July 1, 2012
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cheater pants?
Good morning! I’m looking for opinions, believe it or not. I usually like to avoid having them/sharing them/and so on. Here I am asking for yours.
One of the things I’d like to accomplish this year is submitting a poem(s) for publication. Notice I didn’t say get published. Because. Well, because. The places where I’ve done my itty bitty research usually say that the work cannot have been previously published- some kinda spell out that places like Xanga count as publishing. Naturally, my powerful need for pats on the head and my inability to work on something for any length of time, make this complicated somewhat. Can I really wait umpdity bump weeks/months/eons to see if someone out there likes something I’ve said? I’m not sure that I can. However, I don’t want to be a cheater pants either. My honesty is what I have. Dilemma, boys and girls.
Here’s my thought. What if I take things that I have already written (I have two in mind right now), join them as a cohesive unit, and add more to it? Does this make the whole shebang previously unpublished? Or does it make me a politician?
Expound at length.
Comments (21)
I don’t see a problem with that at all. But I’ve never been through the whole publishing thing, so not sure if that’s too ‘politicianesque’ or not, haha.
My one thought is “posting a poem on Xanga is considerered publishing?” REALLY??
… Yep, feeling all those emotions and my response is PSHAW!!!! IDIOTS.
… Hmmm… actually I guess I had a few other things to say.
… There are far too many rules as far as I’m concerned. I think you ought to go for it as a combined act and see what happens next. Don’t let anything stop you from reaching for that dream. LOVED the music and not because you are doing anything dishonest in any way…
A derivative work might be derivative but it’s still a unique work, as far as I know.
I’m wondering if it’ll fall under plagiarizing from yourself…?
@MzSilver - I second that one thought. @starmanjones & I must have atleast a volume “published” by now. ^_^
Go for it. I don’t consider Xanga a publication. What are they going to do to you? Ban you from ever publishing with them again?
I don’t think Xanga should count as publication. I came across something similar to this dilemma in the past when I thought I might publish a poem I was particularly proud of and had gotten good feedback from here on Xanga, which was why I thought about publishing it. I never got any further than that because I wasn’t motivated enough to pursue it.
Your plan works. If you fear the Publishing People coming and finding your poem on Xanga you could always go back and delete/make private those entries – although I suppose they’d still show up on a search engine though. Meh. I say go for it. If they think Xanga is the same as publication then they obviously haven’t been to Xanga. To me, publishing means that it’s been through some sort of editing and screening process, and there’s a possibility it might be rejected. You can’t have a blog rejected.
Anyway, if you do it and you get away with it, let me know and maybe I’ll do the same thing.
I see nothing wrong with editing and changing around a previously posted poem (or poems) and sending to journals. It is not in its original form anymore and hence, not the same poem. Some places will consider any posting on the blog as publication and they will state that in their submission info pages but if it is not the same poem (and we all know poems do evolve and transform into something else once the editing pen strikes), I think it’s okay.
I…have no idea.
There, Aye has experience with submitting, so follow her advice! LOL! I agree that the poem will not be in its original form, so go for it. And I think what Aye is doing now is to make her poetry blogs protected. She can get the feedback she needs, but it’s not out there for general consumption. And you know, you can always show a poem privately to one of the poets here for personal feedback. I’m sure John would be more than happy to do that for you (I shouldn’t speak for him, but he’s such a nice guy). So, go for it! I admire you for taking the chance!
I think that would perfectly fine, and I tend to be a stickler for rules. Someone asked me today if I was fairly broad-minded, and I said, “probably not.”
I hope you do this. It’s very difficult to get work accepted unless you already have connections in that world, but I think it is still worth the effort. Good luck!
Well, you wrote it. Provided you don’t sue yourself, I think that’s a great idea!
Tough call… I’m not sure. It’s really up to the judges’ opinions. I can see it both ways.
I think if you post it protected it wouldn’t be the same as posting it public. I mean as a protected post it would be more like writing a snail mail letter to a few friends to get their critique – except a much faster response time.
I agree with MzSilver-go for it. Hey we all needs the pats on the head of encouragement to help us continue the path we are walking. Nothing wrong with that.
I agree with @murisopsis - If your site is protected, a search engine can’t find it.
Go for it. If nothing else, you can write more and not post/publish your new stuff on Xanga.
I like your taste in music.
Protect the post, share it with some friends or those who tend to respond, thus you are sharing it and you are not publishing it. I think “publish” means putting it down in print in a medium where others can easily read it. Good luck!
a politician, but I go along with @the_rocking_of_socks -
i would see them as a new work. go for it.
Personally, I would not consider Xanga, nor any other blogging site, as a place where you would say you have been “published”. To me, you are published when someone selects your work and then publishes it. A blog is where you enter your own thoughts. You are not published because you put something on your site – that’s not a publication.
I think most people will say that they like to put something like a poem on their blog site to see how it fits – maybe even to get feedback. And then they will change it, fine tune it, sculpt it, mold it, or whatever before submitting it to a publisher. But there is no magical quantity of editing that must be done before one can send it. One can send it unaltered because it wasn’t published on the blogging site.
Just like if you write it down on paper and then show me. That doesn’t count as having it “published”.