Fictionpress.com -- is it considered e-publishing?

Cyia · Jan 7, 2009

I was surfing around and landed on a sistersite to fanfiction.net -- namely, fictionpress. I'm not a member there and wouldn't post to it, but there are a lot of entries from people who have. After reading through forums and threads here at AW, and seeing some of the traps people have fallen into by placing their stories in situations where a professional agent or publisher would consider them already published, I was wondering:

Would something posted on a site like fp be considered published?

psykeout · Jan 7, 2009

Quick answer : Go through an agent.

Long(ish) answer : After perusing Fictionpress, it looks like a vanity publisher. To me, at least, those are the wrong way to go if you want to get published. There are plenty of other options, including a ridiculous amount of agents that are looking for writers.

TsukiRyoko · Jan 8, 2009

Technically, anything that the public can access and see without special membership or a contract of some sort is considered published. The works in the password-protected parts of these forums? Not published. Everything else that the public can view without the password? Technically published in a sense.

The best bet for you is to, as the post before me says, seek out an agent. Post nothing that's not protected that you may want to publish in the future.

dpaterso · Jan 8, 2009

Tough call, the fact these stories and chapters are open for review suggests they may be works in progress, subject to big changes. So what eventually gets submitted to editors isn't technically the same as earlier WIP version(s) posted for feedback.

I'd guess it's up to individual editors to decide, refer to guidelines whenever possible and contact said editors if you're still unsure. Best to confess your sins up front. Even if you remove online versions before submitting, some leftovers could still be hanging around in archives/caches to embarrass you. (Behold the advantage of password-protected WIP areas.)

-Derek

mariedees · Jan 8, 2009

I don't know about Fictionpress itself, but generally with novels a publisher may be less worried about the question of whether it was ever posted on a site and more worried about what rights the site has and if the story is still there. Always check a site's actual terms of service and see what they say. Can you remove stories at any point? Does the site claim any rights to the work you post?

Lots of sites out to attract writers claim ongoing, non-exclusive rights to anything you post and the right to use it elsewhere. From a publishing standpoint, this is not a good thing because you no longer are the sole holder of the rights to your story and can't offer anyone else exclusive rights. Fictionpress doesn't seem to do this.

But are you looking at it for something in particular? I seem to run across lots of young writers who post just because they can, but I've never been sure what they get out of it other than being able to let all their friends read their work.

Marie

Cyia · Jan 8, 2009

No, I just ran across the site. It looked similar to FFn - just for hobbyists - but I couldn't tell if these were things people put up for fun or because they wanted them actually published.

tehuti88 · Jan 8, 2009

FictionPress, I think, is the original fiction offshoot of FFN. The two are related if I'm remembering the right site. I have some stuff there but haven't updated in ages.

I wouldn't call it a "vanity publisher." It's just a website where people post their writing for others to comment on and to get attention or fans. But I WOULD consider it a form of publication, if only because once you post something to the Net for the world to see, that's considered a form of publication.

That's just me though and I'm not a professional. *shrug*

A lot of the people who post to such sites are not knowledgeable about how publication works and have no clue that what they're doing could endanger their publication rights. You'll know these people when they say that they're trying to get published, so here, look at their stories. Some people, like myself, just want to entertain people, and are not trying to get published. There are all sorts on such sites. It's up to the writers to educate themselves before posting something where anyone can see it.

veinglory · Jan 8, 2009

Indeed, Fictionpress is about the same as putting work up on the internet anywhere--in that it would probably be considered to use first worldwide epublishing rights.

MumblingSage · Jan 8, 2009

tehuti88 said:
FictionPress, I think, is the original fiction offshoot of FFN. The two are related if I'm remembering the right site. I have some stuff there but haven't updated in ages.

I wouldn't call it a "vanity publisher." It's just a website where people post their writing for others to comment on and to get attention or fans. But I WOULD consider it a form of publication, if only because once you post something to the Net for the world to see, that's considered a form of publication.

That's just me though and I'm not a professional. *shrug*

A lot of the people who post to such sites are not knowledgeable about how publication works and have no clue that what they're doing could endanger their publication rights. You'll know these people when they say that they're trying to get published, so here, look at their stories. Some people, like myself, just want to entertain people, and are not trying to get published. There are all sorts on such sites. It's up to the writers to educate themselves before posting something where anyone can see it.

Quoted for truth. I had an account on there (I still do, acutally, I just don't use it) and it was how I was introduced to both publishing and critiquing. That said, it might not have been the best way. If the works I posted there were better, I would probably be upset with myself now that I've learned I blew first publication rights on them.

Fictionpress.com -- is it considered e-publishing?

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

psykeout

should be writing instead...

TsukiRyoko

Forced into cell phone life

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

mariedees

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

veinglory

volitare nequeo

MumblingSage

Inarticulate Herb