Hello, my name's Pete and I'm currently collecting short stories, poetry and prose to publish in the first issue of The Corner, a new magazine aimed at promoting unpublished writers and their writing.

The basic idea behind The Corner is to provide an accessible platform for the thousands of unpublished writers who have so far been rejected by many larger publications that only accept writing from more experienced writers, or a certain type of writer. As a writer myself, I understand how difficult it is to get short stories and poetry published anywhere else apart from the internet, which doesn't have such a large devoted readership as a magazine might have.

Unfortunately, we cannot pay for the writing we publish at the moment, as we really are starting this on a very low budget, however, we will copywrite all the writing we publish, and our readership probably won't be very large to begin with, allowing most of the published writing to be submited again should you wish to do so.

The Corner will be distributed around London, and we are currently trying to strike a deal with major chain stores in order to distribute to wider areas, although this may come later on. We'll also be sending copies of the magazine to some of the most influential agents and publishers in England.

What have you got to lose?! We're looking for quality, original writing that would appeal to a lot of people, and inspire them to write and submit as well. Spread the word I hope to hear from you all soon!

E-mail your submissions to: pete.vineaux@blueyonder.co.uk

Sounds good, Pete. Good luck with your venture.
I'll certainly look to send a submission, how are you with stuff that's been published before?
x
tc

Just re-read the 'unpublished' bit, so I guess that answers my question! Sorry!

Pete, not quite sure what you mean by 'copywrite'?

Copyright? - in which case, presumably you mean that you won't copyright it, rather that copyright will remain with the author.

Or Copy Edit - which is altogether a different thing.

Either way, good luck with it!

Emma

Sorry, I DID mean copyright! Basically, if we publish something, we'll copyright the piece for the writer, so nobody can steal the writing and blame us for being irresponsible!

Don't forget, this magazine is going to rely quite a bit on word of mouth publicity, so tell anyone you think might be interested. Thanks!

Good luck, Pete. Treat us right!

Joe

Pete, it sounds like an interesting venture, and I wish you luck with it.

However, I'm a boring nerd with a lawyer for a father, so I'm going to point out anyway that copyright rests with the author, whether or not the piece is published, unless the author explicitly grants it to someone else. Nor do writers have to put © or anything else, though it may be wise for the avoidance of doubt in some markets. Copyright is perpetual until something is published, after which it lasts (under EC laws) for I think, 70 years.

Emma

Emma - excellent information. Thank you. Over to Pete.

Joe

Emma, I think copyright exists until 70 years after the death of the author, not 70 years after publication.

Dee

Yes, you're right, Dee. Copyright last for the life of the author plus 70 years. Used to be life plus 50 in the UK, till the rules were harmonised across the EC. All (and I mean all) the gory details are in the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook.

I can't find it in there, but niggling in my head is the memory that those rules are for published works, and that for unpublished works (say, your great-grandmother's letters that you found in a trunk), the clock only starts ticking when they're published, not from when they're written. But someone may know I'm wrong about that.

Emma

So it could start more than seventy years after the author’s death, in that case. (we’re assuming great-grandma is long dead, right?) But who would hold the copyright? Surviving relatives who, presumably, inherited the letters, or the person who found and published them?

Dee

Yes, I'm sure that's right, if only from the final plot twist in 'Possession'. Maybe WAYB isn't bothered about writing that isn't meant for publication.

So, if you dig in a trunk your grandmother's just left you in her will, and find some love letters written by Charles Dickens to your great-great-great aunt in 1852, the letters are your property to keep or sell, but copyright still exists, and rests with the literary heirs of Charles Dickens. Once they're published, they have 70 years to make the most of them. But they don't have the automatic right to see them, since the letters are physically yours, and you don't have the automatic right to publish them, since it's their copyright. I'm sure there's a novel in there, as well as 'Possession'!

I think that's right: any lawyers out there, to tell me that's not how it works?

Emma

<Added>

Realise I've been a bit obscure. Letters represent two kinds of property - the object, and the words written. Either kind property is given, sold, inherited etc. separately. If you just found some by chance, you'd have to trace who had which kind of right to them: ou see notices in the TLS sometimes, headed Copyright Clearance Programme for the FDRoosevelt ARchive, or whatever

Gawd! I think I'll just not open the trunk...

Yeah. Not that it did A S Byatt any harm...