I have a piece I wrote (it's in a Hatrack Writers in Print posting) on a website right now. It's a story about my son's Tae Kwon Do class. I like it. It's cute, it's short, and it carries a lot of the emotion/pride in being a parent and seeing your child do well. I'd like to sell it. But, it's up (for free) on a public website right now. What are my options? This is what I've come up with, but I'm sure I'm missing many things since I still don't quite understand the whole publishing marketplace:
1) Ask the site to take it down (I'm sure they would, it's been up for about 6 mos now.) Sell it then. Have I "used up" my electronic rights already? The piece has my name on it, if that makes any difference.
2) Write something new. I can, it's just that this piece already has all the heart in it. It'd take a bit of effort to get to this kind of place again.
3) Do a derivative of my own piece - it's been 6 mos, I see plenty of places I could edit, so I could trim and edit and change it very slightly, or I could do a major overhaul and rewrite it with a different perspective (I wrote it 3rd person, but really it's all about me and my observations of class. I was the mom waving. LOL) But - is that kosher? Can I get in trouble for plaigiarizing myself? LOL I think not, but what do I know?
Thanks in advance!
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
You probably can't sell it again. Consider rewriting it from a different point of view, maybe change the mom into a dad and go for it.
Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :
Just to clarify what Spaceman said (though I'm not an expert on legal matters), you can still sell this piece. Your first publishing rights have expired, however, by having it posted on this webpage, and it is these first publishing rights that editors/magazines/etc. want so badly.
Reworking it is a possibility. Hell, even trying to get it published in a smaller mag might work, depending on how badly they need content.
Can anyone confirm this?
Jayson Merryfield
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
I'd just ask the site, KayTi. I remember reading that piece. And you can always put in your query that it was featured first as a tribute piece at a (Tae Kwon Do?) site. That seems like it would add to the cachet, not detract from it. and since it was a site dedicated to the sport, not fiction, they might not have a bunch of rules about it.
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
To clarify - I did not get paid for the publication of the piece, if that makes any difference.
I'm hoping someone knows some more, or can point me to online resources (or library ones) where I can research this. (Yes, it might be quicker to write something new, but now I'm curious and want to learn more about how it all works.) Thanks!
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
I am thinking you did not sign a contract, either. Is there anything on the website that specifically mentions rights for pieces that are submitted?
Posted by oliverhouse (Member # 3432) on :
I'm no legal expert, but as I understand it, you can still sell the piece (you haven't given anyone exclusive rights to it) but you couldn't sell "first publication rights" for it because it has already been published -- you implicitly granted those rights to the Web site owners.
I'd take it down from the site and submit it to your markets (parenting mags, Tae Kwon Do mags, whatever) explaining briefly that it had been published on a local organization's Web site for a short time, but that you would like to publish it in their publication, and see what they say. What could it hurt?
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
I think Oliverhouse has it right, Kayti - you have a nice piece, you did a nice thing with it, now it's time to get it in front of some more readers.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
Since the clarification of what I wrote wasn't what I meant, I will elaborate.
When I said "can't" I mean it's very unlikely anyone will be interested in reprinting it except maybe another 4theLuv market. Not impossible, but a real long-shot.
If you rewrite the same story from a different POV or with slightly different characters, it's a different story--end of discussion. There's no law that says you can't recycle an idea. I had a story idea that had three possible ways to turn it into a story. I wrote AND sold all three.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
If it's nonfiction, it is possible to change what is called the "slant" of your piece and sell it to another market even though you've "sold" the first publication rights of the version that was published on the website.
It would not be likely that you could sell it to another market with the same slant as the current website, but the changes you suggest, KayTi, would probably change the slant enough that you could, as oliverhouse suggests, send it to differently slanted markets.
This is really not "plagiarizing yourself" because nonfiction writers do it all the time. The more ways you can "slant" your experience (or research or whatever you are writing about), the more places you may be able to sell it. This is also why more nonfiction writers can make a living at writing than fiction writers.