I'm still here, hoping for something to read, and I'm sure I don't know you irl. I'm thrilled you're getting published. As someone who uses stories in presentations (is that vague enough?) I've learned that if I try to use a story again, it doesn't work. At all. So my advice would be this: don't use your old stories. Trust new ones will come, and then pay attention. They're there.
OK, this is not my area of expertise at all, but... my understanding is that self-plagiarism is a problem primarily if someone else owns the copyright to what you wrote or if the writing is somehow encumbered by a legal agreement that you have signed. What you publish on a blog like this is not encumbered and is (I think) fair game for republishing as long as the person paying you for it knows that it was first published here.
I am not sure if this helps, but I wrote a (short!) book that started out as a few blog posts. Some of the book content is lifted almost directly from the posts, some is heavily modified, and some was brand new for the book. My publisher knew this when she accepted the book, and so it was fine. I could not, however, decide to just publish the entirety of my book on my blog, because I signed a contract with the publisher given the publisher the rights to sell that work.
As for the anonymous thing- I had that issue, too. I decided to publish under initials + last name and be non-committal on my blog about whether those were my real initials and last name or not. I also had someone draw me an avatar to use as an author "photo". None of this would fool anyone who knows me and came across my writing, but it suits my purposes in using a pseudonym on my blog- namely, that my blog not come up in a Google search on my name.
Send me an email if you want more details (wandsci at gmail dot com).
Also- you should totally consider writing a short ebook. Not because I made a bunch of money from writing one (I did not) but because it was a gratifying experience, and because I love reading short ebooks so much that I am running a side project dedicated to promoting them. (http://tungstenhippo.com/ if you are curious)
Things that start out as blogs turn into published-for-sale stuff, like books, all the time. See the Julie/Julia project, for one. So I wouldn't worry too much about self-plagiarism. Haven't you ever looked at an old blog entry and thought "you know, if I were writing that today, I'd change it this way..."? Well, this would be your opportunity to do just that, and to amplify, and expand, and make connections between this story and that other thought that came months or years later.
The anonymity thing is a more real concern. Some enterprising soul with waaaay too much time on their hands will enter some block of text from your book into one of those anti-plagiarism sites that teachers and professors use, and presto, suddenly people know who Dr. C is, and Smoosh and the Bearded Economist. Most people won't particularly care, but some will. Patients might. There must be some official body of medical ethics types that has made some Grand Pronouncement about such things, surely? Or is fixin' to do so? Anyhow, taking down the blog might end up being the wisest thing to do.
I'd hate to lose the blog, personally. I enjoy your writing and I learn from it. But you need to do what's best for you. Good luck.
I'm still here, hoping for something to read, and I'm sure I don't know you irl. I'm thrilled you're getting published. As someone who uses stories in presentations (is that vague enough?) I've learned that if I try to use a story again, it doesn't work. At all. So my advice would be this: don't use your old stories. Trust new ones will come, and then pay attention. They're there.
ReplyDeleteOK, this is not my area of expertise at all, but... my understanding is that self-plagiarism is a problem primarily if someone else owns the copyright to what you wrote or if the writing is somehow encumbered by a legal agreement that you have signed. What you publish on a blog like this is not encumbered and is (I think) fair game for republishing as long as the person paying you for it knows that it was first published here.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if this helps, but I wrote a (short!) book that started out as a few blog posts. Some of the book content is lifted almost directly from the posts, some is heavily modified, and some was brand new for the book. My publisher knew this when she accepted the book, and so it was fine. I could not, however, decide to just publish the entirety of my book on my blog, because I signed a contract with the publisher given the publisher the rights to sell that work.
As for the anonymous thing- I had that issue, too. I decided to publish under initials + last name and be non-committal on my blog about whether those were my real initials and last name or not. I also had someone draw me an avatar to use as an author "photo". None of this would fool anyone who knows me and came across my writing, but it suits my purposes in using a pseudonym on my blog- namely, that my blog not come up in a Google search on my name.
Send me an email if you want more details (wandsci at gmail dot com).
Also- you should totally consider writing a short ebook. Not because I made a bunch of money from writing one (I did not) but because it was a gratifying experience, and because I love reading short ebooks so much that I am running a side project dedicated to promoting them. (http://tungstenhippo.com/ if you are curious)
Things that start out as blogs turn into published-for-sale stuff, like books, all the time. See the Julie/Julia project, for one. So I wouldn't worry too much about self-plagiarism. Haven't you ever looked at an old blog entry and thought "you know, if I were writing that today, I'd change it this way..."? Well, this would be your opportunity to do just that, and to amplify, and expand, and make connections between this story and that other thought that came months or years later.
ReplyDeleteThe anonymity thing is a more real concern. Some enterprising soul with waaaay too much time on their hands will enter some block of text from your book into one of those anti-plagiarism sites that teachers and professors use, and presto, suddenly people know who Dr. C is, and Smoosh and the Bearded Economist. Most people won't particularly care, but some will. Patients might. There must be some official body of medical ethics types that has made some Grand Pronouncement about such things, surely? Or is fixin' to do so? Anyhow, taking down the blog might end up being the wisest thing to do.
I'd hate to lose the blog, personally. I enjoy your writing and I learn from it. But you need to do what's best for you. Good luck.