Posting a work that I would like to publish?

Alright, so here's my problem. I have a finished rough draft that I am in the process of revising. However, I just can't seem to get very far. I keep losing my way along the story; I'm distracted by trying to fix the plot and set up the sequel as I try to revise. A workable solution, I believe, would be to have someone read and critique it, but I don't know who I would ask in real life to critique my 90-some page rough draft. Posting it here seems to be a good idea to me; there are people here that give good advice and criticism, and I don't have to ask anyone to do the favor; the people that want to critique it just will.

But now here's the dilemna: I would like to publish this story someday, and I've heard that stories posted on the internet can't be published in print, for a reason that makes sense (who's going to buy a book that can be obtained free online? although I suppose I might anyway...).

However, before I consider publishing it, I'm going to revise it quite a lot, so the version I post here would not be the same at all. Do you think that that makes it okay? I would probably delete it from here as well once I begin thinking about publishing, although I know that that's not entirely secure due to archiving and such. It would still help, right?

So I guess my question could be summarized like this: Would posting my rough draft here jeopardize my chances for getting this story published? (Or should I be asking this question to an actual publishing company? xD)

And one other thing; if I post my story here, should I be overly concerned about the theft of my ideas? I don't think guests can view the writing forum, can they?

If you're intending to publish it, don't post it anywhere online. Now, if you're intending to revise it heavily then you should be fine, like I've done with Firefly's Folly. The intention is that the finished edition will be very, very different from the one posted online... but unless you think that's the case, stay away.

If you know anyone online who'd read it and critique it for you that'd be perfect - I know someone who's planning to read my edited and updated version of Firefly's Folly when I get around to doing that.

If you're confident that the edited version will be different enough to count as a "different story" then go for it. if not, don't.

I will admit that I am not 100% sure of the legal arguments, and I think it might depend on the country, but I have heard cases of authors who posted their work online having troubles with publishers. I would suggest asking people on a writing forum if they'd be interested in looking your manuscript over, then sending each of them a copy privately; that should be fine. I can look at it, if you like, but I can't guarantee anything.

Don't post your drafts publicly. You can sort of get by if it's been edited heavily -- and I do mean heavily -- but it's better to just not do it.


One thing you could do instead is post a thread with a blurb and ask that people interested in helping edit let you know and you'll send it.

And one other thing; if I post my story here, should I be overly concerned about the theft of my ideas? I don't think guests can view the writing forum, can they?

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I don't think it'd likely be an issue.


ALSO! I wouldn't mind helping with tiny bits. I don't have the patience to edit more than about 500 continuous words -- that's part of why I pretty much never review -- but hey.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information/consensus on this topic; the only post I was really able to find in my (admittedly lazy) Google search was this blog post and discussion about publishing parts of your work online. Opinions appear mixed.

FYI the writing forum is 100% public. With this incarnation of the forums, Butterfree made it so that anything a normal member can see, guests can see as well.

You could always try self publishing with a site like Lulu if you don't mind not having Harper Collins or whoever's name on the spine of your book; if you're looking to publish for money then that probably isn't an option, but I've seen authors who actually offer the same version of their books free online and for sale in print form. They seem satisfied with it, it works for plenty of webcomic authors and the like... at any rate, it definitely wouldn't matter if you were planning on heavily revising the version you post before sending it off to the presses.

That said, asking a few people to help you in private is probably your best bet.

I was referring to sites like Lulu, which she says are not a scam as long as you're willing to accept that you're not going to be rolling in dough. Of course going to a vanity publisher is dumb.

That is a nice post, though.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that's not the type of publishing she was thinking about.

Kratos Aurion said:

if you're looking to publish for money then that probably isn't an option,

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I realized that. It was just an alternative suggestion, since she didn't specify anyway.

Thanks so much for all of the replies, guys! =)

The first few posts confirm that posting it online wouldn't be a good idea, so I won't do that. I will probably post a thread like surskitty suggested, but I don't think I'm going to do it yet; I took a look at my draft, and I've already cut pieces from it, so until I add some links in the gaps, it won't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe I could send things chapters at a time instead... And opaltiger and surskitty; that would be great if you were willing to help. =D

I'm not sure what Lulu is, but from what I can gather it sounds like an online publisher or something. Truthfully I wasn't interested in that sort of publishing, but it's nice to know that other options do exist. =)

Thanks again for all the feedback!