copyright?

good question and I'm the least qualified person to answer it but, until someone intelligent decides to comment I'll stand in. I think it does count as published technically but not in the eyes of most. If you were to submit some work to an agent and they thought you'd had it on here for ages and everyone in the world could come and get it for free then it might have an effect on their decision but I don't think it'd be a major problem. I'm trying to get a publishing deal at the mo and the first bit of my novel is still on here as well as short stories poems etc. It can work as a useful copyright device though I think, because when you upload on here it's time dated and registered, not to mention read by others so I think it'd be easy to prove you thought of it first in the event of someone copying your work. and now for the truth which is probably a mile away frm what I've just said. ... anyone?

Camilla - the terms and conditions - which we were vary careful in putting together - are here: Basically, the copyright is retained by you but you grant us the right to publish it on the site. You are free to remove it at any time of course. Ely is right in that that site provides you with proof of ownership in any dispute. As for the 'is it published' question, this is a moot point. It depends on the interpretation of the people at the other end. I can assure you though that, as far I am aware, in our three plus years of operation no-one has yet found that placing work on here has hindered their chances of hard copy publication, nor have they been excluded from any online or offline competitions because a piece has been posted here previously. Some people remove a piece of work from ABC when they enter it to comps and I think that is a wise move. Best of luck. The Chief Exec.