Publishing Your Work on Steemit: Some Advantages and A Single (But Serious) Disadvantage

For some writers trying their hand out at writing/publishing their work here on Steemit, they may be new to the industry (I mean the publishing industry, not the cryptocurrency industry, though that may be true too). Some of the best aspects of publishing here are:

• The possibility of actually getting paid to make your work available to read.
• A MUCH wider audience that you may not have had before.
• The possibility of getting immediate (and realistic) critiques and criticism.

These are PHENOMENAL positives that writers before the age of the internet couldn’t have possibly imagined when they’d mail out a single copy of their story to 30 different places and wait for months (often years) before hearing back from publishers, much less from readers.

But the cons of publishing your fiction or non-fiction work on Steemit are pretty serious depending upon your intent with the work you produce. And this is super important, so please pay attention.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO SUBMIT YOUR WRITING TO LITERARY MAGAZINES/JOURNALS FOR PUBLICATION IN THE FUTURE, DO NOT PUBLISH THE PIECE IN FULL HERE ON STEEMIT.

If you want to post up snippets or excerpts, then do so to your heart’s content. Most publishers don’t frown on that, but there is a large majority of publishers (of both journals/magazines and those who publish books) that will refuse to publish your piece if it’s been published in full elsewhere. Basically, anything you post here in full on Steemit is considered “Published” by most in the literary community.

And since everything on the blockchain is permanent and completely open for viewing, you can’t go back and edit your posts to remove sections (unless it’s in the 7-day timeframe).

You may ask “But Bucho, I see you’ve posted up tons of your own poetry as well as excerpts and now you’re posting up full chapters of a novel.”

True. But I have no intention of ever trying to publish the poetry beyond here on Steemit. The novel I’m currently posting up will DRASTICALLY change by being both expanded and fundamentally altered by the time it’s ready for anyone else to really consider it. Even then, I’ll probably publish it through Amazon, where I still retain the rights to my own writing. It’s a win/win for me on both of those fronts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to stop publishing your work here; Steemit has been a pretty fundamentally fantastic place to “meet” other writers and artists, so the sharing of work is essential in keeping that community thriving.

What I AM saying, however, is this – be judicious about what creative endeavors you post here. Depending upon your long-term goals for those pieces, you may inadvertently screw yourself over in the process and no one wants to see that happen.