Does posting work here harm our chances of being published?

An outline won't affect first publishing rights, for the simple reason that the final product will differ drastically depending on who writes it.

 

yup!... that's right...

but keep the outline as brief as possible... if it's too long and involved, few here will take the time to deal with it...

 

Can I just post a chapter? lol

 

yes, as long as it's a comparatively short one...

 

Even movie scripts can be optioned, submitted, or sold in any way if you post an excerpt online?

 

I'm going to post the little tid-bits I've written.

Non-Rhyming Poems and such....Little inner thoughts of character concepts I've had before and all that.

@ The Same Time

- While writing my novel I want to write a short-story for my downtime at work and I was considering a story where Death tempts two peoples affections for each other. Just a little sweet story for fun. I'm not used to 3rd Person PoV so if I like how the first couple of paragraphs form out I'll use it specifically for this cause.

- I'd imagine you have a few trolling agents who scan around for talent every once in awhile.

~-~-~-~

I'm just a scrubby newbie, but in all honesty I don't care about posting an outline. The truth is that no matter how many hours you spend, a plot is just not that original after the thousands of years that Humans have been around telling stories.

The actual story is what matters, the characters, how the get from Point A to Point B.

That's what people spend money on.

 

Wow, I feel so discouraged now that I have read this post lol

 

don't know where you got that idea, ash... legit agents haven't time to troll for clients... nor do they need to, since they have more than enough to choose from, in the piles of queries they get on a daily basis...

anyone who trolls and approaches new writers unbidden is pretty much guaranteed to be a scammer of one sort or another...

 

Newbie Q here, I find that I wish I had found this sight a tad earlier... be that as it is, Excertps... how do publishers feel about this?
I posted an excerpt from the newest chapter in rought draft un-edited form only. and informed the readers that it was not how the work would apper in print.

Does this indeed count as a no-no? I posted it for the publisher to read expressly after he had done so the post was removed. He wanted to see the progress of the work but since I don't have a contract / copy right (yet) I was not willing to send it off even in part to some stranger in India regardless of how polite and professional he/she seemed.

Thanks in advance.
Blue lotus

 

i don't see any problem with that, other than that it's an odd thing for a publisher to request, so i'd be wary of them... did you check them out to make sure they're legit?...

and if they're in india, is that where you want your book published/sold?... is it written in hindi?

 

The story is set in India, I just happen to know someone who knows them. Being unpublished no agents or publishers seem to even want to think about reading the work...

It is written in Hindi and English, any Hindi phrases etc are exsplained in the context.

And yes, it seemed odd to me too, but I use a really old version of word from like 06' so I can see how maybe he was not able to open the file I sent? He just said u know the fastest way would be post it let me read it then take it down...

Just thought I was ask the Q since well yeah...

 

still doesn't sound kosher to me... a 'normal' publisher would ask for a hard copy to be sent by post, or for you to simply convert your old ms word doc to rtf, which makes it readable for anyone with any system...

have you checked out this publishing company thoroughly?

also, i don't know where you got the idea that agents won't bother with unpublished authors... how do you think they get their clients?... they were all unpublished at some point, y'know...

and if what you're offering is a novel, being unpublished isn't the problem, not having an agent is, as most publishers won't read unsolicited, unagented work...

 

Phew! I've just read through ALL of this thread. I think maybe it might be an idea to put a sticky at the beginning of the Writing Workshop??? I'd no idea about any of this and I've been around the block a few times. Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice.

 

a sticky for what?

 

The post I place in every New Member Introduction thread warning about posting work you intend to submit for publication.

Few people actually take the time to read stickied threads. Few indeed even bother with the threads called out on the site homepage in the box labelled Important Links.

 

So, you would recommend, if you are looking to get whole chapters critiqued, to ask a member to take a look and sending it to them? Rather than publishing chunks online?

 

No, I would recommend you write samples specifically to be critiqued, not for publication.

Critique (both giving and receiving) is how you improve your writing skills. That is far more important than getting feedback on a particular sample of your writing.

 

Also, people can still your work. It's happened to me. It was a lesson well learned. Thank god it was just a little poem I wrote when I was 12.

 

How much work posted here reduces or chance of publishing?

Hi all,

I'm not sure whether or not this should be categorized in publishers or not- so moderator, feel free to move if so. Anyway, Cogito says when you sign up 'only post small excerts from your story here if you wish to publish,' how much exactly do you think this is?

 

I don't recommend posting any portion of something you intend to publish. Better to use the critique forums for working on specific issues and not on salable work.

I suppose a sentence that is giving you particular trouble isn't so bad, but on the whole I'd avoid it, particularly since you can't remove anything you post in the critique section, pursuant to site rules.

 

it really can't hurt to post a paragraph or two, steerpike... that won't affect one's chances of getting the work published...

 

Unless, of course, the entire piece is only a few paragraphs long (flash fiction).

On the other hand, I doubt the flash fiction market is all that picky, even if there are paying publishers (are there?).

 

It's very similar to You Tube. If you upload a vid, and 1,000,000 views come knocking then no-one will want to buy it, or pay any sort of access for it because its available for free. Exception:- J.Bieber, Amy McDonald, Adele, Alexis Jordan, and many more. On second thought maybe giving a bit away, like an advert, a 'taster','teaser', an incentive to see,hear,READ more.

 

Ok so if I put poems on a website is that bad because someone might collect the poems and try to publish them? OMG

 

...no.
If you want to publish them to a magazine or something, you might not be able to because posting it on the internet counts as published.