Hi

Just a quick question - does uploading work onto this site prevent you from submitting it to a magazine or as an entry in a competition? That is, I have work I would like to upload, but I haven't yet submitted it to magazines who might be interested, and I wouldn't want to jeopardise the chance to do so.

Guy

Nope. Quite the opposite; it's a good way to test work and get a few comments so that you can make it as good as you can and stand a better chance in the competition. Everyone has blindspots, so getting a few comments usually makes you slap your own head for not seeing typos and missing words.

Colin M

Guy, there was a long thread on this issue a while back, which a site search ought to throw up. As I remember, the conclusion was that posting work and making it visible to everyone on the net just might count as 'publishing' for a very picky magazine, but it was felt unlikely that a mag would be bothered (if they knew or cared at all) by work that you'd made visible to WW members only, still less just visible to a group.

Would you be posting work with a view to collecting comments and re-drafting? That certainly shouldn't be a problem. I know plenty of WWers have had success in competitions with work that was worked on here, and as Colin says, it's a huge help to have input from members.

Emma

I meant to mention, so long as you click on "writewords members only" when you upload (which means becoming a member, I guess) then it definitely isn't considered "published" because it isn't accessible by the general public - you're merely sharing it with colleagues. But, if you leave it open to all eyes then, yes, it is published (technically speaking, many argue this point because there is zero investment) - but I still wouldn't let it stop you sending it off.

Colin

Hi guys - thanks for replying to this query. Emma, I had a feeling there might be something on this topic already but I wasn't sure exactly what keywords to search on. As you surmised, I'd be interested in submitting work for comment, since I found the comment on the first piece I submitted very helpful. I just wanted to make sure that submitting it on this site wouldn't prevent it from being submitted to a magazine (not that I have one in mind yet, I just liked the idea of the option remaining open).

The concensus seems to be that I should make the work visible only to WW members, which I'm happy to do.

Thanks again for your advice, guys

Guy

Yes, I couldn't think what to search on either, I'm afraid, which is why I didn't suggest anything.

But it sounds as if you don't need to worry anyway!

Emma