furthermore, I published the story partly online on a Dutch site, pretty much similar as this one because I want to know if my writing skills are good enough.

If you do such things, then you can always wonder to publish your book online with print on demand's service, some of them offers to sell your book through channels on Amazon.

I'm currently in contact with my editor to see if She'll publish my book after I rewrote everything. If she doesn't, then I'll publish it via a print on demand service....

What do you 've to lose? From sites like this one, you can learn if you're writing is good. If people like your style.... The way I look at it is that it's a learning curve. That's the reason why I use sites like writingforums.org, also I think it's nice to meet creative minds online. Too bad that I live a million miles away, but that's OK.

TTFN
Cynthia

 

Sorry if this question was already answered, but it sounds like the whole matter of "self-publishing" would apply to submissions in the Workshop forum, also - is this correct? I'd be happy to share my story with anyone willing to look over it pre-published, but if that's going to be detrimental in my search for an agent and actually getting it published, i'd rather try alternative channels, like e-mail, for instance.

 

You can publish your prologue and get useful feedback here....
Like I did and it helped me a lot

 

As a good writer, Graham Linehan, once said "If you write every day, you are a Writer" and if you write everyday then this forum should be a good practice ground, a sandbox for feedback and exercises in writing. If you really think you have a gem of an idea then apply any principles learnt here but don't give it away or think that you'll own it if you launch a kickstarter for it; you won't.

 

Hey! I was just thinking...

...WHAT ABOUT FIFTY SHADES OF GREY???

Don't judge me. I despise the very existence of the book and like to burn copies and sprinkle the ashes innto nearby rivers. (Or gutters. Probably more fitting.)

Wasn't that published as a fanfiction and blog or something before publishing? O:

 

Hmmm, point. Maybe some writers do get lucky and the things they've shared on the internet are then able to get published easy-peasy.

Though we should still be careful about what we put online...

 

True...thanks! I was just wondering. But then she had to delete it, right? Weird.

That's what I thought. But then it's pretty cruel to the dogs, yeah?

 

I tell everyone who will listen that I am a writer. Word of mouth is the cheapest form of advertising

 

I am self publishing mine through amazon, so I have posted a couple stories online. That being said, most of my content will only be available in book form, and I'm gunna try and publish the story I'm working on now to pay for costs like semi-professional cover photography and the like

Got the idea in my head, can get all the props for under 100$, just need a set and the photographer

 

Yes it will effect at some extent but I don't think It will effect severely harm your chances of being published. There are many writers would not mind too much or would require you to remove the piece if they wished.

 

Yeah that's like saying "If I post my movie online for free and then on iTunes would I make a lot of money?" The answer is probably no.

 

I havne't read all 17 pages so sorry if this has already been said.

On the Hatrack River Forums (Orson Scott Card's forum), you can only post the first 13 lines of your short story/novel to be critiqued. Reasoning is, the first 13 lines make up the first page which is what is usually looked at by editors/publishers/agents before it's tossed, and because that amount won't affect your chances of being published. Anything longer is sent by email to be read.