: Re: What is first electronic rights? I am unsure if I adequately understand the concept of first electronic rights. If I post a story on a writers' website for free but also publish it through

@Shanna875

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this URL seems to answer the title question: www.writing-world.com/rights/rights.shtml
In granting/selling your First Electronic Rights to PublisherX, that means you send them a copy, and wait for them to publish it before you submit it to anywhere else.

Furthermore, Let's say PublisherX and PublisherY, both only want submissions that grant them First Electronic Rights.

Well, you already sent it to PubX. You need to wait to see if they accept it before sending to PubY. If PubX rejects it, then you can submit it to PubY because they are now the "first" to possibly publish it. If PubX accepts it, you MAY NOT sell it to anybody else as First, because they aren't the first.

I found this, because a site I am considering sending a submission to only accepts First Electronic Rights/First Printed Rights. Meaning that I can't simul-submit, and if they did accept and I found somebody else with the same deal, that story would not qualify.

The good news is, you still own your story. You can self-publish it later or build an anthology or something. You just have to understand that First rights is a big deal to what you can re-sell it as. Only one publisher can have First Rights.

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