Blogs of ideas and getting publishing

[Barsook]

I own a blog (link in my siggy) and I use it as a place where I write about my ideas for Torzukarr (and other things). It allows me and other people to know when I got the idea and for me to get feedback. My question to the publishing folks out there is: Is this a bad thing to do? As in a higher risk in getting rejected because the world knows a little too much about Torzukarr? Or this thing is okay to do? Because the use of the public domain connects people and ideas.

 

[TWErvin2]

I am not a publisher, but I don't think my publisher would care. The owner/publisher has published two novels that were originally serialized online.

I am not sure why posting in the blog to let you and others know when you got the idea is important.

 

[Barsook]

So anyone would know when the idea was made and if it does break the copywrite, it would be better to know now then latter.

 

[Devor]

Just be careful of long excerpts (i.e., whole chapters) and major spoilers, and you should be fine.

Many publishers won't even mind those, but some will if you give out too much, and it also depends on how you go about it. For the most part, having a web audience will be looked upon as a good thing, but you don't want to give away first publishing rights for even a few chapters unless you're comfortable that you know what you're doing. While these things can all be seen in a positive light, I think the worst would be if you put up too much online but fail to find even a small web audience.

So my advice is, a little information about the setting or the where the plot/characters begin should be fine, but if you want to give out chapters or major spoilers, do it in a way that will work or not at all.

 

[Barsook]

Yeah, I have been warned about spoilers and long excerpts. The blog is just for ideas and I don't know I brother post them there if I can do it here. Maybe for other people to look at? I just don't know.

 

[TWErvin2]

So anyone would know when the idea was made and if it does break the copywrite, it would be better to know now then latter.

You cannot copyright an idea, if that is a concern.

 

[Barsook]

But if it's in writing or another from that is published on the web, it's copywrited. The folks on Roundtable podcast said that. Or I'm remembering it wrong.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

Might be remembering it wrong. You can't copyright an idea. You can copyright the expression of an idea. So your finished chapters, as soon as you write them, are covered by copyright law. No one else can scan a Harry Potter book and sell it (legally, anyway). But I could write a book about a boy who discovers he had magical powers and goes to a school to learn how to use them before facing down an evil wizard. The ideas in a book are never protected. The words you use to tell a story are. See the difference?

 

[Barsook]

I see the difference. And thank you for explaining it.

 

[BWFoster78]

I think people, in general, worry too much about their ideas being stolen. The execution of the idea is crucial to the development of the story. If you and I started with the same concept and with the same character sketches, we'd still end up with two very different books.