Hi all
I've just been reading the posting and competitions thread from June 2003. Did any general conclusions ever emerge about whether posting a story here counts as publishing in the eyes of competition organisers? Is it better to contact each comp individually and ask?
Sharon

<Added>

I've sent out a few queries and will post answers here as they come in. The organisers of the quarterly competition at www.writingwell.org say:

We wouldn't consider work being posted to a site for comments consituting 'published' for our purposes. Please feel free to submit the story and we look forward to seeing it.

<Added>

I have worded my enquiry as:

Please could you clarify the definition of published work in your competition entry rules: does posting work on a members only writing site for comment by other members count as published?

www.lipstickpublishing.com replied:

Hi there, thank you for your e-mail. No this would not count as the work being published as far as we are concerned.
Kind Regards,
Marie
BETTER BOOKS!!!

http://www.fishpublishing.com replied

I think that you’d be OK there.
Clem Cairns.


<Added>

Momaya replied:

No, posted on a website would not count as being published. We basically want to make sure that no other publishing house has claimed the rights to publish your writing - ie, we don't want to infringe copyright that may be claimed. But it seems that you posted your work for feedback only, so that should be fine.


Wellington short story comp replied:

No.

Sorry for delay in replying

<Added>

Contrastingly, a more detailed reply from the Mere comp raises an additional question:

You will be well aware that Rule 1 is to ensure that all entries are judged anonymously. We would not consider a reading to a ‘closed’ writer’s group to be a public event and a members only website would seem to fall into this category. However, in both cases we would hope that the entrant would know if the judge would be likely to access the story via these events and act accordingly to ensure the spirit of Rule 1 is upheld. If you have any further queries, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes,
Adrienne Howell

This might become thorny if someone using the site was asked to judge a competition and members wanted to enter work that had been posted at an earlier date and already been seen by the judge.
Does anyone have any ideas?

Sharon

I would certainly say that it needs to be considered on a case by case basis, and unless the competition entry rules expressly state one way or the other, it's always best to ask.

Thanks I.B.

New information added to original post
Sharon

Sharon, Eyeball, this is a great help and will hopefully clear up some of the confusion that inevitably surrounds this thorny question. As said here, take it case by case, but swapping info like this is really useful for other writers.

A quick question, if most places appear to agree that posting on here is not being 'published' as such, does it mean WE still own the copyright to our work, or is it ok (despite being unethical) for someone to copy and call it their own?

XXXInniXXX

Sorry, Inni, I don't know much about copyright. I thought the author owned copyright automatically on anything they write.

Please note that these responses are based on the work being posted on a "closed" member's only site. Therefore, only applicable to work that is specifically listed for Writewords members only to see. The default setting for work posted on WW is public, ie anyone can find it in a google search and read it in its entirety. This could very well be grounds for disqualification in any of these competitions.

Yeah, you're right; we do need to emphasise that. and I still agree with your point that the question needs to be asked individually of every comp. I just think it's worth posting any replies, so we don't all have to ask.
Sharon

Another answer.

Bridport (come an have a go if you think you're 'ard enough, then) say:

No I don't think so! It gets more difficult every year with all the new technology and what counts as publishing but I think it is if the work is read by the public, but not on a members writing site..

Best wishes
Frances

Inni, the author owns the copyright, and it could be argued that posting the work on WW with the date appearing automatically is proof that the first time this work appeared on the Internet that the poster must be the author. That's not to say that someone won't copy and paste it and either post it elsewhere as their own work or even enter it for a comp., but it does mean that if you found out about it you'd have some proof that it was your work and not theirs.

Thanks Nell,

That makes sense.

The problem being, we might never know if someone copied our work - unless it became a bestseller!

XXXInniXXX