I was shocked to see one of my short stories appear in on-line magazine to which I’ve never submitted. The story is accepted for publication in a literary magazine, and I am afraid they will drop it if they see it published on line. What should I do? Thank you!
Publishing dilemma – please help
- Thread starter vinagiliato
- Start date
- Status
I think you should explain this to your publisher. It's better to tell them before they stumble on to it. That would be my advice.
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2009
- Messages
- 386
- Reaction score
- 73
- Location
- Elliot Lake ON
- Website
- wwwtabithatodd.wordpress.com
I think you should send a cease and desist to the mag that published without your consent too. Let the pub know as well.
Wow, that is really scary. Sorry to hear about this. Do you suspect a "friend" or someone it was submitted to?
Thank you all for the advice! As far as how this could have happened – no idea. My friends don’t have access to my work, so the only possibility is that somebody I submitted to has forwarded the story to the on line magazine. As a rule, I never submit to on line magazines, so there is no chance I could have done it and forgotten about it.
What a mess!
What a mess!
I'd be contacting a lawyer about now (a lawyer friend who will help you out cheap!). Businesses like that count on writers having too little money to persue this kind of copywrite violation. I'm sure this magazine has done the same thing to other writers before. Chances are that all it will take to get them to pull the story is a letter on the lawyer's letterhead.
I second this. Talk to the people you know and see if someone knows an attorney who can help you out. They will probably scare easily if they think you're going to take this seriously.
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2009
- Messages
- 386
- Reaction score
- 73
- Location
- Elliot Lake ON
- Website
- wwwtabithatodd.wordpress.com
I wanna know who the online Mag is, I am hard pressed to see if anyone else has work taken from them, including myself.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2008
- Messages
- 13,979
- Reaction score
- 1,533
- Location
- Wisconsin's (sore) thumb
- Website
- www.firefromthesky.org
Yeah, rat on 'em. Obscure hints or PM's to curious thread-hangers will do, we don't want our own trouble. 
What a horrid thing to turn up I would have some carefully chosen words with the mag first, perhaps.
What a horrid thing to turn up
I would have some carefully chosen words with the mag first, perhaps.Before jumping to any conclusions, you should contact the editor of the online magazine and ask him about it. Someone may have submitted the story with your byline, hoping to make money off your name--if indeed this online magazine pays much of anything. If it doesn't, then what would be the motive?
This an odd thing all around. You say you haven't submitted to online magazines, so how did that magazine get your story? For the editor to steal it, he would have had to have access to it. Therefore, the only logical scenario is that someone else presented him with the story, using your name. This person would likely have had to e-mail the story to the editor, and might have put his address in the e-mail. The sole reason would have to be money, since the writer/thief gains no reputation points from a story published under your name. But how much does this online magazine pay? Few of them pay anything that would make such a theft worth it.
Also, are you a writer of such reputation that it would make someone want to use your name? If not, that further makes the motivation for money unlikely. Was the writer/thief paid for the story? (You can find that out from the editor of the ezine.) If so, that might be a means to track him down--whether by address or online payment, unless he has managed to conceal that as well. Very elaborate indeed, if such is the case.
Just some thoughts from a short fiction writer.
This an odd thing all around. You say you haven't submitted to online magazines, so how did that magazine get your story? For the editor to steal it, he would have had to have access to it. Therefore, the only logical scenario is that someone else presented him with the story, using your name. This person would likely have had to e-mail the story to the editor, and might have put his address in the e-mail. The sole reason would have to be money, since the writer/thief gains no reputation points from a story published under your name. But how much does this online magazine pay? Few of them pay anything that would make such a theft worth it.
Also, are you a writer of such reputation that it would make someone want to use your name? If not, that further makes the motivation for money unlikely. Was the writer/thief paid for the story? (You can find that out from the editor of the ezine.) If so, that might be a means to track him down--whether by address or online payment, unless he has managed to conceal that as well. Very elaborate indeed, if such is the case.
Just some thoughts from a short fiction writer.
- Status