Bewildering Stories Editorial

Republication

by Don Webb

In recent days, a few contributors have asked about the republication of their works. We thank them for asking; the answers are of interest to everyone.

Upon the date my story is published in Bewildering Stories, I am free thereafter to publish it in a self-published collection of my work. Is that correct?

The answer is “yes,” and it goes even further. Regardless of when your work has appeared or will appear in Bewildering Stories, you are free to self-publish it as you see fit as long as you hold the copyright.

However, Bewildering Stories distinguishes carefully between the media of print and the Internet. By “self-publish,” we assume you mean that your collection will appear in print, as a book. And works in print automatically meet Bewildering Stories’ criterion of being “hard to find.”

But what about e-books? They’re neither in print nor easily accessible on the Internet; they’re computer files that can be offered for sale or free gratis.

No worries; Bewildering Stories considers e-books an equivalent of books in print.

Thank you for accepting my story, but I sent it as a simultaneous submission, and another webzine has just accepted it. I would like it to appear in both webzines. Is that possible?

Congratulations; we’re not surprised that your story is a success. However, we concede to prior acceptance. Bewildering Stories reasons that everything on the Internet is in the same place at the same time. We’re reluctant to “wallpaper” the Internet with duplicates of works that can be found easily elsewhere. And we feel it’s impolite to appear to “poach” on others’ turf, so to speak.

However, if the story disappears for any reason — for instance, some webzines have archives that are limited in time or are too difficult to access — please let us know.

I’ve just discovered that another webzine has posted four of my stories from Bewildering Stories on its website, and they’ve even taken my bio page and picture! Did you agree to this?

We’re shocked. This is the first we’ve heard about it. And you weren’t even asked? If we’d been approached, we would have forwarded the request to you immediately.

The reason is that at the bottom of every contributor’s page in Bewildering Stories, the author’s name and the date appear in the copyright line. As long as the author has retained the copyright, the author alone may grant permission to republish the work. In this case, this other webzine has engaged in an act that is certainly discourteous and doubtfully legal.

However, there’s a towering irony in all this: nobody need copy whole pages from one website to another. We encourage our contributors to engage in self-promotion by e-mail, social media and their own, personal websites. It’s very easily done with links. For example, to quote this page anywhere else on the Net, use this link:

<a href="www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1028/republication.html" target="_blank">Republication</a>

Make sure the quotation marks are “straight quotes,” and keep the “target” element; it will cause the page to open in a new window; your readers will not lose their place on your page.

See how easy it is? As we’ve said, everything on the Internet is in the same place at the same time; duplication is superfluous.