Internet Publishing and Rights
It seems there is a rather contentious battle of ideals, rights and finger pointing going on in the internet publishing community over rights and payments between the publisher and the writers, at least a relatively small group of writers, who submit their work for publication on the internet. I contend there is confusion over the word "right" when it comes to publishing, especially on the internet. Read more…
INTERNET PUBLISHING and RIGHTS
It seems there is a rather contentious battle of ideals, rights and finger pointing going on in the internet publishing community and particularly among a relatively small group of authors and the publishers at Triond.com. Is it possible that some of our writers at Triond, and perhaps other sites as well, are confusing copyright and first publishing rights. It looks to me like we hold our own copyright but Triond with its affiliates holds first publishing rights.
When a publishing company or group accepts our material for publication they are granted the right to publish our work first and according to the terms of payment they have established with us in the agreement between us and them. Once our article is published through Triond and most other sites I have worked, with one of its affiliates we are free to do whatever we choose with our own work. We still hold the copyright. They hold the first publishing right. They can only publish our work one time with one affiliate.
For example, Triond; Triond cannot publish a piece of my work as I have submitted it for publication with both Gomestic and Scienceray. They can only publish in one or the other and once it is published all rights revert back to me. I own the work. They own the first publishing right.
The same goes for publishing with hard copy publishers. Most do not accept simultaneous submissions to avoid this complication. Triond, and others I have published with, have clearly stated that once our work is published by them through one of their affiliates we are free to re-publish our work or use it however we choose at a later date. This is first publishing rights and has nothing to do with our copyright. I think we are confusing copyright and first publishing rights. Copyright establishes ownership where first publishing right establishes the right to publish, one time.
With Triond and with Helium, both of whom I publish with frequently, even long after the piece is published, years down the road, (I’ve been with both for several years.) I still receive residual income from that first publication. I can still re-publish the same article again someplace else at another time if I so choose. It seems a bit foolish to do that unless you are using the article in a book or selling to a hard copy magazine because you are cutting your own throat income-wise.
most informative
good advice – once published via Triond there is little point in putting the same feature on other web pages too – readers won’t appreciate a cloned mass produced article
But then Triond adds in its Terms Of Service;
“Without derogating from the above, Triond shall be entitled to edit, delete, cutback, rephrase, reproduce, copy, translate, merge, add, use and make use of the Materials, in whole or in part, in any way or manner and at any time, as Triond shall deem appropriate in its sole discretion.”
I have decided to cease writing for Triond and write for myself, on my own blog. I realize of course that I will lose out in readership (at which I did poorly) and earnings ($1.29 in four months) but I want to go it alone to see if I can succeed as others have done. So far I have not done well, but the same could almost be said for my efforts at Triond anyway, I will however continue to check in and read a few articles a day in support of the Triond writers that remain.
ramonf77
http://rayjscity blogspot.com
It’s interesting to know and I should keep it for reference in my computer. I know that in many magazines they won’t accept material published on the Internet. But these days I’m more worried about the abusive new payment at Triond where I’ve been for over two years and their lack of concern with contributors’ queries. Thanks for sharing.
This is my problem. Triond is already publishing your work once when they post it in one of their category websites, so they should not be trying to sell publishing rights copy rights or what ever. The fact is if they would have responded to initial complaints instead of deleting them, I would feel a whole lot better about using them. They chose to ignore the complaints. I gave them a chance, now I have to do what I have to do. Their silence makes me feel like they are be dishonest with all the writers. To this day I still have not received an answer to my complaint. Now I ask you, why should i continue to write?
does this apply in China?