Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What do magazines mean when they say they don’t accept reprints?

+0
−0

I want to submit fiction to magazines. Some of them say they do not accept reprints. What exactly do they mean by this? Does it just mean my fiction should not have been officially published, or should not exist anywhere on the internet in general?

Can I submit my fiction to them if it has not been published, but has already been posted on my website in blog form, on Wattpad, and so forth?

Can I self-publish that same fiction later on, even after it has been featured in a magazine?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/30982. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

If they do not accept reprints, that means they are seeking first publication rights -- they're only looking to buy a story if they can be the first to publish it.

The thing is, any sufficiently public place you've posted your story, counts as publication. It doesn't matter how many readers your story has actually reached, only whether a reasonable reader could have read your story by buying a particular product or going to a particular website.

So:

  • Posting your story on your blog counts as publication.
  • Posting your story on Wattpad counts as publication.
  • Self-publishing on Amazon for three days and then taking it down, counts as publication.
  • Emailing a friend your story doesn't count as publication.
  • Writing a blog post saying "I've written a story; friends can contact me privately for a copy" doesn't count as publication.
  • Sharing your story in a private, password-protected writers group doesn't count as publication.
  • Selling your story to magazine, but then that magazine collapses and never puts out the issue with your story in it, and eventually it returns your rights to you -- doesn't count as publication.

A good rule of thumb is: If people could ever buy your story (in some format) then it is published; if Googling a phrase from the story turns up the complete story (or has in the past) then it is published; otherwise it isn't published :P

As for being able to self-publish later, it depends entirely on your contract. Some contracts might require various rights to reprint, archive, or anthologize your story, or various forms and lengths of publishing exclusivity. (For example, if I'm publishing a magazine on May 1st, it would be silly of me to allow authors to self-publish on Amazon on May 2nd, possible with a shiny banner reading AS PUBLISHED IN STANDBACK MAGAZINE :P ).

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »