If I post my unpublished manuscripts to hubpages, will my stories be discovered

1. 0

   Sarah Andersonposted 11 years ago

   If I post my unpublished manuscripts to hubpages, will my stories be discovered or stolen?
   
   Publishers won't read them unless I hire an agent, and they're expensive if you find legit representation.

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2. 0

   AnnaStephensposted 11 years ago

   Hi Sarah
   
   Real agents won't charge you an upfront fee to take you on - if they do, stay away - they're not legitimate. Also avoid agents who charge a 'reading fee' to even look at your manuscript. That said, there are many agents out there, and many smaller publishing houses, such as Wild Wolf (UK) and TWB Press (US) accept manuscripts that don't come via an agent.
   
   Publishing them on HubPages won't get you an agent or a publishing contract. By publishing online, you effectively give away online publishing rights and ebook publishing rights. And these days, publishers won't take you on if they can't get access to all the rights there are - print, online, ebook, world etc etc.
   
   You do also run the risk of having your work plagiarised - even if you mark it as copyrighted, unless you read every book in your genre that comes out, you may never find out your work has been stolen and then, if you do manage to get your book accepted, you could be the one accused of plagiarism even though the words are yours! If you can't prove you wrote them, no one will publish them.
   
   For a start, look at the Artists and Writers Yearbook 2012 - it should be available in your local library or can be bought from Amazon, Waterstones etc. It will list literary agencies and publishing houses who accept your genre - then it's a case of going onto their webpage/calling them and finding out whether they are accepting submissions at this time. If they are, follow the guidelines and submit, cross your fingers and wait and see!
   
   Good luck!
   
   Anna

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3. 59

   Gail Daleyposted 11 years ago

   My experience with publishing in Hub pages is that Hub pages will scream bloody murder if you attempt to publish your work elsewhere. Is this stealing since they don't pay you for your work? Up to you.

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4. 61

   duffsmomposted 11 years ago

   Agents should not charge you a fee, they take a percentage of your profits from published work.  If they want to charge you - run like the wind.
   
   I wouldn't risk posting your unpublished work online.  Theft is too common.  You might consider publishing through Amazon for the Kindle.  It is easy to do and can be profitable.

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5. 84

   M. T. Dremerposted 11 years ago

   The thing about posting stuff online is that, if it generates traffic, it will get stolen. Even a modest amount of traffic is in danger. The biggest offenders are 'free article' websites. They claim to be compiling the best free articles from around the web, but really they're just copying anything they find that is generating good amounts of traffic. So, the thing that you want, recognition for your manuscript, is exactly the thing you DON'T want because here it would almost certainly mean it would get stolen. And, if it didn't get stolen, it would mean that it's not getting any attention and that wouldn't be good either. I would recommend going through agents first. Check out the 2012 guide to literary agents for a list of open agents in your genre, and give them a shot. If all else fails, go to self publishing.

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6. 0

   Sarah Andersonposted 11 years ago

   Thanks for confirming that for me, everyone. I was puzzled by people asking questions about where to post their manuscripts on here.

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