: Re: Is it possible to change a story to the point where it stops being considered "previously published"? I posted a piece of flash fiction on Reddit a year ago, and it never got much attention.

@Margaret427

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It depends . . . The bottom line is about 'who owns the rights', and 'money'.

One publisher does not want to be sued by another. If Random House gave you a publishing deal on a story about an boy wizard named "Barry Shepherd" - which proved to be a flop, and, ten years later you submitted a similar story to Bloomsbury entitled "Harry Potter", Random House would sue you and Bloomsbury for all your collective worth.

The second issue: money. Reddit is not a publisher - there are very few 'rights' issues that would stand up it court. Having said that, the magazine is a 'for profit' publisher. They provide content to sell copies. If the content 'you' provide is available elsewhere for free - they'll be, rightfully, pissed at you.

Here's the thing . . . nobody's particularly interested in content. Publisher's invest in the writer brand. If an old story boy wizard by JK Rowling was published by another publisher suddenly appeared - all hell would break loose.

Chapter Five of one of my novels won a competition was published and has been published as a short story. The character names were changed (to protect the innocent) and there were a few minor tweaks but more importantly the story was written by my sister (I don't have one).

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