Posting a story online means it won't get published?

[Rechan]

I've seen this comment twice here.

Can't you just delete the story and then send it in? How would any publisher know?

[Apocrypha]

Being honest with a publisher is a basis of good business.  If you lie then that might be more damaging to your career than publishing anything online.

As discussed before, a lot of companies want FIRST PUBLISHING rights and a story that has been placed online is considered published.  Now there was discussion in another thread (this one: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,19533.0.html )as to how far a publisher might stretch this but it is always better to be safe than sorry.  Perhaps look into Creative Commons publishing.

[daranthered]

A good point in fact is that online writing groups use mailing lists and not forums.  It's better for the stories chances to keep it from the public realm until its accepted for publication

[Breandan]

Are we talking about full publishing, or does this also include chapter samples?

[jeno]

*shrugs* Honestly? I'd leave any samples to email.

There are two reasons people are generally wary of posting unpublished work online. 1 - they're scared someone will steal their idea. 2 - they're scared a publishing house won't offer a deal if they figure out the story was already posted online (re: first published).

Personally, I tend to think the Someone Will Steal My Work!!1! panic is usually blown out of proportion to the actual risk involved. Very few people manage to sit themselves down long enough to write anything. Even fewer manage to finish the projects they start. And even if a bunch of authors start from the same premise, none of them will write the same book.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the execution that matters in the end, not who had the most sparkling, precious idea. A good writer could make a passage about a bowl of petunias interesting.

The second reason for not posting online, the publishing one, is...murkier. And as I am not a literary agent, an editor, or even a general employee of a publishing house, I can't say just how much risk is truly involved in posting online. I still wouldn't do it. Why take that chance, when there is so little to gain?

If you want to share or develop your work, look for a writing group or a circle of beta readers, then send them the samples in email attachments. No muss, no fuss.

IMO, anyway.