Copyright Questions

There are two different issues here--copyright and access. Copyright is a property right with a term limit; it belongs to the creator of a work or his/her heirs or assigns for a set length of time--in most countries for the life of the creator of the work plus fifty years. It's rather like holding a patent--in this case in a work of literature or music or an artistic creation. As with any other property right, it can be transferred to others--by giving it away, by selling it, or by leasing it to some other party for a specified period of time (which is often what happens when an author contracts with a publisher). By publishing a work here, you do not lose your copyright in it. That would happen only if you transferred the copyright to another party. Access is another matter. An author may retain copyright in a published work, but if, for example, that work is available in a library, then the work is potentially available to a great many people. Their access to the work does not, however, void the author's copyright in the work. As you point out, the availability of a work online may, however, make it less attractive to a publisher. That would be an economic decision on the publisher's part; it would not involve copyright issues unless the author had somehow surrendered copyright. There have been works that were first 'published' on ABCTales and subsequently appeared in print. So it is possible for a work to appear here first and later in printed form. I seem to recall that somewhere in the information from the editors of this site is a statement about an author's implicit agreement with ABCTales regarding copyright and reproduction rights in a posted work. Nexis Pas

Yes, they can and quite easily. But even if a work is published, anyone with access to a photocopier (or pen and paper for that matter) can make a copy. Print publication per se does not prevent reproduction. If the person attempts to pass that work off as his own, then that's plagiarism. If the copyist attempts to sell the reproductions, then that's theft. The copyright laws provide legal remedies for those acts, but the author or the publisher is responsible for taking the steps to enforce their rights under the copyright law. The only way to prevent reproduction is never to publish--online or in print. But that rather defeats the purpose of writing. Nexis Pas

Your copyright is safe unless you give it up. Enforcement is a different matter. I've had many prose items absconded with over the years by individuals and in one case a very well known University in Scotland. Fortunately, I've been able to get the offenders to remove the infringed material from their web sites. As for the value of your work. A general estimate would be that anything posted online becomes worthless once published online, unless you were paid to put it online to begin with. I no longer place previously unpublished material on the internet. Share your state secrets at... http://www.amerileaks.org(link is external)

The copyright remains with you. You merely grant ABCtales the right to publish it on the website. By publishing it here you are actually protecting your copyright. If it is seen anywhere else under a different name then you have proof positive that it is yours - as your name and the time and date of posting are with it on ABCtales. I do not know of anyone who will refuse to publish your work because it has appeared on here previously. They may exist, but in all 11 years of ABCtales I have never been made aware of them. You have complete control over your work - you can remove it at any time. I hope that clears this up.

"As for the value of your work. A general estimate would be that anything posted online becomes worthless once published online, unless you were paid to put it online to begin with." This may be a general estimate but I'm not sure it's an accurate one. The financial value of some writing to a publisher isn't based on whether someone can access it online (or in a library or carved into some bits of stone in the local park), it's based on whether enough people will buy that writing in the form of a product they make available (usually a book). In the case of publishing some poetry, the fact all the poems in a collection were at some point available on Abctales - and if you look hard enough may be available forever on online archives - is not necessarily going to have any major impact on the number of copies that the collection might sell. It depends what % of potential purchasers of the book are people for whom seeking out and reading the poems online (or printing them off and stapling them together) is a preferable option to paying (in the UK) £8 or £9 to have them in a book.

Well, there is fantasy and there is reality. The truth is what you want to believe. Share your state secrets at... http://www.amerileaks.org(link is external)

I find it fascinating, that now days every one wants their 30 seconds of fame, including moi! However, write because its in you. Once your famous and loaded you can sue the buggers for pinching your work in what ever format you choose. Which it turn will get you great press and even more people will read about you, even though some will hate you for being so mean to the poor little story pinchers who live a low life and they could go bankrupt, but who cares, serves them right I say. Again you will be more famous. so able to ask for more money for all of your work. All in all it could be a blessing in disguise...Thank you for being kind. Jan