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Would it count as "previously published" if it appeared in your (print) newspaper, but it was three years ago and nobody is likely to still have old copies lying around? This seems like an analogo...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10471 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Would it count as "previously published" if it appeared in your (print) newspaper, but it was three years ago and nobody is likely to still have old copies lying around? This seems like an analogous case. Your blog post, if it was at any time public, probably _is_ still out there, in the Wayback Machine if nothing else. (And the newspaper might well be in an archive at the local library.) Once published you lose control over propagation. I am neither a lawyer nor a publisher, but I've seen friends who submit stories for publication (successfully) be extremely careful about not posting them publicly first, even temporarily, even on Internet-based critique sites that aren't locked somehow. It seems to me from all this that "previously published" means "_was_ previously published", not "is still findable from a previous publication". Of course, you should seek clarification of what any particular publisher means by that contractual language.