Guest blogger Madison Woods on publishing stories that previously appeared in your own blog.
Earlier this year I learned a valuable lesson. I have a 'dead file' where I put the short stories that didn't gel for some reason. A couple years ago I posted one of these stories to my blog in weekly segments to get feedback from readers. Did a little rewriting on it but still wasn't satisfied so I put it back in the dead file and forgot about it.
This past summer I found out about a new magazine that was going to pay professional rates (5-6 cents/word). Browsing through my dead file brought me back to that story I'd given up on. I realized what was wrong with it and made changes that revived it and made it sale worthy. The magazine bought it. Contracts signed.
Then one day, I found the posts on my blog. Oh boy. I knew I had to tell the editor that the story had been 'published' on my blog. A writer friend of mine, K.d. McCrite, had warned about this but I didn't listen. Some editors wouldn't care because it's not likely any of the magazine's readers would have read the story on my blog. This editor did care, and it cost me the sale.
Madison blogs at http://www.MadisonWoods.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the tip. Will now re-think the posting of some short stories I might want to sell later.
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