I’m sharing a thought provoking discussion about how much is too much to give away of your writing on line and blogging as form of draft creation for books.
Thanks so much to Joyceline Leahy, of Tribal Mystic, for sharing my ideas and her own to spark discussion on this topic on her blog. Great to meet her online and to hear the story of HiMe telling her about me, after virtually meeting me in the ABC Open 500 words project.
I have been thinking a lot about this topic lately. How much to share? How much to keep?
Amazon has some strict rules about how much of a book can appear online prior to publication with them for writers to take into account. Many publishers and competitions see blogs, tweet and facebook as prior publication and you must not share anywhere on line if you wish to enter.
So when writing – What should you share to find your publishers, audience and connections? Why do you share? What is there that can be special about blogging as an art form and a legitimate form of publication? Go leave your comment on Joyceline Leahy’s blog.
So far my experience has been that:
1- Several of my online pieces have been republished by anthologies and books with no qualms by the anthology creators. They just say ‘appeared first on….’2- I created an ebook to take you on a virtual trail through blogs, films and online materials and the ebook was like a guide to all that – a navigator. I published it through Australian Society of Authors, Books Unlimited.
3- I have formed a community of interest around my work and been able to meet through their blogs, authors writing about the homeless, Indigenous writing communities, natural environments in the America’s and Ireland.
4- I’ve been part of writing online collaborative worlds co created with other writers. Our creations still exist as online fixtures you can visit and explore. Building a trail of story was a process of us participating in the Pythian Games to develop our writing muscle. I found a love of writing fantasy during this online collaboration.
5- I have established a practice of daily writing and have a series of work I do completely offline separate from my blogged work.
6- I have found trustworthy and ethical offline critique groups and individuals to give me feedback of my work to help develop and polish it. Some of them have been initially met through online forums. They have known me through my online writing first. One is now being employed by me as an editor.
Will posting chapters and parts of your book on your blog take away from your publishing success?
I have been told often that I should save more of my blog posts to include in my memoir. Usually this advice comes from people who love and care for me. I really appreciate that concern. I know this concern was not expressed for the fear of copyright, although I should be concern about that too; I am told I am ‘giving away’ a section of writing that may be building up tension or crucial to the climax of a chapter or even the memoir itself.
We choose what we share on our blogs. I know I could be just giving away the important parts in my memoir without realising it, but as I write the story evolves. I also feel the need to challenge my self even more by improving that story after I have posted it. Often I feel…
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Gumboootspearlz 
Thank you. ❤
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I loved this post. I have been thinking about sharing works lately and that was the exact question on my mind. I have seen other artists (Lang Leav) who publish their works on social media because that’s what her fans expect and want, (as any good marketer knows), but I always wondered how much is too much and is it just a matter of timing. However, I guess if you were able to write it in the first place you can write more again.
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There is so much to consider in online sharing, especially if wanting to make more income out of one’s work. Lots of effort and time can go into blogs, stories, photographs and its not rewarding to think of others just taking it and using it without renummeration to the creator. Having lots of discussion with friends on this and share what I can and keep some things for other work. Glad if it helped you clarify your own thoughts and how you want to approach it.
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