I've blogged each of my Nanovels. I've found the demand of an audience breathlessly waiting for the next installment quite motivating. I've built kind of a rabid following over the last several years. There aren't many of them, but they get squirelly if not placated with new fiction. ;)
Anyway, here's where this year's novel will live: http://holyrollers-immortals.blogspot.com/
Here's a description of the plot: When Death becomes too depressed to get out of bed and do his job, people stop dying. Chaos and creation erupt as humanity's fear of death vanishes. Accountants become daredevils. Repressed geniuses unleash their great works. And certain gods get pissed off by mankind's newfound cheekiness and refusal to die when properly killed. Our favorite unemployed biker deities return to restore the natural order until Death cheers up enough to resume his work.
So, will you be blogging your novel? If so, post your URL!
----------
"If you wish to be a writer, write." - Epictetus
Read my novel here: http://holyrollers-immortals.blogspot.com/
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Okt 13, 2009 - 15 16
Wow what a great idea! I am in! I definitely want people to read what I am writing.
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 13, 2009 - 17 43
I couldn't blog while I write, but your plot sounds awesome! I might have to watch your updates. :)
----------2006: Overly-Complicated Polygon of LURVE - failed
2008: The Tender Kiss of Apathy - won
2009: No Boundaries - we'll see
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Okt 14, 2009 - 10 00
Blogging isnt going to be the chore you think it will be. I think it will add less than 5 minutes to my writing schedule. Here is my plan:
1) Create a blog (using Blogspot its INCREDIBLY easy. https://www.blogger.com/start)
2) every day after I do my writing I will copy what I have written and then paste it into a new blog entry. How hard is that??
Here is my blog that I created in about 5 minutes:
http://hankfrost.blogspot.com
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
32,030 / 50,000
Okt 14, 2009 - 10 40
It's not a matter of too much extra work for me; I just wouldn't be able to write as quickly and (relatively) painlessly if I thought that someone else was going to be reading it!
----------2006: Overly-Complicated Polygon of LURVE - failed
2008: The Tender Kiss of Apathy - won
2009: No Boundaries - we'll see
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Okt 14, 2009 - 13 13
Shyness is something I cant help you with... :D
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 14, 2009 - 14 50
I don't post the entire contents of my novel as I want to maintain full rights for future publication. However, I do post lots of progress reports and occasional excerpts on my writing blog.
http://celestialgldfsh.livejournal.com/
If you're on LJ, feel free to friend me!
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Okt 14, 2009 - 15 17
To slimequeen--
Friended! Sorry... noticed you had an LJ blog, and I'm still trying to amass a little group of friends for myself. :)
Yup, I think I'll keep up with the NaNo madness on my blog. Probably not entire chapters or anything, but excerpts for sure... and the idle musings that keep me procrastinating through the month. What would NaNoWriMo be without those, after all?
http://a-n-pesch.livejournal.com/
New friends are welcome. ;)
~a.n.pesch
----------"Procrastinate today. Don't put it off."
~Ellen Degeneres
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Okt 14, 2009 - 17 03
Do you actually lose the rights to your novel if you copy it onto a blog? I mean are you absolutely positive about this or do you only think so?
You certainly DO NOT lose the rights to your music if you post it on myspace. What's the difference?
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 14, 2009 - 17 18
You don't actually lose any rights, but from a certain point of view you use some of them up.
For example, some publishers will only buy a story if they can buy the rights to be the FIRST ones to publish it; if you have already published it they would end up being second to publish, and they might not be interested in that.
----------28,040 / 50,000
Okt 14, 2009 - 22 52
Hmm I am skeptical that putting your novel in a daily blog can be considered "formally" publishing it.
FYI I am not trying to be difficult here, I just want to get to the "truth" about what the laws are. The best way to do that is with logical debate and hopefully someone who is truly informed; which I am not. My gut feeling is that posting your work on a blog is not a formal publishing, and certainly not any release of copyright protect, I believe.
Here is a definition of a Public Work:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
WHEN U.S. WORKS PASS INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
By Lolly Gasaway University of North Carolina
Definition: A public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and
which may be freely used by everyone. The reasons that the work is not protected include:
(1) the term of copyright for the work has expired; (2) the author failed to satisfy statutory
formalities to perfect the copyright or (3) the work is a work of the U.S. Government.
Certainly article 1 and 3 would not apply. So lets move on to article 2.
I found another website or two which talk about copyright:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/copyright/owner.html
Notice on this page:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/copyright/cprtetd.html
That a copyright owner even has the right to put his work up for public display. Again, I don't feel that a publisher would consider this a formal first publishing.
But heck if you wish to err on the side of caution, who's to stop you?
Luckily, in blogspot, there is a way to protect your work from unauthorized viewing (under the permissions tab). So you can choose who you allow to view your work and that surely would protect your copyright. Perhaps we should all take this route and share it only amongst a close circle of friends. I would certainly share it with any NaNoWriMoer.
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 15, 2009 - 01 13
I am also not a lawyer, publisher, or any other sort of expert on this subject. I'm just sharing my best current understanding.
That would depend entirely on the wording of the contract between the publisher and the author. Some publishers might consider blogging to count as a "First Electronic Publication" and others might not.
Personally, if I were a publisher, it would probably depend on how popular the blog is. :-)
I 100% agree with this. Regardless of the nature of the publication, you don't lose any of your copyright protection.
Indeed. Thanks for the research and links you provided, it's fascinating reading.
-Chris
----------37,927 / 50,000
Okt 15, 2009 - 06 50
Blogging is NOT publishing any more than printing out a copy on Dec. 1 and giving it to your friends is. Publishers could care less about your rough draft being on the web. Furthermore, these are hardly publishable novels at the end of November - and at the end of the revision process when your book IS publishable, you'll likely have a VERY DIFFERENT novel.
Blogging will not impact your ability to sell "first rights," even if you somehow churn out a beautiful novel which requires no changes at all. If you somehow get HUGE traffic to your blog, that means you've already got an audience, and publishers will LIKE that, if they consider it at all.
Blogging does not equal Publishing. You will not endanger your publishing future by blogging your novel.
That said, it's totally your choice if you prefer not to blog it. NOT blogging also won't hurt you.
Procrastinating by reading MY blog, by the way, will only help you. ;)
----------"If you wish to be a writer, write." - Epictetus
Read my novel here: http://holyrollers-immortals.blogspot.com/
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Okt 15, 2009 - 07 53
Everything I've heard backs up Trask's point of view - by putting it on a relatively open forum, you're essentially publishing it. Putting it in a protected area (a friends-locked journal, or distributing it to a small writing group or something) doesn't count, though.
Just my current understanding.
----------2006: Overly-Complicated Polygon of LURVE - failed
2008: The Tender Kiss of Apathy - won
2009: No Boundaries - we'll see
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Okt 15, 2009 - 11 41
Looks like I need to eat some crow for my statement on blogging your novel not being first publishing. I posted a query in the main forums and got this response which appears authorative:
Publishing online does not mean you give up copyright. Just because something is published online, it does not put it in the public domain. It does, however, mean first rights are no longer available to be sold. If you're interested in submitting your novel to agents and editors, you'd be obligated to tell them that it's already been published online, which means the rights they'd be buying are Reprint Rights (and no publishing house wants those unless you're already a big name), not First North American (or other regional) Rights (which are the rights publishers want).
So the answer is that if you want to try to shop your novel around to professional agents or publishers, you don't want to publish it to your blog or any other online venue.
The secondary answer is that even if you do publish online, that does not negate your copyright. You still own the work unless you specify that you're giving up copyright and the work can be used by anyone for any purpose. (There are other, in between, copyright releases, but that's not what the question was.)
Best,
----------Troi
My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 15, 2009 - 15 22
oops! New post on writing 101 about First Publication:
All rights not explicitly granted are reserved by the author.
That is copyright law.
Therefore, if you do NOT explicitly put it in public domain, it is NOT in public domain. You still retain full rights, no matter where you post it or to whom you allow access.
Secondly, there is no such thing as a generalized "first publication rights". First publication rights are PER MEDIUM. e.g. first print rights, first ebook rights, and then further broken down by market, first North American print rights, first international print rights.
But these "rights" are not part of copyright law; they are part of a contract you negotiate with a publisher.
posting drafts on a blog does not constitute "first print rights" under any circumstance. No legitimate publisher (i.e. one that will actually pay you real money for your work) will deny you consideration simply because you posted a draft on a website.
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 15, 2009 - 18 14
Wow. I certainly didn't expect my post to create so many comments. True, most major publishers wouldn't negate a contract because an early novel draft was posted on a blog - indeed, some blog postings are selling books nowadays. But that's not usually the case. I find it easier to play safe and stick with excerpts - and even then I sometimes employ a friends-lock so it's not public. Why take the risk at all? [Also note - if you submit to small online markets for flash fiction and poetry, many do specifically note that posting on a blog means publication. I prefer to stay in the habit of being cautious.] There's also another major issue when it comes to posting the full draft...
It's going to suck (well, at least my first drafts certainly do). Typos galore, flat characters, hackneyed plot. My web site and my blog exist to help sell my writing. If I want to post something, let it be after months (and months and months) of polishing and editing. Once something is online, there's no guarantee it will ever be offline. Writing isn't just about writing. It's also a business.
I hope that helps to clarify my initial post.
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Okt 15, 2009 - 21 44
After extensive review its obvious you guys were right. Its best to lock your blog and only let friends and a few others see it and not the general public. Look at the topic under Writing 101. Some informed people posted there. It was definitely worth debating though. I learned a few things I did not know about the publishing industry.
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU
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Okt 20, 2009 - 11 34
I'll be blogging the whole thing.
I made a (stupid, impulsive) vow to post a shrt story every day for an entire year. I'm six months in and have already fallen behind a few times, and have decided to do NaNoWriMo as part of that project - substituting chapters in for stories. So I will be posting a chapter a day and counting it towards my goal even though it doesn't fit my original stated purpose.
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Okt 23, 2009 - 01 07
I'm already planing on blogging about the experience (since this is my first Nano) on my LJ ( http://dancinglollipop.livejournal.com )
That being said, I'm also debating on getting a twitter.
----------My first year participating! Hopefully I can reach 50k... Or even close to it...
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Okt 24, 2009 - 15 05
I don't plan to post this year's NaNo novel online while writing it, only because it will be so rough, and I can't write so freely if I know I have an audience already. I do have my 2008 novel posted up to chapter 15 as of the time of this post in my LJ account http://brandy-bean.livejournal.com/ , and will add more chapters as I finish them (I'm expecting 2-3 more). I placed mine under the friends filter, not because of the "first publishing rights" issue, but because I just want to be able to keep track of who's looking at it in case plagiarism issues come up later. If anyone wants to friend me and look at it, I'd be happy to have you. :) And I'll friend you too, of course.
As I polish my 2009 novel over the coming months, I'll probably post it there too. In the meantime, there is last year's novel Changing the Seasons (formerly Mosaic), and of course, I will be posting about my writing triumphs and frustrations (or just plain procrastinations) as I go through November.
----------My Live Journal Account http://brandy-bean.livejournal.com/
Feel free to friend me!
2008: Mosaic - Won
2009: Familiar Footsteps - In progress
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Nov 1, 2009 - 21 55
http://catsbetter.blogspot.com/
My novel is about a girl who moves to a boarding school in England after her grandmother's (Who she lives with) Alzheimer gets too severe.
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Nov 2, 2009 - 20 41
First few mini-chapters are posted!
http://therestofyourmice.blogspot.com/search/label/NaNoWriMo
Now if only I had the option of making that link sort in reverse order so the first chapter would be on top...
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Nov 3, 2009 - 10 45
Mine is here:
hankfrost.blogspot.com
But you are going to have to PM me your email address if you want access to it,
----------My Blog: http://hankfrost.blogspot.com/
My Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjrVZlCFzU