Not sure if this has been discussed before, please forgive a new boy if it has. I'm the editor for a circle's newsletter and probably a common problem with others is the lack of copy to include in it. The cause might be that many competitions state that entries should not have been published elsewhere. Has any other newsletter editor in the forum encountered this problem? We have come to the conclusion that our newsletter probably doesn't count. What do other forum members think?

Hi, IfOnly, and welcome to WriteWords

I'm not sure I have an answer to your question. Am I right in assuming the newsletter is something you pass around a small group of fellow writers in a writing group? While strictly speaking any stories in it would be considered 'published' and thud ineligable for a competition, if there is only a very small distribution and is not online for anyone to google, then you might get away with it. There must be members of your group who have submitted stories for competitions which have not been placed, and so they are looking for somewhere else to published them? In such cases then your newsletter would seem to be the ideal place?


- NaomiM

Thanks for that... And sorry for the delay in responding.
Now I have a new poser for you. The writers' group I edit the newsletter for are planning to refresh their website and one of the ideas being knocked about is a 'Work in Progress' page. It is something I'm trying in the newsletter to create involvement and is a supplement to the manuscript evenings our chairperson already holds. In the newsletter, we are limited for space. On the web it will be less of a problem. One other thing I need to mention before I pose my question; it will be in a members only area, like the newsletter is only handed out to members. So finally, my question, is that likely to bar members from entering their final piece into competitions?

So long as the work in progress is not google-able or otherwise accessible to the general public then it's fine to upload it on a members only website, and does not disqualify the work from being entered in competitions.
Although to be doubly sure I would suggest members delete the work from the website before submitting it to competitions.