Resubmitting previously published work

[pickman]

Is it acceptable to resubmit short fiction that has previously been published on e-zines to other magazines if they are no longer on the website?

To give some more detail of my situation, the only two pieces of short fiction I have had published have been on two non-paying e-zines. I recently discovered that these e-zines no longer have my stories online - one 'zine has gone under, while the other one simply does not show my story anymore.

I would like to resubmit my work to other markets - this time in print magazines or paying e-zines. If I were to simply say in my covering letter that they have been previously published, would this be alright? Or are there rules against this sort of thing? Also, if I rewrite the stories slightly to fit the new market, changing parts of the story, would this make any difference?

[Greer]

In general, it is not acceptable, unless the print markets are interested in publishing previously published work. There is a thread talking about web sites and whether or not that constitutes being published:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16700

Usually work published on the web is considered "published" by most magazines, regardless of whether or not it is still up.

[Fishmonkey]

I would like to resubmit my work to other markets - this time in print magazines or paying e-zines. If I were to simply say in my covering letter that they have been previously published, would this be alright? Or are there rules against this sort of thing? Also, if I rewrite the stories slightly to fit the new market, changing parts of the story, would this make any difference?

You will have to sell it as a reprint; some markets take them, some don't. Also, a slight rewrite wouldn't make it a new story, AFAIK; a substantial rewrite might. These things are tricky -- I wouldn't present a rewritten story as a new one, unless it was unrecognizable. But considering the comparative amount of effort, why not just write a new story rather than fiddle with an old one?

[pickman]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I'm not really sure about the rights to work published on the internet, so I had to ask. Anyway, I think this is the last time I submit my work to non-paying e-zines.

I could write a different story, but I was proud of the work I had published, and it is a shame to see it disappear. I decided to try and get it into a print magazine (or at least get paid for it).

[Fishmonkey]

I could write a different story, but I was proud of the work I had published, and it is a shame to see it disappear. I decided to try and get it into a print magazine (or at least get paid for it).

Oh, by all means sell reprint rights; you may also want to consider foreign markets. I was just saying that a substantial rewrite of the same story might be not the best use of your time. That's just me though.

[Mike Coombes]

Past stories are past. Words are not a limited resource - write more, submit more, publish more.

If you really want to do something with old stuff, either find a print market that takes reprints ('foreign' markets are out of the question, as e-zines are by definition global) and don't expect to get paid for them, or post them on your website as tasters. Maybe even collate them into an e-anthology and give it away as a free download. don't fall into the trap of thinking you can sell e-books - for the most part they aren't worth the paper they're printed on - but giving away something that costs you nothing buys you readers. And if you're good enough, fans, who will look out for other things you've done. Try it. It costs nothing.

[emeraldcite]

Maybe even collate them into an e-anthology and give it away as a free download.

I like this idea. Have to tuck that one away for a rainy day.

[Mike Coombes]

I like this idea. Have to tuck that one away for a rainy day.

Don't tuck - DO!

I put together a simple PDF e-book for Rebecca del Rio, the poet, and we put it on her site under a creative commons license. http://www.creativecommons.org . This allows you to decide what rights you give and keep. Her ebook is available to anyone to download. You can also mail it on to your friends, print it, hand it out on the streets, put it on your website... as long as (a) it remains as is, and she is acknowledged as author, and (b) you don't profit from it.

You can find the e-book at http://www.rebeccadelrio.net/poetry and click the link for the e-book. If you like it, visit her blog or guestbook and tell her.

[johnnysannie]

As long as you are upfront about the fact that the stories were previously published in an e-zine, there's no reason why you can't resubmit. Rather than worry about what rights another publication may want, submit your work but be honest and state in the cover letter where the story was published and when. Give all pertinent details and go from there.

The one exception would be if the publication states in their guidelines that they do not under any circumstance ever use material previously published or offline.

When in question if they do or don't, you can always ask!

[Mike Coombes]

It's usually pretty explicit in the guidelines.

[johnnysannie]

No, actually, in my twenty plus years of experience, it's not. Guidelines are sometimes very clear and precise; sometimes they are not. And in the real world of writing, many editors are open to work that bends and in some cases even break their own "rules" or guidelines.

I've sold many stories that appeared elsewhere to editors by being upfront about it in the cover letter.

[Jamesaritchie]

The one thing guidelines are usually precise about is whether or not they accept reprints. Where fiction is concerned, if guidelines don't mention reprints, odds are extremely high that the market doesn't take them. Querying doesn't hurt, but darned few top magazines take reprints at all, and ones that do nearly always specify this in the guidelines.

Rather than looking for reprints rights, it's usually easier to sell previously published short stories as a collection, or as part of an anthology.

Genre matters, of course, but not many editors want short stories that have already been published online.

[pickman]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I guess that what it all comes down to, is that if they don't say anything on their guidelines about reprints, then I should ask. Or at least mention it on the cover letter.

Although I do like the idea of putting them up on my website. I could also put them up with some other unpublished work. All I need now is a website.